Chapter 41 Consequences

The three warriors of Marley were tense. Bertholdt held a sword with one hand, while Annie held her fingers splayed in front of her face. She released no Ki, but her body looked like it was about to snap under the pressure she was feeling. Reiner looked the most unsure, even compared to Bertholdt's sharing frame, as he stood with fists raised and sweat beading on his brow.

Reiner had fought Gohan in training and had never come close to being able to hurt him even when Gohan had been holding back. Since then, he'd been witness to Gohans' true power unleashed against the Titans and knew any fight against him would be fatal. As the closest one to him, any fight would mean that Gohan killed him first.

"I would tell you to relax, but I feel like you wouldn't trust me."

He sat down on one of the branches, hissing in pain and rubbing at his coccyx in frustration. He brought his hand back and winced at the wet blood that coated his hand, before rubbing it away into his pants and adjusting to fully cover where his tail had been.

"Are you going to heal that back?"

Reiner may have had the guts to ask, but he hadn't shifted from his fighting stance. The others behind him were seemingly focussing their energy on regenerating their limbs as the steam billowing from their stumps increased in intensity.

"Maybe, it usually does. Could be tomorrow or in a few days though."

Gohans' casual attitude was putting them off guard, but little by little they were beginning to let their tension go. A brief silence followed as they didn't know what to do with themselves, until Reiner spoke up again, taking the lead on their questioning.

"What are you?"

Gohan let out a long sigh, mulling over his words before he spoke.

"That's a long story. One I think I'm going to have to share soon, but not right now. The bigger question is, who are you three?" They looked at him with confusion. "Three years we all trained together in the cadets, yet I never knew any of you at all did I?"

Their faces were each a mask, yet subtle feelings shone through. Bertholdt felt shame, Reiner was guilt, Annie felt… despair. None said a word as he let the accusation hang over them all.

"Five years ago you broke through wall Maria, and killed a lot of people. But I think despite it all, I don't believe you're all truly evil. Three years we knew each other, and I've seen you all do good deeds. Annie, I've seen you be friends with Mina, and we trained together not just as comrades, but true friends. I've seen you enjoy it, your excitement and thrill as a fighter. I knew many good people like that."

His father… Piccolo…

"Reiner, I know you helped save people's lives in Trost, your comrades. You put yourself in harms way to do so, you wouldn't have done that if you didn't care. The same for you Bertholdt, I've seen the friendship that you've shared with everyone. I do not believe that none of it was ever genuine. You care about your friends, your comrades, you all do. So tell me why?"

"What choice did we have!?" It was Bertholdt who answered first, his mask broken and face contorted with guilt. "Do you think we wanted to do it? Who would want to kill people like that!?"

"Then tell me WHY!?" Gohan roared, jumping to his feet and startling the three of them as wind whipped around them, energy flowing off him in invisible waves. "Hundreds of thousands of people died, children and babies… I want to believe that you three aren't evil, that there's some reason or explanation for this atrocity! But you need to tell me."

His voice dropped into a growl, the silent or else hanging in the air thick like a waiting noose. Bertholdt flinched, breaking eye contact, while Reiner slowly shut his eyes with a resigned sadness. Annie's eyes were still locked onto Gohan, but tears had begun to from at the edges.

"I just want to go home. I just want my dad…"

Gohan empathised, he truly did. Not a day went by that he did not dream of reuniting with his family. "A lot of people wanted the same Annie, including the soldiers you killed. I need you to tell me why…"

"We didn't have a choice Gohan." Reiner had begun again, his shoulders slumped with a deep level of exhaustion. "This was our purpose, our duty." His body began to tense, energy beginning to build inside of him again. "Our duty as warriors."

"To kill the innocent!?"

"To do what we were told! We are warriors!"

"You're a person first Reiner!" Reiner flinched, stumbling in shock. "You make your own choices, nobody else! So tell me why! What order did you follow!?"

"We… we were-…"

"Reiner!" Bertholdt cut in, his voice urgent and wild. "You can't tell him!"

