Chapter 38 Choices

The staircase was empty. Reiner had moved to the wall and peeked his head around the corner, yet to his surprise he hadn't seen a thing. He heard the commotion continuing outside the building, the screams and shouts of the wounded. Orders were barked but far too muffled for him to make out. His eyes were narrowed in suspicion, and he felt himself hesitating at the idea of stepping out into the open, except this was the only way out.

He'd known that, however he'd expected that reinforcements would have followed him down the stairs. A cramped hallway wasn't ideal, not to mention his wounds were still recovering, but it took away the Scouts advantage of numbers. Then it would have been their experience against his durability, a fight he'd already won twice.

Now, he would have to fight a number of them at once.

"Annie, are you ready?"

One look at her told him she wasn't. She had followed him to the staircase, but she was huddled in on herself, arms wrapped around her chest and sobs barely restrained. She still flinched whenever he came too close. It filled him with anger, sadness, and suspicion.

She had been tortured for two days, and from everything he'd been able to piece together it had been horrific, the Scouts apparently taking full advantage of her ability to heal. He pitied her, he'd get her home safe, and he'd get revenge for what they had done to her. Except… he also needed to know if she'd said anything to them. He wanted to believe she hadn't, that she was stronger than anything they could do to her. But that had been the Annie he'd known before, not the barely functioning mess of a woman that followed behind him.

He pushed the thoughts and accusations aside as he focussed on the battle to come. He had very little choice except to charge out into the open and try to fight their way outside. There they could transform and slaughter their way back to the wall. He braced himself, taking a few deep breaths and then sprinted up the stairs.

As soon as he breached into the open ground floor he was met by… nothing.

There was no sign of anyone. No sudden attack, no people evacuating, nobody sheltering from the battle. His suspicion was skyrocketing, but he was too caught off guard by the lack of attack to fully form an idea.

"Reiner?"

The voice was soft, gentle, and familiar, with Reiner recognising it immediately as he whirled around to see the angelic form of Christa. Her eyes were locked onto his, with worry and fear. He immediately lowered his swords as he saw her standing towards the doorway to leave.

"Christa…"

He sighed with relief. Christa was kind, beautiful and pure. He had feared seeing any of his old comrades again, but if there was one person he could count on to understand, it would be her.

"It's… it's good to see you." He stepped towards her and she flinched, his heart aching until he put away the blades. "I'm not going to hurt you."

"How can I trust you? You lied to me. Bertholdt has killed everyone outside, are you going to kill me too? I thought you-… I liked you Reiner…"

His heart beat fast as he walked towards her. How many nights had he dreamed of hearing those words? The words of an angel. Except she feared him. No, no he could explain, he could out her fears to rest. Then maybe, maybe he could convince her to come with him? To be safe from Paradis, and safe with him.

When he reached her, he hesitantly put his hands on her shoulders as he looked into her eyes. She didn't pull away, instead just looking back as she teared up. He opened his mouth to speak, to explain why he had done this, yet he found himself lost entirely within her eyes. He saw none of the world around her except her beautiful face. Nothing, and especially not when her hands moved.

"Christa, I-"

She drew her swords and sliced off his arms. It was a poor cut by most standards, given the size difference between the two of them. Except Christa had caught him by surprise, and she had been in the top 10 graduates for a reason. Emotional and teary eyes became empty as she stared back at him, the world slowing down as Reiner tried to process what had just happened. The world sped back up as several forms threw themselves onto him.

One man pulled a strip of cloth around his mouth, two others grabbed hold of the stumps that remained of his arms and pulled him down to the ground. They were on top of him quickly, giving him no time to react and try to transform as they forced each limb down and pinned him. He heard a scream and managed to flick his eyes just enough to see Annie under attack likewise.

"NO!"

She had panicked. A scout had used her hooks to launch herself from one end of the room and crash into her, tacking Annie to the ground and holding her arms tightly. Several other forms descended from the shadows and began tying her arms and legs together, struggling as Annie thrashed against them like a wild animal.

"NO! I WON'T GO BACK! NOOOO!"

She howled and cried as they tried to hold her down. Reiner had never heard such sounds of panic and desperation as she struggled against them. He jerked to try and move, to break free and reach her, but the Scouts holding him down were unrelenting.

