"Eren! Wait!" I screamed. He didn't listen. The titan swung his arm straight at us, I flipped back, sticking to the wall, but Eren jumped on the titan's arm and began running up it.

Was he crazy?

The Titan's arm kept swinging, and smashed the cannons to pieces.

This was planned. As it should be, he was like me.

Wait! I had to ... I had to save Eren! Mikasa wasn't here ... There was no one else who could stop him!

I pulled the dagger out of my boot, held it on my arm...

No! Why was I having second thoughts! This was Eren!

I looked up as there was a hiss of steam, where was he? Where was he? Oh god...

The steam cleared. The Titan was gone, Eren was there, about to slice a nape that wasn't there anymore. He seemed to freeze, and then fall.

I lifted up onto the wall as soon as Eren landed.

"Are you freaking crazy? You could have died!" I screamed, "what would I have told Mikasa?"

"I'm not going to be sorry for what I did." He snapped. And I was reminded back to that day when I first met him. Except he'd been saying those words to his father, not me.

"Dammnit. Eren, did you take him out?" Connie asked, rising up to meet us.

"Of course not. He vanished," I snapped. The titan wouldn't be that stupid as to let Eren kill it.

"Gee, it's great you have so much faith in me." Eren said coldly, "no. I didn't get it."

"Wait, Eren, I didn't mean -" I tried to back out of what I'd said, but Eren wasn't interested.

"In case you haven't noticed there's a breach, if we don't act now, titans will start pouring in, then that's it!" Connie said harshly.

"Look Alive, Cadets!" A voice said behind us. We turned to see a soldier rise up, "operation Colossal Titan response is in effect. I expect you to take part. Report back to HQ, if any of you got close to the damn thing we need details!"

SIR YES SIR!" We saluted, "sir, we pray the advance team will be victorious." Connie announced.

"Yes, yes we do." I thought, turning to see hordes of Titans, closing in on the gap.

They smelt human.

***

"Armin, Armin what wrong?" I asked. He was shaking so badly the tanks he was trying to fill wouldn't stay straight, and gas kept escaping.

"Don't ... Don't worry about me... I'm fine, just give me a few moments for my nerves to settle..." Armin stuttered, "This is bad, isnt it? There a hole in the wall eight meters wide and we don't even remotely have the engineering know-how to plug it. The giant boulder near the front gate was our best bet but ... We couldn't figure out how to seal the breach ... Unless we block the breach ... The entire city's as good as dead! How long do you think it'll take for them to reach wall Rose... Seriously, how long? Any time the mood strikes them they could wipe out the human race in an afternoon!"

"Armin!" Eren grabbed his arm, "listen. Your focused on the past: look ahead! We're not going to be the victims anymore!"

We waited for him to catch his breath. "... Y-your right... I'm sorry."

"Come on. We have to go. I said. I wasn't scared... I wasn't...

Just like I didn't love Jean.

***

"I WANT EVERYONE SPLIT INTO FOUR SQUADS AS PRACTICED!

We all stood in line in the HQ's Quad. Captain Foreman was giving the orders;

"ALL SQUADS ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR SUPPLY RATING, MESSAGE RELAY AND ENEMY COMBAT UNDER THE COMMAND OF THE GARRISON REGIMENT! THE INNER SQUAD WILL BE TAKING THE VANGUARD! CADETS WILL BE TAKING THE MIDDLE GUARD FOLLOWED BY THE SUPPLY SQUAD. REAR GUARD WILL GO TO THE ELITES. I EXPECT YOU ALL TO MAN YOUR POSTS KNOWING THAT THE ADVANCE TEAM HAS BEEN WIPED OUT!"

There were gasps from the Cadets. I closed my eyes.

"THAT'S RIGHT! THE OUTER GATE IS HISTORY! THE TITANS ARE IN! THIS MEANS THE ARMOURED TITAN IS LIKELY TO REAPPEAR, IF, AND WHEN IT DOES, THE INNER GATE WILL ALSO BE HISTORY!"

"Is this real?" Daz, who was a row ahead of me, said in a voice slightly higher than usual.

"Please be a dream." Thomas whispered next to me.

"Oh god, what if the Bastards manage to bust through wall Rose?" A boy behind me asked.

"QUIET! THOSE IN THE VANGUARD BE READY, THE WHOLE AREA IS INVADED, YOUR MISSION IS VERY SIMPLE, FIGHT UNTIL THE EVACUATION IS DONE!"