The blonde man froze, hesitating as he decided, before finally slumping down to the ground in defeat. "We were here to find the coordinate."

"Reiner…" Bertholdt was devastated but said nothing more. Seeing no further resistance, Gohan pressed further.

"Tell me Reiner, what is the coordinate?"

"Anything?"

"Nothing at all!" It wasn't the first time Mike had asked them, but every time the members of the special operations squad had been asked, the answer had been the same. Not a Titan, nor a person was within their senses. The wall seemed entirely… empty.

The only signs of life they'd seen was their own formation and a few birds in the sky, beyond that there was nothing more than destruction as far as the eye could see.

"Do you think he managed to clear out the entire wall of Titans?"

Gunthers voice held both hopefulness and weariness. After their encounter with the monstrous creature face to face, none of the special operations squad were feeling very sure of themselves or safe at the idea of being around him again, yet the power it held and the knowledge of who he was underneath, did leave them with some hope. The hope that maybe that power could be controlled, directed towards the Titans like Eren. If it could, then perhaps their eventual victory was assured.

"You heard the reports right?" Oluo chimed in, having recovered physically if not in his ego from his fainting the night before. "Some of the Titans still alive when he showed up just ran away. If there are any left, they'll be at the far side of the wall. With damn good reason too…"

"That's assuming he's still in that Titan form of his, what do we do if he isn't?" Gunther considered for a moment before adding. "Or if he is?"

A brief silence followed, the team nervous as they rode, with the exception being two of their members, of which it was only Mikasa who could speak up. "We'll be okay. No matter what condition he's in."

"Such faith…" Oluo muttered, but his doubt wasn't convincing even to himself. He might not have known Gohan like the others and felt he may not have truly known him at all, but he did know what Gohan represented. He knew, what everyone knew Gohan represented.

Hope.

Another green flare was fired into the air, a minor adjustment as they followed the tracks Gohan had left in its pursuit. They were relying on advanced scouting elements to find where the tracks truly continued on and ignore where the creature had deviated only slightly. With Eren's height advantage in his Titan form, he was able to give them a clear view as required of anything he saw as well.

As they adjusted their formation, Mikasa took the opportunity to drop behind slightly and join alongside Ymir. Having not had the chance to speak with her, she'd had plenty of time to ready his questions of which he had many.

"Ymir! Why didn't you tell any of us earlier what you could do? Trost… you could have saved a lot of people. Your comrades… didn't you care!?"

It was accusing, and perhaps unfair, but Mikasa like Eren had always been a more emotionally driven person, despite how hard she tried to hide it behind a cold and stoic mask. Ymir didn't answer for a while, making Mikasa sneer and prepare another barb to throw at her, only to be cut off as she finally did answer.

"I had my reasons. Maybe I'll tell you in time, but not now. But did I care? No, I didn't." Mikasa growled in anger, despite somewhat expecting the answer there had been a part of her that hoped it wouldn't be the case. "At the time, the only person who mattered to me was me. Now, well at least I can be honest and say there's at least one more."

She reached a finger up to her lips, gently touching as she relived a moment that was lost on Mikasa. "So you don't care? Then how the hell am I supposed to trust you?"

Her finger dropped and she scowled at Mikasa as the memory was rudely interrupted. "Trust me to look out for what's best for me. So you don't need to worry that I'm going to betray you, or that I won't pull my weight. I'll fight like I'm told to, and I'll have Eren's back like you want me to. Focus on the mission and we can talk later."

She growled but said nothing more, instead pulling away and back to the safety of Eren's side, his thundering footfalls reminded her of his heartbeat. She longed for the return to the days when they could just be together again. Training, resting, learning, it didn't matter, she just wanted to be away from the eternal battle and the death. She just wanted to lay down by his side and sleep.

Silence followed Reiners explanation of their mission. Annie and Bertholdt had tried to protest at first, but he'd barged through and told him anyway until they'd eventually given up and focused their attention on healing. For Gohan, he was busy processing through what he'd been told in quiet. His reflexive response had frankly been… disgust. The deaths of hundreds of thousands, all to try and find one person, who by the sounds of it was all the way in Wall Rose. They would have had to knock down every wall to get them to reveal themselves, and it seemed they would have done it.

