Chapter Text
A soldier amongst Trost gritted his teeth as he zipped over streets, avoiding a ten meter titan chasing him. An Abnormal at that, running in an almost ape-like fashion with its legs and right arm, the left reaching up to him in hopes of snatching him out of the sky, its face possessing a large underbite.
'Dammit! Just got to make it to that clock tower and use it to get over a few buildings, put some distance between me and it,'he thought, forcing down the terror caused by his grinning predator.
He blinked in confusion as he zoomed past an intersection, a flash of gold out of the corner of his eyes and a great crash resonating behind him. He came to a stop, propped against a wall before looking back. His eyes dilated in fright at the sight; There was no titan there, but just passing the corner was the end of two very large...he could only call them tails, both with spiked endings that reminded him of a mace.
"What the hell was that?" he whispered in fear, before he heard something like a laugh. He turned just in time to see the hand of a titan grabbing him.
The scene repeated. Soldiers facing or fleeing from titans suddenly found their foes vanished and vanquished. Most found only the rapidly vanishing corpses and skeletons of the titans, but some spotted...something else.
The tips of two tails, the golden blur, the slash of claws, a burst of blood.
Any that thought they saw a head to the entity only had one universal thought: Too many horns, too many teeth.
[Kill...]
[[Rip.]]
[[[Eat...!]]]
Those thoughts, those desires rushed through all of their minds as they sped through the streets, heads low. Eins snapped at a tiny titan, biting its head and neck off before it could even think to jump. Zwei growled as they leapt at a medium-sized one, knocking it over and ripping into it with their claws. Drei made one of their tails grasp the downed titan, squeezing around the neck as the sharp ends shredded the nape and back they were dragged over.
Titan after titan fell before their path, never to rise again. All the while, they never stopped moving, never stopped hunting, never stopped killing.
Though they thought differently, they were of one mind, one desire and one goal:
[[[[All of them! Every! Last! One!]]]]
A screech ripped through their mouths, bellowing for blood and death, to trample their enemies beneath their claws and leave nothing left!
Drei raised his neck, to glance over the rooftops, but spotted no more of the larger ones nearby.
Eins snapped impatiently for directions, for more prey, even as he head-butted a four meter titan into the air.
Zwei lurched at the tossed enemy, teeth ripping through skull and torso in one bite. Then he stopped themselves, physically.
They came to a halt and both sides looked to the middle, equally surprised. Eins was furious and Drei was curious.
Zwei raised his head high, almost as high as he could. The other two mimicked him and followed his searching gaze.
There, many streets away, were many humans sweeping across the air.
[[Humans]]
[[[Comrades!]]]
[Bait?]
Zwei and Drei gave Eins a disapproving look, but didn't deny the technical truth.
After all, they were of one mind:
[[[[Help them!]]]]
Turning a corner, they made sure their two tails smashed together, turning an approaching small titan's head into mincemeat.
Mikasa sat with a disturbingly peaceful and content air about her.
Despite having crashed into a roof.
Despite having ran out of gas.
Despite having a titan approaching her.
Despite that Eren was dead.
No, because of that one.
'It was a good life,'Mikasa thought in resignation, waiting for her end to come.
Or, so she thought. Against everything she was thinking and feeling, she sliced off the fingers of the titan and leapt away?
Why? Hadn't she already given up? Hadn't she lost all reason to live? So why keep struggling? Why keep getting up? Why keep...fighting?
'Fight!'
The thought, the memory echoed through her mind like the greatest epiphany.
She made to flee from the titans that would have eaten her, only to stop as she saw another titan blocking her escape route.
'I'm so sorry, Eren. I'm through giving up. I'll never give up again,'she thought as she steeled her nerves, clutching her blades with all her might.'Because if I die, these memories of you die with me. That's why I'll do whatever it takes to win, whatever it takes to live!'she mentally swore, letting loose a battle cry, prepared to fight no matter how hopeless it was!
