Chapter 20

Krista coughed as she pulled herself off the ground. The entire ground felt like it had jumped out from under her before a great rush of dust and wind swept through the city. "W-what, gah, was that?!"

"Damn, sounds like the big bastard showed up," Kenny remarked as he slapped the dust off his hat before putting it back on his head.

"Who?" Krista asked, standing up and looking at her apparent guardian. She caught his grim expression as he stared upwards. She followed his gaze and felt something sink into her gut.

The Colossal Titan. She could only see the silhouette through the cloud, but it could be no other foe. She knew no other Titan that tall.

All at once, she started running back to the square, until Kenny snatched her hand.

"Hold up! Yer just goin get yourself killed, runnin off like that!" Kenny reprimanded as he held her firmly.

"Let me go! I have to know what's going on!" Krista yelled as she tried to pull herself free.

Kenny groaned and shook his head. "Don't be stupid! Quit strugglin so much or I'll-"

"You'll what? Slit my throat like you did my mother's?" Krista asked pointedly.

Silence overcame them for an instance.

Kenny frowned at her. "Ya know, most say that to me a bit more spitefully."

"Yes, well, most don't have a mother that was trying to kill them at the time," Krista retorted hotly.

"Yeah, keepin you alive seems to be a repeat job of mine," Kenny remarked with an eye roll. "And I can't let you just-OW!"

Kenny let Krista go from a sudden pain, allowing Krista to pull free and run off.

"Damn little bitch bit me!" Kenny cursed, smirking as he shook his injured hand and ran after her. "Fiery little sister ya got, Frieda."

Krista kept running, ignoring the burning in her lungs and the apprehension filling her stomach as she drew closer and closer to the square again, the Colossal looming ever taller from her point of view.

Meanwhile

The world was mute to Mikasa, numb almost, as she pulled herself off the roof where she had landed. She reached up to touch her forehead and found a bit of blood staining her hand. Not much. It was just a scratch, nothing serious. Assuming she didn't have a concussion.

What had happened? Something...new showed up, attacking the Shifters. Armin got free from Bertholdt. She had flown near to him, in case he was injured and crashed. But then there was the sound of something buzzing in the air, a bright light, and then she was hurled across the rooves.

Armin, where was he?

She blinked, realizing he was right next to her. There was a wound on his neck, but it wasn't bleeding now. And he was...speaking to her?

"-Mikasa!? Mikasa, can you hear me?!" Armin's voice suddenly flooded her ears.

"...I'm alright. I think," Mikasa answered, calm but confused as she looked around, stopping as she became aware of the giant figure looming over the city. Everything came together now. "Bertholdt. He transformed."

Armin gave a pained nod to her numb recollection. "Yeah. Thought we were all going to be swallowed by the blast, but the explosion from his transformation seemed to...implode, for some reason."

Mikasa barely registered what he said as she looked over Trost, but could see nothing through the thick fog. It was quiet though…too quiet.

Until it wasn't.

Cannons along the walls began to fire at the Colossal Titan, aiming for the nape. The foe slowly but surely turned to face the attackers, ready to destroy the defenses once more.

Armin gritted his teeth, knowing that Bertholdt might just open the breach again. And they might not have a way to stop him, not without-

"Where's Eren?"

The words left Mikasa's mouth before she even registered them. Her feet began running soon after.

"Mikasa, wait!" Armin called after, following her as they traveled closer to the Colossal, where it had appeared.

Mikasa felt the pounding in her head again, a strange numbness over her body, everything playing over and over again in her mind, from when she had first laid eyes on Eren's new golden form, to the last instant she saw him glaring down at Bertholdt mere moments ago.

This couldn't be happening again, not so soon, not after she got him back!

Before she even realized it, she was standing on the broken end of a roof, the building half destroyed and annihilated by the Colossal's transformation. She stared down, through the ash and dust as she saw a horrifically familiar shape of a body with no arms and three necks.

Eren's form was collapsed in the crater, motionless. Steam and heat radiated off the golden scales...and at the end of each neck was a stump. Each head was eviscerated, with nothing to remain and even the wounds had been cauterized. There was no movement, no sign of regeneration…just stillness.

Lifeless.

Dead.

Gone.

"No. No, no, not again," Mikasa whispered, her eyes intense. "Eren..."

