"Shit...How'd I end up in this situation...!?" You thought in frustration while drawing your blades as you stared at the Colossal Titan that had just broken the gate of Trost.

"Let's go, Y/N!" Eren yelled as he ran across the top of the wall to get closer to the Titan.

"Wait!" You yelled as you chased after him, but noticed the Colossal was winding up for a big swing. "Eren, jump!" You yelled as the two of you flew into the air and avoided the deadly swipe that took out the entire line of fixed cannons.

"He was after the fixed cannons!" Eren thought in shock as he watched the destroyed cannons fall off the wall. "It's no coincidence it went for the gate either...This thing really is....sentient!" He thought as the huge Titan turned to look at him.

"Dodge, Eren! Go under!" You yelled as Eren gasped when the Titan's hand came from the smoke and went towards him.

"Tch!" Eren managed to barely make it under its hand in time and attach to the flesh of its arm.

"Follow me!" You yelled as the two of you flew around and landed on its arm and ran up towards its head. "You're gonna pay, asshole...We just cleaned those damn cannons!" You said as you gripped your blades tighter before jumping off and shooting your anchors towards its back as you and Eren wrapped around to set your sights on its nape. "You may be bigger...But that also means you're slower! Let's do it!" You yelled as you and Eren flew right towards its nape to land the finishing blow.

You pulled hard on your triggers to push out the maximum speed of your ODM gear and fly towards the nape. However, what confused you was when the Titan suddenly leaned forward and a huge gust of incredibly hot wind and steam shot from its back. You and Eren yelled from the heat and strength of the wind, but your anchors managed to hold on. Barely being able to open your eyes, you and Eren continued forward through the steam and reeled your blades back for the killing blow.

"DIE!!!!!!!!!" You yelled as the two of you slashed right through the smoke, but what shocked you was when you broke through, the Titan was suddenly gone. "What!?" You thought in disbelief as you fired your anchors to the wall and landed against the side.

"Where'd it go!?" You frantically looked around.

"The Colossal Titan...disappeared?" Eren said in shock of what just happened.

"Eren! Y/N! Did you defeat it?" You heard from above and looked to see Thomas standing overhead.

"No! It was the same as five years ago...He appeared out of nowhere and vanished just as suddenly!" Eren said as you gritted your teeth in anger.

"Damn it!" You yelled as you punched the wall with your fist in frustration before the two of you zipped back to the top of the wall where Connie and Thomas waited for you.

"I'm sorry. I let him get away." Eren apologized.

"No, that was my fault. I was too in shock to make any offensive calls. I let him get away..." You said while biting your lip angrily.

"What are you two talking about? The rest of us couldn't even move--!" Thomas was cut off when Connie spoke up.

"Hey, there's no time for discussion! The wall's been breached. If we don't patch it fast, the Titans will get in like before!" Connie said as you heard a set of ODM gear come closer and see a Garrison soldier come towards you four.

"What are you doing? The contingency plan for the Colossal Titan has already begun. Get to HQ! Anyone who made contact with it, don't forget to report!" The soldier ordered as you four saluted him.

"Yes, sir!" Eren answered understandingly.

"Best of luck to the advance team!" Connie said as the soldier looked toward you.

"You, Y/N L/N, right? You were the top cadet, with everyone making rumors of your strength matching even Captain Levi's, right? Come with me, you're joining the advance team for support. Time to put your skills to actual use, rookie." The soldier said while walking pass you.

"Y-Yes, sir!" You yelled as you turned to leave.

"W-Wait! You just graduated! Surely, you can't--!" Thomas tried to stop you, but fell silent when you gave him a reassuring smile.

"I'll be fine. I'll do whatever I can to help. You four go get ready to defend the rest of the district." You said as you raised your blade in the air. "This is our time, right Eren? Let's show them humanity's not gonna take this shit a second time." You said as they were stunned by your words.

After giving a small speech, you and the Garrison officer jumped off the wall and headed for battle while the other three left to report back to HQ. The bells of the district rang over and over signaling the emergency to the entire district as everyone was being evacuated. People ran from their homes, flooding the streets and heading for the inner gate. The Garrison did their best to direct traffic as the inner gate was flooded and people were piling through to get to the other side. After some time passed, the Garrison quickly remade their defenses and put a net over both sides of the broken wall as you stood atop the damaged wall and looked to the distance seeing Titan making their way over.

