The Warriors' Journey

A/N: This will likely be the final chapter. I think this is a decent wrap-up for the 'prologue'.

Chapter 4 – That day

Year 845

The Titan let out a deafening roar, causing Bertholdt to cover his ears. Reiner besides him was holding on tightly to the rope they had placed around the Female Titan's neck. The blonde boys right eye was still swollen shut, in addition to several cuts and bruises caused by the beating he received.

The trio had been on the move for several hours now and the loud rumbling behind them was the reason why. Dozens, if not hundreds of frenzied Titans were pursuing them, evident by the large dust clouds being created in the wake of countless heavy Titan feet cracking the dirt and soil under them. The exercise was clearly taking a toll on Annie's endurance.

Bertholdt told Reiner as much just as he took a look over his shoulder at the horde still a good distance behind them."Reiner! Annie's stamina is low..."

"I KNOW!" Reiner glanced up at the Titan's visibly pained expression; He had noticed.

'Shit, they're catching up... We still haven't reached the wall?! According to plan, what should have been done in rotation with the Jaw Titan, Annie is now doing all by herself...' Reiner looked up to see the Female Type close it's sizeable eyes, exhaustion visible even on her Titan form.

'She's at her limit... Even so, using the Armoured Titan here won't work...'

Bertholdt's relieved shout broke his train of thought. "I can see it! There it is!"

And sure enough, just ahead, on the horizon, the massive monument was starting to appear.

"Annie! Switch now!"

The Armoured Titan brought them the rest of the way towards the gargantuan gate of the wall. He let Bertholdt off his left hand there, whilst still holding Annie on his neck with his right. The female shifter didn't have the strength left to hold on herself and he knew he'd have to protect her now.

'There are more Titans than expected... We have to hurry... Bertholdt...we are counting on you!'

Bertholdt nervously looked up the 50 meters of solid stone wall. The structure dwarfed his human form. "This is... Wall Maria... it's huge... to destroy something this big... Will I be able to do it?"

Reiner's Titan had moved back to give the the large Colossus the room it needed to break down the outer gate. Once that was done he could do the rest, finally get ting his friends out of harms way.

'After destroying Wall Maria, we use the chaos of the titan invasion to infiltrate and mix in with the civilians. And the king of the walls... we observe King Fritz's actions and search for the Founding Titan. Everything deepens on the wall being destroyed... if this fails, we can't start the operation. We're counting on you, Bertholdt.'

A blinding flash and thunderous bang told Reiner his friend had transformed. He turned his Titan form around to observe, just as the Colossal Titan grabbed the top of the wall and began looking over the edge into the town hidden behind the wall. The massive Titan raised its enormous foot and swung it back down towards the gate...

'BOOOOOOOM'

The humans of Shiganshina district felt the ground shake. Teal-green eyes shot open in surprise. He glanced at his blonde friend and the raven haired girl next to him. They looked just as stunned and lost as him. 'What the hell just happened? Was this an earthquake?'

"Huh?"

They couldn't see the wall from here but he saw people pointing at something on top of it.

'Has a cannon accidentally gone off?'

His inquisitive friend rounded the corner first to see what was going on for himself but as he found the source of the disturbance his eyes widened in horror.

"Armin, what is it...?!" Eren Yeager asked his frozen friend but didn't get an answer.

He walked towards him and rounded the corner, raven hair and scarlet red not far behind him.

"H-Hey... What the heck are you looking at?!" Eren asked again. As he followed Armin's fearful gaze to the wall, is eyes shot wide open. Smoke was coming out from behind the wall and a gigantic hand had grabbed the top of it. 'Impossible!'

"It can't be...!" was the first thing Armin Arlert could bring past his lips. His face filled with an expression of absolute terror. "Th-That Wall's 50 meters high...!"

Eren felt his heart hammering against his chest, his face just as shocked as Armin's.

"Ah..." he gasped. He knew what he was looking at. He had just talked with Mr. Hannes about this very thing happening. But it couldn't be. Not now, not here!

"...One of THEM..."

Slowly, a head, a huge, almost skinless head, rose over the top of the wall itself.

"A TITAN!"

The Colossal Titan had arrived.

The boat was filled with to the brim people and yet there were still hundreds, maybe thousands, just outside the gate and countless more still inside Shiganshina district.

Eren sat in the back, Mikasa's familiar frame next to him, her face buried in her scarf.

There was no room for privacy on the overcrowded ferry but nobody cared enough to judge anyone else. They had all just witnessed hell. Eren himself was staring at nothing, the last moments of his mothers life burned deep into his mind while he tried to drown out the constant sound of battle and death still coming out of their former home town.