He glared at everyone, "LET ME REMIND YOU THAT DESERTION IS PUNISHABLE BY EXECUTION - IF IT COMES TO IT LAY DOWN YOUR LIVES!"

I rubbed my neck nervously. Everyone else saluted, "SIR!"

Everyone scattered, some joining their squads, some to say goodbye to friends, others just trying to gather their nerve.

"Why'd this have to happen now? One more day and I've been heading for the interior," Jean was groaning. Around us, everyone was more or less doing the same. The atmosphere itself was enough to make your hands shake with fear.

I tried to look for Eren, acting as though I wasn't staring at Jean. But it failed. Jean stood up and crossed my line of vision. I couldn't help but watch him walk away. He actually found Eren for me, the two of them bumping into each other. Uh oh.

I quickly moved forward to hear them and possibly intervene.

"Move!" Jean snarled, pushing past Eren.

Eren grabbed his arm, "what the hell's wrong with you?"

"What kind of question is that? We're all about to be titan chow! You expect me to sing you a happy little song?" Jean grabbed Eren's shirt, "I bet your loving this, you little psycho, of course you are, your whole life's aspiration is to be eaten!"

Mikasa had been attracted by the shouting. She moved closer.

"I was one day shy of shipping off to the MP's!"

"Jean, please, get a hold on- " Eren tried to protest.

"No!"

"Dammit! Shut up for a second!" I said, pushing them away from each other, "what the hell is wrong with you guys? Look I get it, Titans are scary beasts that grind our bones to make their bread, but seriously? Can't you look at each other without getting into a fight? Your both being ridiculous. And Jean-" I tried to ignore his handsomeness, "Come on! We've powered through for three years, what's one more day? This is what they trained us for, you think we'd be graduating if they didn't think we were capable? No! We'd be pulling weeds right now if they didn't!"

Jean stared at me, then pushed my hand away, "shit." He muttered, walking away.

"Eren," Mikasa said, "I need you to listen, if things take a turn for the worst I need you to come find me, alright?"

"What? We're in completely different squads!" Eren exclaimed.

"Look. This is gonna get ugly, and when it does, the plan goes out the window. I need you to find me so I can protect you."

" who the hell do you think you are?" Eren asked.

"Ackerman, your with me." A voice said. "You've been assigned to the rear guard on special orders. Get moving." It was a soldier, I wondered if he'd been listening.

"But sir! I'm a cadet! I'll slow everyone down!" Mikasa protested. Liar.

"I'm not asking for a self evaluation here," the man said, "the mass activist is falling apart. We need everyone we can to get the procedure back on track."

"But sir, with all due respect-!"

"Hey!" Eren pushed Mikasa back, "you've been given a direct order! Pull it together! This is bigger than the two of us and you know it! We're on the verge of extinction here, have some damn perspective!"

Mikasa looked down, "...your right. I'm sorry. This whole situation just has me out of my head."

"Tch." Eren turned away.

"But please," Mikasa grabbed Eren's sleeve, "just please, promise me one thing." She looked up, tears in her eyes, "whatever happens, don't get yourself killed."

Eren's eyes narrowed, he pulled away and walked off.

"I hadn't planned on it. Thanks."

Eren was muttering. But I was too far to hear that. What ... What was happening?

"No. I won't allow myself to get killed!"

He was halfway across the quad. No. No.

"Oh god." I whispered, "I'm going crazy and we haven't even met the Titans yet!"

I quickly moved away, hurrying to my Squad.

"Not until I taste what life is like outside of these godforsaken walls."

I sped up. Eren had disappeared around a corner. I was going insane.

***

My Squad was Connie, Ymir and Krista. I didn't have high hopes.

We headed out the HQ and waited for the signal to advance. The other Squads had already head out, but apparently one of our Squad members had lost his nerve and was trying to kill anyone who came within arm length of him.

I thought of Eren, his voice in my head, he and Armin were in the same Squad. I knew Eren would protect him. Eren... He was so stubborn, a titan would probably spit him out. I smiled.

"C'mon, Dammit!" Connie hissed, "we gotta go!"

"So eager for death." Ymir commented.

"No! It's- never mind."

"I thought things would be hairy, but this? This is insane!"

It was Eren, or rather, the voice of Eren in my head. I shook it.

"Hey, you OK, Kira?" Historia asked.

"Huh? Oh, sure. Just ... Headache." I smiled unconvincingly.

"We've got an Abnormal! Pull up!"

Eren wasn't just thinking this, he was shouting. I felt his breathing, the wind. The pain in his hand in my own as he clung to a drainpipe.