What happened next was beyond confusing: an unearthly, screeching roar followed by the titan behind her tumbling over her into the other one, leaving her spiraling on the ground.
She looked up and could not process the sight before her. It would have been less confusing if one titan had attacked another.
Standing over both titans was a mass of golden scales; at least as tall as a fifteen meter, maybe larger at full height. It had no arms, but possessed twin tails with spiked-clubs at the ends. Spiked was putting it lightly though, the many razor tips gleaming with ominous sharpness. And it had not one, not two, but three heads. Each was on very long necks, crowned with many horns.
It was like something out of a storybook, a reptilian beast with scales that shined in the sun, mightier than any titan.
And it wasn't just fighting the two titans. It was destroying them. Both titans flailed to get loose of the beast, but its necks wrapped around limbs to twist and break them, tails tore away flesh and bone, and fangs ripped them to shreds.
All the while, all six of its green eyes gleamed wrathfully down upon its victims.
It was as if it was Hatred itself, manifested in the flesh.
"Mikasa!"
She had barely registered the voice before Armin swept her off the ground, taking her atop one of the nearby buildings.
"Yo, are you two- what the fuckis that?!" Connie asked in alarm as he caught sight of the new, titan-killing monster.
Armin swallowed nervously as he took in the sight. He thought he had been imagining it at first, so focused on saving Mikasa. But the reality was right before him. "Is that...a dragon?" he asked in disbelief.
"A what?" Connie asked in confusion.
"Something I read about as a child. But... I thought they were a myth. Just stories people told before the titans appeared," Armin answered.
"Whatever it is, we need to get out of here," Connie stated warily.
"We can't, Mikasa's out of gas!" Armin answered, rushing over to her. "There's only one thing to do. I don't have much left, but-"
A sudden load, almost chirping noise made all three of them pause in fear, looking back to the creature.
The two titans were disappearing into steam beneath it, and all three heads now were staring down on them.
Armin swallowed, realizing this thing was easily twenty meters with its long necks. But...why wasn't it moving towards them? Why was it just staring?
[[[[Armin!]]]]
The sight of the blond human brought a shared relief upon all three of them, even if he did look incredibly scared.
Armin blinked, realized he was being stared at, before the gaze of all three shifted to the lone female of the trio.
[Mikasa...]
[[Mikasa.]]
[[[Mikasa!]]]
The two humans stared at them with incredible confusion as Drei expressed more joy while Zwei nodded firmly, relieved but ultimately feeling unsurprised by the female's survival. Eins only grunted in acknowledgement, to Drei's disapproval, earning a growl from Eins. Zwei hissed at both of them to end the matter.
"Are...is it having an argument with itself?" Connie asked slowly, feeling incredibly weirded out by the sight of three heads on one monster having some form of disagreement.
All three heads looked to the final soldier, who flinched under those green eyes.
[[[[Baldy.]]]]
The trio watched doubtfully as the great beast turned away and began to stalk away from them. "So it's...really going to ignore us?" Connie asked incredulously.
Mikasa and Armin shared a look. They wouldn't exactly call those reactions ignoring. Mikasa nodded to say she had the same thought as Armin. The creature almost seemed to recognize them. But how?
Questions for another time.
Eins, Zwei, and Drei all stared around the vast walls surrounding the city, searching for their target until they finally caught sight of its location.
[The Gate.]
[[The Breach.]]
[[[The Hole.]]]
Eins growled, Zwei scowled, and Drei grinned. This would never end as long as titans kept coming into the city, so killing them at the entrance would be the best way to stem the tide and the fastest way to kill more titans.
Drei suddenly perked up as he caught sight of the humans taking off again, dragging the attention of Zwei and Eins back to the tiny beings with concern in his head. Zwei scowled, realizing that Drei's sense of worry was warranted. There were three humans, but one was holding another. They couldn't all fly. The Mikasa was safe on her own, the Armin was safe with the Mikasa, and the Mikasa was safer with the Armin.