People all around them were crying or holding themselves in despair. For the first time in over a hundred years, humanity was forced to comprehend the horrors of being trapped in a cage by them. They could still hear the garrison of Wall Maria shouting by the inner gate. The soldiers manning the defences there clearly arguing about sealing off the town even though a slowly shrinking stream of people was still pouring out of the slaughterzone Shiganshina had turned into.

"It's too risky to leave it open any longer! Close the gate!"

"What are you talking about?! There are still a lot of people inside!"

"If this gate's destroyed, it won't just be one town that's invaded by Titans!"

"What's left of human territory will fall back to the next wall!"

"That's no reason to abandon the people who are right in front of us!"

A new group soldiers running out the gate added even more chaos to the hectic shouting and arguing. Their voices even more frantic than the already panicked soldier guarding the inner gate.

"Close the gate!"

"HURRY!"

"A titan is charging towards it!"

"STOP IT!"

Canon fire could now be heard on the ship and more people started sobbing uncontrollably as the sound of explosions and heavy, loud footsteps grew closer.

"What the hell is that thing?! Our weapons aren't working!"

Suddenly, the inner gate could be seen cracking as something collided with it. The stone was bending unnaturally, then broke outwards with the gate shattering completely as the large, bulky form of a titan broke through the reinforced gate like it was nothing more than a thin piece of wood.

'WHOOOOOM'

The impact sent a shock-wave across the ship while the ostensibly armoured Titan managed to halt it's momentum just outside the shattered gate. Looking unnervingly pleased with itself, the huge Titan opened it's mouth and let out a hissing wave of steam.

"The gate..."

"It broke through.. Wall Maria?!"

"It's all over..."

"Humanity... is gonna be devoured by the Titans again..."

The feeling of despair was now palpable in the air and Eren felt hot tears starting to form in his eyes, his mind again drifting back to his mother, causing his face to twist into an enraged grimace.

'I'll never be able... to go home again.'

'Up to the end, all I could do was argue and be stubborn!'

Tears were now streaming freely down his face as Eren angrily wiped at his eyes.

'Mom's gone! I'm never gonna see her again...'

'Why is this happening to us?'

'Is it because humans are weak?'

'Is crying the only thing the weak can do?!'

Eren felt his anger rising, he clenched his fists so hard it hurt but he didn't care. He stood up to get a better look at the white haired Titan that had destroyed the wall. The uninterested way the Titan was just standing there, apparently content with what it had just done, caused Eren to grit his teeth as hot, furious resolve flared up within him.

"I'm gonna destroy them all" he ground between grit teeth, his breathing growing ragged and heavy. The girl next to him looked up at him, her wide eyes filling with tears at seeing the tortured state he was in. She remained quiet, not sure what, if anything, there was to say.

Mikasa only knew she could not loose any more of her family. She would protect and if necessary save Eren, just like he had saved her.

"Every last one... of those animals... that's on this Earth!"

That day, the human race remembered... the terror... of being dominated by Them...

Annie Leonhart slowly opened her eyes to an unfamiliar room. She vaguely recalled what had happened after she had come out of her Titan. Bertholdt has broken down the wall, Reiner had almost been caught by the chasing mass of Titans, then carried her and Bertholdt to the top of the wall and left them there while he descended on the other side to break open the inner gate. She had ultimately slipped into unconsciousness atop the wall and had apparently been carried to where she was laying now.

She sat up slowly and took in her surroundings. Reiner and Bertholdt were sitting on a mattress besides her, the same kind she was laying on now. In fact, they were in a building with multiple rows of makeshift beds, most of them filled with people, some alone, some with companions or kids and some were still kids themselves, just like they were. This had to be some type of refugee centre, meaning their attack had been a success.

She turned her head towards the two boys next to her. "...Where are we?"

"We're inside Wall Rose." Reiner replied simply, confirming her suspicions.

Reiner's wounds had healed by now but the boy still looked dejected and didn't dare meet Annie's eyes. When nobody decided to speak they were left to listen to the murmurs from the dozens of civilians around them.

Reiner tried to muster some courage. "Annie... Bertholdt..." he began, voice already faltering. The other two warriors focused on him and he quickly wrapped an arm around each of their shoulders, drawing the trio's heads together.

"I'm sorry! Marcel... I... will become a true warrior."

A few rows over another trio of kids, having just lost their homes, sat together in silence, comforted only by the presence of each other.