Chapter 39 Carnage

Bursting from the tree line, Ymir came face to face with a dozen soldiers all of them ready for combat. Their swords drawn, cloaks billowing in the wind, they made for a fearsome sight even to one inside of a Titan. Or they would have if they didn't all look both disoriented and terrified.

They shouted as they noticed her, snapping back into action as they readied themselves for battle, training still carrying them through well. They halted as she knelt down in front of them and the nape of her neck began to dissolve. The smell of fresh air hit her nose as she leaned out, looking over the Scouts in case there were any she recognised.

"I need to find Erwin! Where is he?"

They looked to one another, hesitating as they feared the Titan shifter before them. They began to gather themselves as the shock passed, their swords being gripped tighter, and their eyes narrowed. Ymir realised what might be about to happen as they didn't trust her, and her own muscles tensed in anticipation of combat.

"Ymir!"

A figure rode up that finally recognised her, as Mike Zacharius put himself between her and the tense scouts.

"Why aren't you with Captain Levi on the eastern flank?"

"He's gone to deal with a special Titan of his own." She kept it deliberately light on details in case information was still being kept secret from the other soldiers. "We found it near Ragako Village, that's where it looks like the first attack happened."

"Ragako? You mean…" He had clearly managed to pick up on her meaning, that Ragako had been the source of at least some of the Titans, and that Levi was engaging one of the Marleyans from outside the walls. He frowned in displeasure as he thought through the plans in his mind.

"Mike, what was the roar I heard earlier? What the hell was that?"

"I was hoping you might have some idea. It came from behind us, towards the headquarters."

Her mind instantly thought Annie, but that just didn't make sense. She had heard Annie roar in the forest, and that had been nothing compared to what she had just heard. No, something else had caused that, something far more dangerous.

"I don't know what it is, and frankly I don't care. I'm here to pass on a message and find Historia."

His face darkened, and fear built in her throat as she watched a frown begin to form.

"…Where is Historia?"

"We pulled her back from the front lines to keep her safe. Back to the headquarters."

Her eyes widened in alarm and panic fully set in. Without a further word she folder herself back inside of the Titan and took off in a sprint, racing with all her power towards the headquarters. One of the scouts shouted in anger as she leapt over them. Some moved to pursue but were ordered back by Mike.

"We have our job, leave her be. Move! Find the breach!"

The beam of light rippled through the air, the waves of energy casting a blanket of heat over the lands below. Jean had to cover his eyes from the light, the light blinding in the previous dark that was illuminated only by the full moon.

"What is that? What is happening!?"

"Get a hold of yourself Franz!"

It was tough talk from Mina, especially given how her voice wavered as she spoke. She couldn't help it, she like everyone else was terrified. Nobody knew what was truly happening anymore. Half of the military was continuing their advance to find where the breach was, while only encountering Titans that seemed like they were running away. The other half of the military had been given the same order as Jean and his team, to go and investigate the light.

This had been the third time such a light beam had been unleashed. Each and every time, Jean had been sure they were about to be wiped from existence, or that the wall was going to be incinerated, and yet despite the power it undoubtedly held, it seemed nobody had been killed yet.

It was an incredible stroke of good luck, something which Jean was still struggling to believe. Though as they continued riding towards the sounds of carnage, he was convinced their luck was about to run out. It was somewhat hard to see at first, the moonlight only partially illuminating the countryside in front of them. However, between the roars and sounds of destruction, it was easy to find the source of the danger.

Its silhouette was horrifying, unlike any Titan they had ever seen the creature that moved through the dark looked far more like an animal than a man. With a fur covering its body, a thick heavy tail swinging behind it, and glowing red eyes that would haunt their nightmares, the creature was clearly beyond any Titan that existed.

"Holy shit, look at the size of that thing!"

"It must be twenty metres at least, it's half the size of the walls!"

