Look Back

"Bastard!" exclaimed Jean. "He's really back..."

The Armored Titan strode towards them.

"What do we need to do to kill him at once?!" wondered Jean.

"I believe that, somehow," said Lara, as everyone gathered on a rooftop, "when Bertholdt went to check if he was alive, he must have warned him to protect himself from the explosion that the Colossal Titan would cause. This way, Reiner would have enough time to regenerate a little and be able to fight again..."

"Lara's right..." said Armin, watching Bertholdt closely.

"But," continued Jean, indignantly, "what can we do against such an enemy?!"

Everyone was exhausted and very scared. You could see the redness on their faces due to the Colossal Titan's steam.

"Hey, Armin!" exclaimed Jean. "I think we'll have to bet everything on saving Eren."

"He's... Thinner," said Armin, almost to himself.

Everyone looked at him, confused.

"What did you say, Armin?" asked Lara, approaching him.

"The Colossal Titan has gotten a little skinnier," he replied, still looking at Bertholdt.

Indeed, when they stopped to look better, the Colossal Titan now had skinny arms and looked rather rickety.

Then, Armin suddenly turned to Lara.

"Yours and Hange's theory was correct!" he exclaimed.

"Which one?!" asked Lara, laughing nervously.

Armin looked at each of them.

"Do you guys remember the experiments Hange and Lara made with Eren? He could only transform up to three times. And he's just a fifteen-meter Titan. So, a sixty-meter one like the Colossal Titan must use a lot more energy to transform."

"That's true..." said Lara, staring at a fixed point, trying to recall. "When Bertholdt uses that steam, I bet he's consuming everything except his skeleton to produce it!"

"Exactly!" agreed Armin. "Therefore, the Colossal Titan cannot withstand a battle of attrition! That's the conclusion you both came to!"

"You're right..." replied Lara, her hand on her chin. "I remember now... My mother and I spent almost a whole night racking our brains to come up with this theory..."

Lara turned to him.

"Good job, Armin!" she winked and gently smiled at him. "I knew I wasn't wrong in my decision."

He blushed a little, giving her a shy smile.

"But wait," said Jean. "What do you mean with all this, Armin?"

"I have a plan!" he replied, looking confidently at everyone. "I want you all to distract Reiner. Eren and I will take down Bertholdt."

Lara's eyes widened and she grabbed Armin's arm.

"No way!" she exclaimed. "I'm coming with you! It's too dangerous for just the two of you to go and we don't know if Eren's able to fight!"

Armin kindly placed his hand over Lara's, who was still holding his arm.

"No," he replied, looking into her blue eyes. "Stay."

Lara opened her mouth to say something, but Armin interrupted her.

"Please," he gave her a sad smile. "Let me fix my mistake. I have failed you, as your Officer."

Lara shook her head in denial, incredulous.

"N-No..." she stuttered. "I-I also have failed... I couldn't lead you..."

"You had reasons for it... Your mother might be--"

Armin couldn't finish the sentence, but Lara understood what he meant and lowered her head, sadly. He squeezed her hand a little tighter.

"Please... Stay," he said, and Lara looked up at him. Armin then turned to the others, "Two of us is enough to defeat him. The rest of you, take care of Reiner."

Everyone looked at him, perplexed. Mikasa had a few tears in her eyes and gave a sad smile. In her heart, she felt concerned about Armin, and especially about Eren.

"Alright..." she finally said, then got up, determined. "You can count on us to handle Reiner!"

Armin smiled at Mikasa.

"Took long enough, dummy," said Jean, chuckling. "I really thought we were goners."

Mikasa, Sasha, Connie, and Jean flew off with their ODM gears, heading to Reiner.

Lara remained there, still holding her Officer's arm, stunned.

"Armin..." she whispered.

Then, he gently squeezed her hand and took it away from his arm, giving her a sad smile.

"Thank you for trusting me, Lara."

And he went flying with his ODM gear towards Eren, on top of the Wall.

Lara continued staring at nothing in front of her and realized that her Squad was already reaching Reiner.

Before attaching the hooks to a nearby wall, Lara looked back, at Armin.

She got surprised to see that he was also looking back at her.

Armin gave her one more sad smile and finally, he turned away.

When Lara flew off, she felt something very strong in her heart, that she had never experienced before, but she had no idea what it was.

Soon, she had already caught up with her Squad and they were swiftly flying towards Reiner.

"Listen up!" exclaimed Lara, the wind blowing her hair. "We have to trust that Armin and Eren will be able to defeat Bertholdt!"

"Yeah!" agreed Jean. "We just need to keep Reiner away, to not let him interfere with their plan!"

