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From atop Wall Maria, the soldiers had watched the battle in stunned silence. The garrison captain that had initially been wary of Obsidian couldn't help the faint hope bubbling in his guts. "It—It actually hurt it! That crystal thing cracked its armor!" The captain said as he gripped the ramparts, knuckles white. Beside him a young recruit cheered, raising his rifle.
"Hell yeah! Keep going, Obsidian! Kill it!"
"The crystal titan really is on our side!"
"Way to go Obsidian!!!"
They set to work immediately Obsidian called out for them to fire at the armored titan. It didn't really do much, but it was guaranteed distraction as Obsidian began closing in on the nape and leapt to the air. They were actually going to win against the behemoth.
Then; as if time slowed down in real life; the Armored titan's brutal backhand connected. Obsidian's form partly shattered mid-air, small crystalline fragments scattering like broken glass as its body hurtled through buildings, vanishing into a plume of dust and debris.
The cheering died instantly. The commander's eyes widened, horrified at what this implies "...No." He whispered in tremor. Another soldier dropped his grip on a cannon, hands shaking. "It—It just… flung him away like he was nothing."
Many could hear the sound of retching at the back, courtesy to a fellow garrison that couldn't process what they were looking at.
"We're dead. We're all dead."
Any lingering hope they might have had was gone, because Obsidian wasn't getting back up. Hannes hadn't said a word since. He hadn't breathed.
Because he knew.
That wasn't just some monster fighting the Titan.
That was Eren.
Hannes gritted his teeth, his legs already moving to the front. "Damn brat… Damn stubborn brat!" He kicked off the wall, ODM gear hissing as he launched himself toward the wreckage where Obsidian—where Eren—had crashed. Behind him, his fellow garrisons shouted.
"Hannes! What the hell are you doing?!"
"It's over! That thing's gone!"
Hannes didn't stop.
"Like hell he is!" He snarled back as he maneuvered his way to where Eren was.
The Armored Titan stood amidst the ruins, steam curling from its several cracked plating. It didn't roar in victory. It didn't even glance at them nor at the soldier that had leapt away from the wall's top.
It just turned…and stared at the inner gate.
The Garrison commander suddenly understanding what was about to happen, immediately yelled at the soldiers at standby around the inner gate "Oh god—CLOSE THE GATE! NOW!"
_______________
The entire of shinganshina district burned.
Smoke coiled from shattered rooftops, screams choked the air, and the stench of blood and steam clung to the battlefield. The Armored titan stood amidst the wreckage, its massive chest heaving, its one good molten gold eye narrowing as it surveyed the destruction.
Its gaze locked onto the shattered houses where the crystalline creature had crashed through. Dust still hadn't settled. No movement. No resurgence.
Good.
A low, guttural growl rumbled in its throat. That thing had been dangerous. More than dangerous; it had been unpredictable.
The Armored titan flexed its fist, plating armor still cracked from where Obsidian's diamond hammer had struck. Near numbness flared in its knee; the joint dented; the ligaments damaged from the crystal shards still embedded deep.
It remembered the moment the fight had turned.
Obsidian leaping, blades of crystal forming in its hands. Aiming straight for its nape.
A near-fatal strike.
If not for that last desperate backhand, if not for the way Obsidian had crashed against the watchtower, things might have ended differently. The titan plucked a spiked crystal embedded on its face and gazed at the bizarre yet dangerous material in its hold.
Was that another type of titan? A different variant of the 9?
The Armored Titan exhaled, steam hissing between its teeth.
It doesn't matter now. No more distractions.
The inner gate loomed ahead, its massive doors still groaning under the weight of desperate soldiers trying to seal it. Useless. It took a step forward, then another. The damaged knee protested, but the Armored Titan ignored it. It can't stop now. Failure was not an option.
It had a mission.
With a ground-shaking bellow, the Armored Titan charged. A final, thunderous charge.
The ground trembled as it broke into a sprint, ignoring the way its armor creaked, ignoring the distant shouts of soldiers atop the wall.
"FIRE EVERYTHING!"
Cannons boomed. Muskets cracked.
The shots ricocheted off its plating like rain. The Titan didn't slow down, because there wasn't nothing to stop it this time.