"Excellent work Historia."

Reiner looked up to see Christa standing next Hange, the woman looking positively thrilled at the sight of the two of them captured and squirming on the floor. His mind was still reeling at the sudden change in events, to the point that he didn't even register the different name. His eyes locked on Hange's as she crouched down in front of him, grinning wickedly as she looked him dead in the eyes, mind no doubt already working away as she imagined the ways she would torture the two of them.

"A new friend of mine has been very forthcoming recently, so I wonder just how much you'll be able to tell me about Marley."

His eyes went wide. Nobody on Paradis knew about Marley, that just wasn't possible. It also wasn't information they could have guessed. The only explanation came instantly, and horrifying. Annie had talked. His eyes locked back onto the woman, and a flash of anger and betrayal burned within him. Until it was snuffed out, by overwhelming pity. She was still struggling, howling and crying as she pulled in every way she could to get away. Whatever Hange had done to her, it had been scarring.

"You and I Reiner are going to have a nice long conversation."

He watched as she reached inside of her jacket and pull out a notebook, flipping it open to a particular page and theatrically examining it.

"Let's see just how much you'll be able to verify hm?"

His legs were fully bound now, with his arms bound following as shackles were forced around the stumps that remained. He began to panic as his mind wondered how Bertholdt would save them, if he even could. In his Colossal Titan form, it seemed the most likely thing he could do would be to bring the entire building crashing down on top of them.

As he wondered about his method for escape however, he noticed that Annie's howling had suddenly increased in volume. When he looked over he saw why, as she had managed to shake one of the wraps away from her face. Two other scouts were desperately trying to force the wrap back into place but were unable to contain her thrashing.

"NO! NO! I WON'T!"

It happened so fast that Reiner almost missed it, as Annie flung her head back and smashed the nose of the woman directly behind her. The wrap around her mouth loosened just enough for Annie to stick out her tongue and bite down. Bright light filled the room, and the building exploded.

Flesh burst into existence, filling the room in ragged shreds as the Titan form failed to fully develop. The bones from arms and legs shot outwards as smashed into walls and people alike, while the hulking form of a bone with ribcage tore through several floors above and below them. Reiner saw one Scout crushed into pulp against the wall by a femur, before the wall too broke apart, the outside world suddenly in full view.

The gust of wind and steam had flung bodies everywhere, including those that were formerly holding Reiner down. The wraps came loose, as did the half-closed shackles and Reiner scrambled to his feet to survey the situation. He figured he had maybe a few minutes at best before the building completely collapsed. Sections of the ceiling were already crumbling, and he heard the loud crashes as large pieces on higher floors began to crumble. He hesitated, unsure of where exactly to move, when he saw something on the floor that caught his eye.

It was the notebook that Hange had shown, she must have dropped it during Annie's transformation. With his hands just barely regenerated, he snatched it before turning to run further inside the building, stuffing it inside of his backpack without slowing down. He had just a few moments' chance to do it, but he was going to save Annie from being crushed. He found her trapped inside a fleshy cage, her Titan form unable to move and pinning her to her spot and crying.

Her eyes were faraway and yet terrified as she sobbed openly, snot bubbling from her nose like a child. Which Reiner knew she was, they all were really. Too young for this war, far too young. But they were warriors, and they had no time to cry.

"Annie! Snap out of it, we have to leave, now!"

Her eyes barely registered him as he drew his swords and cut through the meat that was wrapped around her body. She collapsed into him, and he hefted her onto his shoulders quickly before turning and sprinting towards the doorway. The floor above him finally gave way and collapsed inwards as he breached through into the open air, dust and debris following behind him as the building began its full collapse inwards.

"Annie?" He laid her down, looking her over carefully as she seemed to finally return to reality. He saw her fear, but more than that he began to see her rage. "Welcome back."

The sound of groans and coughing caught his attention as he scanned his surroundings, looking over at the various dazed and wounded Scouts that littered the open area. Some were injured from the collapse, others were showing signs of steam burns from Bertholdts attacked. One by one, they began to notice his attention on them and panic. Fear gripped many of them, rooting them to the ground and watching helplessly as Reiner and Annie both raised their hands to their mouths.

