Reminder

Utgard Castle

The castle was draped in a ghostly silence under the silver glow of the moonlight, standing like a lone sentinel among the undulating shadows of titans.

Titans surrounded it in droves, their grotesque forms shambling, their cold, insatiable gazes fixed upon the fragile stone tower that separated the scouts from their end.

Each monstrous strike against the tower shook the ground beneath them, sending tremors up the spines of those trapped above as loose cobblestone bricks fell from the tower.

The air was thick with dread. Miche and his seasoned squad, once humanity's shield, had fallen – Miche himself meeting a brutal end in Zeke's merciless grip.

His ODM gear, ripped from him in a cruel display of curiosity, now lay abandoned, a reminder of the strength that had failed against the Beast Titan's cunning. Every move of the titans, seemed eerily calculated, almost as if they were... thinking.

Connie knelt on the cold stone floor, his trembling fingers clutching a knife he could hardly bring himself to lift. Tear-streaked and hopeless, his gaze was lost.

Sasha clutched her own arms tightly, panicking under her breath, the fear all but paralyzing her. Christa and Ymir hugged, voices low as they muffled their breaths a shallow whisper against their ears, while Reiner sat nearby, his face a mask of resignation, haunted eyes darting to Christa since his last resort: Transform to protect himself and Bertholdt killing everyone in the process.

Then, in a single, quiet motion, Ymir bent down and took the knife from Connie's limp hand. She turned to Christa, eyes dark yet burning with a fierce resolve. "Christa…" she began, her voice a fragile bridge between life and death, "… live a life you're proud of."

"Wait what are you doing.... Are you high?" Connie jumped up seeing seeing her stand on the ledge her eyes filled with determination. A faint and evil grin appeared at the corner of her lips," Shut up and just watch baldy..."

With those words, she leaped over the stone railing.

Time seemed to stretch as she slashed her palm midair, and in that single defiant act, the air itself seemed to thrum with energy.

Her bones elongated, muscle and flesh stretched and wove themselves together, until the fearsome form of the Jaw Titan manifested before them, snapping into existence with fierce purpose.

Razor-like teeth glinted in the moonlight, and limbs thick with sinew coiled, ready to strike.

The others gaped, awe-stricken. But among them, Reiner and Bertholdt's shock went beyond disbelief; their eyes betrayed a horror that was colder, deeper.

"This... This can't be happening.... it was her that day..." Reiner whispered, as if seeing his past catch up to him. He looked to Bertholdt, whose expression mirrored his own dread, before turning to Ymir's beastly form—a symbol of both hope and fear for them.

Without hesitation, Ymir's titan body tore into the advancing titans, her limbs moving with lethal precision, bones slicing through flesh, jaws crushing without mercy.

She was a storm of vengeance in the darkness, a flash of fangs and fury that seemed more ghost than warrior. She fought not just for survival, but to carve a final moment of defiance into the silent, uncaring night.

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Wall Rose

Eren rode alongside Levi and Hange, accompanied by a group of scouts, all heading toward Utgard Castle. The journey was taxing on him; the effects of his Berserk form still wore heavy on his body, leaving him sore and barely able to sit upright on his horse.

But he managed to keep a brave face, casually chatting with Levi, while Mikasa, riding nearby, couldn't stop glancing over at him.

"Eren, you look exhausted," she said for the third time in as many minutes, her concern barely hiding the mix of emotions swirling in her eyes.

"You should take the cart and rest. Or…" she hesitated, blushing faintly, "you could ride with me. I'll steer, and you can sleep until we reach the castle."

Each time, though, Eren brushed her off with a smile. "I'm fine, Mikasa."

Then he leaned toward Levi, voice lowering in a half-teasing, half-serious whisper. "Levi, I think this horse is trying to kill me. I can't feel my balls anymore—by the time I dismount, I'll probably be sterile."

Levi sighed, giving Eren a sidelong glance. "You're an embarrassment to our Ackerman bloodline.... you idiot." he muttered, though a slight smirk betrayed him.

Eren chuckled at Levi's response, but his mind soon drifted to the girl he was supposed to rescue with the scouts, one who had stirred his curiosity. "Hey, Mikasa, Armin—do you two know that cute girl with blue eyes? I've heard she was in your class."

Mikasa's expression hardened immediately, a hint of jealousy slipping through wondering why Eren was so eager to know more about her. "She's not that cute, Eren," she grumbled. " Plus she was ranked tenth in our class—barely impressive."

"Pretty good, if you ask me," Eren said, raising a brow at her reaction. He turned to Levi. "Right, Levi?" Levi smirked his gaze shifting at the girl who never obeys and always refers to him as shorty," You're right Eren. A pretty girl in the top ten's got to be worth talking about."

But before he could continue his senses caught a teasing remark when Petra, riding just behind, cleared her throat loudly. The grin froze on Levi's face, and he shot Petra a sheepish glance, quickly deciding he'd best not say any more if he didn't want to deal with Petra's wrath for the next week.

