Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Arlert, do you hear us? Is everything alright?”

The words were clearly yelled but Armin heard them only faintly. He only saw black but after few seconds he realized it was because he had his eyes closed. After the blond boy opened his eyes, which happened weirdly sluggish and slow, first thing he saw was the brilliant blue sky and birds flying by. But not from the normal point of view, from below, but with his eyes in the same height as the flying birds.

‘Oh good, full transformation fourth time in a row. Or hopefully full transformation.’ Thought the boy, now encased in his huge titan body. The giant’s eyes look down, first at his body ‘yep, full transformation’ and then at his supervisors and comrades, so tiny compare to him now.

Armin thought about trying to talk in his titan for and tell Commander Hange that he was good to go, but decided not to try that yet. Instead he raised his hand a bit and gave the woman a thumbs up.

The reaction to that was as expected. He didn’t hear but he saw the tall woman shake and squeal in delight. It has been a while since Armin saw Hange like that. Probably since she became the new Commander. But these few days they’ve been on the expedition, slowly making their way south to the harbor mentioned in Grisha’s books and testing Armin’s new Titan shifter powers, she looked bit more like her old self with every successful transformation.

Since Commander Hange seemed to be too excited to tell him the upcoming plan, bouncing on her toes and clapping, Captain Levi visibly sighed and turned to the sixty meters tall Titan.

“Arlert, for this transformation we want to test your mobility. Yeager will transform too and we want you two to just walk forward, possibly for as long as you can. The rest of us will follow you on the horses. Nothing too complicated.” Yelled the short man.

Armin nods at that and turns to look at his best friend. He sees him talk with the Captain and Commander for few more moments, not loud enough for him to hear, before the brown haired boy walks few meters away from the small group and transforms himself.

When both of the Titan shifters were transformed, rest of the group quickly got on their horses and started on their way next to Eren. Armin waited a bit for both the horses and Eren to walk ahead before taking his first big step. They kept a steady tempo, moving forward for at least half an hour. This whole time Armin kept his eyes directed down in fear of accidentally crushing his friends.

Commander seemingly noticed that and tried to talk to him, yelling even louder to be heard over the sound of horses hoofs.

“Armin, I really appreciate your effort to not accidentally stomp on us, but it has been quiet for some time now and it would be a sin to not use your high ground. Could you please look around and try to see any possible titan anywhere near us?”

Armin stops at that, berates himself for not thinking about doing that, and nods at the woman. He lets others keep going while he raises his head and looks forward. To his left and right there’s nothing much to look at, empty grass fields stretching for as far as his eyes see. But looking ahead, there is the obvious forest, visible for everyone and in 100 meters they would be entering it. It was some kind of the ‘Giant trees’ forest like they had in Wall Maria, but the trees weren’t as big as back there, probably around 30 to 40 meters tall.

Brilliant blue eyes focus on it, trying to see any titans through the trees, but something else catches his interest. Over the trees, just few meters from the start of the forest, he can see a giant clearing with something almost equally as big laying in the middle of it. That something is the color of human skin, lumpy as a human body but much much bigger than normal human body.

Horror struck through the boy residing in the Colossal Titan’s body. He froze in place, not knowing how to alert others without possibly alerting the giant Titan too. Thankfully Eren noticed the lack of giant footsteps next to him and looked around and up at the skinless Titan. When he saw Armin looking out into the forest with wide eyes he softly grunted to get his attention.

The grunt caught the attention of the others too. While others soothed their horses to stop, Levi turned his horse around and walked bit closer to the two Titan Shifters.

“Arlert, do you see something? You need to tell us if you do.” Said the Captain seriously, bit unnerved from the boy’s motionless Titan body. When Levi didn’t get reaction he tried a bit softer but louder approach. “Armin?”

At that Armin looked down at his Captain before quickly looking back up at the enormous Titan, afraid that it will move if the takes his eyes of it. Before Armin was able to at least try responding, others came closer to him too.

Armin slowly opened his mouth and tried talking. ‘I have lips unlike Eren so I should be able to communicate verbally.’ He thought to himself before rasping out. “..Titan…” His voice loud and deeper than any voice he ever heard but he didn’t think about that for too long.

