God of Hate
Disclaimer: I do NOT own Godzilla or Attack on Titan
Reiner watched in shock and unwanted dread as he saw Krista, the Angelic Goddess of the 104th, falling from the wall like a bird with broken wings.
"She's not going to make it," Annie observed under her breath. The fall was too high, no one had been close enough to get her in time, and the smaller girl would have saved herself by now if she could.
What rotten luck, dying in such a way when the worst was finally over.
"Wait, that thing is-" Bertolt stopped abruptly as they saw the golden beast running forth, leaping into the air...and swallowing Krista whole.
"...What the fuck...?" Reiner asked with a shaky voice. "Was...was Krista just eaten?"
"No way. After all of that, it turns on everyone when it's stuck inside?" Annie voiced, swallowing thickly as she clutched her blade, trying to suppress the trembling in her hands. She double-checked to make sure her ring was still on her finger.
If they had to fight that thing, right here and now...even with all these soldiers, they might have to use their Titans and risk exposing themselves just to survive this beast.
"Reiner, what do we do?" Bertolt asked suddenly, getting silence in return. He looked over in concern, inhaling sharply as he froze.
Reiner was clutching his head, his whole body trembling. "What...what is happening?" he asked in a numb, shuddering tone.
"Dammit, this again," Annie cursed quietly. "Bertolt, do someth-"
The trio grew silent in disbelief when all too familiar thunder and lightning filled the air above the creature. The three heads all stared up with the same alarm and confusion as the warriors, a Titan forming in midair; a very familiar, small Titan sporting sharp teeth.
It came crashing down with a vicious roar, biting into a neck of the golden reptile. Black blood spewed as the sharp teeth cleaved through the scales. One head roared in pain, the other two in fury.
"But that's...!?" Bertolt said in alarm.
"The Jaw Titan," Annie recognized in quiet shock.
"Marcel...," Reiner whispered before his demeanor calmed into determination, glaring at the fourth Shifter. To think, after all this time, it would show up here and now. No. It was entirely possible, maybe even probable, that the Jaw Titan had been right under their nose all this time. How ironic. "New plan. We help take down the Jaw."
Meanwhile, the middle head thrashed about in an attempt to dislodge the small Titan's fangs from his scaled neck, dark blood spraying about as the left head cried out in shock and the right gritted its teeth, hard.
"What the fuck?! Who and what was that!?" Jean asked in disbelief.
"That...was that a person?" Connie asked numbly. "We just saw that, right?"
"Did I...imagine that?" Armin asked, his voice cracking as he processed the implication.
"I...I can't believe it, but no, cadet. You just witnessed a soldier turn into a Titan," Rico said with wide eyes before regaining her composure…somewhat. "Everyone that can still fight! Attack that Titan! Defend the Gold Beast!"
"You heard the woman!" Reiner yelled as he flew through the air with blades raised, Annie right at his tail.
Ymir grunted, pulling her head back to rip away a chunk of the neck. It was tough, so much tougher than a Titan's flesh, but she did it. She was screwed, she knew it, but like hell she was going to accept this. Accept this thing eating Krista as if she was some reward treat for saving them all! If she died, she was taking one of these heads with her! Fuck the Walls, Fuck Marley, and Fuck this stupid pimped-out iguana!
With that, she jumped away, just as one of the heads nearly bit off her feet. Reiner landed on the injured neck before quickly leaping off as the beast turned about.
[[Shit...]]
[[[You okay?]]]
[[No! Of course not! I lost a piece of my neck.]]
[[Just...Just keep an eye on that titan while I heal.]]
[[[Got it. She won't get us twice.]]]
[...What about the girl in my mouth?]
[[Spit her out already!]]
[[[Are you crazy!?]]]
[She'll die!]
[[If that titan bit Eins, she'd already be dead.]]
The small Titan leaped from roof to roof, making sure not to let the soldiers surround her too much by remaining idle. But there were so many of them, and if she let Mikasa get too close, she knew she was done for. That girl was basically a monster in her own right. But where was the cadet who was worth a hundred soldiers anyway?