"If they make it through, we'll relive the tragedy that befell us five years ago! We stop the Titans here! Prepare to intercept!" A male Garrison officer yelled as the lower fixed cannons were aimed to the approaching Titans. "Fire!" He yelled as the cannons unleashed their fire power and blew apart the first wave of Titans.

"Attack!" Another soldier yelled as you watched the lead teams charge off the wall and fly towards the Titans.

You watched as they risked their lives to slow the Titans down as best as they could. Your heart was beating fast and you never felt so nervous before in your life. You felt like your heart was going to jump right out of your chest, but when you looked down at your hand, you saw the rings that your mother gave you as you brought them up to your forehead and clasped your other hand around them. You took one deep breath as the cannons continued to fire and exhaled while bring your hands down and grabbing the hilts of your blades drawing them. Turning your head, you looked out to the town where you could see the people piling over each other at the inner gate.

"You better have made it out..." You said as you turned back to the fight in front of you and saw the Garrison soldiers were now taking casualties.

Though the cannons were effective in slowing down the first wave of Titans, the oncoming waves proved too much for the efficiency of them and Titans were getting closer. The Garrison was forced to engage in close-combat and attack with their blades, but due to the lack of actual experience of going against real Titans, heavy casualties quickly came upon them. Their cries of pain and horror filled the air as blood shot into the sky. One Garrison was about to be devoured head first and yelled as the Titan's mouth came closer. However, the sound of flesh being cut filled his ears as he saw you had appeared and saved him from the threat.

"My first kill..." You thought as you flew towards the soldier and cut the fingers of the Titan, freeing him. "Get out of here!" You said as the soldier scrambled with his gear and flew away to the top of the wall. 

"AHHHHHHHH!!!!!!" You heard a stomach churning scream while turning to see more soldiers being eaten as you clenched your teeth.

"Please...Come home to me..." You remembered the words that came from your mother the day you left to become a soldier and used this promise as your strength.

"I'm definitely going to live...And I'll come back to you, mom...I swear my life on it! HYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!" You yelled in fury as you flew into battle with a rage that could strike fear even into a Titan.

Meanwhile, Inside the Wall
Military HQ

While you and the lead team of the Garrison were fighting on the other side of the wall, the entirety of the 104th Cadet Corps graduates were gathered and frantically running around to get things ready. They were filling gas tanks, sharpening and handing out blades, and checking final checks on ODM gears as a Garrison officer directed them.

"You trainees have all passed the final training exercise, and now are full-fledged soldiers. We expect great things from you." He yelled as chaos was ensuing everywhere and affecting everyone.

"It's okay, Hannah..." Franz tried to comfort his lover in this dark time. "I'll protect you." He promised her.

"Franz..." Was all she could say as the two embraced to try and calm down while Mikasa rushed over and found Eren and Armin filling their gas tanks.

"Are you okay, Armin?" Eren asked in worry as Armin couldn't attack the nozzle to his tank due to his shaking hands.

"I-I'm fine. I'll get over it soon enough. B-But we're in bad shape. We currently don't have the means to quickly patch an eight-meter hole...We never managed to dig up that big rock near the front gate! Since we can't seal the hole, we'll have to abandon the town." Armin said as he still couldn't get rid of the shakiness from the fear he was feeling, meanwhile you were cutting down Titan after Titan while the wall cannons continued to fire and slow down the Titans. "It's only a matter of time before they breach Wall Rose! Besides, they can wipe out humanity whenever they want anyway!" Armin was losing his mind while you were down to the last set of blades you had and yelled in fury over the countless soldiers that you couldn't save.

"Armin!" Eren grabbed his shaky hand as Armin seemed to snap back to his senses. "Calm down...Things are different now. Humanity won't be defeated by Titans anymore!" Eren said as Armin was completely frozen now.

"I'm sorry. I'm all right..." Armin said in a low tone as you were forced to fall back inside and watch as the Titans began to walk inside Trost, beginning their invasion.

After some time passed, the Titans were wandering around the city and making their way deeper towards the inner gate. You were jumping across rooftops with dull blades in hand as you watched the Titans roam freely and destroy whatever they walked into. As you were running, there was a scream that your heard throughout the area that made you stop in your tracks. 

"Mommy!!!" You heard the cries of a girl in the distance as you frantically looked around. "MOMMY!!!!!!!" You heard again as your breathing was beginning to become erratic. 

Turning your head, you saw a twelve meter Titan stand up and while eating what you recognized was a body of a woman. Your eyes widened when you saw another fifteen meter Titan stand up and in its hands was a little girl that was crying in fear and horror. She cried and wept over the loss of her mother and screamed at what she thought was going to be the same fate as her mother's. As she cried though, there was another noise that was able to get her attention.