Let them scream.
Let them despair.
They deserve it…for they are devils.
The Armored Titan lowered its shoulder, muscles coiling like steel springs, and—
Impact.
CRASH.
Stone exploded. The gate exploded inward, stone shrapnel shredding the air as the force of the collision sent shockwaves through the district. The last barrier between humanity and annihilation—gone.
Mission accomplished.
The Armored Titan stormed through the wreckage, its golden eyes burning. As the dust cleared, the Armored Titan stood victorious, steam rising from its battered frame. It turned one last time, scanning the ruins for any sign of Obsidian.
Nothing.
Good.
But deep down, in the recesses of its consciousness—where the human mind resided beneath the Titan's instincts—a single, unsettling thought echoed:
"What if it comes back?"
The Armored Titan turned away as it let out a dismissive snarl.
There was still work to be done. It still had its comrades to retrieve.
_______________
Hannes landed on a collapsed roof, scanning the rubble for any signs of Eren. Then—there.
On the side of a rooftop not too far away was Eren now reverted to human form, but he was critically injured. But that wasn't even the worst case now, because a titan was about to grab hold of the kid. The same smiling titan from back then.
"Eren!" Immediately he activated his ODM gear, praying to reach there before it is too late.
He didn't see the Armored Titan charge through the gate.
He didn't even hear the gate's hinges screaming as soldiers tried in vain to seal it.
All he saw was the kid who'd just saved them all—lying broken in the ruins. And about to be devoured.
_______________
The Smiling Titan grabbed hold of Eren's limp body, its massive fingers wrapping around his torso like a child gripping a toy. The titan's grip crushed Eren's fractured arm. A wet snap filled the crackled air. White-hot pain exploded in his broken right arm from the earlier throw, the sharp jolt made his vision blur further. He screamed, not just in agony, but in helpless rage.
"Ngh—! Let... go—!" Eren screamed as he choked on his blood. The titan's grotesque smile unhinged as it raised Eren towards its gaping mouth. Its wretched breath made Eren scrunch his nose in disgust at the awful smell. Fear and rage clogged Eren's vision, his hearth beating erratically beneath his rib cage.
Pathetic, is this the way he was going to die? All this power and he would end up dying inside the mouth of a fucking titan?
"Tch—!"
'At least…I was able to do some good…' Eren thought sadly, his body near inches towards the smiling titan's mouth.
"Forgive me mum, it seems I won't be making it out of this one alive."
Then, something strange happened.
The Omnitrix on his wrist sparked violently, emitting a pulsating green light that bathed the titan's face. A pulse of green energy radiated through Eren's body, and for a moment; just a moment; everything stopped. The world fell away. The titan's massive, grinning face seemed to freeze in time. A low, distorted hum echoed in his ears. The device vibrated violently, and Eren's eyes widened as a surge of unfamiliar sensations flooded his mind. And then he heard it.
Whispers...
A cacophony of voices echoed in his consciousness, fragmented and distorted. Twisted, ancient, yet… familiar. Words didn't form properly, but feelings did. Pain. Hunger. Loneliness. Rage. Recognition. Among them, a singular, haunting voice stood out. A chilling whisper that seemed to emanate directly from the Titan itself.
"So much pain... so much rage... I remember..."
Eren's breath caught in his throat. "Wh-what… was that?"
Was the Titan... speaking?
For a split second, the Titan's roar morphs into something else. A guttural, almost human voice echoing in his skull.
"F̷R̸E̴E̸̸U̷S̶."
Eren's eyes nearly bulged out from the sockets. "You—!?"
The Omnitrix flared again, almost as if in distress. The Omnitrix's glow intensified, scanning the titan's face, green rings spinning and glitching erratically. Somewhere in its core, it was struggling; trying; to understand, to fix something broken. Symbols flashed rapidly across its interface, as if attempting to decode or repair corrupted genetic data. The device beeped erratically, caught between functions.
All of a sudden, the omnitrix spoke in an alienated voice. "Scanning... anomalous lifeform... DNA corruption detected."
"W-What...?" Eren said in confusion, his head getting dizzy from blood loss. Before he could process more, reality snapped back into motion. The titan squeezed harder, ribs cracking…until a blade slashed across its fingers. With it accompanied a familiar voice piercing through the chaos.