"Damn, this thing is fast," Jean cursed as Ymir dodged away from them the instant the cables connected.
"It's not fighting back though...?" Armin said, his mind beginning to race. This Titan was obviously intelligent, and it had many chances to attack them, even just by attacking the cables. So it wasn't after them, just the three-headed creature. But they couldn't just risk this...Shifter killing the thing that just saved Trost. The draconic entity was probably humanity's best hope.
Ymir leaped onto the wall, running across the structure as her claws gripped the stone, using it to hurl herself back toward the three-headed beast. The middle head was still limp and bleeding, perhaps even out of commission. Her target was the right head, the one that ate Krista.
Eins glared at her before one of their two tails smacked the Titan shifter out of the air. Ymir managed to flip onto her feet while holding the tail, roaring at the larger enemy and about to take a quick bite out of the tail.
And she would have, if not for the second tail slamming into the back of her head, making her mouth snap shut prematurely. She growled as the left head swung over to her, prepared to return the favor. Ducking under the tails, she managed to leap under the gaping maw just in time. On a lark, she tried to dig her claws into the underside of the neck. They sparked and left scratches, but not even deep enough to draw blood.
Ymir grunted. As much as she wanted to go after the head that got Krista, she'd settle for finishing off the middle one. With that, she went into a full, all-fours sprint, about to leap toward the neck of the limping neck.
But Zwei was not so easily defeated. His head shot to Ymir all at once, forcing her to jump back as the injured and limp head glared coldly at her.
She growled in midair before gasping as one of her hands was cut off, courtesy of Reiner. She barely moved in time to dodge the other two. Annie only severed two fingers, while Bertolt missed her leg entirely.
"Damn. Almost had her," Reiner said with a scowl as he landed on top of Eins's head, Annie landing on the ground in front of the golden beast while Bertolt was on the base of the middle neck. "Hey, Scales?" Reiner called, getting a snorting grunt from the head below him. "Any idea what the fuck is going on?" he asked, playing dumb for now. The head beneath his shook minutely and Reiner was both grateful and disturbed for the monster's consideration of his balance. "Didn't think so," he said, watching Ymir leap back towards the buildings.
It wasn't intentional, Reiner knew, but this position was perfect for the tri-headed creature to wait out the Jaw Titan. The city buildings made for decent platforms for the small Shifter's agility to be of great use in dodging and evading, evident by how none of the soldiers could reach the Jaw in time with their three-dimensional gear. But this open area around the gate meant that the Jaw had to expose herself before getting close to her target.
"You think you can handle that Hag if she gets close again?" Reiner asked, getting a rather firm nod. "Good."
Bertolt, meanwhile, was staring intently at the wound left by the Jaw Titan. It was healing, but it was nothing like how a Titan would heal itself. The black blood had cauterized and ceased to flow freely as the wound was now covered by a translucent, slimy, amber-colored substance. It was strange, and within, Bertolt could faintly see the flesh reforming, healing, and replacing the missing tissue in rapid time. Which meant its enhanced durability was a trade-off for slower regeneration.
If he turned into a Titan, if he unleashed his destructive power, could that kill this monster? Normally he could only transform once a day, but he hadn't used the explosion earlier when he transformed to kick in the wall. He could, in theory, still pull one off even if it would exhaust him beyond the ability to function afterward. Would that be worth it? Taking out this creature right here, right now? Would they ever get a better chance than this?
He tried not to think about how many in the 104th he'd be killing if he did that. Connie, Jean, Sasha, Mikasa, Armin, Marco, Ymir. All wiped away in the blink of an eye.
Bertolt stiffened, trembling eyes looking upon his left. The neighboring head was looking sidelong, directly at him. Bertolt couldn't help but wonder: Did it know? What he was? What all three of them were?
Drei released his gaze on Bertolt, allowing the tall male to relax.
[[[I remember him. Sleeps weird.]]]