"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!" The girl turned and saw you running towards her across the rooftop with your blades drawn. "LET HER GO!!!!!!!!!" You yelled as you shot your anchors into the rooftop across and flew towards the girl.

In one swift motion, you spun around in circles and sliced the fingers off of the Titan, releasing the girl as you grabbed her and rolled onto the other rooftop. Not wasting any time or noticing the blood that covered your face and clothes, you picked up the girl in your arms and held her close while you ran across the rooftops. As she stared up at you, you caressed her by her hair as you spoke softly.

"It's okay. I've got you. I won't let anything bad happen to you ever again...I'm sorry..." You said as the girl once again broke down and cried loudly into your shoulder. "I've got you...I've got you...I've got you..." You repeated over and over again while behind you, the Titan that was eating her mother had her lower half ripped away by the other Titan who also began to devour her.

Using only one hand to use your maneuver gear, you ran and zipped across rooftops with the girl in tow as you made your way to HQ. Attaching your anchor to the top of the roofs of HQ, you zipped up and over to land in the courtyard. Having been through what you experienced and finally getting a moment to breath, you didn't even notice you landed in front of everyone of your allies and the officers at the time. They looked at you with shock and worry as the Titan blood on you slowly disappeared and turned into steam. The girl in your arms had cried so much that she had passed out and after recollecting yourself, you looked up at the speechless faces of everyone while an officer slowly approached you.

"A-Are you..." The Garrison officer tried help you, but you stood up with the girl in your arms and headed for the barracks.

"I'll be out once I refuel and re-arm...Excuse me..." You said in a low voice as you walked pass them and headed inside.

You walked pass your fellow cadet graduates as they looked at you with worry, and when your eyes landed on Eren, Mikasa, and Armin, you saw the absolute shock on their face as they looked at you. After pausing for a few moments, you headed down to refuel your gas and as you refueled, the small girl was laid next you, unconscious. After detaching one tank and attaching the nozzle onto another, you turned to get a better look at the girl you had just saved. She had brown hair and you remembered when the two of you made eye contact that she had brown eyes. Her skin was fair colored and she wore a white and pink dress that seemed to have been dirtied by either falling or being in the hands of that Titan. 

"How could this happen...?" You thought as you brought your hands up and rested your head against your palms. "What will she do once we're driven from the wall...This girl...She has no one or anywhere..." You thought as you looked at her for a few moments before making a decision in your head and placing your hand on top of hers. "I've got you..." You said in a mutter before standing up and arming yourself with fresh blades as you returned to the courtyard with the girl in your hands and saw everyone was falling out.

"Trainee Ackerman...." You heard from your left as you turned to see Mikasa and Eren in front of a Garrison officer. "You're being specifically moved to rearguard. Follow me." He said to her as you made your way over.

"B-But I'll only slow them down!" Mikasa argued her position.

"I'm not asking your opinion. The evacuation's falling behind. We need as many skilled soldiers overseeing civilians as possible." The officer said as he turned to walk away.

"Let me go to the rear guard as well." You said as he stopped in his tracks and turned around. "I need to get this girl to somewhere safe." You said as the officer stared at the girl before looking back at you.

"You're trainee L/N, right? All right then. you can come, too." He said before leaving, but Mikasa tried to call out to him.

"B-But...!" Mikasa tried to stop him.

"Hey!" Eren butted his head against hers to stop her from arguing as she held her forehead from the slight pain. "Enough, Mikasa...Don't you freak out, too! Humanity is in danger of being wiped out. What you want doesn't matter!" Eren said bluntly as Mikasa hung her head in defeat.

"Hey." You grabbed Eren by his collar and stared him right in the eyes. "Don't lose your shit either. You didn't have to tell her like that. We're all a huge wreck right now. Let's sort our shit and regroup, huh? Eren?" You said to him as he was a bit taken back but nodded.

"Sorry, Mikasa..." Eren apologized as she shook her head.

"No, I'm sorry...I wasn't thinking clearly." She said as Eren turned to leave, but Mikasa grabbed his sleeve. "But I do have one request. Please...Don't die." She asked in a worried tone as a breeze began to pick up and Eren was silent for a few moments.

"...I don't plan to." Eren said before pulling away from her hold and walking off as you sighed and shook your head at the whole situation.

