Chapter 5: The Year They Spent. Part 3

A/N: So… awkward cough, how y'all been? Good? Good…

Okay, I'm just gonna say it, I got no excuse for how long this took, honestly. I hate the fact it did take me this long to post this chapter, I really really hate that fact. But, if anyone is still reading this, I really hope you enjoy this chapter, I think it's my best yet to be honest. And all of the wonderful reviews asking for updates and complimenting my work has left me in a constant state of happiness, it might sound silly, but when I read that someone really enjoys this cuddly titan I thought of, it just makes me happy I guess. So I do hope people still read this, and I hope to do better for all of you.

A/N1: A side note; please let me know what you feel about how I characterised the scouting legion, I think I wrote them well, but I'd like to know if I portrayed them wrong in any way.

The ninth month…

He would never complain about still having his dear friend, never. But the fact that she was now a human did pose a multitude of complications.

For starters; she couldn't be separated from him, not even for a minute, their home was far too dangerous to leave a single small human alone, no matter how short the distance he was from her. Of course he had no objections to this, as after that horrific incident, his protectiveness rose up a couple thousand notches. So he was happy to keep her with him at all times.

Ymir… was not as keen, but only during bath times. Especially the first bath they had taken, shortly after finding her human form, as they had been covered in filth, a wash was very much needed. She had demanded one all the way there of course, but as soon as they reached the small body of water they used to bathe, she understandably stiffened up, although it wasn't due to the reason he assumed it was for.

Apparently, She wasn't too keen on bathing whilst he watched, he had no idea why, as they had bathed together many a time since the day he first brought her here. But she had refused to wash whilst he watched.

"Idiot! I'm not getting naked with you watching! Turn around and I'll tell you when to look!" He had grumbled, unwilling to let her out of his sight, but she was having none of his pleading. And in all honesty, he was relieved to see that fire still in his dear friend after that traumatic experience, he would've been a nervous wreck in her position.

It just goes to show how strong Ymir truly was. He had been proud of her.

That is until she started swearing bloody murder at the water, somehow she had momentarily forgotten about her deathly fear of the liquid. And thus he had to proceed with washing the grumbling girl, promising to not look at her during the whole process. A weird and irritating request as it made pouring the water on her all the more difficult.

Another issue that arose was her body heat… even he knew that humans didn't produce the same amount of internal heat as titans did, and with winter coming ever closer (the leafs had begun to fall away en masse). The risk of the cold hurting Ymir grew worryingly higher and higher. This realisation was brought about as they went to sleep one night. Ever since her human form appeared (something he had been curious about, but unsure how to ask), she had slept directly on his warm palm, fingers pulled over her lithe frame like a blanket, and as he watched her doze off, he noticed the small shivers that wracked her body, so many in fact that he had cupped his palm over her, thus doubling the heat, it had worked for sleeping but had brought up the worry for when they went outside.

He had initially wanted Ymir to stay in the cave, she quickly killed that plan by calling him an idiot and stating; "we stay together, no matter what, you hear me big guy?" And he had certainly heard her, so whenever they went out, he would place her on his head so she could grab onto his long hair. And whilst she obviously tried to hide it, her rags didn't offer much protection to the chilling air, as even though her frame was tiny compared to his, he could feel the shivering coming from her.

And thus it led to their current objective, finding Ymir some more appropriate clothing. That was the main objective, but he also had a side objective; he was hoping to come across some preserved food humans might have left, as Ymir had quickly grown sick of the local berries, something he was fine with, as he wasn't even sure which were even edible. There were so many more things to account for now, he knew Ymir was capable, even in her small form, but they had both unanimously agreed that he had to be the provider and the protector and in their titan infested home… both were extremely difficult to be.

And extremely dangerous for Ymir.

It was thoughts like that he had been agonising over for weeks now, and he always came to the same conclusion; a quick glance at the imposing walls far ahead of them.

Hmmm.

"Hey big guy, you sure they're houses this way? We've been walking for a while".

He snorted, "ivvve bheen whalllkng…", he felt something slap him half heartedly on his head, although he barely felt it, "none of the sass big guy, keep walking!" He allowed a small throaty chuckle to leave his massive maw, "yhesssss mhamm!" Ymir laughed above him, "that's right big guy, I'm the boss. And good job with your speech it's coming along really well". Well of course it was, his teacher could actually speak coherently now, but he left his minor mockery of Ymir's previous speech abilities to himself, he wouldn't want to anger the boss now would he?

"Bhuuuut yehhhh, dis iiiis daaaa weeeii. Almoooost dherrrr".