It was hard to tell precisely, but even at this distance the size of it was clearly enormous. Something that was made all the more apparent by the creatures that were nearby. Two Titans ran nearby, struggling to maintain a distance from the creature that pursued, its mighty hands larger than their skulls and with the power to crush them into powder.

"Those two… that's the female Titan. Annie." Jean could just about make out the shapelier figure of Annie's Titan, its unique physiology being very recognisable after his up-close brush with death trying to fight her. "The other…"

"The Armoured Titan. Reiner." Armin's eyes were watching the battle and yet they were far off, lost in the memory of Shiganshina and the sight of Reiner's Titan barrelling through the inner gate. That had been Reiner all along, a man he'd grown to call friend.

"Those bastards." Franz growled. "Looks like they're going to get what's coming to them."

"What about Bertholdt?" Mina had been among those who had seen the colossal Titan wreak havoc at Trost for its short time before disappearing, and she like many wanted him to pay the price for his treachery too.

"He must be down there too." Armin spoke up, watching the situation carefully. "His Titan is tall, extremely tall, but it might not be very good for fighting. Unless he's already dead, they wouldn't leave him behind. My guess is that one of the two Titans has him, maybe in their mouths."

"So all three traitors are down there getting their asses kicked? This might be a great day after all." Franz grinned. "Looks like we have another Eren situation, right? Something that is gonna kill those Titan bastards for us?"

Mina murmured an agreement, as did Jean, but Armin wasn't so sure. "That thing, I don't know where it came from but… it's out of control."

As if to punctuate his point, the creature slammed a fist into the Earth and ripped out a chunk of rock, hurling it wildly in the general direction of the two Titan shifters. The attack was powerful, but careless, as if the creature wasn't entirely focussed on its prey. It seemed that was the only reason why they were still alive as they desperately continued their race towards the wall.

"So was Eren when he first transformed." Jean had realised the same as Armin. "Even though he was on our side, Eren was just as willing to try and kill us, he tried to kill Mikasa that little bastard."

"So wait, what does that mean? Are we going to have to fight it?" Franz already looked like he was ready to turn his horse around and run away.

"Calm down Franz, at worst we might just need to point it in the right direction if it gets lost. Just like we did at Trost." Jean didn't believe his own words, and his attempts at calming leadership weren't successful. "If nothing else, a Titan is a Titan, and we know how to kill them."

He raised his sword as a reminder, and both Franz and Mina took a hesitant look to their own weapons. They did know, they had trained for it and fought Titans now, but the fear seemed like something that would never leave them. Their fear had almost managed to be subdued when Armin suddenly gasped.

"No…"

"What is it Armin!?" Jean rounded on him quickly, wanting to stop any panic before it could fully take hold. Either in his squad, or in him.

"I don't think… I don't think it's a Titan."

"What? You don't think it's a-… Armin, I know you have a big brain up there instead of muscles, but I think yours has stopped working. Look at that thing, of course it's a Titan."

Armin ignored the insult, much to Jeans disappointment who had hoped it would break whatever train of thought he was on. Instead he quickly began pointing at the creature as it continued to tear its way towards the two Titans.

"Look at the trail, at all the damage."

"What about it? We've already seen how wild that thing is, it's destroying everything."

"Exactly, it's destroying the ground too. With every step, it's making a crater."

The three of them looked at him in confusion before turning to study the trail that the creature had left. It was a mess, like someone had dragged a rock through dirt, scary to be sure but it didn't explain to them what had Armin so freaked out. As he looked over the trail, something began to tick at the back of Jeans mind. He was starting to recognise something was there, some kind of clue, but what?

An answer, straight from the first cadet days wormed its way into his brain.

"It's heavy."

Mina and Franz looked at him in confusion, waiting for him to continue as his mind worked through the implications.

"Titans are light, it's how they're able to move around like they do. They can run over the ground without creating dents because they're light. This-… this thing, it's heavy. Very heavy. Titans aren't like that."

