After the evacuation bell rings, all of the soldiers are to return over the walls, but Mikasa goes off on her own and looks for Eren. She eventually finds a group of soldiers who haven’t retreated yet, and she wonders why.

Jean is in this group. He says, “There isn’t anything to do. The order to evacuate finally came, but we’re out of gas and unable to climb the wall. I guess we’re all dead.”

The group of soldiers can’t refill their gas because headquarters is surrounded by titans. Since there were a lot of people in HQ, the titans were heavily drawn towards it. The soldiers within HQ were supposed to supply the soldiers fighting with the equipment they needed (such as refills of gas), but they were so afraid of the titans that they lost the will to fight.

Mikasa comes swinging over to the group. She runs up to Annie and asks, “Have you seen Eren’s squad?”

“No, but some squads made it over the wall,” responds Annie.

“Now that you mention it, Armin over there was from the same squad,” says Reiner.

Armin is sitting against a building, away from the group. Mikasa runs up to him and calls out his name.

Mikasa, thinks Armin, I can’t…how can I look at her? What could I say to Mikasa? All I’ve done is pointlessly survive. It would have been better if we’d died together then.

“Armin, are you hurt? Are you all right?” asks Mikasa, “Where’s Eren?”

Armin looks up at her and bawls.

“In training corps squad 34…Thomas Wagner, Nac Tias, Mylius Zeramuski, Mina Carolina, Eren Yeager…Those five carried out their mission…and died bravely in battle.”

Everyone else in the squad is shocked to hear of the deaths of their comrades.

“I’m sorry, Mikasa,” continues Armin, “Eren gave his life to save me. I couldn’t do anything. I’m sorry.”

Mikasa reaches out her hand and says, “Armin, calm down. This is no time to be getting sentimental. Now stand up!”

Then Mikasa marches over to Marco and says, “If we eliminate the titans that are swarming around HQ, we’ll all be able to fill up on gas and scale the wall.”

“B-But even with you there,” says Marco, “against that many of them…”

“I can do it!” cries Mikasa. Then she turns to her comrades and says, “I’m strong…stronger than all of you…extremely strong! And that’s why I’ll be able to drive the enemy out of there even on my own…but I guess all of you are useless, cowardly, pathetic. It’s really too bad. Stay here, and suck your thumbs while you watch me.”

The entire group is baffled by what Mikasa said. Then, paraphrasing what Eren said to her, Mikasa says, “If I can’t do it, I’ll just die. But if I win, I live. And if I don’t fight, I can’t win.”

Then she runs off.

Following her example, Jean cries, “Hey, were we taught to let one of our own fight alone? All of you really will make cowards of yourselves!”

The group all follow behind Jean. They also watch Mikasa in action. She is moving incredibly fast. Armin realizes she is burning up too much gas. I knew it, thinks Armin, She isn’t cool-headed like she always is. She’s trying to banish her grief by taking action…but at this rate…

As soon as Armin thinks this, Mikasa crashes.

As Mikasa lies on top of a canopy, she thinks, Again…This again…I lost my family again. I remember the pain again…do I have to start all over again?

Mikasa kneels on the ground, thinking of all the memories she has of Eren…as a titan approaches her.

This is a cruel world…and yet…so beautiful, thinks Mikasa, It was a good life.

As Mikasa accepts her fate, she hears the words of Eren in her head, “Fight! Fight!”

Mikasa stands up to the titan approaching her and says, “I’m sorry, Eren, I can’t give up. If I die now, I won’t even be able to remember you. So no matter what, I’m going to win! Whatever I have to do, I’m going to live!”

Mikasa was so busy focusing on the titan in front of her, that she didn’t notice the titan coming from behind, as it…punches the other titan?!

“What’s happening,” asks Mikasa, as she can’t believe what she is seeing, “One titan is killing another titan?!”

To Be Continued…

**Images were obtained from the Kindle Edition of Attack on Titan.

If you like my content and want to see more, please consider supporting me on Patreon. Because even the smallest donation can help my website grow immensely. https://www.patreon.com/mentallabyrinth