"And how did this know this? I've certainly never seen this part of the forest, and we promised to always leave the cave together…"

He wisely chose not to respond to that question, but his silence all but confirmed Ymir's suspicion, and as he heard her sigh, he expected beratement from the girl. Instead he felt her arms wrap as far as they could across his head, a sad look he couldn't see on her face. "We promised to stick together…", he practically felt the worry emanating from her lithe form, and all he could do was continue onwards, a lump beginning to form in his throat. "We promised that so we could protect each other, make sure both of us made it home safe…", he minutely inclined his head, he remembered said promise, it was before Ymir lost her titan form.

"And I know…" a small sob, so quiet he almost missed it broke out from her mouth, "I know I'm just a human now and I don't know how to go back to being a titan… which makes me…" a much louder sob broke out now, "make me useless in protecting you, but we made a promise and the thought of you going off and… god forbid not coming back! It… it…"

At this point he stopped walking and danger be damned, he was not going to ignore the tear drops any more! Raising his hand up, he carefully plucked Ymir from his hair, earning a surprised gasp as he brought her level with him. She was in a state, eyes were puffy red and her cheeks were stained with tear tracks, he plopped her into an open palm and looked at her for a few moments in contemplation.

Since the incident there had always been some kind of unspoken agreement between the two, an involuntary agreement but one that was there nonetheless; Ymir needed protecting at all times. And whilst it was an unfortunate truth, it seemed to have affected Ymir much more than he had realised, that she could no longer protect him, that she was literally a liability to his survival. And whilst he would never see her that way, she most certainly would see herself that way.

A liability, something that caused problems and never solved them. He felt stupid for not noticing it before now, and felt disgusted with himself for allowing this feeling to fester and dwell. And he knew he didn't have the vocabulary required to properly articulate his feelings on the matter, how wrong she was about her self hatred and pity. But like he thought before.

Actions always speak louder than words.

Ignoring the questioning look, he slowly brought the small girls to his lips, lowering his palm accordingly, and for Ymir's part, she didn't even flinch as she drew closer, that was how strong her trust was to him, she did perk a brown haired brow, which looked oddly comical combined with her haggardly sad look she had on her face. She was mere inches away from his lips now.

"H-hey what are you doing? Look I'm sorry for complain…" she was interrupted by the feeling of a pair of large lips gently pressing against the top of her head before pulling back.

A chaste kiss.

And Ymir was completely silent as he pulled away and got a good look at her dumbfounded face.

"Nhooot uselesssss, mheaaaan soooo mhuch toooo meh" he brought his scarf wrapped pinky finger across her cheeks, to wipe away any remaining tears, "nhoooo muuuurr teeeearsss. Fooooor meh?" Ymir stood in his palm, flabbergasted with what just happened, but even she couldn't stop the beaming smile that forced its way into her face, and as she brought her hands up to hide her shining eyes from him, her lips continued to smile.

"Yo-you're such a moron", a slight sob wracked her small frame, a residual urge from before his kiss, "b-but you're my moron!" He laughed; a deep throaty chuckle rumbling from his lips.

"Dhaaaam straiiiiiight!"

She laughed despite her earlier emotional episode, "Well, let's go get me some clothes… oh and no skirts or dresses", he nodded, pretending to know what those were in the first place, she might well have been speaking gibberish at that point. The kind titan deposited the girl back onto his head and carried on walking.

They were almost there now anyway.

Later

The clothes hunting had proved fruitful, many different articles, all of which baffled the titan were found. But what was most important was that winter clothing was procured, however it hadn't been a seamless procurement, he had found a large most undamaged house, and after carefully pulling the roof of the building, he deposited Ymir inside, where she went about scouring for suitable clothing. He wagered it'd take 10-15 minutes tops to get everything.

Oh boy was he a god damned fool!

If it wasn't Ymir complaining about all of the skirts/dresses, it was about rough and itchy fabric almost all of the clothes were. And when he had pointed out her dirty rags, she had replied; "their not made from whatever crap these are made from!"

How was he supposed to know that!?

How did she know that!? He had tried asking exactly that, but she waved him off and begrudgingly grabbed multiple sets of pants and tunics, as well as shoes and winter clothing. Fortunately, it seemed that he wasn't to suffer the boredom without reward, as during one of Ymir's clothing escapades she came across a locked room on the lower floors. And after getting him to intricately remove the door, (he flicked the adjacent wall from the outside), they found the jackpot he had been hoping for.

Food.

A lot of food at that! He had been so giddy he almost jumped for joy, what a find! But like all good things, there must be some complications.

"Hey, isn't this symbol familiar to you?" She had been referring to the symbol carved into each of the food boxes roof.

Two majestic wings crossed over each other.

Those flying humans… is this their food?

Would it be right to take their food without permission? What if they needed it? Could he really do something like that?