"Let's get closer and get his attention!" replied Lara.

"Understood!" everyone exclaimed.

Then, Reiner did something unexpected. He began to run quickly in their direction, bringing a gust of wind so strong, that it caused everyone to lose some balance in their ODM gears.

"He ignored us?!" asked Connie.

"Bastard!" exclaimed Jean.

"Is he going after Eren?!" asked Lara.

Mikasa then swung around on her ODM gear and flew off quickly in pursuit of Reiner.

"We have no choice but to kill him!" she exclaimed, angrily.

"Mikasa! Wait!" shouted Lara, following her.

She caught up her friend, panting.

"Mikasa! Tell me, what's your plan?!"

"Help me shoot a Thunder Spear at Reiner's legs. We can both take him down!"

"Okay!"

Then, together, they shot their Thunder Spears at the part where Reiner didn't have the armored skin.

BOOM!!! BOOM!!!

Reiner slowly fell to the ground, destroying many houses in the process.

"It worked! We did it!" exclaimed Lara, mouth agape.

The others have already caught up them by now.

"If we don't manage to keep Reiner away," said Mikasa, seriously, "we must kill here right here and now!" She turned to Lara. "We gotta protect Eren and Armin!"

Lara nodded, confidently.

"Guys!" shouted Connie, his voice broken by the wind, as they got closer and closer to Reiner. "As I can see, we only have three Thunder Spears left!"

"Damn it!" exclaimed Jean.

"We've gotta try anyways!" replied Sasha, determined. "Unless we fight, we can't win!"

"Now you're talking!" exclaimed Lara, with a daring smile.

Although Reiner's Titan showed no facial expressions, they noticed that his body language seemed to show he was quite stunned by the unexpected explosion in his legs. So they landed on some rooftops around him to analyze the situation.

Before they could talk about any plans, a loud noise was heard. When they looked back, they saw that Eren was falling off the Wall.

He fell sprawling to the ground, his limbs in a very awkward position.

"Did Eren..." began Connie, scared, "Slipped off the Wall?"

"How did that happen?!" exclaimed Sasha.

Then, just a few seconds later, the Colossal Titan lit up and began to steam all over his body.

"Eren! Armin!" shouted Mikasa, very worried, leaning forward, as if she was going to fly off.

"No, Mikasa!" exclaimed Lara, holding her back by her clothes.

Lara closed her eyes and mouth, pressing her lips together, grimacing in anguish.

"We have to believe them..."

Mikasa looked at her, with an afflicted expression, but finally nodded, more confident.

"You're right. We need to stay focused on Reiner to help them."

"Guys," said Jean, his teeth gritted, concerned, "I have a plan... I'm not sure, but I think it might work."

Everyone gathered in a circle and Jean explained his plan. He and Lara would distract Reiner by getting his attention. In the meantime, Sasha and Connie would shoot two Thunder Spears on each side of his mouth, exploding it. Then, with his mouth opened, Mikasa would shoot the last Thunder Spear down Reiner's throat, to blow him away and to make him fly out of the back of his head.

"Let's get this over with while he can't move his legs," Jean finally said. "Either way this fight goes, we're ending this now!"

They all acquired a determined look and each went to their positions.

Jean and Lara ran across the rooftops, alongside Reiner. Then, they both shouted his name, causing him to turn his head towards them.

At that moment, Connie and Sasha shot their Thunder Spears, but at the same time, Reiner slammed one of the roofs with his hand, scattering debris in all directions.

Connie managed to shoot one of the sides of Reiner's mouth with precision, however, Sasha was hit by one of the pieces of the flying tiles and lost her balance, completely missing the target.

As one side of Reiner's mouth exploded, Connie quickly flew to catch Sasha, who had passed out from the wound. There was blood on her head, too.

"Lara! Jean!" cried Connie, desperately, with Sasha in his arms.

"Oh, no..." Lara said to Jean, perplexed. "We lost one of the Thunder Spears..."

She looked at Mikasa, who was also stunned by the mission's failure.

"Damn it!" exclaimed Jean. "His mouth isn't open!"

"Mikasa!" shouted Lara. "Wait! Do not use your last Thunder Spear yet!"

Then, they heard a voice shout:

"No! You fought well!"

For a second, Lara thought her heart had stopped beating.

That voice… It was very familiar…

"It can't be..." she thought, feeling her entire body tingle.

Then, from somewhere above them, someone shot a Thunder Spear at the other side of Reiner's mouth, with a perfect aim.

BOOM!!!

Everyone gaped in total astonishment.

Lara felt her eyes water.

When they looked at the sky, they saw who was that person who had shot the Thunder Spear.

It was Hange.

She was alive!