Then they bit down.

"Historia, you need to keep moving!"

Hange pulled the petite girl along forcefully, dragging her up and onto her feet as they heard the booms of thunder behind them. Historia had been dazed by the explosion inside of the headquarters, however Hange hadn't wasted any time before grabbing her and anyone else she could rescue and getting them moving away.

"Anyone who can stand, mount up and ride to the Trost defence line!"

The number of surviving horses was few, even less than the number of Scouts who looked to be in a position to escape, a number which was drastically dropping as the two new Titans fully focused their attention on them. Reiner and Annie struck with merciless fury. Men and women who tried to run were crushed on the ground, through feet or fists they were smeared into the earth. Soldiers tried to engage their gear, taking flight with the crumbling remains of their headquarters, they caught the focus of Annie.

She was fast, grabbing wires out of the air and spinning the soldiers into the walls, ground, and each other. The soldiers who tried to engage Reiner had no luck, his armoured plating covered so much of his body they had no chance to attack him anywhere that wouldn't break their blades. The inability to hurt him left themselves open for Reiner's own attacks, who snatched the soldiers out of the air and squished them in his hands.

The soldiers were being slaughtered, and the two Titans were bearing down on all who were left. A great number of thoughts went through Historia's mind as she watched the carnage. Did she engage? Flee? Was she really going to die here?

Regret. Regret that she'd ever hesitated about not confessing to Ymir.

"Historia! You need to run, now!"

The intent was clear, as Hange shoved Historia forwards and turned back, towards the two Titans and the dying remnants of her soldiers.

"You'll… you'll die."

It seemed ridiculous to say. It hadn't been that long ago she'd been Christa, a woman who had thrown herself at the chance for a noble death. But she hadn't truly wanted it, and she knew Hange cared naught for whether people thought she was righteous and for people to miss her.

"You have your orders Historia, fall back!"

She took off running, racing towards the fight and leaping high. She did not however, continue soaring upwards, as she instead fired her hooks towards the ground and flew between the legs of the Armoured Titan. He saw her coming and threw a punch straight at her, missing her by only a hair. She did not stop when she passed him, immediately pivoting and flying to avoid his follow up attack, a sweeping kick that tore up the earth.

"MOVE! NOW!"

Historia snapped into action and continued her running towards the nearest horse she could find. It was the last one left now, as everyone who could either fight or flee had done so. As she saddled up, she sent one last glance back to the wreck of the headquarters. She could barely make out the still moving forms of the last few Scouts, as well as the collapsed form of the Colossal Titan that had fallen once more.

She wished them luck, then snapped her reigns and rode. Hands gripped tightly, and with a bundle of papers tucked safely inside of her jacket.

Hange was a woman who had faced death more times than almost anyone. Every fight with a Titan was dangerous, and statistically was likely to end in death, but she had never faced certain death before. She was surprised at how… peaceful, it felt. Dodging and weaving away from the Armoured Titan, she felt a new level of pride in her abilities to have survived so long. She knew her time was coming to a close when the Female Titan spotted her.

She was like a wild animal, sprinting towards her and howling with rage. Hange moved deftly, but unlike the Special Operations Squad, she did not yet know Ki, and was limited by her ODM gear. Her time was undone when she used a corner of the fallen headquarters structure to swing herself through the air, and the corner of brick broke away.

The loss of control was brief, but long enough for her luck to run out as she felt the sudden stop in mid-air. Annie had caught one of her wires, and for a brief moment, just held her there. She had expected her life to flash before her eyes, from her years as a bookish child to her early days in the military. Perhaps she should have felt regret, for the chances at romance or motherhood she'd let slip by, or even for how she'd failed to fully apprehend Annie again.

She felt none of that, and instead only one thing came to mind.

"You know, I think I took a tooth and nail for each one that Sonny and Bean had. I guess you could say I got payback for my babies."

Annie spun her, throwing her wide through the air and slamming straight down into the dirt. She died instantly, but Annie's rage would not be sated. As she screamed and roared, she brought down fist after fist onto the women's corpse, destroying her own Titan hands until they were near stumps.

