A/N: Hello, readers! Welcome to another chapter! Enjoy!

edited on april 6th, 2022 @ 3:55am

»»————-　★　————-««

»»————-　★　————-««

┏━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━┓

𝓒𝙷𝙰𝙿𝚃𝙴𝚁 𝚃𝙷𝙸𝚁𝚃𝚈-𝙵𝙸𝚅𝙴,
𝓣𝙷𝙴 𝚃𝙾𝚆𝙽 𝚆𝙷𝙴𝚁𝙴 𝙴𝚅𝙴𝚁𝚈𝚃𝙷𝙸𝙽𝙶 𝙱𝙴𝙶𝙰𝙽.

┗━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━┛

Wall Maria contained one third of humanity's remaining territory. Five years ago, when humanity lost this territory, from within the remaining two walls, they realized: "That we... are not meant to continue living." After all, humanity cannot defeat the Titans.

However, one young man gripped that small blade held in his heart, and thrust it into a Titan, pounding its massive head into the ground. When humanity saw this, what did they think?

Some were proud.

Some held hope.

Some cried out in anger.

Then, if Wall Maria was retaken, what would humanity cry out? Would they finally start believing that humanity deserves to live? That our fate is something we can decide? Will it be enough for them to believe?

If only Wall Maria was retaken...

NIGHT HAD FALLEN AS JOSIAH was walking in between Mikasa and Armin. The Scouts were walking through a deep forest with their hoods up. One Scouts horse went slightly out of control, causing them to be scolded by Levi.

"Sorry you're stuck with my horse." Eren apologized to Josiah, who was holding onto the reins of Eren's horse.

"You're supposed to be saving your energy." Josiah reminded him.

"Yeah, I know." Eren stated.

"He's right. Rest up, Eren." Connie added on from behind him, making Eren turn to look at him.

"Don't say his name, idiot." Jean scolded.

"Oh, yeah, sorry." Connie apologized.

"Assume this place is swarming with enemies." Jean said before looking over and spotting a Titan.

"Titan on the left! Everyone halt! Light up the area!"

Everyone raised their lights to a Titan leaning against a rock.

"It's all right. He's fast asleep. This lad must not be one of those new types that moves at night." Hange chuckled a bit. "That's too bad. Let him be."

The Scouts continued to walk forwards as Eren spoke up from behind them. "I can't believe we didn't see it till that close up." He stated.

"Yeah, I'm with you there." Hange agreed. "This moonless night must be protecting us. Light from the moon is reflected sunlight. The new type of Titan... We think they use that minuscule amount of reflected light to move. Using the new moon was the right move. There's no guarantee we won't have a repeat of before. That lad may by one of those "Moonlight Titans" for all we know. Hope we capture one someday!"

They continued moving forwards as Josiah noticed that Eren was shaking.

"Eren..." Josiah spoke.

"What are you shaking for? Are you scared?" Armin asked.

"Huh?! I'm not scared!" Eren denied.

"Huh? You're kidding... Look at your hand." Armin told him.

"This is... It's cold! My hand's damn freezing!" Eren lied.

"Really? My whole body's been shaking this whole time." Armin stated, holding up his fist. "See?"

"Eren, have you ever been afraid of Titans?" Armin then questioned. "Normally, everyone's terrified of them. Like me... The first time I faced a Titan, I couldn't move a muscle. But... there I was... And you pulled me right out of a Titan's mouth. How were you able to do something like that?"

Eren stayed silent for a moment before he answered. "I remembered... the time you showed me that book. Up until then, I never once thought about what was outside the walls. I just spent every day staring at the clouds and sky. But then, I heard your story and looked into your eyes. You were seeing an awesome dream. But I had nothing. That's when I knew. I wasn't free. Trapped in a small cage in a huge world, my freedom stolen by those unthinkable fiends. When I realized that, I couldn't forgive them." He explained.

"I don't know why, but when it comes to taking back freedom... Yes... Strength flows through me. Thanks for that. I'm good now." Eren finished as Armin just nodded.

"I bet, by this time next year, we'll be looking at the sea."

Mikasa suddenly stopped in her tracks. "I recognize this area. I think... we came here for firewood." She stated.

"I can see the foot! There's signs of a trail!"

"It's so close." Eren said.

"I can hear the river." Mikasa informed.

"Finally, we're back... the first time... since we fled from here. Back to our hometown..." Armin said.

Dawn was soon to come as the Scouts got on their horses and moved towards the walls, going past the buildings.

"It feels... really weird being back here." Josiah thinks to himself. "After five years... I'm finally back in my hometown..."