"Wh-what? But wait, if it isn't a Titan then-…"

"How do we kill it?" Mina finished Franz's thought with a fearful question of her own.

As a team, they all wondered helplessly how they could fight something that wouldn't die like a Titan.

Annie scrambled away as the Oozaru's fist came crashing down where she had stood. The swing had been fast, wild, and incredibly powerful as it caused the ground beneath her to buckle and raise up from the shockwave. The Oozaru did not let up, as its tail followed up with a swipe that caught her arm and annihilated it, turning the flesh into a bloody mist that rained across the grass.

It hurt, immensely so, even through the numbed sensations of her Titan form. If she stopped for even a moment however, the monster would kill her. Not only that, with its focus squarely on Reiner and Bertholdt, they would die shortly after. They had long given up on trying to attack the creature, their blows would do nothing other than bring them in range of its powerful limbs.

However, their plan of escaping over the wall seemed unlikely to succeed, as the creature was fast, blindingly so for its size. The blasts of energy that it had been unleashing had by sheer luck not killed them, as it seemed the creature would always at the last second aim the attacks upwards into the sky. They had still felt the heat wash over them, even when it had missed by such a wide margin.

Annie hadn't had the time to panic or despair, though she truly believed that it was only a matter of time until their luck ran out and they were crushed into oblivion. Her only advantage was also her disadvantage, the creature was wild and unpredictable. She raised her hands and splayed her fingers apart, the now familiar power gathering and flashing outwards as she performed another solar flare.

With her power dwindling, it did very little other than mildly daze the monster, and she had to continue moving quickly. It bought her enough time to link up with Reiner and Bertholdt, the back of her nape melting away as she raised her head up and out.

"What the hell do we do!? We need to get over the wall, now!"

Reiner didn't come out of his Titan, either too tired or too distracted to focus on anything other than running straight for the wall. He did however open up his mouth and spit Bertholdt out into his hand, lifting the saliva covered boy up to his hair where he could grab and hold on for dear life.

"We won't survive the climb! We need a distraction."

It was a prayer that would never be answered in Annie's mind. She had noticed some of the military in the area, it was impossible not to notice them after all, but they were staying far far away from the battle. She envied them as much as she despised them.

The Oozaru finished blinking away the stars that agitated its eyes and distracted it from its prey. When its vision began to return, a fresh rage filled its body as it angrily slammed its fists and feet into the earth, pounding away in an unending fury. With its anger unabated, and no fresh targets in its reach, it began to look around. The two Titans he had seen were in its sight, and immediately it felt the pull to chase, until something more primal began to take hold.

Closer than them was a small village, little more than a dozen buildings with the largest being a watermill connected to the small stream that ran by. The primal fury raged within the Oozaru, and it turned its power on the buildings. They provided no resistance as its mighty hands shredded the wood and stone with equal ease. Bringing its feet up it stomped the rubble into dust and sent shockwaves shaking through the ground.

The storm of rage and madness built just as the energy in the creatures' mouth, its maw filling with the bright light of an energy blast of tremendous size. Turning to the small village, it unleashed everything unto the earth, the deafening explosion surpassed only by the blinding light as the beam tore through the ground, a deep chasm shredding the earth apart in a long arc, the attack following its mouth as it aimed through the stretch of the village and off into the distance. A trench more than a kilometre long was torn into the ground before the attack finally ended.

Its triumphant roar echoed throughout Wall Rose, but its lust for battle and destructed was not sated.

"Eld! Are you sure about this!?"

The Oozaru's mighty ears picked up the sounds of a panicked voice, then as it focused it picked out the sounds of horses riding closer.

"He's right sir, shouldn't we get Annie and Reiner while they're weak?"

"This thing has them running for their life, it's bigger, stronger, and out of control. I don't want to lose this chance either, but right now that is the bigger threat!"

"That thing is looking at us!"