Why did they want those humans safe? They didn't remember. However, even Eins didn't disagree with the feeling, this longing. But Zwei knew that the humans might not be safe if only one of the three could fight right now.
Still, while Eins stayed silent, his impatience for a decision was obvious by the rumble in his throat. To where humans gathered or the broken gate, it made no difference to him; Titans would be there for them to kill either way.
[[Breach is breached. Breach stay breached. Humans may die.]]
[[[Help more?]]]
[[Yes.]]
[For now.]
With that, the three headed dragon turned to follow after the trio of humans.
Who quickly took notice of their tag-along.
"Yo, guys?! Our new friend is on our ass!" Connie called out, glancing back with alarm. "Looks like your plan might work too well, Armin!"
Armin couldn't blame him, watching the golden beast racing down the streets and closing the distance was incredibly intimidating.
"Is it trying to come after us after all?" Mikasa asked with a scowl, looking back at the green eyed beast after slicing into the neck of a titan.
Said beast trampled over the corpse without hesitation or slowing down.
"If...If it wanted to kill us, it already would have!" Armin reasoned despite his concerns. "Just keep going! I think it just knows the titans will follow us!"
"I hope you're right, Ar-!" Connie started only to blink as the low-leaning beast was now directly under them, the eyes only briefly glancing at the humans before dashing forward past them. "-min. Shit, you were right," he finished, grinning as their unexpected ally rammed its way over a pack of ten and four meter titans, its fangs and tails a whirlwind of death. "Thanks a ton, Trips!"
Eins ripped out the nape of a titan just in time to glare at the nickname.
"Incredible," Mikasa stated, seeing the reptile power through the titans, seemingly on pure hatred and willpower, before attempting to catch up with them.
"Trips?" Armin asked with a skeptical brow.
"What? You got a better nickname for the three headed reptile-titan?" Connie asked with a smirk, looking up with a hope in his eyes. "There's the HQ- and it's covered in titans. Fuck!"
"I don't think that'll be a problem," Armin stated, just before the golden dragon raced by them.
Their leg muscles coiled and ready, the beast leapt high and let loose a great and echoing roar before two jaws bit into the necks of two titans that were peering into a hole in the building. They pulled the mindless humanoids down with a crash, their bites like a vice on the necks.
"Now's our chance!" Mikasa declared as they aimed to crash through the windows, the glass shattering as they braced themselves.
"Eh?! Mikasa?!" Jean called as the trio landed in front of him. "You're all alive?"
"Yes! We made it!" Connie declared as he sat Armin down, taking a moment to catch his breath. In morbid curiosity, he checked his gas, finding it essentially empty. "Any longer and we were done for."
"What happened? What was that...thing?" Jean asked in confusion, his fellow survivors looking on in amazement as what appeared to be three titan-sized snakes were outside the hole in the wall, glaring at some unseen foes.
"That's our new buddy, and he is going to have a lot of fun with those titans out there!" Connie stated loudly, grinning like crazy.
"What are you on about?" Jean asked with a scowl.
"I know it sounds crazy," Armin stated with a deep breath. "And I have no idea what it is, just…just that it's only interested in killing titans. Realistically, letting it deal with as many as possible is the best chance we have of survival."
"Use that...thing?" someone asked as murmurs of uncertainty were shared among them.
"What do you mean it? There's three of them," Jean pointed out, getting a chuckle from Connie.
"It has three heads," Mikasa filled in abruptly. "I don't care what it is, really. It had many chances to kill us, and even followed us here to kill more titans. If that is its desire, we should let it kill as it pleases here, for as long as it can."
"I'd say this is crazy, but..." Jean paused to look back at the beast. Two of its heads were gone, in the midst of battles by the sounds of it, but one head was still up and looking inside. If Jean was any crazier, he'd almost think there was concern in those eyes. "I suppose the enemy of my enemies is my friend applies here."
Drei watched for another moment, making sure no more titans were crawling on the building before turning his attention to their rear, taking command of the tails to knock over a large titan at the legs, the other tail coming crushing down on the neck as soon as the titan landed face first. The first tail came down again, squishing an entire small titan.