EREN!!!"
Hannes lunged in, face twisted in fury and fear, gas canisters hissing as he darted around the titan with reckless speed. With precision honed by years of experience, he slashed at the Titan's hand, forcing it to release its grip. Eren plummeted, but Hannes caught him mid-air, redirecting their trajectory to a nearby rooftop.
They landed hard, Eren gasping for breath, his vision blurred. Blood poured from his facial wound and arm, staining both their clothes. "Eren! Hang on, damn it!", Hannes urged, checking Eren's injuries. "You're gonna be okay."
Hannes didn't hesitate. He bolted, maneuvering between ruined buildings and collapsing rubble, desperate to get Eren somewhere safe. Eren's head lolled against his shoulder, his vision darkening fast.
"H-Hannes...", Eren slurred out with great effort as he felt himself fading, "the Titan... it talked—"
"Eren titans don't talk. You should be resting." Hannes insisted as he led them out of the vicinity. A grim expression was portrayed on Hannes' face. "He's hallucinating. Kid's Lost too much blood."
Eren tried to respond, but his strength waned. Just before unconsciousness took him, he looked back—just for a second. And he caught a final, horrifying sight.
The Smiling Titan was watching them flee. Its face… twisted into something more grotesque than a smile. The titan's head cocked to the side, its hollow eyes tracking them. It brought its palm to its mouth. Slowly, its horrific tongue drags across the palm, stained crimson—licking up Eren's blood. Its tongue flicked out to taste the crimson fluid, to taste Eren's blood.
And then… it smiled wider. The grotesque grin spread across its face; eyes gleaming with a sinister light. Eren's world was fading slowly, the image seared into his mind.
And then, darkness took him.
_______________
"So much pain... so much rage... I remember..."
The smiling titan brought its blood stained hand to its mouth, licking off the crimson substance smeared on its palm. A grotesque smile stared straight into his soul.
"F̷R̸E̴E̸̸U̷S̶."
Eren awoke with a sharp gasp, his body jerking upright, only to fall back against the bedding from the pain that flared through his right arm. "You're awake!" A familiar voice broke through, soft but strained. Mikasa was at his side in a second, eyes glassy from the tears she refused to shed. She wasn't the only one with him. Armin was nearby, his expression a mixture of relief and concern.
Eren's head felt like a mess, pain flaring through both sides of his face. He reached his hand to feel a fabric placed around his mouth side. He can't remember…
"Mikasa, Armin…where-"
"You passed out after Hannes brought you back," Armin explained. "Your arm was... crushed. They managed to reset it, but—Eren, you nearly died."
That was when everything came crashing down. His fight with the armored titan, his near death experience, the smiling titan, Mom-
"Where's mom?!" Eren asked with a panicked voice, ignoring the way how his bandages jostled. If not for the combined effort of Mikasa and Armin, Eren would have definitely gotten up in his poor condition. "Aunt Carla is fine. She's taking medical treatment closeby." Mikasa replied, but Eren wasn't convinced enough to be calm.
"But I saw-!"
"Eren! You have to calm down for a minute, you are safe!" Armin's insistence was finally able to make Eren stop struggling, as he slumped back on the bed he was lying on. A wince formed from his jostling his broken right arm.
"Where…Where are we exactly?" Eren said, his voice dulled and gruff from straining.
"In Wall Rose, in the refugee medical bay exactly." Armin explained. The trio were in a makeshift field tent, the kind set up outside Wall Rose for the wounded. The dull murmur of voices and the rustling of canvas filled the air. Eren's green eyes dulled slightly at what this meant.
"I see…" That was all Eren said, making his two friends worried at his melancholic tone. But this all meant one thing for Eren.
He had failed to protect his hometown.
He was able to save his mother, but not his home.
Eren's fist curled in frustration and deep helplessness. Eren barely heard them. His head was spinning, not from pain, but from what he had seen—heard.
That Titan.
That smile.
The device on his wrist.
He slowly turned his gaze to the green device on his left wrist. It looked... different. Burnt marks surrounded the core. The center flickered with erratic pulses, like it was trying to reboot or was stuck in a loop.