A horrible image filled my head. Thomas, in the mouth of a titan. His terrified look. His fear. He didn't want to die.

Eren's shock. My shock. The emotions rolled into one.

Rage. Anger. Justice. Kill it. kill it. KILL IT!

"YOU BASTARD!" Eren and I screamed. He lunged forward. So fast. So fast.

"YOU'LL PAY FOR KILLING MY FRIEND!" We yelled. My heart was pounding. Kill it Eren!

"No! NO! LOOK OUT!" I screamed.

A titan lunged and bit Eren's leg clean off, he fell, smashing through Debris. He stopped on a rooftop. Blood, so much blood, down his face. In his vision.

In front of half closed eyes, Mina was grabbed and killed, another cadet was snatched out of the sky by a third titan. The abnormal got away.

"Eren! Get up! GET UP!" I screamed at him. He couldn't hear me.

But he saw the grey bearded titan. He saw it pick up a frozen Armin. Why wasn't he moving? The pain... In Eren's leg... It hurt so much. With every heartbeat more blood spilled.

Armin dropped into the titan's mouth, and he screamed.

"No ... Armin..." Eren thought weakly.
Suddenly we weren't lying down anymore. We were... Back in Shiganshina. But it was Eren, not me, he was sitting there, thinking, and Armin ran up to him.

"Eren? Eren! EREN!"

"Ugh, why you shouting?" Eren asked lazily.

"Sorry, but I found this book my grandpa keeps hidden away. Believe it or not, but it's about life on the outside!"

"I hope this is your idea of a joke," Eren looked up at Armin, "stuff about the outside world is illegal, seriously, they could throw you into jail for that."

"Trust me, you'd change your mind if you know what was actually out there! According to this book, most of the world is covered in salty water so deep you can't reach the bottom! There's a name for it too, they call it the 'sea'!"

"Like, salty for real? Come on, your making it up. Something that valuable like salt was just floating underwater? merchants would have scooped it out ages ago."

"That's the thing! The sea never runs out! It's that big!"

" yea, whatever." Eren scoffed.

"Just bear with me, there's a lot more out there than salt. Water that glows like fire! Fields of ice! Giant rocks so big it takes days to climb!"

"It does sound nice." Eren said.

"OK, you've got to swear on your life not to tell anyone, but my parents, well, they're going to sneak outside the wall to find out for themselves!"

"They'll know what it's like firsthand!" Eren exclaimed.

"Look at me."

Eren did.

"We should do it ourselves someday, we could have adventures like the guy who wrote this book."

The pain, it was back. The dream was gone. Eren... He was trying to stand... No! No! "NO!" I screamed at him. He was beyond hearing. Even if he could.

He activated the ODM gear and shot at the titan, grabbing a tooth and swinging inside, he used a blade to lock the titan's jaw open, then grabbed Armin's arm that was rapidly slipping down the beast's gullet.

He pulled, pulled, wrenched Armin out, and flung him outside.

Armin looked up, Eren was trying so hard to stop the titan's mouth from closing. He couldn't make it ... He couldn't make it ...

"Eren!" Armin screamed.

"I refuse to die like this... Understand?" Eren said, his voice was steady, though he was light headed. The blood loss was too much...

"Armin, listen... We're still going to the outside world... The things you told me about ... I have to see them... I have to..."

He was buckling. Armin and I could only watch... It was too late.

"Eren! NO!" We screamed.

The titan's mouth snapped shut, Eren's arm was severed, he was sliding down the creatures throat...

I woke up.

I was lying on the roof of the building. Connie and krista were leaning over me, Ymir a little bit away.

"Oh my god! Kira!" Connie exclaimed.

"Are you OK?" Krista asked worriedly.

"I... I'm fine... What... What happened?" I asked.

"You... You just dropped suddenly. You kept screaming at Eren... Telling him to get up..." Krista said.

Oh god.

"We... We need to go!" I said, trying to stand and reeling drunkenly.

"What?"

"We need to go! Eren's entire Squad..." I shut up. I shouldn't know this. They'd call me crazy. Maybe I was crazy.

A soldier walked forward, "your Squad-mate has been calmed down, but he will not be joining you." He said, "you'll have to go. The Vanguard need Backup on sector twelve."

"Yes sir!" I exclaimed. That was where Eren was!

"Uh... Are you OK there...?"

"Kira, sir."

"Kira who?"

"No last name, sir."

"OK... Well, get out there then."

I didn't need telling twice. I was off before the others even readied their gear.

"I'm coming Eren..." I whispered.