"Don't worry." You said while placing a hand on her shoulder as Mikasa turned toward you. "He won't die. He's too stubborn to die right now." You said as she just nodded while lifting the scarf she wore higher to her chin. "Let's go. The rear guard is waiting and we have to help direct traffic for the inner gate. I also need to find someone to take care of this girl." You said as you and Mikasa began to walk off towards one of  the exits of HQ.

"Who are you looking for?" Mikasa asked as you just chuckled and held the girl closer to you.

"There's only one person I know who can handle this." You said as you and Mikasa left for the rear guard.

After taking off from HQ, you and Mikasa zipped to the top of the rooftops and made your way toward the inner gates as the weather began to change and the sky became cloudy. After some time passed and you made your way closer and closer to the gate, there was nothing but silence between you and Mikasa. After everything that happened at HQ, and the lingering shock from the fighting you had to endure earlier from the advance team assault, the weight of the situation was just too jarring for the two of you to even come up with something to talk about. After a few more minutes of jumping from rooftops you could finally see the inner gate in sight. What confused you though was when you saw there were still people inside and not moving out. 

"What's going on? Why the hell are they still here?" You said as Mikasa glanced at you before looking to see the same thing you were staring at.

Just then, you felt a rumbling from under your feet and loud thuds getting closer and closer. You and Mikasa were confused when suddenly a Titan had come crashing around a corner and went straight towards you two.

"Shit! Mikasa, take point!" You jumped behind Mikasa to protect the girl while Mikasa drew her blades.

As you both readied yourselves for the Titan to throw itself at you, it instead crashed against the building you were on and knocked you both down. You both fell back and looked to see what it was doing, but instead you saw it run down the road and towards the people at the gate.

"Shoot! It's an abnormal! It's ignoring us and heading for the people at the gate! Let's go, Mikasa!" You yelled as the two of you jumped off the roof and gave chase.

The people at the gate were beginning to panic as screams filled the air from the Titan that was running right towards them. As the Titan awkwardly sprinted for its next meal, three more Garrison soldiers appeared and tried to catch the rampant monster.

"Damn it! Why is it ignoring us?!" One of the soldiers yelled.

"It's an abnormal! No point in thinking about it!" Another one said to his partner.

"It's fast...! We're the best around, and we still can't catch up!" A female soldier yelled in disbelief.

"At this rate...!" Another soldier trailed off in despair before everyone grew confused when you and Mikasa flew right by them. 

Taking one blade you attached your anchor to a building ahead of the Titan and zoomed right for the back of its feet. Using one blade you yelled as you cut the flesh of its achilles tendon and caused it to fall onto the side of a building before sliding across the ground to a stop right near the crowd of people. After taking it down, Mikasa flew high into the air before anchoring into its back and flying straight down as she delivered the final blow, ending the Titan by cutting its nape. As the Titan's face fell to the ground you landed next to Mikasa and put your blade as you exhaled in relief.

"Nice work. That was too close." You said as you heard a humming noise come from the girl in your arms and looked to see she was waking up. "Ah, she's waking..." You thought before you and Mikasa looked and saw what was causing the high traffic at the gate, which was a large cart that couldn't possibly fit through.

"What are you doing?" Mikasa asked in confusion as a large man standing in a defensive posture in front of the cart sighed and yelled out.

"Ah! Perfect! You there! Make them help us! We'll pay you well!" The man tried to sway the two of you as both you and Mikasa were dumbfounded by what was going on.

"Right now, my friends are dying. Because the people haven't evacuated, they're dying, fighting the Titans." Mikasa said while pointing in the direction of where the fighting is happening while you gritted your teeth and slowly lowered your hand to the blade you just used while the girl in your arms looked up at you with worry.

"Of course! It's your job to sacrifice yourselves to protect the people's lives and fortunes. You parasites think you're so special just because you're finally being useful for the first time in a century--!?" The large man that was yelling gasped in a high pitch when he saw a blade fly pass his face and impale itself into their cart.

He slowly turned to look at the blade and saw blood and steam coming off from it and looked back to see you were the one who threw it. You handed the girl off to Mikasa as you jumped down and unsheathed another blade while shooting the deadliest look towards the man who looked as if he was going to have an accident any moment in his pants. The people that were in between slowly cleared the way as you moved closer and closer to him and his thugs.

"Yes, you're right...We soldiers do have to make sacrifices to ensure the people's survival. Sometimes we have to sacrifice the things that hold us back from moving forward, sacrifice the things that get in the way of survival, you're right..." You said through your teeth as two of his thugs stood in between to defend their boss.