He pressed the core, hoping for one of his transformations—Inferno, Titanfist, anything—but instead, the dial stayed static. Then, just faintly, a holographic burst blinked across his eyes:
"DNA Corruption detected previously. Attempted repair... anomaly found... Origin: Xerxathi."
His breath caught in his throat.
"Eren?" Mikasa leaned closer, noticing his reaction.
"I... I heard it," he said, voice low. "The Titan. When it grabbed me... this device—it reacted. Like it was scanning it. Like..." His brows furrowed. "Like it remembered something."
Armin's eyes widened. "Mr Hannes told us you had a near encounter with a titan. Is that what you're talking about?" A nod from his friend confirmed his assumption. "But that doesn't make any sense. Titans don't remember things, unless-"
"They are sentient beings." Eren completed. Mikasa and Armin's eyes widened. "Eren, you don't mean…Titans are sentient creatures?"
Eren's gaze fell. "I don't just think it…I felt it." But this was only raising more questions. The brunette's gaze settled on the mysterious device clamped to his wrist for nearly a year now.
"...Who's... us...?"
_______________
Meanwhile; far from the burning ruins of Shiganshina; just beyond the Reiss family chapel in wall Sina; deep within a forest's thick veil of mist and trees, two figures stumbled to a halt. The air is thick with the scent of pine and damp earth. Moonlight filters through the trees, casting jagged shadows over two figures; one kneeling in exhaustion, the other standing with an eerie stillness.
Grisha Yeager's heart hammered in his ears as he leaned heavily against a mossy tree trunk, his breaths ragged and uneven. Sweat and blood matted his hair to his forehead, his glasses cracked and askew on his nose. His hands were trembling, not entirely from exertion, but from the sheer whiplash of what had just occurred in the Reiss Chapel; the moment that had nearly broken him. He clutched the satchel containing the serum tightly, knuckles white as the chapel's destruction smolders in the distance.
Grisha glanced sideways.
Beside him stood the figure who had appeared out of nowhere, intercepting him within the Reiss chapel. Who had stopped him. The man was tall, broader than he should be for his apparent age, his stance radiating a quiet, lethal strength, unbothered by the night chill. His clothes were foreign, practical for war yet oddly anachronistic. Along side that he was wearing a cloak, obscuring most of his face. Other than that, he had been silent since they fled, merely guiding Grisha through shadowed paths like a phantom.
Now, in the deadened stillness of the forest, Grisha wiped the sweat from his brow, forcing his mind to focus through the panic. "You…" he rasped, voice hoarse. "Why… Why did you stop me from taking the Founding Titan?" He struggled to stand straighter, anger and confusion bubbling beneath his chest. "What are you even doing here?!"
"And why…" Grisha's voice faltered slightly, emotion creeping in, "...why did you save me?" A long silence stretched between them, broken only by the distant cry of birds and the whisper of the wind through the trees. The figure didn't answer immediately. Instead, he finally lowered his hood. The moonlight cut through the darkness, illuminating him clearly for the first time.
Grisha's breath hitched.
The man-no-boy's long hair was damp from the night's mist, strands sticking to his cheeks and forehead, the rest falling around his sharp features. His face was worn—older, more haunted than it should be—etched with pain and ironclad resolve far beyond his years. His jacket was ripped and stained, the faint symbol of the wings of freedom barely visible anymore on the frayed fabric. But it was the boy's eyes that made Grisha freeze.
A piercing, impossible shade of turquoise, glowing faintly in the dark like twin beacons.
Eyes full of sorrow. Full of fury. Full of resignation.
Eyes that mirrored his own son's, were staring right through his soul.
Grisha's heart stuttered violently in his chest. His mouth went dry.
No.
It couldn't be.
The boy's—Eren's—eyes stayed locked on his father's, unblinking. "You already know." He said in a calm manner.
"...Eren," Grisha breathed, barely above a whisper, terror and awe threading his voice.
The figure's glowing gaze still remained locked onto him, unblinking, unrelenting, as if daring him to ask the real question neither of them was ready to face.
The forest wind howled between them, carrying away any words left unsaid.
Chapter 7-11 already available on Patreon.com/Weeb Fanthom.