The ginger haired one had noticed first as the Oozaru turned to focus on them. Panic gripped at them, but they continued forwards regardless. A sense of… familiarity tickled at the back of the Oozaru's raging mind, doing little to calm the storm of emotions that fuelled its body. It roared a challenge as they approached, beating its chest loudly.

One of them leapt from its horse, a flash of lightning striking his body, the bright light a prelude to the mass of flesh and bone that burst into existence around him, the shaggy haired form of the Attack Titan bearing down on the Oozaru.

It was smaller than the Oozaru, but it slowed none as it sprinted straight at the Oozaru and raised a fist, reeling back before throwing it forwards with all the might it could, smashing the Oozaru directly in its large belly. A shower of blood and bone exploded outwards as the Titans fist disintegrated against the unyielding body of the Oozaru. The Oozaru raised one mighty hand, and with a swipe of its fist the Attack Titans body was ripped apart.

"Oh fuck!"

"EREN!"

Beams of energy flew towards the Oozaru and exploded against the beasts' face, not even tickling the creature as it ignored the fire and smoke, rounding on those who had attacked it. They split up, circling around him before leaping to engage him directly. The beast watched them approach almost lazily, with a sense of curiosity as they buzzed and tried for an opening.

One of them leapt from their horse and fired their hooks, only to stumble as they completely bounced off of the Oozaru's fur and skin. They stumbled, their bodies rotated ready to fly instead of the fall they began to descend into. With practice, they managed to hover instead of crashing, then carefully fly back onto their horse.

"ODM is no good! The hooks won't dig in!"

"Shit! Gunther, break away! Team, we've got to fly!"

One by one, they took flight. Using Ki to fly was exhausting for them, but staying on the horse would prove fatal without their manoeuvrability. Two flew towards the Oozaru's face using their gas to push them along, they halted quickly and raised their hands in front of them.

"Solar flare!"

In unison, the two emitted a bright flash of life that sent the beasts hands covering over its eyes, and mouth opened and roaring with fury. One of them moved in and swiped at his nape, the blades shattering on impact without even a scratch to the mighty beast.

"Shit! Blades broke! It did nothing!"

"Pull back!"

The Oozaru snarled, its curiosity now replaced with anger. The fists raised to swipe at the scouts, but with its vision blinded its swipes were wild. The wind shockwaves from its thrashing sent them flying off course, but the worst was one who was sent flying to the ground, crashing with a yell of pain. The Oozaru heard the yell, focused in on the direction, and lunged forwards.

"OLUO!"

The man stumbled to his feet, before freezing as he looked at the massive beast barrelling towards him.

"Oh shit…"

The Oozaru bent down, lunging towards him with jaw wide open. Large, fanged teeth and a dark maw opened up towards him. Then froze. It roared, hot breath and spittle washing over the mans petrified form. Seconds felt like hours as icy fear gripped through the man's body, freezing his heart with terror. When it finally ended, a low rumble echoed through the earth, the vibrations sending tremors through everyone's body.

Oluo collapsed.

"OLUO! Shit, I think he passed out!"

The Oozaru stood, its full height dwarfing the tiny people around it. They nervously gripped their blades, fear and uncertainty coursing through their bodies. They looked to one another, hesitating about whether or not to attack.

"H-hold-… hold position. Don't attack…"

Eld's normally commanding voice was as shaken as they all were, but they did as they were told. Slowly, their swords dipped just slightly, enough to show they weren't about to pounce on the creature, not that it seemed they could do anything. But the creature seemed to pay them no mind, as it turned and began to walk back towards the disintegrating body of Eren's Titan.

Mikasa stood over the Titans corpse, pulling Eren from the body with both hands. As the shadow washed over her, she drew her blades and spun to face the Oozaru. She was terrified, her hands were shaking with fear, but her eyes were firm. She could feel the power the creature held, knew the size difference between them, she would die in an instant if they fought, but still she held her ground.