More were coming. They weren't sure what was attracting them here more: Themselves or the humans. The titans were targeting them now though, rushing at their armless form without fear or plan, just their everlasting desire to kill and eat.
Titans only tried to eat humans. Zwei remembered that for them. Did that make them human?
Zwei scowled, coiling around a titan's neck, pinning it for Eins to finish off. They didn't look human, but they didn't remember what happened before this day. They knew the gate had been broken. And they knew these humans. Yet the humans didn't seem to know them.
They only had glimpses of memories. Drei remembered the humans for them, what they did remember of them. But they didn't recall humans being so small.
Or, more likely, they didn't recall being as tall as titans.
Eins confirmed that with wrathful certainty, recalling being much smaller than the titans, and that the nape was the kill-spot. That was important.
Thinking about humans made Drei concerned, sad almost as the Mikasa and the Armin flashed in their minds. It made Zwei uncertain, keenly aware of that they had forgotten some very important things. But it just made Eins angry to think that they were ever weaker than the titans.
[Humans safe. Gate now?]
[[No.]]
[[[Wait.]]]
[Why?]
Zwei snarled at Eins's impatience, eyeing the next wave of titans as he contemplated how to fight them next.
[[Humans stay, we stay.]]
[Not safe?]
[[Need time.]]
[For?]
Zwei didn't know, but Eins sensed the emotion. He didn't know what the humans needed to do to leave this place, just that they couldn't do it instantly.
Zwei looked down in shock as Drei came down to head-butt Eins, making the right head roar at the left.
[WHAT?!]
[[Stop!]]
But Drei just glared at Eins as they all felt something well up inside them. Something at the edge of their memories.
[[[Do you want them to die like Mother?!]]]
They flinched back, all three of them. Not from Drei's accusation, but from the memories.
The Memories of That Day.
A red, skinless face peek over the walls.
A rush of hurricane winds and the fall of debris.
A home destroyed.
A woman crushed.
A titan eating her.
They ignored the approaching titans even as the giants began to encircle them, hands reaching out and mouths open to bite. The three heads began to quake with unbridled hatred, their breathing becoming erratic as their eyes became unfocused and their pupils dilated.
Their scales almost seemed to glow for a second.
Just as the titans began to descend upon them, the three heads all reeled back.
And they screamed!
Long and thunderous, so great was the roar that every window in the immediate area began to crack and shatter. On and on it went, reverberating and echoing across Trost. All of the surrounding titans stopped to crouch and clutch their heads in foreign agony. Dull grunts and whines escaped their lips while blood and steam flowed from their ears.
It almost looked as though they were kneeling before the great dragon.
Kneeling, and waiting to be slaughtered.
Within the building, Armin and the others all shuddered as they descended in the elevator with rifles. "That has to be either really bad for us, or for the titans," Marco remarked, clutching his weapon harder.
"Just try to ignore it for now," Armin suggested, swallowing uncertainly. It wasn't a bad plan he had come up with, but if anything went wrong, if anyone else died...
Armin's eyes widened as the elevator reached their destination and they saw the room filling with smoke. No, not smoke, steam.
"You guys already killed all the titans?! How in hell?" Jean asked in shock.
"Armin, I am loving Trips more and more!" Connie declared with relief.
"They were all stunned by that roar!" Sasha exclaimed with a grin. "So we went for it!"
Armin scowled in confusion, glancing at the bodies. "It stunned them?"
"We had to make a judgement call," Annie explained as the elevator came all the way down. "All of them were just kneeling in pain, so we didn't believe we'd have a better opportunity."
Armin nodded as anticlimactic relief filled the room, the danger taken care of, but Armin couldn't help his brain from dwelling on this unexpected turn.'The titans were stunned? But even if they're injured, titans recover almost instantly, and pain never stops all of them. So why now? Why would that roar affect them?'Armin wondered, glancing upward to where humanity's strangest ally might be.'Just what is that thing?'