It was to that sight, which Gohan arrived.

He had felt it all, every one of them. Each of the men and women who had died at the hands of Annie and Reiner's corrupted Titan forms, but to see the carnage had been another matter entirely.

Standing before a field of the dead, all he could feel was guilt. Guilt that he had not been faster, that he had not managed to put Bertholdt down long enough to safely come and distract Annie and Reiner. That he had not somehow been able to save them. He blamed himself, for every one of their deaths, including the last.

Hange Zoe.

She had been a woman of science, one whom he could actually relate to on such a level. She had been fun, and kind, and so very protective of her soldiers, that it seemed so fitting that she would die alongside them. Needlessly. If only he had been better, stronger.

But he wasn't, not like this.

Annie, Reiner, and Bertholdt. Three Titans now surrounded him, all were dangerous and would need to be stopped. But he couldn't fight them like this, not effectively. He would have to fight them another way, as an equal. Or rather, a superior.

He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and let the tail fall from around his waist. It felt so natural, that he could almost forget that it was there some days. But he had never forgotten its purpose, what it could do.

What it would unleash.

"Stop the Titans. Save the people. Stop the Titans. Save the people."

He repeated it like a mantra, cleared his mind of all other thoughts until it was all that remained.

"Stop the Titans. Save the people."

That was his goal, that was his purpose. That was what he would do. Finally, he opened his eyes, and looked at the moon.

Ba-bump.

Ba-bump.

Ba-bump.

His heart beat slowly, steadily rising as it beat louder and louder.

Ba-bump!

Ba-bump!

Ba-bump!

It pulsed throughout his entire body, the banging of his heart as it beat faster and faster, louder and louder, until all he could hear was the deafening call of power and rage.

BA-BUMP!

BA-BUMP!

BA-BUMP!

His clothes tore, his chest expanding outwards as he growled. Muscles tensed, bones ached and pulled while he began to snarl and thrash. The power was building, the beast within him that fought to be unleashed.

Stop the Titans.

Save the people.

The mantra that rang through his head raged against the transformation as his shirt ripped, his body beginning to grow and contort. Bones grew in size and hardened, muscles rapidly expanded and flexed.

Kill the Titans.

The people…

The growl from his throat deepened, and fur began to fully encase his body. The pupils of his eyes shattered beneath the onslaught of the red glow that emanated out. His jaw fractured outwards and reshaped for better and stronger bites. Within the span of a few seconds, he grew fast passing three metres tall, then five, then ten! He grew and grew until he surpassed twenty metres in height, and over a thousand times his mass.

The ground crumbled beneath his weight. The thunderous crash of destruction beaten out only by the roar that bellowed out from his monstrous lungs.

Kill!

Destroy!

The creature began to beat its chest in challenge, roaring in a thirst for destruction and hate, challenging any creature it would find. Gohan was gone, and what remained was more than just a beast. It was the creature of legend and fear in his universe. The exterminator of planets.

The mighty Oozaru had been unleashed.

Men and women dropped to the ground in panic, clutching their ears as they tried in vain to block out the deafening roar.

"What is that!?"

"Oh god, we're all going to die!"

"Walls protect us, what is happening!?"

From novice garrison soldiers to the most veteran of Scouts, fear gripped them all as they felt howl vibrate through their very bodies. In other times, Commander Erwin might have disciplined his soldiers, but like them he was too taken aback by what he had heard.

"Mike, that came from the headquarters. We need to-… Eld? What is it?"

His attention had shifted mid-order to the second ranking member of the Special Operations Squad, who was currently eyes wide with shock and terror. Erwin spotted the same on the rest of the team, as each of them seemed to take a hesitant step backwards as if at any second they would break and flee.

Panicked sweat dripped down Mikasa's face as she gripped Eren's hand tightly, who returned it with a stammering gasp of his own.

"Mikasa… you feel that right?"

She couldn't speak, only barely managing a nod of the head as the entire team felt the same horrific power, one so strong that it dominated all other senses and sent chills down their spine.

Eld broke free from the trance as Erwin grabbed his shoulder. The man snapped his attention back to the commander and began to mutter.