A loud thunderclap rang out behind her. The sound of a Titan transformation, she now knew. She ignored it; just as she ignored Armin calling out for her to move, to snap out of it. She ignored everything as she tried to comprehend the reality in front of her.

The shifters had killed Eren. They took him away from her.

She gripped the handles so hard, anyone else's hands would be bleeding. She turned, seeing Reiner's outstretched hand inching closer, to crush her before she overcame her shock.

But it was far too late for that.

Reiner inhaled sharply as Mikasa vanished, sparks forming up his arms as she reappeared in his face, Stabbing Her Sword Into His Eye!

It broke on impact, shattering against the protective lens. But the sight of Mikasa ferociously stabbing her broken blade against his eye was truly something out of a nightmare for Reiner.

Regaining his nerve, he reached up to swat her away, Mikasa dodging at the last second.

"Where is she? Where's she go?" Reiner asked, looking around in all directions. A spray of blood erupted from over his shoulder.

He scowled. Mikasa was attacking the gaps between his armor, but she couldn't do any true damage. Nothing important was where she could strike, and he would regenerate before the damage became a problem. That didn't make it any less annoying.

Distracted by the Ackerman, he had no chance of noticing as Hange stood before the headless corpse with an unreadable expression.

"Is that really it for you?" Hange whispered, reaching out to place a hand on the golden scales. She couldn't feel any heat coming off them, so it should be safe to-

The earth screamed with endless, starving voices.

The skies filled with screeching wings of lightning.

Mountains rose to do battle, from the heavens to the depths.

The Seas roared to challenge the Heavens, and the Heavens answered.

And all was torn asunder by their clash.

Hange recoiled, her hand jerking away. "What...was that?" she whispered in shock, sweat forming on her brow as she tried desperately to latch onto the images that passed through her head. They were scattered, almost incomprehensible.

"Be careful, Hange Zoe."

She instantly had a sword pointed at the voice, seeing the figure of Frieda Reiss, walking out of the dust cloud with her walking stick.

"He might hurt you," Frieda warned ominously.

Hange didn't lower her weapon, narrowing her eyes. "You know exactly what's going on, don't you?"

Frieda didn't say anything, nor did she deny it.

"Eren's not dead, is he?" Hange stated suspiciously.

Frieda glanced at the golden form for a moment before shaking her head. "No, it's not nearly that easy to slay Him."

Hange breathed deeply for a moment. If that was true, this injury was still obviously too much for Eren to just shrug off and regrow his heads. "What do we need to do?" Hange asked pointedly.

Frieda hummed, ignoring the sounds of battle around them. "I can help him."

Hange eyed her. "The catch?" she asked, knowing she would have done it already otherwise.

"No catch," Frieda denied with a shake of the head. "Just a problem. He'll wake up."

Hange furrowed her brows. "How is that a problem?"

Frieda gained an empty look in her eyes, her expression hollowed with her gaze drifting high to the dark clouds gathering overhead. "It is time," Frieda said, turning to step closer to the gilded hide.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Hange asked warily, sword still pointed at the noble.

Frieda turned to her with an expression that was almost...apologetic? Unsure? Something sad was in that gaze, something that Hange couldn't read. "You'll want to move away. It's about to be very dangerous here," Frieda said, holding up her right, crippled arm and pulling back the sleeve.

Hange narrowed her eyes as she saw the scars all up and down the arm. Not scars from a blade or blunt instrument. No, these scars formed fern-like patterns, curling and branching out so that barely an inch of the limb didn't have a mark upon it. One might mistake it for an intricate, stylized tattoo of a tree and its branches. But Hange had only seen scars like that from one thing.

When someone survived being struck by lightning.

Hange inhaled, feeling...something filling the air as Frieda's hand moved to touch those golden scales. Every instinct in Hange's body told her that, right here and now, she was far too close.

With that, she used her ODM gear to put some distance between herself and this spot.

Just as Frieda made contact.

Meanwhile

Burning. Burning. Burning.

But he did not burn as all around him was scorched and ashen.

What had happened? What had he been doing?

He pulled himself up, his three heads shaking free of the dust. All around him was smoldered and melted, the air heavy with steam and dust.

A battle; He had been in a great battle. And then, the burning came. It hurt, a deep and harsh pain, but it was not enough to stop him.

