Congratulations! You have all now completed the training! I shall now announce the top 10 of the 104th Trainee Squad!" Shadis roared, holding a paper firmly in his hands. His gaze flickered to the paper as everyone saluted in excitement.

"10th: Krista Lenz!

9th: Sasha Blouse!

8th: Connie Springer!

7th: Jean Kirschtein!

6th: Eren Jeager!

5th: Annie Leonhart!

4th: Bertholdt Hoover!

3rd: Reiner Braun!

2nd: Y/N L/N!

1st: Mikasa Ackerman!"

You gently jabbed Mikasa with your elbow with a smile, silently congratulating her for her amazing achievement. It's not like you hadn't expected Mikasa to get into first place.

She smiled back slightly.

"Dismissed!"

The graduated cadets cheered and headed out, some with terrified faces for knowing that they were gonna have to choose between the Garrison or Survey Corps, and some with pure relieved faces for not having to endure any more rough training.

Just as you were about to walk away with your brothers and sister, Shadis called out to you.

You abruptly stopped and turned around to hear what he had to say.

"L/N," he began, stalking towards you. The fear that you once had for this very man had dissipated into thin air over the years, so you stood firmly when he reached you and put a hand on your shoulder.

"I'm assuming you're going to the Military Police?" he asked with a neutral face, which caught you off guard. You quickly re-composed yourself and coughed for your friends to continue without you, to which they did.

You turned back to Shadis with a small smile. "Actually, sir, my plan was to transfer directly into the Survey Corps," you said, with the thought of your grandpa running in the back of your mind.

Shadis' expression visibly changed for a second, his irises shrinking for a split second until they turned back to normal.

He suddenly smiled and turned away from you, gliding his hand off your shoulder in the process. It left you slightly confused, before what he said next would forever be engraved in your mind as he walked away:

"I'm sure your grandfather would have been proud."

Next Day

It was the next day, the day before you were all meant to choose which branches you would be transferring to. A rush of excitement ran through every cadet's veins as they thought about the amazing time they would have, safe inside the walls.

Because obviously, no one wanted to join the suicidal branch; a.k.a the Survey Corps.

On top of the wall on this particular day, sat a small group of 104th Trainee Squad cadets, assigned to trustfully clean the canons that was used for titan-slaughter.

Those cadets included you, Eren, Mina, Sasha, Connie, Thomas, and Samuel.

And you were all bored out of your mind. Sure, cleaning the canons was a necessity, but that didn't mean it was fun for any parties involved.

"Bleh," you stuck out your tongue in boredom as you leaned on a canon, not caring if you were to fall down anytime soon. "I hate cleaning these damn canons. Out of every chore we have ever gotten, this is the worst."

"Really? I thought cleaning the stables was so much worse," Eren said, eyebrows shot up in surprise from the fact that you would rather clean horseshit than gunpowder.

"You only hate the stable-cleaning because it reminds you of Jean."

Your sassy yet true comment spiraled into a snicker-chain as everyone snorted and laughed, Eren included. Personally, every cadet loved the sassiness that you hide beneath your smile, as it has cheered up so many people on one of their worst days.

And the best part is that you didn't even know it.

The laughter stopped once you guys spotted a person walking towards you. Fearing it was a superior, you quickly hopped down and began chucking your arm into the bullet hole of the canon, swiping it.

"Oh, it's only Sasha," Mina giggled, and you all immediately returned to your state of laziness.

Once Sasha came close enough, she sat down onto the ground and shivered. This caused you to have a surprising reaction. It was in the middle of summer, how was she cold?

"Sasha, you okay?" you asked worriedly, sliding off the cannon and creeping towards her, yet you stopped as you spotted something pink inside of her jacket.

And just now did you notice the drool and sweat that ran down her face.

"Hey, uhm, everyone..." Sasha started, and the others stopped what they were doing to listen to her. "I borrowed some meat from the officer's morning rations."

She pulled out the pink, lumpy meat, earning countless of gasps.

"You're an idiot," Thomas said, hand covering his mouth with wide eyes. It took no fool to see that he was getting scared.

