It Started With Cadet Training (Reader/Levi/Erwin/Hange/Mike)

Fight For You

"No."

"Pardon?"

"I'm not going to make a choice. I'll save both of you if I have to. Lance, you know how much regret Mike would have if I chose him over you."

"But - if he - his leg -"

"It's not an argument. You're not going to die, and neither is he. We're going to win."

You pause for a moment, letting out a sigh as you stare up at the wall.
"How can you be so sure?"

"I can't. But that doesn't mean I can't hope. Now come on, we've got a world to save," she reminds you, patting you on the back as she walks back over to Mike.

With a final glance at the wall, sweeping your gaze over to Levi and Hange's squad as they climb the wall, you steal yourself. Promising to yourself that you'd give it your all, to protect them, to save them, so that one day, your kids could feel the wind on their skin and see the ocean. So that Mike, and Erwin, and Levi, and Hange, could all see the ocean. So that they'd be free.

If that meant you wouldn't return with them. Then you were willing to sacrifice that. For them.

"... according to our accounts, targeting the nape of the neck is the easiest way to free them. They can regenerate as long as their spine isn't damaged, so try and aim carefully." You walk up to Mike as he's giving instructions to the two squads, ones that have been repeated over and over for the past few weeks.

"Remember, these are children. They should be no older than six or seven, so tread carefully. When you retrieve one, locate one of us first, we'll be able to safely get them out of the line of fire," you add, stopping next to Mike at the front of the squads.

"Any questions?" Mike asks, waiting for a few moments to make sure no one had any further questions to ask.

When no one had any further questions, you split into your separate squads, looking at Erwin for the signal. He stood at the base of the wall, surveying the surrounding area. For a moment, as you stood there, you hoped that the kids had been wrong. That no one was going to come.

Then a sickening crack sounded through the city. Turning your head quickly you saw massive titans surrounding the overflow city, a massive, towering furred titan in the center. Next to it, a titan on all fours was rolling boulders over, luggage on its back. Thanks to the information from the kids you identified these two as Pieck and Zeke, the cart and beast titan.

A pop from the wall of green smoke gave you the signal to get your squads over to the two titans. Just as you were about to give the order, another crack sounded through your ears from within the walls, a green smoke signal filling the air.

"I'll go help Hange, you keep Erwin safe," you say quickly to Mike. He nods his head in response and the two of you - with your squads - take off in opposite directions.

Scaling the wall is easy, holds being already made by Hange and Levi's squads. Reaching the top, your eyes are immediately drawn to the white titan standing in the middle of the city, swinging a massive hammer as the squads within, struggle to overtake the titan and surrounding soldiers.
Flicking a few motions, you signal your squad to spread out and assist. Swallowing your heart, you threw yourself into the fray. Your goal wasn't to defeat the soldiers but to focus on the titan itself. This was the Warhammer titan, given to Porco, according to Annie. It came from a long linage of nobles, yet they'd decided to weaponize it in order to win against Paradis.

You hadn't really bothered with many of the details, despite two major ones: it can create whatever weapons it wants, and its shifter wasn't in the nape, rather in a small protected spot nearby.