Nothing was enough to stop him. Only slow him, stall him, delay him.

The winds turned, and the air cleared to reveal the world.

Beneath the rumbling heavens and the harsh rain, the dead littered the battlefield; corpses of all shapes and forms, mutilated and destroyed. The mighty and the weak, all had fallen.

All had fallen to the Golden Demise or fled to escape, as all others that had dared to stand against him.

The ground shook. Again, and again the ground shook.

The Earth quaked with footsteps, the air filling with that accursed scent of salt and power.

He was coming.

He was not like the others.

He was the rival, the defiant, the mightiest of this world.

Three mighty heads turned, looking into the thinning mist of ash, and saw the shadow of his foe.

Lightning cackled in the skies, the winds tore the very land asunder, and power rippled in his chest as he reared his body back in a display of power.

And through the mist of war, he saw his hated foe, illuminate by a vile blue glow.

Meanwhile

Bertholdt forced a stream of smoke to erupt from his body, stopping another attempted attack at his neck. He had managed to destroy most of the cannons, but that didn't stop the soldiers from trying to target his nape on their own. One, in particular, was Captain Levi of the Scouts. He made Bertholdt especially nervous, having been fast enough to get his blades in the flesh before being sent away with the steam. That would have incapacitated most enemies, the burns from the heat, but the captain just seemed to ignore any and all pain.

What could he do though? The only option that seemed left was to reopen the breach so that he and the others could escape in the confusion. But there weren't many Titans immediately outside Trost, if any at all. Then again, that gave them a good chance to escape, assuming no one tried to pursue them too far outside the wall.

He had to hold out a bit longer though, let Reiner make sure that Eren was truly dead. Maybe capture Ymir, but he doubted it. All he knew was that the moment he kicked in the breach, his comrades would know that was the signal to escape.

They just had to pray that no more monsters showed-

Behind him, lightning erupted into the sky. Not from the sky, into it. A pillar of thunderbolts erupted, striking up to the clouds above.

Levi scowled as he landed on the wall, watching the light show. "What now?" he asked himself, eyeing the source of the phenomenon.

Eren's presumed corpse.

The tails snapped into a house.

"Eren?" Mikasa whispered in disbelief, landing on a roof.

"You got to be kidding me," Reiner said through gritted teeth as he stared through the smoke.

The headless body twitch and spasmed, awkwardly stumbling to its feet, tails and necks swishing all about mindlessly. The entire form convulsed in a violent fashion, orange goo oozing from the necks, electricity dancing across the scales before, suddenly-

With a strangled screech of a roar, three malformed and undersized heads forced their way out of the wounds. With every second, they grew larger and corrected their forms, already snarling for blood and battle.

"Oh no you don't!" Reiner yelled as he raced to attack before Eren could finish healing, ready to barrel into him and rip the heads off with his own hands if he had to.

"Eren, look out!" Armin called from the rooftop, other voices joining in. But he had no idea if Eren could even hear yet, let alone-

With a mighty swing of both tails, Reiner was sent crashing into the half-destroyed building. Armin quickly vacated the perch as the Armored Titan's form quickly destroyed what was left of it.

"He got him!" Marco called out in relief.

"Yeah, he did," Jean said with a narrowed look, watching as the form of Eren's three new heads stood there, coiled and turning towards the Armor Titan with a distinctly predatory stance about him. "Why do I have a bad feeling then...?"

"Dammit," Reiner muttered as he pulled himself out of the wreckage, about to stand when-

He froze, seeing the heads looming over him, a shadow over all three visages. Had...had Eren gotten bigger, somehow?

He didn't have time to contemplate that as the ground rumbled. Eren looked up, just as a giant red hand came down upon him, fingers closing around him.

It unnerved Reiner, seeing how little of a reaction that garnered from his golden foe, even as the first lifted him from the ground.

"That's enough, Eren," Bertholdt growled out, more pleading, more desperate than angry as he squeezed his Titan's fist. "Just stop! There's no point in fighting any-!"

Bertholdt stopped as he felt the form in his hand not only resisting his hand's crushing force but actually pushing back against it!

Then, with a terrible screech, lighting erupted in all directions from the hand of the Colossal Titan, the severed digits and blood raining down from the skies. With them fell the golden reptile, roaring as it fell to Earth.

