Opening | 2 Aot

"Jäger."

For a moment, Eren understood something he couldn't put into words. This wasn't a monster. This was a soldier. Same as him.

The doors were fully open now. Beyond the walls, beyond the forest, beyond the fields of grain that would never be harvested this season—freedom waited. Or death. Or something worse.

Behind them, Armin clutched a weathered book to his chest—the one with faded diagrams of saltwater and burning seas. If we survive this, he thought, I'll finally see them. opening 2 aot

Eren's gear hooked into a rafter. He swung high, higher than anyone else, until the battlefield looked like a game of chess made of meat and mud.

He drew both blades.

Eren spun—once, twice—and the nape split open like a rotten fruit. Warm steam billowed past his face. For one clean second, there was nothing but the hiss of vapor and the distant cry of a bird that didn't know any better. "Jäger

Then the next titan was already there. And the next. And the next.

Levi appeared on Eren's left flank, blood spattered across his cravat. "Don't freeze, brat. You wanted to see the outside world? Fight your way there."

"Next time," Eren breathed, steam curling from his lips. "I'll find out what you are." Same as him

And Eren—Eren saw him .

A titan unlike the others. Tall, but not colossal. Armored plates over its shoulders and down its spine. No skin, just dense muscle and bone. It wasn't shambling. It was waiting .

Connie nearly got snatched. Sasha pulled him up by his hood at the last second. Jean cursed both of them while bisecting a quadrupedal type that had crawled too close.

Eren landed on a rooftop and looked back. The armored titan hadn't moved. It was still watching him. Still waiting.