"Try it! I've known your boss for a long time...I can decide your fate with a single word!" The large man yelled while his thugs rushed towards you.

Your teeth grinded against one another as you sent your right foot forward and kicked the first thug in his gut before grabbing him and tossing him into the other thug, knocking them both down. You stood over them as you raised your boot over their heads and they yelled as you brought down your foot and stomped the first thug's head down, causing it to hit the head of the guy under him as they were both knocked out. After that you turned back to their boss and grabbed him by the collar of his jacket before shoving him against his cart and raising your blade to his tongue.

"I'm not a subordinate to any one branch, so technically no one tells me what to do. I'm sure you would report this to the MP's, but..." You trailed off as you grabbed his face and forced open his mouth. "...How will they understand what you saw after I cut out your tongue and make you swallow all your teeth?" You said as he screamed when he saw your blade head for him.

The sound of your impaling blade was heard by everyone as they watched you stab the cart while holding the crying man's face in your hand. They were beyond shocked at what you did as you moved your face closer to his and spoke in a menacing tone.

"Without us, you would have been devoured gruesomely. You don't have any clue what death looks like...And I don't want to have to be the one to introduce you to it. Now move..." You said as you shoved him to the ground and pulled out your blade before putting it away.

"B-Boss...." One of the man's subordinate's was in utter shock of what happened as the man scrambled to his feet.

"P-Pull it back...Pull it back...!" He said in terror as the wagon was immediately moved out from the gate and people gasped in relief as they began to pile through to the other side while you returned to Mikasa.

"That was scary." Mikasa said in a plain tone as you raised your brow at her.

"You'd have done worse." You said as she didn't deny the fact and you took the girl back into your care. "You okay?" You asked as she nodded. 

"Y/N...Mikasa...?" You heard your names get called as you turned to see your mother standing a few feet away.

"Mom...!" You said in surprise while putting the girl down as your mother rushed over and hugged the two of you and you two returned the hug.

"I was so afraid...When I heard the Titans broke through again, all I could think about was you four...I'm so glad you're okay..." Natalia said as tears welled in her eyes.

"Mom, this girl..." You pulled away as you placed your hand on the back of the small girl and moved her in front of you. "...I need to ask you...Can you take care of her?" You asked as you mother looked at the small girl in front of her.

"Where are her...?" She stopped herself short when she saw tears slowly form in the girl's eyes as you looked away, signaling her worst fear as she instantly took the girl's hand. "Of course I will." She answered without hesitation.

"Mister..." The girl looked at you as she was scared, but you smiled and crouched down to her level as you caressed her hair in a calming manner.

"You don't have to be afraid. This lady who's going to take care of you means the world to me. She's going to take care of you now. I need you to be brave, okay?" You said as she seemed hesitant but slowly nodded in understanding. "Good girl." You said as you gave her a quick kiss atop of her head before standing up and looking at your mother one last time. "We need to get going..." You said in a low tone.

"I understand...Be safe, my loves." Your mother said as she gave you and Mikasa each a kiss on the cheek before leaving with the small girl.

"Let's go." You said to Mikasa as the two of you were about to leave, but someone spoke out to you two.

"Thank you!" You heard as you and Mikasa turned to see a young girl and her mother standing nearby with thankful looks.

"You saved us. Thank you!" The mother said gratefully as the two of you glanced at each other before smiling and turning toward the young girl as you both put you blades away.

In one swift motion, the two of you stood at attention and gave them the salute of humanity with your right fist over your heart as the young girl was amazed by this. You looked pass the gate and saw you mother and the small girl standing at the other side staring back as you nodded to them before you and Mikasa headed back down the road to head back to the fighting. As they watched you two leave and rain began to pour, your mother looked at the child she was now in care of as the girl spoke.

"That's your son, miss?" She asked as Natalia smiled and nodded.

"Yeah. His name is Y/N." She said your name to her.

"Y/N...." She muttered your name while watching you go as Natalia leaned down to the girl.

"Hey, little lady...What's your name?" Your mother asked in a soothing tone as the girl didn't break her sight from you.

"...Sarah." The girl said as you mother was surprised by this and instantly she remembered your elder sister and how she looked as a child as well.

"...I see..." Was all your mother said as she held her hand a little tighter and smiled as the rain fell on her and she wrapped a cloth over Sarah's head to keep her from getting too wet. "Let's go, Sarah." Your mother said as she led little Sarah by the hand and prayed for her children to one day all come back to her, and be a family once again.