"Real idiocy's scary."

"You wanna get solitary confinement?!" Eren yelled in frustration at Sasha, who was merely staring at the meat with hunger in her eyes.

"Let's split it up together later! We can slice it up and eat it with bread!" she suggested, goosebumps shooting down her body from the thought of having the savory taste in her mouth.

You knew deep down that you yourself wondered what meat truly tasted like. Was it salty? Perhaps spicy? Or maybe even a little sweet? Or did it taste like nothing with a weird consistency?

You unconsciously gulped at the thought, causing Eren to send you a suspicious glare from where he stood.

"Sasha," you sighed, disappointed with what you were about to do. "Let's fucking do it. And everyone's ass is gonna be here at 7 pm tonight, or I'm dragging all of your asses here myself."

Eren smacked his forehead while everyone around you shuddered. They knew that you were 100% serious with your words and that if you truly felt like it, you would literally drag their asses here.

"I╴I guess we can't really go against Y/N, can we?" Thomas half-smiled half-froze. Everyone was quick to agree.

"It's decided then," you laughed along with Sasha happily, pleased to finally be able to taste something that you've never tasted before.

"It'll be a while before lunch, so let's all continue cleaning," Mina butted in, resting her hands on your and Sasha's heads.

Eren's POV

Five years have passed since the day I lost my mother to a titan. Mankind's finally regaining its dignity.

We can win. Mankind's counterattack behind now!

But, just like that, my hope was torn away from me, as I was once again reminded of the grim reality that humanity has never escaped from.

BOOM

I felt my irises shrink as I suddenly felt a huge presence behind me, and I was quick to notice everyone's facial expression freeze in what I could only describe as fear.

I knew what was behind me.

And before I could react, the small group that I was gathered with got hit by a huge wave of boiling steam, making me and everyone else tumble off the wall like ants.

"What the fuck?!" I yelled, feeling my throat beginning to tingle as the octaves I had rose.

Before my mind reacted, my body had already used the 3DMG gear that was attached to my body to shoot the wires into the wall, keeping me steady and in place.

But I couldn't say everyone had the same reaction.

As I looked around, I saw most of the group were dangling off the wall, but my eyes soon landed the one cadet that was falling down, shrinking before my very own eyes.

"Samuel!"

Before any of us could react, Sasha stormed down the wall without her wires attached, making her almost roll down from the stiff rocks.

"Samuel!" Sasha yelled, using her finger to shoot her wires from her 3DMG, one latching into the stone of the wall, one penetrating the skin on unconscious Samuel's ankle, keeping him in floating in the air.

"Don't move!" Sasha yelled at him, even though she was sure that he couldn't hear her.

I felt the sweat drip down my chin and forehead. I quickly wiped it away with a sigh of relief. For once, I was grateful that Sasha had shown up with one of her crazy ideas, or else she might not have been here.

"That was close."

I looked down in pure relief. But that didn't last long. Next thing I know, a lump was forming itself in my throat, and I couldn't speak nor hear anything, except Connie shouting a sentence I never wanted to hear again;

"The gate is broken!"

"Again," Mina trembled, covering her mouth as she felt vomit making itself up her throat. "The titans will get in again!"

I felt myself gasp as I looked over at the person I'd known for a little over half a decade.

Y/N's eyes were wide, and I watched as she slowly but surely raised her head to look me in the eye. The fear that pooled in her eyes was enough to pull out the fear in my own ones.

I had a pretty good guess of what she was thinking, which was probably the same as me.

The flashbacks of my mother's death filled my mind. Oh, wait, that's odd. My hands were shaking.

A short silence took over until I choked out; "I'll exterminate them all..."

"Every fucking one," I breathed out, feeling the anxiousness leave my body with that one sigh. The objective was clear in my mind now;

The target here was the Colossal Titan. The asshole was probably right above us, snickering for itself.

"Ready the artillery! Four groups, prepare for battle!" I yelled, storming up. I heard footsteps behind, and as I looked over my shoulder, I got direct eye-contact with Y/N, who was storming up as well.