And all the while, the Colossal Titan screamed, actually screamed in pain as it clutched its ruined hand.

"What the hell?!" Reiner cursed, more alarmed by that than the lightning. Shifters didn't feel pain from injuries to their Titans, so what was going on?

He didn't have time to wonder, as at that moment the three-headed beast landed feet first with a loud and crackling rumble in the ground. With three sets of roars, Reiner found himself being charged once more by his foe. Having no other alternative, he decided to meet the attack head-on. Literally.

The two giants sped towards one another, the impact causing a shockwave to wash over all the spectators.

Reiner had raised both fists to strike at his foe, but he found his strikes countered. By of all things, the jaws of the side-heads, both biting onto his fists and wrestling with them as if they were hands rather than mouths. The strength of the jaws was so strong; he could feel the armor in his hands starting to crack.

"Dammit, Eren," Reiner murmured, raising his head to meet the gaze of the middle head.

His eyes widened in astonishment and fright.

Eren's eyes were no longer the same intense green. They were now a hellish, burning shade of red and orange. As if there was an inferno of madness within those orbs…madness, and hatred.

The middle mouth shot down onto his shoulder, latching on with fangs sinking into his armor. All three heads heaved up, pulling his entire form off the ground briefly and slamming him into the stone ground. He tried to kick and twist himself loose, but it did no good, the lizard pushing and dragging his form against the pavement before holding him against it tightly.

Reiner grunted as he felt it. Actually, truly felt it. Despite it happening to his titan, he felt as though it was his real shoulder being gnarled by the teeth. But that was impossible; shifters didn't experience the pain of their titans. So why did it hurt so damn much!? Why was something starting to burn within him, deep in his spine?!

"What's he doing...?" Armin asked, seeing Eren's chest and neck glow. Almost looked like something was being absorbed from Reiner, with the way the lights pulsed down the throats, akin to swallowing.

Armin started as a shadow passed over him.

"Eren, watch out!" Mikasa called out.

"Look up, you idiot!" Jean screamed.

"The big bastards coming for you!" Connie bellowed.

Eren didn't react to their cries at all, not even as the Colossal loomed over him.

Reiner watched as Bertholdt lifted one of his mighty feet, to bring it down on the three-headed beast. Only now did Eren acknowledge the larger enemy, releasing Reiner to hiss and glare up at the offending Titan. Reiner gathered his strength and half-leaped, half-crawled away to avoid Bertholdt's strike.

There was no way that Eren could just shrug off an impact like that, right? Reiner hoped not, but as he watched over his shoulder, the lack of reaction concerned him.

He narrowed his eyes as he realized that, under the shadow of the Colossal, Eren seemed to be...glowing? A light was forming in his chest and neck. But why?

He didn't have to wonder for long.

Just as the colossal foot came crashing down, the three heads opened their mouths.

From their jaws, a bright and golden death came forth in the form of lightning. It shot through the Colossal's mighty form, the bolt piercing through the foot and exiting out near the knee. With only one leg working and a great bellow of pain, the mighty Colossal Titan fell backward, slumping against the Walls.

"Did Eren just..." Connie whispered, staring on in awe.

"He beat the Colossal!" Sasha cried out as cheers began to be heard around the town.

"Don't get cocky. We still need to get down there and capture him!" Levi ordered, eyeing the battlefield briefly. "Where is our Titan though?"

Meanwhile

Ymir groaned as she awoke, feeling like she had just been rolled over by a starving Sasha running to the mess hall. What had happened? The trial, chained up with Krista in non-fun ways, the scaly bastard is Eren because of course he is, old guy shot their cuffs off, and- Right, she had been flung away by the explosion of the Colossal.

She was still alive though, and still in her Titan. That was...not a bad sign, at least. She took a breath, refocusing on her connection to her Titan, seeing through its gaze once more.

Her Titan had landed in a narrow street, practically an alley far from the battle. Not too surprising. Her Titan was small, and Titans were light to begin with. She just hoped no one up top blasted her the moment she started moving.

She came to a stop as the sound of wood snapping came to her ears, followed by something...more organic, to say the least; The sound of something munching on something else. In her experience, that wasn't good, that meant Titans, pure Titans. Had the wall been breached again?

Still, if it wasn't aware of her, she could get the drop on it without any fuss. With that in mind, she climbed up the side of the building to get sight of her foe.