It didn't take long for the soldiers to resupply their gas tanks and decide it was best to leave as soon as possible, and return to the wall.
But something caught their attention.
"You guys seeing this?" Connie asked in surprise.
"Little hard to miss," Annie remarked as they saw the literal wall of steam arising from the other side of the building.
Thus, several of them couldn't help taking one detour: to venture to the top of the armory and see how the golden beast had faired against the titans.
The sight was etched into their memories, and would replay in their dreams.
Or nightmares.
This entire side of the armory's surrounding road was covered in the smoke of rapidly vanishing titan corpses. A huge plume of it came from the center, where a pile of titan bodies had been built. As if the bones were its throne, they could see the outline of the three headed monster in the smoke. With no more titans in the area, all three heads reared back to release a cackling roar out to Trost as a display of dominance and supremacy, the vibrations of the roar alone dispersing the steam to reveal its golden form once more.
"Not even a scratch on it," Reiner remarked in astonishment.
"I'm just glad that thing's on our side," Marco said with a nervous smile.
"For now," Annie remarked pessimistically.
"Yeah, you go Trips! You the boss!" Connie cheered, holding his hands to his mouth as if to amplify his voice.
"What he says! You rule, you beautiful scaly bastard!" Sasha cried out with a whoop of joy.
Each head looked back in confusion at the soldiers on the rooftop, especially the two very loud ones.
"Will you two shut up! You're going to make that thing want to attack humans just by annoying it!" Jean hissed.
"Oh come on, lighten up, Jean!" Connie retorted with a chuckle.
"Yeah, it's not like it can understand us, right?" Sasha asked rhetorically.
A very loud bang made them all look back to the creature in fright, seeing that it had snapped one of its tails down and broken several titan bones.
It looked less than pleased with the commentary.
"R-right?" Sasha repeated nervously.
The three heads stared a moment longer, the middle one flaring its nostrils before the creature turned away and began to walk off.
"Where's it going?" Connie wondered with a scowl.
"There are no more titans around here," Mikasa reminded, following the path of the golden creature. "It looks like it's heading to the breach."
"Does that mean it's leaving?" Armin wondered out loud.
"Who cares! For right now, we need to retreat behind the wall before more titans actually do show up," Jean reminded.
No one argued, taking off towards Wall Rose with their maneuver gear. Mercifully, there were very few titans, and they were able to avoid fighting any of them before ascending up the wall.
Many of them collapsed in relief, finally feeling safe for the first time since the battle began.
Connie decided to glance back out at the nightmare to see if he could catch a sight of Trips before it left the wall- only for his eyes to widen in amazement. "Oh, fuck, Trips is awesome!"
His exclamation drew his comrades attention as they looked back to the gap and squinted to make sure their eyes weren't deceiving them.
The beast had not left. Quite the opposite, it was actively fighting and killing Titans as they tried to enter the breach, ripping and crushing them with wild abandon.
"It's not trying to escape?" Mikasa stated with a confused frown.
Armin shared her sentiment. If it was just trying to kill Titans, it would just hunt down the nearest one. Despite the number it destroyed while they were refilling their gas, there were still dozens upon dozens across Trost. If it went to the gate, it would logically mean it was just trying to get out of the enclosed city now, but it wasn't. It was at the breach just to kill more titans. Combining that to its reactions to him, Mikasa, and the antics of Connie and Sasha? That was all pointing to one thing.
It was intelligent.
"You there, cadets!" a soldier, a short female with white hair called as she approached them. "Are you the last ones? Are there any wounded?" she asked with a scowl.
"Y-yes Ma'am, to our knowledge," Marco answered with a nod, looking to the rest of the group. "No wounded..."
But plenty of fatalities, it went unsaid. She returned the gesture. "All of you come with me; we need you to report on what you saw in regards to that creature."
"What, already? Can't we get a breather?" Connie complained to himself with a tired sigh.
Still, they dutifully followed after her, the occasional echo of a familiar roar meeting their ears.