"That power… we can't…"

Levi didn't think it was possible for the Marley soldier in front of him to show more terror than he had been, but the sound of the roar had done that. Levi didn't blame him, but he also knew the man's comprehension barely scratched the surface of what was happening. He'd never felt such power like it before, he'd never been able to even comprehend it.

He felt small, in a way that he hadn't even since he was a child. It was only his years of battle experience that kept his composure, as he snapped into action and pointed to one of the Garrison soldiers who had arrived to help capture the surviving Marleyans.

"You! I need your horse, now!"

Ymir had hesitated many times in her life, had felt fear more times than she could count, yet she had never felt anything as bone-chilling as the roar that had echoed throughout the forest. Briefly, it had frozen her to the spot, as something primal within her wanted to run away, run away and hide.

But she couldn't.

Because the roar had come from the eastern flank, where her Historia was. Though her body protested, she continued on, as her love for Historia overrode the sense of self-preservation that resided within her.

She knew she wasn't far from the eastern line now, she had been running for long enough to know she must have been getting close. Her theory had proven correct as she finally came into view of the Titans that had been drawn to the sounds of battle.

Titans that sprinted straight towards her, and then continued past.

From the brief glimpses she had managed to see, the seemingly permanently frozen faces of the Titans had distorted once again. This time, into ones of fear.

"What the fuck was that…"

From the open grounds, the gathering of MP's all looked off into the distance in shock. Such a booming roar could have only come from Wall Rose, towards the breach, yet even all the way inside of Wall Sina they had heard the bellowing loud and clear.

For those who had enough training to sense Ki, they were horrified.

Kenny stood amongst them, as stunned and speechless as them all. Though in his mind, another thought was racing through that just would not be ignored. If such a power was possible to exist, then so too could it be harnessed. Such overwhelming strength was possible through his Ki training, and a determination was swelling within him to have it.

When a form moved by his side, he pushed the thoughts away. Hiding them as he fell back to the role of both guardian and enforcer.

"It's not safe your highness, you should return to the cavern where it is safe."

"Yes… I will. See to it that everyone else remains inside too."

"Yes my queen."

Frieda Reiss turned on her heels and walked back towards the stairs that led down towards the glowing cavern. When news of the breach had reached them, she and her father had huddled there for safety to await the arrival of the rest of their family. It was like they had done five years ago, on the day that Wall Maria had fallen.

And just like that day, a danger had presented itself. Back then, it had been from a man, Grisha he had called himself. One from beyond the island and possessing powers of his own. He had begged them and threatened them, anything to try and have them break the vow of the King. She had thought it would end in violence when they had refused, and she had seen the internal conflict within him. Until finally, peace prevailed, and he had departed.

Perhaps she should not have let him go, perhaps she should have ordered his death. But something inside of her told her not to, to let him go. And so she had. Now, she felt those same feelings from that night. The tension within her, the feeling of dread.

The feeling that a fight was coming.

Red eyes swept across the land, locking on the two Titans that stood before him. Once towering monsters of death, they shrank before the Oozaru as it growled once again. It had roared and beat its chest in challenge, now it had found its prey. The roar built before bursting out into another roar of battle, and the Oozaru charged towards them.

It was fast, terrifyingly so, the ground being torn up and wrecked by every footstep. When the Oozaru reached the Armoured Titan, true carnage was unleashed. The Titan braced, yet now as a smaller, weaker, and much lighter creature, it stood no chance against the Oozaru. One mighty hand wrapped around the Titan and shoved it to the ground as it continued its run, dragging the Titan through the earth and sending gore and flesh flying across the ground.

Lifting the Titan up, the Oozaru gripped both hands around the Titans torso and pulled. It was ripped in half with the barest of resistance, and the two halves of the once mighty Titan were cast aside without a care. Instead, the Oozaru turned back to the rest of its prey. A shorter female Titan, and the much larger Colossal Titan that had begun to rise again.

He moved towards the Colossal Titan, almost ignoring the Female Titan that stood in his path. Like the Armoured Titan, she too attempted to make a stand, incredibly strong crystals formed over her fists as she swung a mighty right cross directly into the Oozaru's bulbous stomach.

The Female Titans fists shattered apart on impact.

