ᵒᵖʰᵉˡⁱᵃ AOT

the colossal titan *chapter ten*

"And all of you as well. And also, no need to salute me." Cerah stated, the cadets all confusingly lowered their arms, Cerah chuckling softly. "So, if I'm correct, you must be Eren Jaeger, Connie Springer, Mina Carolina, Thomas Wagner, and Sasha Braus, I presume. The one with the rack of meat."

The cadets' eyes went wide as they all turned to Sasha, the girl giggling innocently.

"Don't worry. My lips are sealed." Cerah stated, winking at everyone with a smirk. Their expressions quickly changed to a relieved one and Cerah nodded to the wall cannons. "Alright, guys. Back to work, we got to get these ready in case anything happens."

"You got it!" The cadets all had spread out to different parts of the wall, though Eren was the one who had lingered a bit longer. "Everything okay?"

"Um..y-yes. I just..it was always my dream to join the Scouts. Always. That day when the Scouts left for an expedition five years ago, I saw you. You were nervous, I could tell, but you were ready for anything. We were practically the same age and yet, you were focused on the mission at hand and that..inspired me to pursue my dream. Even if my parents told me it's dangerous." Eren explained, Cerah staring at him with wide eyes. Even though, her, an eleven year old kid who had never military training, was basically considered a criminal in the eyes of the Cadet Corps, she inspired Eren?

Cerah wasn't sure how to take this. She didn't know whether to be proud of herself that she inspired others or whether to take it lightly. Though Eren believed in her back then, she was terrified to the core. She was nowhere near prepared for that day.

Cerah was so caught up in her own thoughts that she didn't realize it until it was too late. It was the hairs on the back of her head that gave her the first sign. Something was definitely wrong. The second? The strike of lightning just beside the two. A shiver ran down her spine and her wide orbs stared horrifyingly at Eren, the cadet's eyes doing the same, before they both turned their head over to the other side of the Wall, seeing a monstrous Titan right before their eyes.

Dark eyes stared right back at them and Cerah whimpered quietly, realizing exactly which Titan this was before them.

The Colossal Titan.

The one that caused the fall of Shiganshina. And if he was here, the Armored Titan would show up too. Just like five years ago.

"MOVE, EREN! MOVE!" Cerah screamed, grabbing his arm and pulling him towards the other edge of the Wall. Just in time, the Colossal Titan had let out a wave of steam, sending everyone on top the wall, falling over the edge. Cerah quickly released her anchors, the metal quickly penetrating two holes in the wall and it helped Cerah stop her fall, Eren doing the same and stopping just a couple feet past her.

"IS EVERYONE OKAY?!"

"SAMUEL'S NOT DOING GOOD OVER HERE! HE MUST HAVE KNOCKED OUT WHEN THE STEAM CAME AT US!" Cerah heard Sasha say, her head quickly turning over and seeing that Sasha had on of her anchors through Samuel's leg, preventing him from falling to his death.

"No, no, no! The Titans are going to get in!" Cerah heard Connie scream, looking down, her face mortified as she saw a large hole in the wall. Similar to the reports from Shiganshina. The hole was big enough for even Large Titans to walk through. She grunted in surprise, looking back up the wall and unveiling blades from her scabbards.

"SASHA, GET SAMUEL TO SAFETY! THE REST OF YOU, FOLLOW ME! WE NEED TO SLOW THE TITAN DOWN UNTIL HELP COMES!" Cerah called, running back up the wall and shooting her anchors up further, scaling the wall quickly. "SHE'S RIGHT! WE HAVE TO KEEP THE TITAN BUSY OR IT WILL TAKE OVER THE CITY AGAIN LIKE SHINGANSHINA! COME ON, LET'S GO!"

"WAIT, EREN!" Connie shouted, but Eren continued up the wall, following Cerah up onto the edge where he saw her waiting, glaring the Colossal Titan up. This was what inspired him. It was the stare-off alone. This Titan was dangerous, it was responsible for thousands of deaths to an entire city. People are scared shitless of this thing and yet, here Cerah was, staring at it with this murderous look, like someone she had a personally vendetta against. Like she was ready to kill it.

"What do we do?!" Eren asked, Cerah looking down at it's arms. "Go for the arms first, start out from the forearms-"

Before she could finish, the Colossal Titan brought it's arm up and went to wipe them both out, but Cerah and Eren moved out of the way and swung around it's arm, Cerah taking her blades and slashing quickly through it's left forearm.

"GO FOR THE FOREARMS, WORK YOUR WAY UP!" Cerah finished, continuing her assault on the Titan's arms. Eren did as he was told, swinging on the other side of the Titan and slashing at the Titan's right forearm. The Titan howled in pain and Cerah attacked it again at it's upper arm, reeling back before coming back again and slashing it once more.

"HIS NAPE IS OPEN! NOW'S OUR CHANCE!" Eren shouted, going for the nape immediately after. "EREN, DON'T-"

But Eren ignored it, going immediately for the nape. He got close until he was just mere inches away. A large cloud of steam came rushing from the Colossal Titan's nape, nearly sending Eren flying off, but his anchor held, the boy pushing through the heat and had brought his blades back.

"I GOT YOU!" Eren screamed, swinging his blade through the cloud, only to see there was no nape to slash. There was no Titan anywhere at all. Nothing but the view of the Wall with a large hole in it was clear to Eren. "H-Huh?!"

"EREN!" He heard Cerah call, looking over and seeing she had landed back on the wall, a look of distress on her face. Eren also landed on the wall, Connie and Thomas both running up to them. "Did you guys get it?!"

"No..it just disappeared..just like five years ago.."

"No Titan can just disappear like that. I never seen anything like it before in my life." Cerah stated, looking over the wall and at the two large footprints left by the Colossal Titan. "I'm sorry I didn't listen, Lieutenant. I just thought I had him."

"Hey, don't apologize. I would have done the same. But now, we have a bigger problem on our hands."

"Lieutenant Cerah!" Cerah heard, turning her head and seeing elite Garrison soldiers approaching them, saluting soon after. "What is it?"

"Captain Kitz ordered for us to help you fight off the Titans approaching the city." One stated, Cerah nodding before looking to Eren, Connie, and Thomas. "All of you, prepare for battle. If we can't stop all those Titans coming in, then we'll have no choice."

"Understood!"