"Well, who cares! Finders keepers!"

Theft it is!

And that's how he spent the rest of that day's sunshine, carting multitudes of rations back and forth to the cave, and by the time he had put down the last crate, (there had been a lot, even for his massive hands), the sun had set and night had fallen.

"Holy crap, do you see this? Meat! Honest to god dry meat!" He turned to see Ymir cracking open a single crate and pulling out a sealed packet of some kind, food he supposed, it didn't look that nice to him, but from the near ecstatic look Ymir had, it must've been.

Although, if he had been eating nothing but crap berries for the last few weeks, he figured dry, crappy meat would be a gift from god to him as well.

How fortunate he never got hungry.

So he hummed in response letting her know he was listening. And as she hungrily tore open the pack and got comfortable; snuggled up onto his open palm; she began to munch away greedily, not even taking a moment to breath between each inhalation of food.

Whoa… she's really going for it.

Seeing as there wasn't anything to really do, it being near time for bed and all, he decided to simply watch his most precious person.

She had changed out of those rags, and torn them to shreds, (a bit too eagerly in his opinion). She now wore a very loose brown tunic underneath a white waistcoat; untied in the front. On her legs were some black pants, a couple sizes too big for her and a pair of brown sturdy shoes. When he had asked why she picked out clothes too big for her, she said that she'd grow into them. That brought up an important point in his mind, just how old was her human form?

He knew she had been a mindless titan for around 60 years, but he also knew there was a time for her before that, she hadn't told him directly, but he had gleaned it from her words and actions.

Her fear of water for example, something that couldn't have been developed during her mindless times.

Was she a human before a titan?

She looked around the same as his little ones he saved during the first wall breach. So quite young if he knew anything about humans.

It would certainly add up with the human form she currently found herself in, and the memory of seeing that tall human boy transforming into the colossal titan would corroborate this theory. So did that mean that boy was once mindless? But wouldn't a mindless titan of that size be kind of hard to miss? Because he had never seen it before during his years of watching.

His train of thought stalled.

Watching…

That was right, he had spent such a long time just watching before now, how many years; he had no clue, he could safely say longer than he would have liked. But there was something else to that thought…

What did he do before watching?

It was strange because he could not recall a time before watching the world pass him by, just that one day he began watching and his 'life's started.

Could I be like Ymir?

How could he find out? Ymir had nearly died, hell she had died, at least her titan form did finding out about her human side. And he didn't really feel comfortable having his nape ripped open, especially if he wasn't like Ymir. Never mind that Ymir would never allow it.

Yeah, I just want to test something out real quick! Just watch as I get killed, trust me it's for a theory I've been thinking off.

Real smart stuff.

A grumble sounded out in his throat, he didn't like all this theoretical nonsense, it brought an uncomfortable… heaviness to his chest.

"You okay there big guy?"

A titanic head shook in mild surprise, it turned to see his charge staring up to him worriedly. He lazily nodded as his perceptive eyes caught sight of some grease around Ymir's mouth. A chuckle broke out as he carefully used his scarf finger to wipe away the stains on her face.

"Hey! Mmphhhhhhhh!" She tried to shout as her face was gently covered for a brief moment, before he pulled his finger away a smug smirk on his face. Ymir paused for a moment, when suddenly she scowled and threw the empty ration pack at his face which bounced off harmlessly. And he couldn't help it, he burst out laughing, on his back, chest bubbling with laughter.

"Oi! Don't laugh you ass!" She demanded as he scaled his chest and began to fruitlessly pound away at his chest, this only made him laugh harder, and soon enough Ymir followed suit, both laughs reverberating through their cave, his overpowering hers effortlessly. The laughter subsided after a while and they were left in a comfortable silence between the pair.

His eyes began to feel heavy now, his energy beginning to leave due to the night finally, he could stay awake for longer, but he didn't see much of a point. That's when he noted Ymir's neck… her bare neck.

That's it!

Something had been bothering him about Ymir's look constantly, and he knew it wasn't because she was human now. It was the lack of a certain something around her neck.

Luckily for them, he could fix this now.

Stretching one of his arms out, he rummaged around where he left it, and once his large fingers found the desired object, he brought it over. And presented it to Ymir whose eyes widened in shock. As he grasped a very small (for him) piece of blue cloth, a familiar blue cloth. It looked frayed and slightly torn here and there as if it had been altered deliberately.

"Thoook suuum frrrrrom thhhaaat day! Maaayyd eeeet smaaaaal fuuurrr yooou!"