"Be on guard for Titans hiding in the shadows! Our operation begins now!" Erwin shouted, extending his arm out. "All troops, switch to ODM gear!"

As soon as he gave the order, the Scouts lifted themselves from their horses and flew over Wall Maria, landing on top of the wall.

Josiah landed next to Armin as he looked down at Shiganshina.

"Don't stop! Head for the outer gate!" Levi ordered.

"Roger!" Eren shouted as Armin, Mikasa, and Josiah followed after Levi.

Levi and the others used their ODM gear on the side of the wall, heading towards the outer gate.

As Josiah glided on the side of the wall, he looked out at the destruction.

"The treehouse that Soren, Clay, and I always hung out in is out that way. That is, if it didn't get destroyed by the attack." Josiah thought. He felt as if eyes were looking back at him as he glanced over, noticing that Eren was looking right at him.

They arrived at the outer gate as they were waiting for Titans to come.

Levi and Hange observed the area. "This is all too strange... Not a single Titan in sight?" Hange questioned.

"But we have to keep going." Levi informed.

"Yeah, there's no reason to call it off." Hange agreed, before raising a smoke signal and shooting it off.

As the other signals were shot off, Eren went over the wall and bit into his hand, lightning struck down on him as he changed into his Titan form.

His Titan hardened around the hole in the wall in a matter of seconds, Josiah quickly went down to grab him and carry him to the top of the wall.

"Don't let your guard down!" Hange ordered. "Keep on the lookout!"

"Roger!"

Josiah landed on top of the wall with Eren. "Eren!" Hange shouted.

"How's your ODM gear?" Josiah asked.

"It's fine. But I did manage to lose my cloak." Eren replied.

Josiah removed his cloak and went up behind Eren, drapping his green cloak around him in which Eren accepted it.

"Thanks." Eren thanked him.

"Mmm." Josiah nodded in reply.

"The hole?!" Levi called down from below.

"Success!" The soldier from down below replied before firing a smoke signal.

"It's plugged all right!" A soldier from the other side called out and shot a smoke signal.

"We did it!" Hange declared before they walked over to Eren. "Eren, you okay?"

"No problems here. I'm ready like we trained." Eren responded.

Hange turned away from him. "We'll head for the inner gate! While we're on the move, remember to hide your faces!" They ordered.

They all began running forward. "You did it." Josiah spoke up, causing Eren to look back at him. "Believe in your own power."

"Not yet!" Levi said. "No matter how much you plug it, they'll break the wall as long as they live. Until we kill Reiner, Bertholdt, and any other enemies, the operation to retake Wall Maria won't end."

"Of course... I know that!" Eren informed.

While swinging on the wall on their way to the inner gate, a red smoke signal was fired.

"The signal to halt the mission!"

Hange turned to them. "All troops, scatter and stand by atop the wall!" They ordered.

"Roger!"

Josiah was on top of the wall as he saw the Scouts tapping the wall.

"Armin... Did you figure something out?" Eren wondered out loud as someone shot a smoke signal.

"Here! There's a cavity here!"

Before the soldier could do so, he was stabbed in the chest by Reiner who made his way out of the wall in front of him.

The soldier fell as Reiner jumped out. "Reiner!" Armin screamed.

Before Reiner could do anything, Levi went shooting down towards him, stabbing him in the neck. Levi ran down the wall, pushing the blade in further and stabbed him again in the chest to let go of Reiner and let him fall.

Reiner landed harshly on the ground. A bright light comes from Reiner as lightning struck once again, transforming him into the Armored Titan.

"Keep on the lookout!" Erwin ordered. "Locate his allies!"

However, another flash of lightning appeared from behind Erwin as the ground shook beneath him. A bright light surrounded them as Erwin turned around to see the Beast Titan standing there with a row of Titans forming around it.

Josiah watched as the Beast Titan picked up a large boulder and held it over its shoulder, before jumping back and throwing the boulder towards the wall.

"Boulder incoming! Get down!" Erwin shouted out. The boulder hit the wall as Josiah felt the wall shake as the boulder made impact with it. Smoke and dust formed around the damage of where the boulder hit. He looked down to see the boulder had plugged the entrance up.

"Did he miss?"

"No... That was a good aim. He plugged the entrance. Now the horses can't pass. They'll aim for the horse and surround us... in order to block our escape and annihilate us here." Erwin replied. "We're both hoping for the same thing. To settle this once and for all. Humanity or Titans?! Which side will live?! Which side will perish?!"

»»————-　★　————-««

A/N: Another chapter is finished! Thanks for reading!

Word Count: 1658 words.