The bird flew past me and Cinder grabbed me from my spot on the ribcage.
While I was glad to see him, my head snapped to the additional passengers.
"Blade?!"
The man I once knew as a ruthless man smiled a bit. "Kid, outside of work it's Jameson."
The people seated beside me on top of Falco were people who experienced the same as me. They had as much blood on their ledger as I did, but they were here, pledging to save humanity which they tried to cleanse with death.
There were three others. While I specialized in long distance hits and simply not being seen, the three with us specialized in something else.
Viper specialized in poison, hence the name. He poisons people through their daily habits, like pouring a cup of tea, biting the arm of their glasses, or even just biting their fingernails.
Scythe was more messy than the rest of us—he made it seem like it was less of an assassination, more a brutal homicide. He was also called Grim Reaper, solely because some people see him holding his signature weapon.
Scarlet was only named because of the red around someone's neck after he strangled them. Everyone thinks he's a woman.
Obviously, these aren't their real names. It feels weird for your birth name to be the same name one calls you when you kill.
Viper was an older brother to three girls, who called him Ian, and never his title, for they didn't even know.
Scythe worked as a bartender at a bar, where his best friends call him Eddie and not the weapon he's known for holding.
Scarlet liked to paint and his mom liked to show off his paintings with the name Alexander at the bottom left corner of the canvas.
No matter how bloody the ledger, somewhere underneath all the crimson lies a normal life.
At least... what would be a normal life.
Admittedly, it would be odd fighting alongside these people. Given, everyone here has killed people one way or another, whether it be because of justice, being paid, just the urge to do so, or self-defense.
I looked at Levi, who's brows remained furrowed as he gazed upon those I used to work with.
I recalled when he was once helping me put bandages along my shoulder when a branch had sliced through my skin. I had felt his hands trace over the whip scars on my back.
He held more of a grudge against the organization I worked for than I did.
Everyone gathered on Falco's back and we flew up where the titans couldn't reach us.
"Y/N, how many titans can you see?" Hange asked.
I squinted, my eyes travelling from one figure to another. "Currently? Nineteen. But there's some hidden behind the skeletal structure, I can tell from the shadows."
"Where's Armin?" Annie asked, examining each of our faces as if one of us would turn into him. "And Pieck? What's their status?"
"Armin's in trouble. He's been captured by the titans. The titan that took Armin should be by the tailbone."
I looked back at the Founder, spotting the titan that scooped up Armin in its mouth scurrying down the spine.
"What about Pieck?" Gabi mimicked Annie, turning to each of us.
"She's by the skull," Reiner replied. "She tried to blow the neck up, but the Warhammer Titan was waiting for her."
"Who're you planning on saving first?" Ian asked.
"Both." Levi peered over Falco's wings. "We're doing both. One group will rescue Armin. We can use the Colossal Titan's explosion. The other will go after Eren and attack the neck at the same time. The assassins here aren't used to working with us, so we'll trust you to keep the other titans at bay."
Jameson turned to the other three, who each nodded in obedience.
Mikasa gave Levi an unsure look. "Captain?"
"We... no longer have the luxury of worrying about Eren. No, we never did to begin with."
"But..."
"But?" Connie snapped. "But what? If Falco's titan hadn't miraculously been able to fly, we would've died back there!"
I put my hand on Mikasa's shoulder. "If you really think you can get to him, do it. But if you think it'll be trial and error, there's no point."
She frowned and looked down at who was once the closest person to her.
"Mikasa!" Annie took her shirt. "You just focus on saving Armin! You don't need to think about anything else."
A moment of hesitation, followed by, "Okay," allowed the plan to continue.
"When Eren's head went flying," Gabi recalled, "something jumped out of Eren's spine. It looked like a shining centipede or something, and it connected to Eren's head."
I nodded. "It seemed like some sort of power source."
"Perhaps it's the true form of the power of the titans," Hange hypothesized. "So if that's the case, we need to keep that away from Eren."
"Alright. Falco, circle back."