The ex-titan girl looked from the piece of cloth to him and back again, her tentative fingers reached out to take the ever familiar cloth, it's soft fabric rubbing against her fingers, it brought a warm, amazing feeling washing over her. And she couldn't hold back the smile that came over her face as she snatched it from him, to which he happily allowed as the girl scrambled to tie the fabric around her neck in that ever familiar fashion. She had been so occupied with her human form that she had forgotten about her favourite gift. She kinda felt bad for even doing so. But she didn't let her guilt damper the mood, instead she gazed back up to his face.

Thank you she mouthed, unable to articulate her words at the moment. His smile grew.

You're welcome.

The tenth month

Snow had fallen, a thick blanket of witness now covered every inch of uncovered ground, it painted a beautiful picturesque image of the world around them. It was truly magnificent.

Truly it was a pity that with the snow… came the biting cold otherwise he would've enjoyed it much more thoroughly, because instead of appreciating the beauty, he had to keep Ymir's safety and warmth in mind.

Honestly, it'd be just embarrassing for one to die from the cold whilst titans proved to be an ever present threat.

He had foolishly hoped that the cold would affect the titans, at least slow them down due to its quantity and thickness. Instead, on some of his very short patrols, he witnessed some of them eating the damn snow. Just like he used to witness behind the walls. It was kind of embarrassing to have been just like them before, so… stupid.

"H-hey c-can we go back! It's fr-freezing!" Stuttered a shivering Ymir who sat upon his head, wrapped up in blankets within blankets, she looked like a ball of fur in his opinion, twas cute and amusing. Something Ymir would slap him for if she found out. But even wrapped up so thoroughly she still felt the freezing cold, so cold that she could no longer feel her ears and nose. The only place she was truly warm was in their cave cuddled up next to his humongous form. A grunt came from him in acceptance, it was time to return, there was only a certain amount of time he could spend watching idiots eating snow before he wanted to kill them, and ever since Ymir became human his titan killing had become practically non-existent, too worried about fighting with her nearby.

He turned to leave when the familiar sounds of wires flying through the air reached his ears. Followed by something slicing through meaty flesh.

They were back.

Spinning his head back he bore sight to those small armed humans killing his mindless kin. Before impressively landing on a snow covered branch. There were five of them, and he recognised one of them.

The short grumpy looking human, is that his pack?

They were talking about something, but he couldn't make out what. He only needed to take a few more steps.

"What are you doing! Hide!"

Blue eyes bulged as he pivoted on his heel and spun behind a large tree, what had he been doing!? Was he hoping to get spotted and killed?

Idiocy seems to be a fault of mine.

However it seems like luck was on his side, as his ears picked up their voices.

"What're we doing out captain? It's freezing".

"What, feeling a little cold there Eld?"

"Shut up Gunther!"

"Will the pair of you concentrate!? Act more professional, we are in enemy territory…" an amused giggle broke out.

"Like you Oluo? I didn't realise tongue biting was so… professional".

"Petra you bitshhhhhhh, ah!"

…

…

…

These were his kind's killers?

"Quiet! All of you. As I said before we're here unofficially on Erwin's command".

"I realise that captain, but why the secrecy? The main body of the scouts were assigned to recover supplies from our abandoned outposts".

"Yeah, not to mention that outpost 4B was missing it's roof and food rations… As well as some clothes".

"Worried you won't have any pretty dresses Petra?"

"Oh, I have enough Olou, I was more concerned about you in that regard".

…

…

…

"She got you good there necktie".

"That's enough! You can joke later, when we're not knee deep in the defender's fucking territory!"

A chorus of "yes sir" broke out.

"Anyway, Erwin just wanted us to scout it's territory out and perhaps find out more about the shitty thing".

"But wouldn't section commander Hangs be better suited for this?"

"Hmmm, that's what I said but Erwin said shitty-glasses would be to "preocupied" to fully conduct the search, which just mean she'd be too busy blowing her load at the mere thought of seeing the defender".

…

…

…

Blowing her load? What's a load and why would she blow It? And why do I not want to know?

"Umm, aptly put captain".

"Yeah… anyway, keep an eye out for it, fucking thing is sneaky as all hell, and if you do see it. Do not, I repeat do not attack it, it has shown no hostility towards humankind And I'd rather not tell Erwin we had to kill his new project because one you shit the bed". His squad saluted.

The titan figured that was his que to get out of there, and as quietly as he could began to sneak away. A tough thing to do with his size and the crunch of the snow. Although it did lessen the vibrations from his impact.

But it did also leave massive footprints in the soft snow. So he'd have to take multiple side paths, double back and run out some of his tracks to throw the humans from following his tracks to their cave. And as he left the scene, both he and Ymir as quiet as possible. He missed the following conversation the Levi's squad had.

"Do you think it heard us captain?" The second in command; Eld queried, an anxious look on his face as he glanced at where the pair had been hiding. His captain's frown grew deeper as he too had a glance at where the titan had gone, "I'm pretty sure this is a shorter distance than the last time it snuck up on us, whether or not it understood everything… I don't care enough to know".