At first.

Reiner may not have tried to hide it, but it seemed even he was surprised by the depths of the guilt and regret he felt. His voice had been broken, hoarse, and deeply remorseful through his retelling. He'd left out many details about who they'd truly worked for, but it was enough for Gohan to understand the greater picture.

Another nation at war with this one, attempting to wipe them out in secret. Compared to the scales of his world, it was so very pitifully mundane a reason for such suffering. He sighed as he stood before Reiner, the man an emotional wreck but still tense.

"I'm sorry."

"W-what?" Gohans words had caught them all off guard, and none knew how to respond.

"I am sorry, so sorry that you three have gone through so much. What happened to you, it wasn't right." He hesitated, raising his hands slightly before freezing, until he decided to commit and took Reiner in a hug. "I am sorry about what you have all experienced. I can see how it hurts you, and it wasn't right that you were raised for this."

Reiner had been too stunned to react before Gohan pulled away, one hand still remaining on Reiner's shoulder as he looked him in the eye. "You all deserved better than this, not a life of war and murder. That chance was stolen from you, and for that I'm sorry. But now… now you have a choice."

He didn't need to explain it to them, they all knew what he was suggesting. Annie flinched back harshly while Bertholdt simply sagged and shook his head before speaking. "You're the only one who could see it Gohan. No-one else would see what we see, what you're suggesting… there's no choice here, just like before."

"There is." His voice was gentle, yet firm. "The road up until now was laid for you by your superiors, the one's who trained you for this. But now you all know the truth, now you can all choose."

"They'll kill us."

Gohan nodded sadly, he would not lie to them. "They will. I'll see to it that you won't be hurt, but they will kill you."

"Then what choice is that!?" Reiner slapped Gohans hand away and backed off, looking panicked and horrified with what seemed like such few options. "We surrender and they kill us! Torture us too if you can't stop them!"

"I will! They won't hurt you anymore. But Reiner… this is a chance for you, for all of you, to have some semblance of a chance to make up for what you did. For them all to know that you chose to surrender, to accept their judgement."

Reiner and Bertholdt looked to one another, their emotional turmoil clear to see as Bertholdt shrank in on himself, his mangled arm wrapping around himself with his good one. He looked to all the world like the child he once was before he had been taken and indoctrinated.

"I don't want to die…"

"I know." Gohan muttered softly.

"But they will kill us. You're the only one who could understand and forgive us. They-…"

"I don't forgive you." His words made them flinch, Bertholdt wincing as he looked at him. "What you've done, the three of you, I can't ever forgive it. But I won't pretend that you weren't mislead, that you weren't deceived about what you were doing. Now you know, and now I want to give you a chance at redemption. Not to the people of these walls, you can't ever make up for that, but perhaps something for yourselves. Some way of accepting what you did, and to try and make amends for it in the only way you can."

It was Annie who spoke up next, Gohan's heart breaking as he heard what he had sadly expected to hear.

"I won't go back." He looked into her wild and fearful eyes, as she looked back at his that were filled with only sorrow. "What they did to me, I'll never forgive them. I'll never forget it. For the rest of my life no matter how short it is, I'll always remember-…"

Her voice broke off as she choked back the sobs, the horrific memories of what she had endured.

"I know Annie. But please, all of you, you have to understand that I won't let you hurt anyone else. I can't. And if that means that I'll have to kill you to stop you, I will. So please, don't make me do that."

"You could come with us!" Reiner had raised the question excitedly, as if he had found a solution to their impasse. "You come with us and we won't need the coordinate anymore, no more fighting or bloodshed, we'll all leave and never come back!"

Reiner turned to the others, but Annie and Bertholdt were already sadly shaking their heads. They knew the truth just like he did deep inside. No matter what their superiors decided, it was a moot point. Gohan would never leave these people behind.