Meanwhile, Mikasa looked down, her face quickly turning dead and empty,"Kill.... Kill.... Kill... Kill..." She started muttering... Again.... Before she realized it, Eren's hand was resting on her head, patting her gently. She looked up, surprised, and saw a warm smile on his face. "But we all know that the cadet ranked first in 104th is the real star," he said softly.

Her cheeks reddened even more than her scarf, and a shy smile crept onto her lips as she nodded, her usual stoicism melting under his gaze.

The whole reason Eren brought it up again was to test Mikasa's reaction, still unsure why she seemed so bothered back in Karanes District when they'd been with Pastor Nick. Watching her now, it finally dawned on him—Mikasa got jealous, and fast, anytime he so much as admired another girl.

Armin, observing the exchange, chuckled. "It's funny," he said. "That girl was always so sweet—the nicest person in the corps. But now, I don't know who she really is. We all thought she was the farmer's daughter with a tragic past. But I never once thought she'd belong to the royal family."

Eren nodded, but just as he was about to reply, a sudden, sharp headache hit him, and he winced, gripping his head as a pained yelp escaped his lips. The others noticed instantly, and Mikasa's eyes filled with alarm.

These headaches were quite frequent with both Eren and Mikasa like a chained distant memory hidden away from them. But in a glimpse the pain vanishes.

Eren's gaze softened as he met Mikasa's worried charcoal-blue eyes as his pain subsided. He gave her a reassuring smile, brushing off the lingering ache from his headache.

"Don't worry, it's nothing serious. I'm used to it." But despite his casual dismissal, Mikasa's gaze lingered, her concern undimmed. Eren, as usual, just trailed it off smoothly, trying to keep everyone calm.

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Utgard Castle

As dawn's first light bled across the horizon, Ymir's agonizing screams tore through the cold morning air.

"ARGHHHHHH!" The titan's voice echoed painfully, a hoarse battle cry as titans clamped onto her limbs, ripping into her flesh.

But she didn't stop—each brutal step was calculated, swift. Her mangled body hurled itself forward, claws tearing into titan napes with deadly precision. She'd downed seventeen of them already, yet it seemed as though they just kept coming, an unrelenting nightmare in flesh.

Her dark eyes zeroed in on the crumbling tower above, where her comrades clung to the remaining stones, a titan almost reaching Christa with outstretched, ravenous arms.

With a feral shriek, Ymir summoned the last reserves of her strength, twisting free from the vice grip of jaws and claws. In a swift motion, her partially regenerated leg exploded forward, launching her toward the climbing titan.

Her massive fist crushed its nape, the blow resonating with a sickening crack as the creature collapsed beneath her. But the tower itself, weakened by the assault, groaned under her weight, tilting dangerously.

"Hold on!" Ymir's voice rasped as she grabbed the tower's edge, offering her Titan's long, sinewy hair. Without hesitation, Connie, Sasha, and the others latched onto it, their faces grim as they clung on for dear life.

With a final, bone-rattling sound, the cobblestones gave way, the tower collapsing and burying several titans beneath its rubble.

"Did we get 'em?" Connie muttered, scrambling off Ymir's shoulder as the others dismounted beside him. Relief barely had a chance to settle before the unmistakable sound of shifting stone filled the air.

Emerging from beneath the fallen tower, titans began crawling out, one after another, their grotesque faces illuminated in the morning's pale light.

"Tch… it'll take more than that to kill those bastards," Reiner growled, shifting his gaze to Ymir. "Hey, ugly! Get back in there and finish the job!" Connie shouted, his voice laced with desperation.

Without a word, Ymir launched herself into the fray once more. But this time luck wasn't on her side, right after killing two 10 meter class, without warning she was ambushed by the remaining titans.

The horde tore her Titan body apart piece by piece, ripping through every limb until her battered form lay exposed, her human body barely shielded by the remnants of her Titan flesh and bones.

"Ymir!" Christa's voice broke, her scream piercing the air as she watched Ymir struggle beneath the relentless assault. Her heart ached, raw and desperate, as she watched the brutal onslaught unfold.

Suddenly, driven by a wild, uncontainable impulse, Christa tore free from Connie's grasp, scrambling down the pile of rubble.

Her heart pounded mercilessly against her chest as if it's gonna explode at any moment."There's… there's so much I haven't told you…" She ran toward the titans, voice cracking with each word, her vision blurring with tears.

"I.... I still haven't told you my real name…" The last words fell from her lips as a titan lunged toward her, the massive figure levitating above her, its shadow swallowing her in a chilling embrace.

"Christaaa!" Reiner's shout ripped through the dawn, his arm stretching out as he sprinted after her, the horror evident on his face. "Bastards, don't you dare touch her!" Reiner's massive arm instinctively rose towards his mouth ready to transform to protect the one he adored.