At that word everyone form the mission readied their swords and turned to look in the same direction as Armin was looking, prepared for any danger.

“How big? And only one?!” Yelled Hange to be heard by the earless Titan. But seemingly, Armin wasn’t the only one who hears her. The giant Titan started to stir so Armin tried to reply fast but his whole body was so slow at times.

“..One… Giant…” The boy finally moved, carefully stepping over his comrades to stand before them as a shield even if the enormous Titan was still quite a bit away from them.

That didn’t really answer Hange’s answers and only made everyone more nervous. “But how big are we talking?! Bigger than Eren? Bigger than Beast Titan?!” She shouted but didn’t look away from the giant trees before them.

Suddenly there was loud thump as Armin watched the giant, now seemingly female, Titan to sit up, leaning on her arms and at firsts looking away from them.

“..Bigger than.. me…” Armin replied as he watched the Titan sit up on her legs properly and turns around to look at them. The Titan is so big that everyone can see her look at them over the trees. Everyone held their breath as the Titan looked over them, her eyes lingering at Eren and Armin.

There were few moments of uncomfortable silence before the seemingly giant Titan spoke in very deep yet distinctly female voice.

“..Well… That’s not the Colossal and Attack Titan I remember…”

Chapter Text

“..Well… That’s not the Colossal and Attack Titan I remember…”

The words did nothing to help the frozen soldiers. Only Eren fell into proper battle stance, protective of his comrades and ready to fight the new female Titan they encountered even if his Titan form is much smaller than her.

Armin saw Eren’s readiness to fight out of the corner of his eye, never letting his eyes to leave the bigger Titan. He leaned a bit down, putting his long arm before Eren, hoping his friend won’t do something stupid like attack the much bigger Titan.

The female Titan watches them with intense eyes but surprisingly smiles at them. “And yet, you definitely act like them…” The deep voice carries over the trees to the small group before the Titan.

With another loud thump the female Titan has one of her legs under her, ready to stand when she sees some movement from the humans down on the ground. She looks at the shortest person among the group, man with black short hair and intense glare pointed at her. She raised an eyebrow at him but smiled more.

“I’m sorry.. I didn’t mean to scare you…” Was all she said before she moved with the speed of being much smaller than her. For a quick moment her body straightened to full height, seemingly 80 meters before she stepped over the trees and crouched before the group of explorers.

Now she wasn’t half covered by the trees and they could see her full. ‘Even crouched she’s still a bit taller than me.’ Armin thought to himself and quickly tried not to panic from the revelation. But even through the panic Armin tried to take in the Titan, probably another Titan Shifter, and her appearance.

While she had skin, not whole body was covered in it. Her stomach, thighs, fingers and thumbs were bare while rest of the body was covered with skin. Her hair was only bit shorter than Eren’s but they were as shaggy as his, some falling into her face. And her eyes tracked all their moves and there was far too much intelligence in them for her to only be a pure titan.

And yet, as they all looked at her longer, they all seemed to unwillingly start to relax and not see her as an immediate threat.

“Let me introduce myself… Many call me Mother Titan and so can you…” Her hand twitched and raised a bit, ‘as if to held out her hand for them to shake it, before realizing it’s too big’ thought Armin ‘yeah, she’s most definitely a Titan Shifter.’

“And who you all may be?…” The Titan- no, Mother Titan asked politely, which was weird to think about. Pure Titan or Titan Shifter, it seems weird to call Titan polite, but she definitely talks and acts like a well mannered person. Her eyes betrayed her supposed lack of knowledge about who they are.

But even so, after few more moments of silence Commander Hange was somehow the first one to shake herself out of the shock and excitement. She walked forward, between Armin’s long legs and stood before the Mother Titan. Armin wanted to gently push his supervisor back behind him for then to be at least relatively safe, but he decided on just watching the much bigger Titan’s every move.

“Hello! I’m Hange Zoë, the 14^th Commander of the Survey Corps. And these area some of my soldiers. It’s pleasure to meet you, Mother Titan.” The Commander salutes, looking up at the Titan. The slightly unhinged smile, that once occupied Hange’s face, has made a return and was pointed at the Titan.