I whirled my face up again as I jumped into the air, feeling it almost take me away. "The target's right in front of us, it's the Colossal Titan!"

Just as I hopped 10 feet into the air, the Colossal Titan made direct eye-contact with me, almost as if mocking the way I took command.

This only fueled my anger.

"Eren!"

I whipped my head to the side as Y/N shouted. She was right beside me in the air, and we both nodded and attached our wires into its hard muscles.

"Let's go, Y/N."

"Don't fall behind, Eren."

I heard a huge battle cry erupt beside me, and without thinking, I mimicked the way she announced her arrival. We swung around each side of the Colossal Titan, who was moving so slow that it made no difference.

Once we were behind it and into the air, we both penetrated the skin of its neck.

Y/N flew past me with what I could only describe as sheer determination in her eyes. "Eren!"

We brought ourselves down with full speed, and as we neared the fleshy neck, the unexpected steam shot out. I felt the burning sensation all over my skin, almost unbearable as it felt like it was melting off my every skin cell.

I couldn't withstand the heat.

And that's why I became so surprised when I saw Y/N through the steam, throwing herself into it as she went for the Colossal Titan's neck.

And just when she was about to slice, another huge wave of steam erupted. Before I could react, Y/N had already levitated 50 feet into the air above, and she disappeared from my sight as she crashed behind the wall.

"Y/N!"

What about the Colossal Titan?! When I looked over, there was nothing but thin air and unanswered questions lingering in the air.

It had gotten away again. I felt the anger in my being encouraging my adrenaline to continue.

Normal POV

Darkness was all that consumed your sight for now. No matter how many times you tried to force your eyes open, they remained shut, as if someone had glued your eyelashes together.

The pure smell of dirt from a flower pot entered your nostrils.

All you felt was your body thumping up and down from the ground as if it was a pulsing heart outside of a body, and something warm, thick and quick running down the side of your forehead.

All of a sudden, something clicked inside of you, and everything came back in waves.

The Colossal Titan, the steam, and Eren.

"Shit..." you muttered. All you wanted to do was vomit, yet you swallowed to keep it down. Humanity had just been pushed into a danger zone. You had no time to vomit.

"Y/N!" you heard someone shout your name. Thank god, someone noticed you. For all you know, someone could have overseen you.

You felt small hands supporting your head as another pair of arms wrapped under your knees and back, heaving you up with a huff.

"Reiner, get her to HQ immediately, she needs emergency medical care!"

"Got it, Krista. Be safe!"

Sounds of wires and the wind flying past you, numbing your face with coldness, made your senses die down a whole lot. You had no sense of time or space, nor the current condition you were in.

But what you did hear though, was the battle cries released from the soldiers atop the wall, followed by the gunshots of the canons you had earlier cleaned.

Back at HQ

"You recruits have completed training and graduated into proper soldiers! I expect you to actively participate in this operation too!"

"Yessir!" cadets saluted. The fear that had been kept at bay had been released for some cadets, and they ran around like chickens with their heads cut off.

Some threw up, some harmed themselves, and some passed out.

Hannah and Franz sat away in the corner. Hannah, a girl who was a few years older than you were shivering with fear, her feet running cold as her breathing was short huffs.

"Don't worry, Hannah," Franz slightly smiled, empathy in his eyes for his girlfriend. He truly felt sorry for everyone, as if he couldn't see that he himself deserved some sort of compassion too.

He swallowed thickly and embraced the red-head from behind, momentarily stopping her shaking. "I swear," he sighed. "I'll protect you.

"Franz," Hannah hiccuped and sobbed, burying her face in her lover's chest for some sort of comfort. As the couple stood and embraced, a hectic ravenette stormed past them, only giving a second to spare them a glance.

Worry grew in her stomach as she looked for a certain brunet called Eren.

She stopped as she heard familiar voices murmuring from where she stood. She instantly recognized the first to belong to her dear brother.

"Are you okay, Armin?" could be heard. Mikasa stormed to her right, following the noises, only stopping when her eyes landed on two boys sitting next to each other in front of a gas tank.

None other than two out of the three most important people in her life.