Although the Titan was stunned, the Oozaru seemed to regard it with no care, as it almost casually raised a fist and swept it through the air, obliterating the torse of the Female Titan and sending her shredded remains scattered through the air. It beelined towards the Colossal Titan with jaw open, latching onto the creature and biting deep, mighty teeth ripping through the fleshless muscles and bones beneath with ease.

Neither heat nor size slowed the Oozaru even a moment as its fingers ripped into the Colossal Titans body and pulled apart. The Titan came crumbling apart under the assault, landing in two separate halves that began to steam away and dissolve. The anger of the Oozaru would not be sated, as it raised its fists and began to beat down on the chunks of flesh that remained.

From the corpse of the armoured Titan, a shocked and horrified Reiner emerged, crawling from the mangled nape of the once powerful creature. He spotted Annie doing the same, one of her arms still caught in the fleshy grasp of her Titan.

"A-Annie… what the fuck do we do!? What is that!?"

"I don't know!"

She, like him, watched futilely as the creature continued to destroy parts remaining from the Colossal Titan.

"Bertholdt… is he…?"

"I don't know. But we certainly will be if we don't think of something!" Reiner was already back on his feet. He was tired, but the fear of death had sent his adrenaline running more than enough to keep his body going. "If Bertholdt is alive, we need to get him and run. Past the walls, anywhere, just away from that thing."

"I can stun it." Annie didn't sound confident to either of them, but she didn't have much of a choice. Much like in those woods, she would need to use the solar flare if she was to have any chance of survival.

"You better. I don't know how long we can survive if you don't."

With panting breaths, they both raised their hands and bit down once more. The flash of lightning and booming thunder caught the attention of the Oozaru, who turned to see the bodies of the Female and Armoured Titan only mostly formed. The armoured Titan was missing several of his plates, while others had only partly taken shape, while the Female Titan had muscles that looked looser, and skin that had only partially stretched itself over her body.

The creature did not care as it fully turned its attention on them but did not charge. Instead, it plunged two hands deep into the ground and pulled, heaving a colossal chunk of earthen rock high into the air over its head. It roared as it pulled back to throw, and Annie had no choice but to act.

With her fingers splayed outwards, she thrust them in front of her forehead and performed her rudimentary channelling of Ki. It was poor form, and an even poorer result for a martial artist from Gohans' world, but it was enough. The blinding light sent the Oozaru's aim off, and the mountain of rock was flung whistling over their heads instead. Annie watched as it sailed off into the distance and pulverised the earth as it landed, tearing through the ground as it cut deep gouges with its momentum.

There was no question, had that come near them they would have died in an instant.

Reiner moved quickly, not wanting to lose the small window of opportunity they had been given. He raced past the creature, careful to dodge the swaying tail as it blew away the remains of the demolished headquarters by accident. He found the head of the colossal Titan, its nape somewhat intact and bit down fast. It was possible he'd just hurt Bertholdt, maybe even bit through one of his arms, but he had no time for caution.

With the lump of flesh in his mouth, he sprinted back towards Annie who had already began to turn and run. Reiner risked a glance backwards at the giant monkey creature, regretting it instantly as he saw it begin to refocus on him and his fear spiked. The anger in its eyes was beyond what he had seen before, as this time its mouth began to glow a terrifying purple.

Its jaws opened wide as a ball of purple energy the size of a building ballooned into existence. Energy radiated off of in waves as the Oozaru prepared to unleash it upon him.

'That will kill me.' Reiner thought, knowing there was no chance to dodge it. 'Not just me, it'll blow straight through me and the walls too.'

What had once seemed like mighty and unstoppable barriers would be little more than blades of grass in the path of an attack like that. Except it seemed, perhaps the Oozaru knew that too. At the last second, it spasmed with frustration and jerked its head upwards, unleashing the beam across the sky of Paradis and filling the night sky with a bright and powerful light.

It lasted for several seconds, the beam screaming with power as it seemed to incinerate the very air over their heads, narrowly missing the walls in its travel. After it ended, there was the briefest moment of calm, before the anger and yearning to destroy returned as it continued its path.

The unstoppable, and uncontrollable Oozaru.