"I'm sorry Reiner." Gohan's words were like a knife to Reiners heart. "These people are counting on me, I won't leave them. But more than that… you're responsible for a lot of death. I can't let you go."

He stepped away from Gohan, his body limp with exhaustion. Emotionally he was tired, but he'd had enough time now that his body had fully healed as had Annie and Bertholdt. He stood by them, contemplating Gohan's words as he watched him.

"So… that's it then."

"That's it." Gohan conceded. The young mans eyes closed as he breathed deep, opening them once more with focus. "Time is almost up."

"Time…?"

"Look." Annie stood tentatively on her new legs and pointed past Gohan, the cloudy remnants of green flares silhouetted against the forms of the scouts and their horses, spearheaded by Eren's Titan form.

Gohan didn't bother to look, having sensed them approaching already for a while. Instead, he pointing a finger past them all towards the far side of wall Maria. "Actually, I was referring to that."

They looked to see the wandering forms of Titans in the distance. In their fear and running away the Titans had closed together, now they were coming back as a horde. Shoulder to shoulder, at every kind of height they walked steadily closer and closer.

"You're boxed in, and there's no way out. But the choice is still yours."

Gohan took a prepared hop backwards as he gave them room to consider their choices. He feared he knew what they would do, but there was still a hope deep within. A hope that they wouldn't do it.

Reiner looked down at his hand, bringing it to his mouth but not yet biting, hesitating. Seconds passed by, his hand staying perfectly still before slowly, it dropped down, hanging limp by his side. He turned to his comrades, looking each of them carefully in their eyes.

"Annie, Bertholdt… are we soldiers, or are we warriors?"

They were both quiet as they considered his words, looking to each other in silent contemplation, before they too looked down to their hands. The weight of a decision about to be made bearing down on them.

"We are warriors."

They muttered softly in unison, then with only a second passing between them, all three bit down on their hands.

Lightning struck the tree where they had been standing, their bodies flung apart in billowing winds as bones and flesh began to appear. Steam and lightning set the leaves alight, their burning debris flung to the rest of the trees from the explosion and setting all of the woods ablaze.

Annie's female Titan form took shape first, her bony fingers forming over with crystal and hair hanging wild and loose, dipping over eye just as it did in person. The similarities with the true Annie now hard not to see.

Reiner's muscled and armoured form finished forming second, his powerful build tense and ready to fight. The plates around his jaw disconnected, his mouth dropping open as he let out a deep breath, the boiling hot steam billowing over the trees.

Above them all, the Colossal form of Bertholdt stood without equal. His 50-metre tall body unrivalled and impossible not to see, heat radiating off of him in lethal waves.

Yet below them all, not far from his original position, Gohan stood with only a saddened expression. He had feared this situation, knowing what would come next as a result. But his fear was not for himself, for as he stood in the shadows of such powerful creatures, he simply bent his knees and dropped into his stance, the same one that Piccolo had taught him so many years before.

With a deep breath released, he cleared his mind and readied himself for the battle.

Reiner moved first, bending low and twisting his whole body as he pulled back his right arm, fist raised in anticipation. Then he threw it, the giant fist careening towards Gohan's comparatively tiny form. Gohan remained still, the only movement being the slight raise of his arms as he braced with a block.

The sound of the impact was enormous, as the air boomed and shockwaves rippled across the grass. The fist crumpled, bones shattering as Gohan's body did not move even an inch from the blow. He had been strong, inhumanly so before, yet something that neither the warrior trio nor any of his comrades had been aware of was a simple biological fact.

Saiyans grew stronger with every battle, with every wound, and with every near-death experience.

Annie's attack against him in the woods had only further sealed their own doom. He raised one fist, throwing a right cross into Reiners mangled hand and obliterated it. The Ki that flowed from his punch exploded Reiners fist into a shower of gore and shattered bones that dug themselves into his armoured plates.