"I-I'm fine," Armin whimpered. It didn't sound convincing to Mikasa or Eren. "I'll pull it together. B-but we're still in trouble! We've got an 8-meter hole in the wall and no quick way to fix it! We couldn't even dig out the rock near Zemo! If we can't close the hole, this city will be abandoned!"

Gunshots stopped Armin mid-speech. Then his eyes widened and he gasped, feeling his heart speed up to an unnatural pace. "It's only a matter of time until they break Wall Rose! If they felt like it, they could annihilate mankind at any time!"

"Armin!" A hand slapped down onto Armin's wrist, squeezing it firmly. Eren clenched his teeth in pure desperation for Armin to calm down. With each word that Armin muttered, Eren had felt a shot of fear in his heart, and it did not sit well with him.

While Eren was thinking, the coconut-head-shaped boy sat as still as he could, his hands running cold and cold sweat coating his forehead. He suddenly hung his head in shame.

During such a critical time where many needed encouragement, how could he spew such vulgar words?

"Calm down," Eren said slowly to Armin, while Mikasa was inching closer and closer. "This time it's different. Mankind won't lose to the titans."

Silence overtook for a few minutes, allowing Armin to regain his posture and collect his thoughts.

He then took a deep breath

"S-sorry..."

Even Mikasa had felt the fear in her chest rise as Armin had rambled about his worries and theories, which was quite unlike him.

"I'm fine," Armin finally said, standing up with a bit more confidence. This time, it would be different for him. No more scared Armin.

Now, Armin was gonna protect Wall Rosé, even if his life depended on it.

The King's Castle in Wall Sina

Dot Pixis ╴Highest Commander of the Garrison.

Here he sat, in front of the majesty, the king, rather, playing the good old board game known as classical chess. Amidst their match, the king picked up 5 homemade cookies, which had been so delicately prepared by his servants, placing them on his tastebuds.

Dot Pixis and the king was having a great time, until╴

"Commander Pixis!" someone screamed, followed by the king's door flying open unannounced. "We just got word!"

"What's the meaning of this outra╴" the king demanded but was cut off by the female soldier that exclaimed in panic;

"The Colossal Titan just attacked Trost!" she panted. "The wall has been breached!"

The Garrison soldiers that stood loyally by Pixis' side gasped, shocked at the sudden news. The king dropped the glass of wine that he held tightly in his grasp.

It shattered on the floor, the sound echoing throughout the room, leaving sharp shards on the floor to piece anyone who dared take the challenge and walk on it.

Pixis, with a stoic face, stood up and picked up the bottle of booze, tilting his head and gulping down the strong yet satisfying liquid.

"Heh," he snickered, followed by a satisfied sigh. "This booze is truly top-shelf," he smiled, closing his eyes. "As your fellow on the battlefield, I'll humbly accept it." Though his words were polite, Pixis honestly didn't give a damn about what the king said or thought.

He took long, quick strides towards the exit.

"Hey! Wait! Pixis!" the king's trembling voice yelled out. Pixis' two soldiers bowed politely to the king, following Pixis.

"Pixis!" the king whined. "I said wait! You can't just leave*!" the king stood up and ran to Pixis with his short legs, grabbing his arm harshly. Pixis only kept walking.

"Gather your men and focus on defending my property! That's your duty, isn't it?!"

As if the king's prayers had been answered, Pixis stopped abruptly and turned to the king. What was this nonsense that his hearing had fallen upon?

His duty to protect the king? Don't make him laugh.

"Your majesty," Pixis clenched his teeth and looked down on the king, who was slowly cowering away. "As of this very moment that we're speaking, soldiers and cadets may be putting their lives on their line for humanity. As commander of the Garrison, it is my duty to fulfill my promise to mankind."

But alas, the king, cold-hearted and selfish as he was, completely discarded and ignored Pixis' words of wisdom.

On the board of chess, Pixis didn't need to hold back, yet he did it solely for the king's amusement.

But as people say; 'Life isn't a game'.

The commander walked away, ignoring the king's desperate cries of protests.

...and so, The Defense of Trost began.