She believed she would die, but she would do it defending Eren. The Oozaru slowly leaned down and reached out a single finger. She flinched, stepping closer to Eren in an attempt to shield his body. But the Oozaru did nothing more than stretch its finger, a sharp nail inching towards her face until it gently brushed against her scarf. The nail hooked onto the end of the cloth, and dragged it slightly upwards, covering her mouth.

There was silence in disbelief as the Oozaru returned to its height and began to turn away. It refocused its attention towards the wall. In the far distance, two Titan forms were beginning their climb up the wall. The growl returned, starting from a rumble and building to a deafening roar. The creature moved quickly, dropping to hands and feet as it raced towards the wall.

The two Titans picked up their pace, racing towards the top and cresting the wall before the Oozaru managed to catch up to them. It leapt, cracking the earth with its jump as it leapt up and over the wall, crashing with a thunderous shake of the ground on the other side. The two Titans ran, sprinting for dear life as the Oozaru followed. The other Titans in Wall Maria tried to do the same, a primal fear and dread driving them away in an attempt to survive.

The blast of energy the Oozaru let loose disintegrated them before they could escape.

"What… what the fuck was that?"

Gunther asked as he pulled Oluo up onto his shoulders, the man still entirely passed out.

"I don't know." Petra had dropped to the floor, her knees too shaken to keep her standing. "I've never felt anything like that. It's so strong."

Nobody could say otherwise, they'd all felt the crushing weight of the creatures Ki. It was beyond anything they'd ever felt from a living creature, and unlike most Titans it didn't feel dirty, just overwhelming.

"What do we do about that thing? Swords didn't do a thing, ki attacks didn't even tickle it. Only thing that seemed to work was the solar flare and that just pissed it off. We're lucky that it decided not to kill us."

"Why didn't it kill us?"

Elm hadn't needed to pose the question following Gunther's rant, but he had needed to get the question out into the open air for his own sake. A monstrosity like that, which had been happily tearing up everything it could touch, and yet it let them go despite its obviously bad mood.

"It doesn't make sense."

"It does."

Petra looked to Mikasa, who had sheathed her swords and taken a caring seat next to Eren, gently stroking his hair while staring off into the distance with her mind whirling away.

"When Eren transformed, all he could focus on was killing Titans. He didn't care about any of us in Trost. The first time that was… the second time he lost control briefly but managed to snap back to it. I think, I think that's what happened here."

"We've got another shifter? No shit, but fucking who? Because that's no ordinary Titan."

Gunther was continuing to work himself up into a state, fear and anxiety was driving him to desperation in search of answers.

"Well it's an obvious answer isn't it?"

Mikasa looked at Petra, who had come to the same realisation as her. While Mikasa wore a dull acceptance, Petra's face was twisting with a sense of rage and betrayal.

"Did you know? Don't bullshit me, did you fucking know?!" She stood, pointing an accusatory finger at the girl who looked like she wanted to hide away behind her scarf. The shake of her head was subtle, but everyone managed to see it.

"Know what? What is it?"

Elm stepped closer and put a hand on Petra's shoulder, attempting to both reassure the girl and calm her growing whirlwind of emotions. She shook his hand off and dropped to her knees, hands digging into the ground and gripping the dirt tightly with anger.

"Who do we know, that can use Ki, cares for Mikasa, knows us, and has a tail…"

The ball dropped instantly, but for a brief moment Elm refused to accept it. Such a secret kept so squarely in their midst. Except, how much did any of them truly know about the boy? He had been found bloodied in a forest before being taken in by the Jaegers, his past before then described but mostly a mystery.

His powers were new, his name was bizarre, and of course there was the fact that he had a tail of all things.

"Who is this kid…?"

Elm muttered it as he sat down, energy leaving his body under the weight of such a revelation.