The tallest man there, a darker skinned well built soldier rubbed his chin in contemplation, "What I don't fully understand, captain, is why Erwin gave you a script sir". He looked at the piece of parchment Levi had pulled out of his jacket pocket; a script from Erwin. Levi shrugged, "probably for some kind of test, he didn't tell me and I didn't bother to ask, but if I were to hazard a guess… I'd say he's testing the waters so to speak".

"Sir?"

Nonchalantly rubbing his hands together to gather some warmth, Levi shifted from foot to foot. He hated the cold, loathed it in fact, snow got everywhere and it made cleaning an even bigger affair. But he turned to the only girl of the group, a small woman known as Petra, "if I know Erwin, which I honestly probably don't, I'd say he wants the Defender to know we won't attack it if we see it… probably in some shitty way to get it to join our fight or something".

A dignified looking soldier gaped momentarily, "commander Erwin wants to have us work with a titan!? A Fucking tit-ahhhh!" Blood spurted from his mouth as he accidentally bit down on his tongue.

Petra laughed.

Gunther chuckled.

Eld smirked.

Levi continued to scowl, as he is want to do.

"Yes, a titan Oluo, a titan I may add that through its continuous slaughter of its own kind, has lowered the scouting legions expedition fatality rate by 15%, and that's with it just running wild in its territory". Levi's revelation left his squad agape, they had been aware that the defender had made a difference, but that much?

And whilst 15% may not be much, when fatality rates for these expositions was already near 100%, any significant drop was considered amazing. And as the squad recovered from this shocking truth, Levi pressed on, "so yes… if Erwin's plan to align with the titan will lead to even further drops, I'll gladly fucking work with some bastard titan" he turned to face his team, a serious expression on his face, "Anyway, enough of Erwin's fantastical plans. Did any of you catch sight of the Defender's little passenger?" His squad members looked confused before Eld spoke up, "to be honest captain, none of us even saw the titan, by the time you spotted it, it had already disappeared from view", his voice was filled with praise for the bizzare titan, for something that big, to hide that quickly was phenomenal, nevermind if it was their enemy.

"Why sir, was someone with the defender?" Piped in Petra, befuddlement, obvious on her face. Levi stared back at her for a short while, face betraying nothing of his thoughts.

"No… no, must have been my imagination, probably some filthy shit or something, anyway, we've done as ordered, let's head back to the main body and report", he faced back the way they came and unsheathed his 3DMG triggers, however before he shot off, he had a final thing to mention, "by the way. None of us saw or heard anything… understood?"

"Sir!"

And he shot off, hooks stabbing into adjacent trees, flying through the forestry followed by his team.

If what I saw is true, then Erwin will want to know… perhaps his plan to ally with the shitty titan isn't so stupid after all. Looked like a young girl from what I could tell.

He swerved around a tree lackadaisical, as if elegantly flying through the air. When suddenly a horrifying thought struck him.

Hange is going to lose her fucking mind. And i'm going to have to deal with it.

"Fuck my life".

Later

They were back in their cave now, safe and sound, he laying flat on his back, Ymir splayed out across his chest, wrapped up in layers upon layers munching away at another ration packet. Besides the sound of said munching the cave was completely silent, which he was grateful for.

It gave him time to think.

To think of what was best for Ymir. Was it truly in her best interest to stay with him? Forever having to be glued to his side in fear of being killed, never allowed to just go off by herself. To out her through such horrible weather with nothing but some warm clothes and a cave.

Was this the life he wanted for her? He could easily answer that; no, he did not want a life like that for her, for him to slip up just once and let the human girl be killed. It wasn't a life for anyone, never mind someone as deserving of everything such as Ymir.

The walls came to mind, filled with other humans all living together. He had no idea about how they went about their business or what that business was, but even if the walls had been breached before, behind them was still the safest place in these titan infested lands. Not only that, it was within those same walls that humans learned to fight his kind, how to defend themselves with those wired contraptions.

He mused internally at that realisation, but couldn't for the life of him come up with an obvious plan for Ymir's safety, the wall was safe, yet contained many unknown variables, nevermind they'd have to separate.

But if she were to stay with him, the dangers were known and very, very nearby, food would always be a worry as well as weather. And if Ymir ever got seriously injured, (which was something he never wanted to think about), he wouldn't be able to help her, his massive fingers too large to dress any wounds and such.

Both sides had strong pros and cons, and he felt so conflicted with it.

He could've asked Ymir, but she'd want to stay with him, not because it was necessarily the better option, but because he would be there.