He moved quickly, leaping onto Reiners extended arm and sprinting up the side. He did not move all the way up, reaching until just below the shoulder before digging his hands into one edge of his armoured plates and ripping it off. With a little Ki flight, he tore it off in a smooth yet horrific motion, peeling it off before flipping around in mid-air. As he spun, he brought it back down into Reiners arm, the plate digging deep and shredding through the muscles and other plates.

The armoured splintered and broke inside of his arm, fracturing apart and shredding at the inside of the muscles and bones. With no time for recovery, Gohan flew forwards and landed hard against the embedded plate, kicking it clean through the arm and severing the limb.

Annie came sprinting towards him, her fingers splayed out as she channelled the Ki into her fingers. The bright light that came shining outwards was blinding to anyone who saw it, and she seized her chance to strike, only to find no target. Gohan had simply closed his eyes and flown high into the air. He came down like a meteor, striking her directly in one of the eyes, taking out both the eye and part of her skull as he shot through the meat and bone without hesitation.

She roared in pain as she reeled backwards, only to fall backwards as one of her knees was blown apart from an energy blast. Her body slumped against the burning ground, the fire not slowing Gohan for even a second it seemed as he turned his attention to Bertholdt. The colossal Titan was much slower than the others, and he knew from experience he was no match for Gohan in a fight, however he had little choice of what else to do as he raised a foot up and stomped down onto Gohan's form.

Unlike with Reiner, Gohan simply let it pass as the air popped around him from the ki that exploded from his body. The boy flew into the air until he reached his hips, punching into the burning meat and building a ball of Ki. The explosion did not tear his leg off, but the shredded muscles and splintering bones quickly fell apart under the weight of the rest of the body, and he fell backwards until he crashed into the earth.

"Holy shit… Commander Erwin sir, are you sure you want us to intervene!?"

The question had come from Moblit Berner, Hange's former executive officer and the last survivor of her team. He had been brought onto Erwin's personal command squad temporarily, though potentially it would be permanent depending on what casualties they took today.

Judging from the sight up ahead, it would seem they would be minimal. Despite having enlisted the help of both the Garrison and Military Police in their offensive, Erwin was for once feeling as though he held the stronger force in the lead up to an engagement. It was hard to make out the form, but the signs of battle were quite clearly Gohan fighting against the three shifted Titans, and it would seem he was winning for now.

The issue was however…

"All forces ahead! We need to have this fight over before the rest of those Titans attack!"

It would be close, exceptionally so given that the horde in the distance was picking up the pace, abnormals were breaking free of the group and racing towards the battle. The horde was large, quite possibly every remaining Titan between Trost and Shiganshina was there.

The battle was going to be fierce, and the men were nervous. Erwin felt the beginnings of a speech coming on…

"ONWARDS MEN! THE LAST OF HUMANITIES ENEMIES MAKES THEIR LAST STAND! WE WILL SEE THEM FALL TODAY! FOR OUR FALLEN COMRADES! FOR OUR FAMILIES! FOR HUMANITY! GIVE IT YOUR HEART! EVERY PIECE OF IT! CHARGE!"

The men roared, their formation picked up the pace, and at the tip of their spear Eren dipped his head as he turned from his jog into a sprint. His Titan form began to race ahead, the special operations squad engaging their gear and latching themselves onto his back.

The spear broke away, racing to strike into the heart of their enemy.

Reiner stomped at Gohan, his nimble form dodging away in time with ease before sending a Ki blast into his face. He raised an arm as he braced against the tree trunk that smashed into him, thrown by Annie. It broke against his immovable form, as did Annie's follow up kick, her ankle snapping from the impact. He moved to strike, before his eyes widened and he was struck from the side by another form.

A Titan, extremely skinny and with face contorted into one of terror had leapt and bit down on his arm. The teeth did not penetrate the skin, but the momentum while moving had caught him off guard temporarily. Ki flaring, he planted his feet and used his arm to pull, dragging the Titan across the ground as he spun around, smashing the abnormal into a tree and ripping the creatures' body in half. The creature lost all grip on his arm, and he pulled it unharmed from its mouth.