[Skittish, like Armin, but without the brains.]
[[We're bigger than Titans, of course they're skittish.]]
[[[Careful. I think more Titans are coming this way.]]]
The trio of heads peered out, watching as the Jaw Titan leaped over rooftops and through streets, nearly fully healed herself. Eins and Zwei didn't see any more Titans, but they understood what Drei meant. They could smell them, sense them all almost. There were definitely more Titans nearby.
[[If more Titans show up before I heal, we won't be able to protect the girl.]]
[[[But...]]]
[[Is she even still alive in there?]]
[Yes.]
[[[Can't we just set her down?]]]
[If we do, that bastard is going to take a bite out of one of us.]
[[And it's not like we can just ask someone to take.]]
[[[...Actually, I think we can.]]]
Zwei winced with his drooping head, forcing himself to follow Drei's gaze. It was hard to focus past the rush of soldiers in the air, but he'd notice her anywhere.
Mikasa was staring right at them, or rather, at Eins. And she did not look at all malicious. Eins met her gaze and the Ackerman froze as they held one another's stare. The beast slowly nodded, and Mikasa matched the motion.
"Dammit, why can't we hit her!?" Connie yelled, landing on the roof with the Jaw Titan already well away.
"She's really fast, even when her hand was injured," Jean said with a scowl. "Every time we get close to hitting her, she turns in an instant. And she knows our trajectory because of the cables."
Training for Titans didn't involve training them for targets that would dodge. The worst was abnormals who moved unpredictably, but even they didn't seem to be intentionally avoiding attacks. This one though was obviously predicting their movements.
"Yeah, but..." Sasha paused with them. "Why hasn't she tried to kill anyone but Trips?"
The three grew uncomfortable at that, remembering what they had seen just before the Titan appeared. How the figure engulfed by the light appeared to be a human, a soldier even.
'If it's a soldier, that means they've been hiding among us for a while,' Armin thought with a confused scowl as he followed after the Jaw Titan, watching others try and fail to attack it. 'But if they were with the Armor and Colossal, why aren't they attacking us? And where is the Armor? Could this one...not be aligned with them?'
"You...BASTARD!"
The words flashed in his mind. He couldn't place the voice when it screamed like that, but...if he heard that right... 'If it was an emotional reaction, the only cause could be...' he paused before glancing back to the golden beast, the rightmost head keeping its maw closed. 'But if it was reacting to Krista being eaten, then wouldn't that mean this Titan is actually...?'
Ymir was just short of seeing red. The three were guarding the golden monster. She knew what they were, where they were from. And they obviously remembered her from her days as a Pure Titan. They wanted this Titan power back; there was no doubt about that. She was fucked no matter what. Either she died, got taken back to Marley to be eaten, or taken prisoner by the people of the walls. Fine, she didn't care anymore. Just as long as this thing paid before she was done.
And if those three tried to stop her? Well, she felt like she owed them a bit for killing their friend, even if she had no control of it. That said, if they got in her way, she'd push at least one of them into transforming before she went down, blow their cover and all.
With that set in her mind, she made another dash at the beast. If going upfront or from the sides wouldn't work, she'd just take it from another angle.
"Oh, shit, it's crawling on the Walls!" a soldier yelled as Ymir used her claws to scale and leap across the Walls.
"Trying to escape?" Reiner muttered to himself, trying to steady himself as the three-headed creature began to turn, the head he was on shaking "lightly" back and forth. Reiner took that as his prompt to get off. "Bertolt, Annie, give him some room to move!"
"Obviously," Annie stated, eyeing the tails as she began to ascend the wall, in an attempt to intercept the Jaw Titan.
They were disappointed but unsurprised as the Jaw Titan leapt off the wall and out of their path, heading for the golden beast once more.
Ymir roared, sounding less human than her Titan already did, as she closed in on her enemy.
She froze, however, as Eins opened his mouth and leaned his head down.