A sigh left his lips, steam puffing from them, it was too late to think about these kinds of things, and it was time for bed anyway.

Ymir's bedtime anyway, as she claimed her new favourite sleeping place; curled up above where his heart was, one of his hands pulled over her, fingers wrapped up in her arms.

"Good night big guy, don't let the titans bite".

A chuckle left his lips; that was a new one.

"Ghud nyyyt smauul gurrrl".

She slapped him on the chest, "moron" she mumbled before swiftly drooping off.

Yes, a good sleep would help clear his thoughts on the matter. And had eventually come to a decision.

He just didn't know that his decision would come the next day.

Later

"BEHIND YOU".

He shot his bloodied arm out and grasped the throat of one of his many attackers, and without wasting a second heaved up the disgusting monster and swung him forward into another titan like a rag doll. Both titans exploded into a shower of gore, blood painting the white snow below.

"TO THE LEFT"

It was too late as he felt sharp teeth tear into his shoulder, a pained roar escaped his gritted teeth.

"NOOOOO"

Get the hell off me!

He slammed his palm into the titans face, a resounding crunch coming from the attack, but the teeth stayed in, letting loose a growl he slammed his palm again, and he felt the resistance from the titans skull disappear, as well as the teeth. As the titans head flew off its shoulders.

Another grabbed his uninjured shoulder and another bit into his right side.

They were surrounded on all sides. It's what they got for going out during a snowstorm, not being able to see three feet in-front of them. Although the weather hadn't started off like that, they should've rushed home the second he sensed the weather turning for the worst, but Ymir had wanted to keep exploring, bored of the cave walls.

Last time I listen to her during a time like this!

More grubby hands clasped onto his muscular form, and before long he couldn't move fully.

"YOU GOTTA FIGHT BIG GUY!"

I'M TRYING!

"HOOOOOOOLD OHNNNNNN"

Using his free leg, he rotated onto the ball of his foot, and using as much momentum as he could muster; the struggling titan pivoted to his right, pushing off the ground at the same time. Combining his rotated momentum with his one legged jump, he was soon falling onto his right side. Crushing three of the attacking titans under his heavy size. He didn't stop there however, and rolled into his left and sprung back onto his feet, grabbing one of the crushed smaller titans, he swung it into a nearby titan, the one in his hand exploding on impact whilst the struck one flew into a tree, spine, neck and skull broken.

Having cleared some much needed space, he readied his fighting stance.

There were five more now, or he could see five in this stupid blizzard. Nothing he couldn't take care of, he'd kill these monsters and get Ymir back to the safety of the cave, her boredom be damned.

He waited for them to attack, twas foolish to attack first when he was outnumbered, best to let the stupid titans make the first move.

Unfortunately, these titans weren't as stupid as he initially assumed. As they continued to sway there, blank eyes staring hungrily at him and Ymir.

What are they doing?

Ymir was thinking the same thing, "What are they- LOOK OUT!"

What!?

He spun on the snowy floor to see a gaping jaw flying towards him, connected to a pouncing titan.

Shit!

He tried to bring up his arms but he forgot about the blood in the snow and found his right foot slipping, which was followed by his titanic form tumbling to the ground, the pouncing titan landing upon him, jaw snapping madly at his neck. A hand just barely managed to squeak in between the attacking titan, stopping it from most assuredly killing him.

He tried to push it off, but it's wild swings kept smacking any forms of defence away. He couldn't even find a second to attack back, all he could do was keep it back. Saliva dripped onto his face as the jaws snapped closer and closer. That is until a small object, no bigger than a pebble in his eyes slapped into the titans eye. It stalled back for a moment and he took a glance at where it came from. Fear gripped his heart at the sight.

Ymir kneeled, battered and bruised from her tumble from where he had slipped, fury etched onto her face, hand stretched forward as if having thrown something.

What're you doing!? Run!

"Get the FUCK away from him!" She screeched, unflinching at the towering monstrosities.

A shape shot across him.

No you don't!

He snapped a hand around the shape's ankle, stopping it's leap, the shape turned out to be the bizarre titan that had been hit by Ymir's rock. And he stopped it mere inches away from crushing said girl in its filthy maulers. Muscles bulged behind his skin as he yanked the monster away, getting to his feet as he did so, and with a mighty roar, he swung the bastard into the trunk of a sturdy oak, a sickening snap sounding out as the titan bent around it, backwards.

Dropping the leg and making a silent promise to finish that particular monster off later. A scream snapped him from his thoughts.

He turned and felt his teeth grind together in white hot fury.

With Ymir

She watched, transfixed as her best friend broke that titan like a twig around that tree, no matter how many times she witnessed it, his skill in devastating his mindless kin was always a sight to behold. So bewitched by his brutality, she didn't notice the sudden shadow above her until the white teeth of a titans jaw began to engulf her. Instinctively a scream tore out of her throat, not of fear, but to alert him.

