Mikasa's words cut through the tension like a blade—sharp, unwavering, and unmistakably a threat. More importantly, they were a declaration. She had chosen her side: mine and Eren's.
Beside the trembling officer, a male soldier who had once served alongside Mikasa during a rear guard mission leaned in and whispered, "Captain… Mikasa Ackerman fought alongside our elite units. Her combat strength alone equals a hundred soldiers. Losing her would be a major blow to humanity."
"And that girl behind her—Sandra Gant—she was deployed to the vanguard unit. She's the only one who returned alive," he added, his tone tinged with disbelief. "Sure, the form she returned in looked terrifying… but that just means she's powerful."
"Hey, Mikasa, Armin… What's going on here?" Eren asked, clearly still disoriented. "What happened to Sandra and me?"
"Mikasa!" Armin stood up, trying to reason with her. "You can't fight against our own people! We're inside the Walls—there's nowhere left to run!"
"I don't care who they are," Mikasa said, her voice quiet but firm. "If they're trying to kill Sandra and Eren, I will stop them. I don't need any other reason."
With her back to us, her blades gleaming in hand, she faced the soldiers of the Garrison like they were enemies.
"We can still talk to them!" Armin pleaded, stepping behind her. "They're only reacting like this because they don't understand. Right now, it's just fear… spreading like wildfire."
I remained crouched beside Eren, casting him a confused glance. He met my gaze with equally bewildered eyes.
Even Mikasa and Armin hadn't denied the accusations about us. And based on that officer's words… Eren is a Titan? And me… a monster?
But all I remember is collapsing—bleeding out with both arms severed. Beyond that… nothing.
Wait. My arms?
I looked down at myself.
Perfectly intact.
Not a scratch on my face. No shattered jaw. Nothing.
Every wound I remembered… was gone.
Not human. Not Titan. A monster…?
"Once more!" the officer shouted. "State your true identities!"
He sounded as if he was giving us one final chance.
I tried to stand, but my body refused. Too weak.
Then I looked toward Eren again. He was looking right at me—and in his trembling pupils, I saw something.
A shared understanding.
A silent answer passed between us.
"We are human!!"
We shouted it in unison.
That was the truth. Our truth.
"I see…" the officer muttered. "Then I'm sorry… but I have no choice. No one can ever prove they're not a demon."
His right hand began to rise.
It was the signal—the command to fire.
The instant that hand fell, the grenades would be launched.
Mikasa spun around in a flash.
"Sandra! Eren! Armin! Get up to higher ground!" she yelled, sprinting toward us.
"Wait—Mikasa?!" I gasped as she reached us.
She grabbed Eren with one hand, lifted me with the other, and ran.
Glancing back at the Garrison troops, a splitting pain suddenly shot through my head. My vision blurred—my eyes stung.
The flashes returned.
Prophetic fragments of the next moment.
I saw it.
The officer lowering his hand.
The grenades firing.
And then… an enormous silhouette—like a Titan's arm—blocking the blasts.
I turned to Eren. Around his neck swung a key—gleaming faintly in the dim light.
The key to the Yeager family's basement in Shiganshina.
"Eren!" I shouted. I didn't know why. I just… knew. That massive silhouette—
It had to be Eren.
Eren's eyes locked onto the key as if something within him had suddenly clicked. He wrenched free of Mikasa's grip, then grabbed her by the wrist and dashed toward the stunned Armin.
And Mikasa, still holding me, was pulled along with them.
Eren pulled us all in close—then bit into his own left hand.
A flash of orange-yellow lightning burst from the wound like a miniature explosion.
The grenades were launched.
And Eren… transformed.
A Titan emerged—but it wasn't a full transformation. It was incomplete.
A partial Titan.
An imperfect form.
We—Mikasa, Armin, and I—were cradled within its ribcage.
Its bones protected us like a skeletal fortress.
There was no skin, no muscle. Just exposed bone.
Only the upper torso had materialized.
But it was enough.
Eren had shielded us from the blast.
Mikasa held me tightly, still alert, her eyes scanning for threats. She didn't question what had happened—only that Eren had protected us.
Maybe… just like me, Eren was exhausted. Maybe he didn't have the strength to summon a full Titan body.
But even a half-formed one had been enough.
"I… I remember everything up until the cannon fired…" Armin murmured in shock. "Then the sound, the heat, the impact… And now… we're inside a giant ribcage?"
"It was Eren," Mikasa said softly. "He protected us. That's all we need to understand right now."
I looked downward, deeper into the Titan's interior.
Even with the explosion… this space had been spared.
Only here—within the ribs of that half-formed Titan—had we been kept safe.
And then, from outside the bones… a voice called out:
"Hey! Are you guys okay?!"
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