Power to Strive II

Scream

Disclaimer: I do not own Attack on Titan or this story.

Previously: Erwin continues to suspect the Reiss family. The group thinks they're about to lose and feel upset. Candy makes an interesting comment. Hange think there's something special about the Smiling Titan.

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It was a sunny day in Shinganshina.

"Eren," Carla said, eyebrows furrowed.

It was a pleasant surprise. He had not been expecting to see his mother. I'm in trouble. Eren smiled fondly. He knew that look anywhere and it meant a scolding was coming. If only there was a way to capture a moment in time and keep it as remembrance. He'd pick his mother's smiling face. Or her glaring at him while she chided him. He chuckled quietly. Mikasa and Armin gave him curious looks and he told them, making them smile.

Carla knelt before a little Eren, his face dirty from a fight. "You're a man! Show some restraint! You need to be there for Mikasa, too!"

The Smiling Titan plucked Carla from the house's wreckage and Eren screamed. "Stop!" He watched, traumatized, as it ate her.

I'm so fucking sick of this scene. Jean didn't know how Eren dealt with it, being forced to watch it again and again and again. "If I have to watch this one more time I'm gonna throw something."

"Candy is such a sadist," Connie said, also tired of it.

Hange tilted her head. "Huh..."

"What is it?" Erwin asked her.

"I just now noticed something weird. Titans eat humans alive. Sometimes they're like, well, children, and they play with their food. Pulling arms. Biting legs. Crushing chests. Then they eat them. This one killed Carla before eating her. Was it just because she was struggling so much?"

"Probably."

A giant foot cracked the earth. Eren and Mikasa watched, Eren letting out a gasp. The Smiling Titan approached them with slow, resounding footsteps.

"I just can't hate her," Eren spoke almost in audibly.

Armin's ears perked. There it is again. He had thought it was strange Eren had referred to the Titan as "her" previously, maybe it was a simple slip, but he was addressing it as female again. Does he even realize it himself? Armin didn't think so. He decided to wait to ask Eren after the episode was done. It was probably going to show the Survey Corps' demise, the beginning of the end of Paradis Island and he had to take in every detail in the episode to plan a better future.

"Damn that Reiner!" Jean stared at the Armored Titan, restrained by over half a dozen small Titans. "He's tossing Titans like a madman!"

With a roar, the Armored Titan threw another one. Jean grunted when one landed near him.

"Don't just stand there and stare!"

"Get your ass moving!"

Another Titan landed a small distance behind Erwin and began to chase him.