And the last thing she saw before the teeth closed around her, was an outstretched hand, and a torrent of steam pouring of her dear friend.

With him

He witnessed the teeth snap shut, and his hand shot forward towards Ymir.

He never even noticed his nails elongated and sharpen, as well as steam seap off him in droves.

GET THE HELL AWAY FROM HER YOU MONSTER.

Teeth smashed to pieces like a pane of glass as his hand shot down the monsters throat until he grasped onto what he held most dear. And with a mighty roar, he heaved his arm upwards.

The dumb titan that dared try to eat his friend only had a moment to suffer the agony before it's upper back, throat and head split apart like tissue paper as his arm didn't bother coming out the way it had gone in. And as he pulled his arm back to his chest, all manner of titan fluids and gore coating it, he bravely opened his clenched fist, to see a brown haired girl In the fetal position staring up at him, blood and saliva slathered over her.

"Th-thanks b-big guy".

He didn't respond, just continued to watch her, chest heaving, steam flowing from him. He didn't know how to feel right now… he was happy to have saved her, but the fury inside him refused to abate. He could begin to feel his spine push out his skin with disturbing pops, causing him to hunch over. He was losing himself to his anger, and the remaining titans standing idly by did nothing to prevent it.

He wanted to rip and tear, eviscerate and eradicate, kill and murder. All of it!

Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. KILL!

"Let's get out of here b-big guy".

A small palm touched his, and instantly all that rage and fury faded away. His eyes found hers and found his mind returned to him.

Ymir…

His spine realigned, teeth returned to their natural state, nails retracted and the steam coming off him faded away.

He was back, he was him again. And he certainly intended to follow Ymir's request.

He was done fighting today, his heart couldn't take much more, giving one last threatening glare at the idle enemies, he turned on his heel and sprinted away, heading back to his cave.

This fight had given him his answer.

It was far too dangerous.

I'm sorry Ymir.

Once they got back to the cave, he needed to plan. And as he fled the scene, he never noticed the group of scouts hidden within the snowy trees, who watched the entire battle unfold.

Later

Humanity's greatest soldier slouched in his leather chair, an unreadable expression on his face, he was joined by three other souls; commander Erwin and section commanders Hange and Mike, all of them had just returned from their secret 'sojourn' to the defender's territory. They had initially planned to try and find the defender titan and discover more about it, especially about its little passenger Levi spotted yesterday.

What they found though was something entirely unexpected. The defender titan was taking care of a young human girl, protecting it from its fellow titans, quite viciously at that.

And that transformation… it looked feral when it thought the girl was eaten. But she managed to calm him down.

Levi sighed, what the hell was happening…

Erwin coughed into his fist to gain everyone's attention. A stern look on his face.

"Now that we're all settled in, let us start… to begin with, nothing out if the ordinary has been said in this room, we are simply the scout leaders discussing upcoming plans, understood?"

His three subordinates nodded.

"Good. Now we all witnessed the same thing, the defender titan is currently acting as a guardian for a young girl, so much so that it willingly subjected itself to pain to keep her safe." Fingers clasped together in contemplation, blond brows furrowed, "not to mention it's… transformation, one which said girl managed to prevent through her calming touch and words". His face scrunched up for a moment, "Hange, what do you make of this?"

The frazzled looking woman fiddled with her notepad, re-reading everything she had jotted down, excitement barely contained in her jittery form.

"That is all amazing Erwin, the questions it brings up makes me giddy in wonder. But you're forgetting the most important aspects discovered about the defender!" She was literally bouncing in her seat at this point, Levi scowled, "Oi, shitty glasses calm down! What did we miss?" Hange's maniacal grin stretched even further.

"Our beautiful little defender isn't just a caring daddy! He's also incredibly smarter than we initially hypothesised".

Mike crossed a leg over another, "smarter than initially thought? How so? And why do you believe the defender's male? Aren't all titans gender ambiguous? Neither male nor female?"

"Yes that's true" Hange squealed, "but did you see how he fought to protect that little girl? That was a protective daddy keeping his daughter safe, no doubt about it! His paternal instincts were comparable with even a human's, perhaps even more so!" Levi interrupted with an annoyed wave, "okay, we've decided the bastards male, whoop-de-doo. Now that you've finished wetting your pants, tell us what you mean by smarter".

The woman didn't even acknowledge the insult, like water off a duck's back, she carried on quacking, "when I say he's smarter than we initially figured, I mean a lot smarter and that's keeping in mind it's ability to write to some degree," she paused to take a breath, it felt like her heart would beat right out of her chest we was that excited "Our precious defender… spoke!"