We made our way back to the Founder. A few titans readied their projectiles and Falco sped up, ducking underneath them.
Reiner jumped off and I turned to those who were once my colleagues.
"Do you know how to use the ODM gear?" I asked and Jameson laughed.
"Are you kidding me? We made the damn things."
Ian bulleted towards one of the past Beast Titans, holding his blade with its ends pointed out. The ends of his blades went into the titan's neck and his arms made and upwards motion and titan's blood splattered on him as it fell from its position on the Founder's back.
Eddie held both of his blades backwards, grinning and somersaulting through the air as he sliced through the nape of a past Female Titan.
Alexander circled around his target, making a clean cut around the entirety of an Armoured Titan's armour as if he were skinning it. And suddenly, it seemed to crumble.
Jean blinked while Annie held her neck as if they had done it all to her. "Have they... done this before?"
"Not that I know of."
They didn't fight the same way the Survey Corps did. They had a certain way of slicing a titan's nape that was unique to them.
Jean, Hange, Levi and I followed quickly after, while Jameson remained on Falco's back. He was in his fifties, after all.
"Jean, you try and help Pieck with me. Y/N will get to the bomb. Y/N, I trust that you can also help Levi spot Zeke." I nodded at Hange's words and Levi and I went off.
I maneuvered around the different titans with Ian, Eddie, and Alexander backing us both up.
Levi's eyes darted around trying to find the target he's had for the past five years.
"Viper, where's the detonator?!" I questioned.
He paused for a moment and took a deep breath. "Near its nape, dangling."
I nodded and sped towards it.
"Phantom, watch it!" Eddie grabbed me and pulled me out of the way as a spear from one of the Warhammer Titans tried to impale me.
Levi swung towards me. "Are you okay?"
"Yes, I am."
Eddie removed his arms from around my torso. "That thing's been guarding the nape this whole time. I tried to slice the nape but it didn't work."
Ian swung next to us with Alexander in his arms. "That piece of shit with the trident tried to slice him."
"I'm fine."
"Your forehead is damn near being cut off, Scarlet!"
I took part of my uniform in my teeth and ripped off my right sleeve. "Put this around his head. I'll try to get to the detonator. Viper, Scythe, look out for a man with blonde hair and a beard with glasses. Tell Levi when you see him."
I soared down to the Warhammer Titan's legs, running in between its feet as it tried to jab at me with its spear.
The spear's head ended up right above me and I had no time to react as it fell down to my position.
"Y/N!!" I heard Levi's voice, louder than I had ever heard it before.
I thought I was gone for a moment, only to realize that something was holding me. I opened my eyes, which closed out of instinct, and I saw Ymir's titan holding me, gentle as if I were a butterfly.
She had a piece of the Warhammer Titan's spear in her mouth, which was then crushed by her powerful jaw.
"Wait... what?"
I turned to the other titans. They started helping us.
Ymir got to the nape of the neck and started looking around.
I noticed the detonator dangling below and I pointed, "Over there!"
Ian put his hand on Levi's shoulder, his finger jerking in the direction of the fourth rib cage. "Is that your guy?"
Levi turned and his eyes widened. There he was; there was Zeke.
It was pure instinct from then on.
He may as well have flown on his own as his ODM gear yanked him through to air. His blades were raised and his eyes fixated on Zeke's neck.
He sliced through his neck and Zeke's head flew off to the ground.
The Colossal Titans all stopped moving as Ymir's titan did as well, but she was in the perfect spot, holding out the hand I stood on right next to the hanging detonator.
I took the lever and pushed.
The nape exploded and Falco flew beneath me, gathering all of us to get away from the colossal explosion Armin was about to cause.
I waved to Ymir, promising myself that I'd tell Historia what she had done here.
As we passed the Founder's head, I stared it in the eye and remembered the little boy I saw all those years ago.
And all I could think about was whether or not that little boy was in there.
From the distance, I'm sure we all wished we could say the same thing to the boy who fell in love with freedom, so much so that he bloodied his hands more than any one of us.
Goodbye Eren.