The smile that Mother Titan returns is one Armin never thought he would see on a titan. It’s somehow so kind and sweet, warm like when mother looking at her children. ‘Wait. Like mother looking at her children. Mother looking at her children. Could it be…? But how…?’ With this realization Armin also noticed how not only he, but everyone else, even Levi and Mikasa, relaxed from their tense stances, looking up at the intriguing Titan.

“Likewise Commander Hange.” Mother Titan answers and then lets her eyes wonder over other tiny humans looking at her. Her eyes linger on Levi and Mikasa, or more likely their swords that they still have in their hands but they weren’t in the fighting stance anymore. But Armin will swear he saw some recognition in Mother Titan’s eyes when she looked at them.

From the two Ackermans female Titan’s eyes drifted to the chaotic trio who looked up at her in astonishment. Sasha was holding Connie by his cape, shaking him, and Jean was just looking dumbfounded, his eyes and mouth wide open in shock. Mother Titan visibly smiled wider at seeing their shenanigans, her face soft with adoration.

“But I didn’t know Scouts wandered this far from the Walls.” Her eyes then also turned to Armin and Eren, something like sadness and yet also happiness flickering through her face before she quickly scolded her face to something more neutral. “And I definitely didn’t know they somehow acquired Attack and Founding Titan in one person, and Colossus Titan.”

Everyone tensed a bit at the unasked question of how they did it, everyone most likely remembering the gruesome past few months they somehow survived. It was Levi who answered to the Titan. “Shit happened, we pulled through and acquired them for our losses.”

Levi’s gruff voice made Mother Titan turn her eyes away from Armin and look down at the black haired man. “And what’s your name?” She leaned a tiny bit closer to them, probably trying to take a better look at the tiny human. Armin again noticed recognition passing through the Titan’s face, but from where she could recognize Levi is complete mystery to the blond boy.

“Captain Levi Ackerman. Captain of the Special Operation Squad.” The short man introduced himself flatly but he continued, probably realizing it would be best to also introduce his squad too. “My squad. Jean Kirstein, Sasha Blause, Connie Springer, Mikasa Ackerman.” He pointed everyone out as they finally got over the shock and dutifully saluted.

He then pointed out Eren and then Armin. “The slightly feral one is Eren Yeager and the big and calm one is Armin Arlert.” Despite the somehow serious sounding teasing from Captain Eren also saluted. It looked a bit weird in his Titan form but Eren was a dedicated soldier. Armin followed his example and moved his long arms up, slowly making a proper salute.

Varying degrees of intrigue and again recognition passed Mother Titan’s face as she heard the names. But most visible reaction was at hearing the surname of both Ackermans.

“Hmm, Ackermans you say..” The female Titan mumbled, probably more to herself than to them. “Why don’t you guys tell me what kind of shit happened and then I can answer some questions you definitely have, hmm?” She asked kindly.

Hange almost vibrated in excitement, prepared to say ‘yes’ right away, but she calmed down a bit and looked at Levi. He was already looking back at her, and from what Armin could see from such a height, it seamed like they had a silent debate with only little twitches of their eyebrows. After a moment they both turned to the Titan and nodded at her.

“Okay, you have a deal. But it’s pretty long story so make yourself comfortable.” Said the Commander while she and everyone else got off their horses. The female Titan nodded and while she tried to sit down from her crouching gently, there still was a sudden wind from her movements and loud thud as her behind hit the ground.

“Alright, I have all the time in the world.”

Chapter Text

“Alright, I have all the time in the world.”

The giant Titan sat down and slouched down, to be a bit closer to the tiny humans sitting down on the ground around her.

Captain Levi was the only one left standing besides Eren and Armin, still in their Titan form. “Both of you. Sit down somewhere a bit farther away and I’ll cut you out.” Grumbled the black haired man and shooed the Titans away from the group. The two Titan boys do as they are told and walk few meters away.

Eren is the first one to crouch down and get cut out by Levi. As the brown haired boy is pulled out his steaming Titan body, he looks back at the giant female Titan, the Titan looking back at him. “Captain, do you really believe she is harmless?” The boy asks in whisper, looking at the older man.