Silence reigned supreme.

Levi stared at the woman as if she had insinuated that he was a titan.

A talking titan!? Is she hearing herself? That's impossib…

His mind played the scene back in his head…

'YOU GOTTA FIGHT BIG GUY!'

'HOOOOOOOOLD OHNNNNNN!'

He shot up in his seat, sweat covering his face in shock.

"She's right…" Erwin and Mike turned to him, "I thought it was just the sound of the blizzard playing tricks on me… but I heard it clearly… the defender told the girl to 'hold on'. It spoke Erwin. A fucking Titan spoke!" He gripped his armchair so hard he felt the leather tear. Unaware how to process this revelation correctly. Erwin didn't visibly change much besides the slight furrowing of his brow, and that may not seem as much, but to Levi who had managed to gain a grasp on his commander's physicality, that furrowed brow was equivalent to Hange jumping up and screaming in joy at a new titan.

Erwin was worried, and Erwin didn't get worried. Thus, seeing his blond commander in such a state… it concerned Levi… greatly.

"If that is true Hange…", that furrowed frown turned into a small smile, "then our plan to enlist the defender to our cause grows ever more plausible". The shortest man in the room snorted derisively, "Our plan!? I don't recall adding my name to the; 'fucked in the head' club, hell, the only reason I haven't killed that shitty thing is because it's better killing its own kind". The spectacled woman gasped in horror, eyes filled with fear for his precious 'baby', "don't you dare! The Defender is under my protection!"

"I'm not killing him shitty glasses, keep your pants on!"

Hange poured, "Well… good! You better not!"

Mike just sighed, face held in his palm; how was he the sane one in this group?

"You speak of wanting to kill the defender Levi", the usually stoic commander clasped his hands in front of his mouth to hide his smirk, "but if I recall… you were the most vocal for having the defender join our side". The room fell into silence, Erwin, Mike and Hange staring at humanity's strongest warrior, that silence was shattered with an ear piercing squeal from the excitable woman.

"Leeeeeevi! Oh my god! Is that true!? Oh, please tell me that's true. Oh I just knew you were a big softie inside", the woman began to squirm in her seat, insane smile wide on her face.

Levi wisely chose to remain silent. Eyes staring at a nearby wall.

And as Hange tried to coerce the truth from the suddenly mute captain, Mike turned to his commander, "So, what's the plan moving forward, sir?" The commander of the scouting legion leaned back in his chair, contemplative visage about him, "we need to finally establish discourse with the defender, however, we also need to make sure we do not present ourselves as aggressive in doing so, especially to the defender's charge. I imagine if we do somehow threaten the young girl, inadvertently or not", Erwin's continence turned grave, "I doubt her 'daddy' would forgive us".

Everyone was at attention now, Hange no longer teasing Levi, perhaps one of the now broken lenses in her glasses had something to do with it.

"So I propose that we keep constant vigilance over the defender's territory, and if the opportunity presents itself, we approach him, carefully." The three other scout members nodded, "Levi, I hate to impose on you, but might I ask that the Levi squad do this? It would certainly ease my worries knowing your squad was handling it". Said squad leader scowled deeply, "it's funny that you presented that as a question", sleep deprived eyes narrowed towards Erwin who merely smiled disarmingly.

"... twist my arm why don't you…" the captain muttered, already knowing his assignment for the impending future. His boss chuckled kindly, "Why thank you captain Levi, I expect great results. Be aware however, that when you do establish contact, just do so to set up a meeting between us four and him, I understand it would be impossible to keep this information from your team, but please try to keep as much classified as possible". The soldier in question simply nodded, already coming up with vague ideas and excuses to tell his squad during this assignment.

Finally the blond man stood up, followed by the rest of his subordinates, however, before anyone left he had a final thing to say.

"Remember, anything discussed here and anything discovered about the defender stays strictly between us. We cannot risk this getting out to the other regiments, especially the Military Police, if they did, not only would we be tried for consorting with the enemy, but the defender; perhaps humanities best chance of ridding the titan threat would be targeted to be executed", for the first time that meeting, Erwin's face grew deathly serious, "Secrecy. Is. Paramount. Is that clear?"

"Sir!"

"Dismissed".

Chapter 5 finished

Thanks ever so much for reading, truly, it means a lot to me. Not much to say here to be honest, I hope you enjoyed it, I hope you enjoyed an extended scene with the scouting legion, and I hope you enjoyed the interactions between human Ymir and the Defender. But as you can probably guess, big changes be coming soon, and who knows what repercussions they could cause? Once again; thanks for reading.

This is Gavin Tyson signing off on this chapter, and remember;

Better Things Are Coming.