Taking the chance to survey his surroundings, he spotted the Titans that had begun to enter the fray. A handful had begun to latch themselves onto Bertholdt's colossal form, skin melting as they tried to climb up his enormous body. Others were moving into action, split between himself and both Annie and Reiner. He focused on the two that had their sights set on him, one leaping at him while the other hopped like a frog to surround him.

He dodged out of the way of the leaping one, seeing that as expected the hopping creature had seized its chance to try and get him. He moved underneath, using his energy to slide far out of reach before standing up and sending a blast into the exposed nape behind him as it came down where he had been.

The creature slumped as smoke billowed from its ruined nape, and Gohan took the moment to send a mental apology to the person it had once been. He hoped they and all the Titans he killed today would find peace in the afterlife. A large shadow was cast over him as another Titan came soaring through the air towards him. Unlike the others, this one had not jumped at him, but had been thrown.

Reiner was barrelling down on him with a fury, his remaining arm raised high for another punch. Only instead, to find himself intercepted by a punch from another.

Erens fist was crushed, but already healing by the time he transitioned into a grapple around Reiners remaining arm. With the skills he'd spent learning during the training with Mikasa and Gohan, he managed to twist and bring the armoured Titan crashing down to the ground, pinning him onto his back as he glared into the warriors' eyes.

From on his back, Reiner had a clear view as the forms of the special operations squad became silhouetted against the sunlight, leaping from behind Eren to descend on his immobile form. Eld and Gunther stabbed their blades into his eyes, while Mikasa and Oluo took out his ankles. Oluo cut into the muscles at his armpit, cutting tendons to further restrict his chance for movement. Captain Levi descended as a whirlwind, slicing up every muscle and tendon he could reach.

More rumbling came from behind Gohan, as he turned to see Annie racing to free her comrade before a flash of lightning exploded above her. She had enough time to turn her head before Ymir's powerful Titan jaws came down on her nape. The crystal that had formed held, barely, forcing Ymir to change to biting off Annie's entire left foot.

The two went crashing down in a heap, Annie struggling to right herself while Ymir moved in to try and kill her again. Despite Annie's attempts to swipe at her, Ymir leapt from tree to tree before latching herself onto Annie's back and digging in her jaws again. Annie roared as she thrashed, flopping around until she felt Ymir be ripped free, a large chunk of flesh coming loose in the process.

Annie rolled and raised a fist to strike before Gohan struck with a flying kick that knocked her backwards. She crashed into the dirt while Gohan landed gracefully atop Ymir's stomach.

"Are you okay?" He asked, receiving a curt nod in response. He immediately refocused his attention on the rest of their company as more and more Titans began to descend on them.

A handful raced towards the pile that was Reiner and the others, until members of Levi's squad leapt off to engage. The tide was slowed as Titan after Titan died, but the speed at which they were growing closer forced Levi to join in the fray. With no-one left to trim his tendons, Reiner focused his healing on his ankle and planted his foot. With his superior strength his twisted, flipping Eren off of him and onto his back.

Reiner however, did not strike at Eren. Instead, he crawled away, scrambling towards the prone form of Bertholdt who was by now covered with Titans biting away at his flesh.

"Captain! The armoured Titan is getting away!" Came Petra's shout before firing off an energy blast into a Titans knee and bringing it down. Mikasa came in quick and sliced the creatures nape before pulling away as another tried to grab her.

"Leave it, let the Titans finish it off. Everyone pull back before they swarm us!"

The movement was instantaneous, each member moving swiftly to re-join at Eren's Titan as he climbed back to his feet. Gohan nodded with Ymir as they moved to join them, the two of them breaking away while Annie tried to recover. Another Titan came crashing into her, however she managed to flip this one over and rip out its nape with her crystalline fingers.

Gohan and Ymir joined with others with Eren's Titan, his body covered with the forms of the special operations squad like fleas on a dog. Gohan joined them higher up, while Ymir simply leapt and latched onto his back, her fingers digging in and holding on tight as Eren began to move.

"Gohan! Are you okay!? Where's your tail!?" Mikasa was immediately by his side, alternating between embracing him and checking him for wounds.