Only it wasn't a foe, or she hoped not at least.

It was the strange creature that had climbed over the walls, seemingly from nowhere, just to aid her and Eren against the Marlayeans. She was pretty sure she even heard "Marley" but that might be the concussion talking. They had fallen nearby one another, apparently.

More importantly, it was eating something. That "something" wasn't human, but by the golden shine she saw as it gobbled the pieces up, she was pretty sure it was eating chunks of flesh ripped off from Eren at some point.

"Finally awake?"

She started at the voice, the tone tired and wary as the elongated head turned in her direction. "Ally?" she gargled out.

"I saw you with Yeager, so I assume you're not with the dogs," he answered gruffly, a long tongue snapping out to pull in more chunks. "Otherwise, I would be eating you instead of these."

Ymir appreciated that. She really, really did. "Why eat?"

"I'm resisting the urge to eat everyone and everything right now," he explained with a groan. "This'll do for now."

Ymir frowned though. Eat a Titan? How could that be filling, they just dissolved, right?

The creature cocked its head as Ymir pulled herself free from her nape. "Would this help any?" Ymir called, pointing to her own Titan body.

"...You serious?" he asked incredulously.

"Yeah, I got another left in me. And I think you're worth more in a fight than a spare transformation," Ymir explained with a smirk.

He stared at her for a moment before doing the most human thing possible. He chuckled. "I appreciate the offer, but save that for saving your skin if you need it."

Ymir nodded, glancing over her shoulder. She could see the Colossal Titan propped against a wall, and she could hear familiar roars in the distance. "Looks like that blast didn't slow that scaly bastard of ours down," she mused in relief. Fighting the other shifters without Eren would be hard enough, let alone the big guy himself. "So, um, what do I call...whatever your freaky ass is?"

He snorted at her question. "There isn't a word for what I am, I think. Just call me a Crawler," he answered with his version of a shrug, his entire body and tail jerking with the motion. "As for a name, you first, what's yours?"

"Ymir," she answered, eyeing the creature as it crawled up on the roof as well.

The Crawler stopped and looked right at her. "Seriously?"

"Didn't pick the name, just decided to live with it," she answered bluntly. "Though, you knowing that raises a lot of questions though."

"What, did Yeager not tell you people anything?" he asked in annoyance.

Ymir raised an eyebrow. Did Eren know something she didn't? That'd raise a lot more questions if so. "No, but let's start with your name."

"Name's Grice," he answered, flexing his muscles as he readied to race back to the battle. "Now come on, let's make sure Yeager hasn't bitten off more than he can chew."

Meanwhile

When Kenny caught up to Krista, he found her prompt against a building, half sunk to the ground. "What, tired already?" Kenny asked with a dry smirk.

Her lack of answer concerned him. The blond was leaning over, hands on either side of her head, taking deep and labored breaths.

"Kid, what's wrong?" Kenny asked, placing a hand on her shoulder.

Her head snapped up, looking at him with wide, unblinking eyes.

"You can't hear that?!" Krista asked, her voice shuddering.

Kenny cocked an eyebrow. "I can hear'em fighting, same as you."

Krista shook her head forcefully. "Not that, HIM! Eren! You can't...hear him!?"

Kenny frowned. "No, that's not something I can do. What's he sayin?"

Krista shivered, unable to answer as she covered her ears in a futile effort to block it out. To block him out.

Because he wasn't saying anything. He was roaring. And in that roar, Krista could hear so, so many terrible, unnamable desires.

Krista inhaled, slowly looking back up at Kenny. "...What IS he!?"

Kenny frowned. "Your sister would be the one to ask about that."

"...What sister?" Krista asked, blinking. "Wait, do you mean...the girl from my dreams?"

"Probably, knowing her," Kenny answered with a shrug. "Now come on. It's not safe here."

End of Chapter

Well, I think you all know what, or rather, WHO just happened. Won't say much more than that. Also, yes, the Crawler's name is Grice and yes, Krista's past is the same up until a certain point. You're probably all beginning to see some pieces line up by this point.

Also, I feel the need to thank you all. THis fic has 700 reviews now! And over 1.5K in followers and favs! I honestly never thought my Ghidorah-Eren fic would be this popular, but thank you all the same!

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