Levi helps Eren slid down the disappearing Titan body. After hearing the question he looks at the Mother Titan and then back at Eren. “No, I don’t believe she’s harmless. Quite the opposite. She is highly dangerous. I know it, she knows it.” Levi turns away from the boy to go help Armin, but stops, and after just few seconds he turns back to Eren.

“But I also know she won’t hurt us. I don’t know how, but I know it. It’s this weird gut feeling that she would protect us, rather than harm us. And I think you feel it too.” Eren thought about Levi’s words for a moment before nodding seemingly to himself, agreeing to what he said.

The Colossal Titan was now sitting down and slouching for better reaching, and when Levi swung up onto his nape, Armin was already peaking out off the exposed muscle of the giant. Blond head and top off the shoulders were exposed, but the boy was struggling to pull the rest of himself out. The Captain quickly came to help and pull out his soldier.

“Thank you Captain. One day I’ll be able to pull myself out without help and won’t burden you anymore.” Armin said with small thankful smile. At that Levi scoffed a bit with barely there smirk. “Kid, you already do more than that brat Eren. He just stays in the nape until someone pulls his lazy ass out.” The older man carefully cuts through the muscles still clinging to Armin’s arms.

T he quiet between them after that is pretty calm and pleasant, but it’s the Captain who breaks it. “So, I must ask. What do you think of the new Titan shifter? What does your genius mind tells you about them?”

These kinds of questions were surprising from Levi but Armin should have guessed he would ask him something like that. Captain always valued his opinions. And after Levi decided to save Armin and not Erwin, he started to almost seek Armin’s plans and opinions. It was bit unsettling for the younger boy, but he decided to say nothing and tried not to feel too pleased at how seemingly much Captain believed in him.

Armin seriously thought about the older man’s questions as the said man swiftly pulls him out of the giant hot body. “Well, the new Titan shifter seems very intimidating with how they are much bigger than Colossal Titan, a Titan we thought that was the biggest besides the monstrosity that was Rod Reiss. Not only that, the shifter seems incredibly smart and clever. It also seems like they somehow know us or heard about us.”

The blond boy absentmindedly continues to analyze and mutters under his nose. “But from where? It’s highly unlikely that they are a normal citizen of the walls and as unlikely is the possibility that they are a Scout themselves or just some kind of soldier of the Walls.” As the two hit the ground, Levi lowers Armin and looks at him with a familiar expression of seriousness.

“That’s true. Citizen wouldn't be able to get over the Walls without ODM gear or being seen transforming with height like that. And soldier would be reported missing because of their absence. We are so far from the Walls that even with that kind of height it would take the Mother Titan at least day and a half to get this far, that’s more than enough for someone to report them missing.” The Captain added his observation.

Armin nods in agreement and continues his thoughts. “But it also doesn’t seem like they are from the Marley. The Warriors would surely used her in their quest to destroy Walls if she was with them.” The boy sighs frustrated, and pushes his long blond hair out of his face. “I really don’t know who they could be. But I feel this weird sense of calm and safety seeping from this Titan shifter.”

There’s pat on his back as his pulled from his thoughts. When he looks up at his superior he sees rare sight of calm and relaxation on his Captain’s face, there’s almost a tiny smile. “Yeah I feel it too. And from your shocked face, it must show on my expression. To be honest, last time I felt so calm was probably when I was like 4 or something, before everything went to shit in my life.”

The fact that Levi was even telling that to Armin meant that he was dead serious. ‘ If even Levi fells comfortable with this Titan shifter than it must mean something.’ The blond boy thought. He calmed his expression and nodded at his superior.

As they finished their conversation, they started to walk to the group of their comrades, so tiny compared to the ginormous Titan shifter sitting next to them.

“Alright, everyone is here now, so I think we can start the story session.” Commander Hange said as the two joined them. She looked up at the Mother Titan, excitement barely held in at the sight of such a magnificent Titan. “So, where would you like us to start?”

The female Titan tilts her head lower and looks over all the small humans before her. “How about from where it all gone down the hill?” Hange sighs a bit as she nods, unpleasant memories flooding her mind, but she promised to tell the Shifter their story in exchange of some answers, so the Commander pushed through.

“Well, it all started 5 years ago, on the dreadful day that the Shiganshina district was compromised and Wall Maria was breached...”