Time stopped for Ymir, seeing the unconscious form of Krista held in the tongue of the giant reptile. And, to Ymir's eyes, there wasn't a scratch on her. Those fangs had not caused a drop of blood to fall from her body. Ymir could even see Krista was breathing.
Ymir gritted her teeth, her real teeth as she finally understood.
"Shit!" she cursed as she tried to find a way out of this-
But not before losing both of her legs to Mikasa.
"Shit, shit, shit, shit! You idiot!" Ymir screamed to herself as she came tumbling to a halt before the beast and realized that Krista had never been in danger from this creature. That it had been trying to save her, not eat her.
She exposed herself, sacrificed the life she had retaken, for nothing.
Mikasa didn't stop upon taking the limbs off the Titan, aiming her cables up to hook into the snout of Eins. The right head grunted but kept his maw open as Mikasa ascended, carefully and gingerly taking the smaller and now-slimy soldier from the tongue of the beast. Mikasa paused for half an instant, confirming that Krista was indeed breathing, before looking up at the green eye watching her. An eye that was painfully similar to Eren's. She said nothing, giving a firm nod before flying off.
Drei growled out an acknowledgment to Mikasa before he and Eins turned their attention fully on the small Titan.
Ymir laid there as each head reached out and snapped their jaws on her arms. And for that moment, she could not find the will again to fight.
The humans watched on in uncertain fascination. Should they do anything? Even Armin was unsure. This Titan could be important and valuable if taken alive…if they could get it to turn back into a human.
But could the golden beast still be reasoned within this state?
Ymir glared emptily as she watched the middle head rise up, the strange muck covering its wounds shredding in a disgusting mess to reveal completely healed scales.
The middle head leveled its gaze onto her, and Ymir knew it was pissed.
"Well?" she asked. She asked with her Titan's mouth no less. She almost laughed at the stunned look the reptile had.
"It can talk...?" Jean muttered in disbelief, similar mutterings going around the humans.
"Ma'am?" Armin called to Rico, a rather frantic look on his face. The female officer looked rather pale from hearing a Titan of all things talk. "Shouldn't we...?"
They didn't have the chance to regather themselves, as Zwei's jaw snapped down on the head of the Jaw Titan. Ymir thrashed and screamed, knowing it would do no good. She heard her Titan's skull pop and shatter, but the fangs never touched her in the nape. What was it doing...?
Eins and Drei wrestled with the arms a bit before ripping both limbs off, leaving the Titan completely amputated of all limbs. With a snort, Zwei whipped his head about to toss her into one of the deep trenches surrounding the gate.
"Damn. He's stuffing all kinds of holes," Reiner joked despite his scowl, hanging along the side of the wall with Annie and Bertolt nearby as well.
"Wait, what just happened?" Connie asked in confusion. "Why didn't Trips eat her?"
"I think he figured out we needed to take that one prisoner," Jean responded idly.
"Oh? He, not It? Jean, are you warming up to Trips?" Sasha teased with a grin.
"He could have swallowed Krista whole but didn't. I'll buy he's on our side after that," he answered, looking around curiously. "Speaking of which, where's Mikasa and Krista?"
The Ackerman in question was atop the wall, Krista unconscious on the battlement. Mikasa stared down, having been prepared to descend into the battle once more, but the fighting was over…for now.
Ymir groaned as she pulled herself free from the nape of her Titan. It was better than having to regrow a leg or arm when they eventually cut her out themselves or had big and yellow do it for them. She didn't know what would happen next, what the government here would try to do with her. Torture her for information? Experiment on her? Maybe just kill her?
She'd deal with that as she had to. For now, she was spent in every way possible. And, she couldn't complain too much. Krista was alive.
"Graaaaa."
Ymir's eyes slowly dilated at the loud crooning sound behind her. Shaking, she turned her head and saw it: another Titan, one that had been thrown down here earlier and forgotten about. It was looking right at her, reaching forth.
She was about to bite her finger, to transform again, when a figure descended into the crevice, slicing the nape of the Titan, which fell dead as it began to turn into smoke.