Historia was tired. She had been riding for a while now, and between the adrenaline leaving her body and how long she'd been awake, the urge to fall asleep was a hard call to resist. She kept her reigns gripped though, keeping herself moving as she headed in the direction of the rest of the military.

The moonlight had been enough of a guide for her horse to see the way, which was fortunate given how little she'd been paying attention. Instead, she like no doubt so many others had been watching the battle in the distance. The fleeing forms of Annie and Reiner's Titan, fleeing from the much larger creature that had appeared at the ruins of the Scout headquarters. There had been no flash of lightning, or boom of thunder, only the shaking earth and booming roars that announced its appearance.

She hadn't spent her time wondering about where it had come from, instead her mind had been focussed on how to survive and what she should do. She imagined Gohan was off fighting somewhere, or potentially he had been killed in the fight between those creatures like miss Zoe had. He may have given his life for her to escape, and for what reason? What was she doing with her life?

Her time pondering was cut to an end as she spotted a figure approaching in the distance, the large body of a Titan sprinting towards her. Her horse came to a halt, her swords were drawn, but she hesitated upon seeing it. The Titan was unlike anything she'd seen before, which immediately brought to her mind the realisation that it likely wasn't. It must have been a shifter.

"Ymir…?"

The creature raced to a halt, sliding to a stop in front of her and crouching down. It bowed its head to the ground, the nape peeling away as Ymir scrambled out from beneath. The woman jerked and ripped off the muscle tendrils that stuck to her body, ignoring the small cuts that appeared on her body before steam began to appear over them.

"Historia!"

Ymir almost fell down as she leapt from the Titan, hitting the ground and sprinting towards her as Historia likewise climbed down from her horse. They crashed into each other with a tight embrace, squeezing each other as if they might disappear if they let go for even a second. Historia almost couldn't believe it when a drop splashed down onto her cheek. Not from her, but from Ymir, the tall girl curling around her while her fingers gripped hard over her shoulders.

"I thought I… I thought I had lost you."

"It's okay." Historia soothed, rubbing her hand up and down Ymir's back. "I'm here. I'm okay."

They stayed in silence that way for a while, the only sounds heard being the slow breathing and heartbeats of one another. Eventually, it was Historia who pulled back first. Ymir resisted, freezing in response before she finally relented. Historia looked up into her eyes, gently reaching up a hand and wiping away Ymir's remaining tear with her thumb.

"I'm okay, I made it out. The others…"

She didn't need to say any more. While she imagined a few of the most injured who had left first had survived, Historia was the last one to leave alive when Annie and Reiner had transformed.

"Those bastards. Putting my Historia in danger, they'll pay for that."

Ymir might not have said it, but Historia knew that she wasn't just talking about Reiner, Annie, or Bertholdt, but instead Erwin and the others as well. She had to put a stop to that quickly as she took Ymir's hands in hers and gently squeezed them.

"It's okay, I chose this, I'm a soldier."

"Christa chose to be a soldier." Ymir hissed, her protective instinct still high and bringing out her angry mood. "But you aren't Christa, what Historia chooses is what matters."

"And I am choosing to do this."

Betrayal, that was what was most clear in Ymir's eyes. She flinched, finally breaking eye contact as she took a step away from Historia. Her body seemed to shrink, tensing as she pulled back from their emotional embrace.

"So you're a soldier then. Just going to do whatever they tell you to do."

"No." Historia took a step closer. "I'm going to be, who I choose to be. I'm going to be someone who helps people. I'm not going to throw my life away, but I'm not going to live only for myself. I'm going to be someone more. I won't pretend to be someone I'm not, and I'm not going to run away from what I feel. For who I am, or for you."

Ymir froze, looking back at Historia, and that's when she seized her chance. Reaching up, Historia grabbed her jacket and pulled her down, pressing her lips against Ymirs'.

It was her first kiss, both of theirs first, but Historia felt no embarrassment or regret as she let herself be lost in the moment. Feeling nothing but peace, and serenity.