"Mikasa, I'm okay. It's okay." He took her hands away from his face and held them gently, soothing her worries even as her adrenaline continued to flood her body and her anxiety refused to abate.

"Worry later! We've got company."

Captain Levi was right, as Gohan looked to see Annie racing her way towards them. Her foot had healed into enough of a stump that she could run, but it was awkward and clumsy, her pace slow.

"Doesn't this bitch ever give up?"

Oluo had asked it rhetorically, but Gohan felt compelled to answer. He knew the truth, saw it for what it was. In a sense, Annie had given up. She knew she would not survive the attack, especially without her comrades at her side. Instead, she was doing only what she could, racing towards her death.

Gohan moved without a word to the top of Eren's head, standing upright as he placed two fingers to his forehead and began to gather energy. Maybe she believed she could take some of them with her, that she could in some way get revenge for the torture she had suffered. But he had told her, he would not allow them to kill anyone else.

"Special beam cannon!"

He thrust his two fingers forwards, a spiralling beam of energy launched outwards and drilled straight into its target, the nape of Annie's approaching Titan form. The beam punched straight through, Annie's Titan form going limp as it dropped to the ground without another step.

"Goodbye Annie." He whispered, knowing he was perhaps one of the only people who would mourn her death. "I'm sorry this had to be the life you lived."

Annie's Titan form began to dissolve, the flesh dissipating and falling away as the body crumbled to pieces. It was the end of the female Titan, as crystal fell apart and shattered. From within the nape, a hand burst free. Annie reached out, grasping hold of the flesh and beginning to pull herself up, it was the last of her energy as she pulled free the remains of her body, only her top half remaining.

She felt numb, her body shutting down as she bled to death. She was cold, but it didn't hurt, the shock giving her some peace as the end came to claim her. In her last moments, she saw a shadow cast over her body and a long thin arm reach out to pluck her from the Titan corpse.

In her final moments of lucidity, she saw the face of the one who would finally kill her. The wide lipless smile that looked down upon her, as the smiling Titan raised her up to its mouth.

Fingers tore at his body, jaws pulled at the plates that would not yield, and the crushing weight on top of him only grew and grew. Reiner felt he would die soon. He was using the last of his strength to shield Bertholdt, his Titan form laid front down in the ground and unable to move. The heat had dropped away by the time Reiner had flung himself over his friends' nape, the lack of heat panicking him as he feared he was too late.

But Bertholdt had broken free from the nape, in time to join Reiner in death it would seem. There was no way out, nothing they could do as the Titans piled on more and more.

"Reiner…" Bertholdts voice was barely a whisper, his friend so tired and afraid. "We're going to die."

Even if he could speak to him from his Titan form, Reiner wouldn't tell him anything otherwise. There was nothing either of them could do, not against so many and so weak.

"I want you to know… you made this bearable, this nightmare. I'm glad I could have you as a friend."

Reiner was glad as well. Early on, when they'd believed their cause to be noble, it had been easy to have pride in their work. But the years of guilt that had followed, it had only been thanks to Bertholdt that he'd managed to keep it together until the end.

"Reiner… I don't want them to eat me. I'm afraid. But more than that… I don't want you to die. There's still a chance you could make it out of this… but only if you eat me first."

Bertholdt looked up into his friends eyes with tears streaming down his face. Reiner wanted to argue, to tell him no, but the more Titans bit into him, as they pulled to rip him apart, he couldn't argue against it.

"Please Reiner… you'll make it quick. I won't suffer… but you might survive. So please… please do this…" He reached out and grabbed the man's jaw, pleading with him. "Please eat me."

Reiner didn't move, showing no signs of response. Until as tears dripped from his eyes, he slowly opened his mouth.

From the outside of the Titan pile, it was impossible to tell what was happening. Light glowed from underneath, lightning struck and thunder boomed as the Titans were flung away.

Something new formed where Reiner's Titan had been, one far larger and billowing fire as it rose to stand. The Colossal Armoured Titan had been born, and it roared in agonised fury.