Ymir's surprise turned to a scowl as she saw her...savior.
"You look disgusting," Annie commented neutrally. "Looks like you have a lot of explaining to do, Ymir."
Ymir smirked dryly. Right, she had almost forgotten, there was also the option that the dogs of Marley got to her first.
Eins, Zwei, and Drei trotted away from the gate, their steps slow and heavy as they peered out over Trost.
[[The hole is closed.]]
[No more Titans near us.]
[[[The humans are safe for now.]]]
[[[[And we are tired...]]]]
The earth rumbled and stones snapped.
Every soldier snapped their head to the dragon as it slumped forth to its knees, and came to rest on its stomach with its massive necks curling to one side.
"Well, that certainly wasn't a death throe," Rico murmured. "Cadet, go up top and tell Ackerman to get down here. We need a team to make sure no Titan wanders onto our sleeping ally."
"Yes, Ma'am," Armin accepted, watching as Rico descended down to the trench to assess the situation with the apparent Titan shifter.
It was surreal to think about: they had their first victory against the Titans, an ally in the form of an intelligent three-headed monster, and a captive that could switch between human and Titan forms. Of all the ways he imagined the breach of Wall Rose playing out, he never would have fathomed two of those instances and barely hoped for the first.
Still, maybe, just maybe, things were turning in humanity's favor.
Meanwhile
It wasn't until dusk that the scouts finally arrived back at Wall Rose. They knew that something amazing must have happened when they saw that not only were Titans unable to get inside the wall around Trost but there was a hole in the wall that had somehow been plugged.
However, this presented Erwin with an issue: they could not get their horses and supplies back in through Trost. They'd have to venture to the district in the west or east. That said, he was not about to leave before knowing the situation. Thus, he sent Levi to assess the situation while the scouts remained far enough from the walls to not catch the attention of the Titans clambering around it. Depending on Levi's word, some would remain at Trost as reinforcements.
It didn't take long for Levi to return on his horse, but it was longer than Erwin expected. "What's the situation?" he asked calmly.
"It went to hell, obviously," Levi answered bluntly. "But things are calm now. No more Titans getting in and most inside are dead or will be soon."
"And just how did they seal the wall?" Hange asked curiously. "Or was I not informed on some new technology we have?"
Levi eyed her for a second before looking back to Erwin. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but they had a friend. A big one."
Erwin's brow furrowed while Hange's eyes lit up. "A Titan?! Are you saying a Titan helped humanity?!" she asked excitedly.
"I don't know if it's a Titan, but it's a big fucker, and they say it closed the breach with a bolder. How it did that with no arms, I'm not sure," Levi answered bluntly.
"No arms?" Hange repeated in bewilderment.
Erwin was equally confused but didn't show it. "We'll head to Karanes District. Hange, you and your squad will remain here to observe and aid with the situation," he ordered.
Hange grinned ecstatically. "Sir, thank you, sir," she said with a salute before turning to gather her underlings.
"You sure that's a good idea, leaving Four Eyes here?" Levi asked idly.
Erwin had a small smile. "Well, it was either this or I let her pester you with questions over our new "ally" you mentioned."
Levi grunted, admittedly glad to be spared of that headache.
End of Chapter
Well, this is long overdue. Sorry for the wait. Had a...lot of IRL issues and writers block for this particualr chapter. But yeah, this chapter wraps up the last of Trost now that Ymir's outburst is finished.
As you can all see, while Erendorah's durability is scaled down as well, it takes more than just the Jaw titan to take him down. That said, our three-headed Yeager is now very tuckered out and taking a nap. Due to everything happening a bit fasterthan canon, the scouts didn't arrive until after the action was over. And in the end, Erendorah won more than a few favors in his effects to keep Krista alive.
Until next time, hope you all enjoyed this. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!
PS Erendorah threw that titan in the crevice back in the last chapter while plugging the hole, which was a set up for that last scene with Ymir and Annie.
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