You saw Mikasa slice off the nape of a titan ahead of you.
"Hurry! Follow Mikasa and Y/N!", you heard Jean order the rest. You spotted a titan closing in on Mikasa from behind.
"Mikasa, watch out!", you screamed as you closed in on it. In one swift, rotating motion, you had cut the nape of the titan, watching it collapse to the ground. You resumed manoeuvring towards HQ. Mikasa was already far ahead, relying on her gas to go faster.
'She is going to run out before we even reach the Head Quarters if she keeps going like that'
"How does Mikasa move so fast?", you heard Connie ask the rest a little distance behind you.
"No! She's using too much gas!", Armin exclaimed. "She'll run out fast! It doesn't matter how good you are, without the maneuver gear, your helpless!".
Mikasa killed another titan on her path, aggressively manoeuvring herself through the town.
"I knew she wasn't her usual calm self; she is trying to ignore her shock by taking action!", Armin continued, at this point mostly talking to himself.
You hear sputtering sounds coming from Mikasa's gear as the last of her gas made their way out. She fell towards the ground.
"Mikasa!", you screamed. You didn't manage to get to her in time to catch her. You checked your tank.
'God damn it, I don't have enough to go down and help her. If I do, we'll both just end up stuck'
You heard the others behind you gasp as they watched her fall. You turned your head to look at them, still moving forward.
"Listen up, I don't have enough gas left to help her! Two of you who does have enough, go!", you ordered. You watched and noticed Jean planned to go after her.
"Not you Jean, we need you to lead the group!", you yelled at him.
"Don't worry Jean, Armin and I'll go! Your skills are needed here with the rest!", Connie said as the two of them turned around.
"Y/N! Titan straight ahead!", Sasha warned you. You turned your gaze forward again, and noticed the titan heading in your direction with its arms eagerly reaching out for you.
'At this rate, I'll be grabbed by its hands or mouth if I continue moving in any direction at this height.. I need to get below it- fast!'
You immediately stopped the flow of gas. As you started plummeting towards the ground you leaned you body back, making you spin backwards in a slow and controlled motion. You kept your legs straight, only bending your knees a little bit.
"What the hell is she doing? Y/N!", you heard Jean scream out for you. They were too far behind to help you, your survival depended on you executing this right.
As you noticed you were on the same height as the titans ankles, you stabilized yourself, stopping the spinning once your body faced the titan again. You sent out your hooks, hooking them onto its knees and reeled yourself in. The titan stopped once it felt the hooks in its flesh. Once you closed in on its knees, you quickly unhooked your gear and lounged yourself forward between its legs, using your gear like a slingshot. Reaching the other side, you turned your body 180 degrees and sent your hooks up and into its back. As you ran up its back, you held your arms down, letting your blades cut through the flesh. Reaching the neck you jumped, using one puff of your gas for a little extra altitude. Mustering all the strength you had left, you cut the nape and jumped off as the titan collapsed to the ground.
You wasted no time and continued moving forward. Your stunt had given the others time to catch up. They weren't quite there, but were much closer to you than before.
"What the hell was that Y/N? That was actually so badass, how did you do that?", Sasha exclaimed in awe.
You stopped on a rooftop, needing to catch your breath.
"I just did what came to mind in the moment", you quickly answered Sasha, your hands placed on your knees exhausted. The rest of the cadets also paused, standing on the rooftops all around you. To your right you noticed Jean deep in thought.
"Aaah!". The sound made you turn your head quickly to search for the source. It was a cadet on the ground, struggling to get up the building as his gas cannisters were empty. A titan grabbed him, and you watched in horror as he pleaded for his life.
"Tom, I'm coming for you!", you heard someone scream. It was another boy, charging in to save his best friend. You thought he was being stupid and reckless charging in like that, but couldn't blame him as you knew you would to the same if it was one of your loved ones. The boy was quickly grabbed by another titan before he could save Tom. Their screams rung through the air and mixed with the terrifying sound of flesh and bones being crushed. There were just too many titans here and you did not have enough gas to help out. You heard a girl scream as the was stuck in a titans grasp.
"I don't want to die!", she pleaded, and the lot of you could do nothing but watch.
The guilt made you nauseous and you sat down, covering your ears. Marco's hand found it's way to your shoulder and gave it a comforting squeeze.
You looked over at Jean who looked visibly stressed. He was probably feeling guilty for being the one that led them into this situation. Knowing him, you knew he was debating whether or not he was worthy of having this kind of responsibility. You knew it was hard for him to have the lives of so many others weighing on him, but your also knew he was one of the only ones that could handle it and make the best decisions possible in a hopeless situation like this.
As you watched him struggle, something in his expression changed. It was like he realized something.
"Come on, this is our chance! Now with all those titans concentrated there, we have time to move!", Jean screamed out, looking at the titans still eating your comrades down below.
"We run to HQ now!", he yelled and started running past the titans on the roof.
'Jean, you absolute genius!'
You got up from your sitting position and ran after him, noticing the reast of the group doing the same once they realized what he meant.
"Full speed ahead!", Jean yelled. "Run as much as you can to save gas!".
You felt bad for using their deaths as an escape, but nothing good would come out of you staying there any longer.
As you closed in on HQ, you did everything you could to stay out of reach of the titans. However, it seemed to be easier said then done. While passing one it grabbed your leg. You screamed as you struggled to get out. Marco quickly cut its fingers off, giving you a chance to break free.
"Thanks Marco, that was a close one", you said, sighing in relief. He looked at you worried, before he seemed to relax a bit. You went to run at a rooftop to your left, as Marco joined Jean on a rooftop across the street.
"Jean!", Marco called out to him as he ran by his side. "Thank you. Thanks to your, we made it out safely", he told him, as he smiled his signature Marco-smile. Jean didn't seem to understand where this was coming from. "It's all thanks to you and your quick thinking! I told you you're cut out for leadership!", Marco added proud. Jean smiled and huffed a bit at his words.
"Oh, I don't know about that", he said sheepishly. They then charged forward with the ODM gear, manoeuvring through the titans around HQ. You did the same once your reached the end of the roof. You heard people behind you who were not as lucky and got grabbed by titans. Their screams made your ears ring. A girl in front of you were squeezed to a pulp, her blood hitting your skin like a whip.
"Dammit!", you heard Jean exclaim as the screams died down. He charged legs first at the windows at the top of HQ, his body going straight through the glass. You all followed him, hitting the wooden floor with a thud. You rolled forward, crashing into some tables that were stacked on top of each other. A pair of familiar arms cradled around you and pulled you out of the way of the rest of the cadets coming inside.
"Y/N are you hurt? Where is the wound?", Marco asked you distraught, the blood all over you making him worried.
"I'm okay, other than a hit to the head from crashing into those tables over there, I'm fine", you reassured him, sitting up. "The blood is from a girl who got grabbed in front of me...", you added quietly.
Marco let his hand rest on your cheek for a short moment, his thumb caressing one of your cuts from earlier. He then grabbed a table cloth that had been tossed on the ground, and gently started to clean the blood off of you as best as he could.
"How many made it?", you heard Jean ask silently from your left. "How many died in my command?". No one answered him, and he got down on his knees in despair. He then looked to his left. You noticed them as well. Under the tables you saw the cadet's in charge of resupplying you. They were huddled up and looked absolutely terrified. Marco stopped wiping your face as he followed your gaze.
"Aren't you guys with the supply team?", Jean asked them dumbfounded. He then went on to grab one of them by their collar, dragging them out of their hiding place. Once lifting the boy up he punched him hard in the face. Your jaw dropped.
"Stop it Jean!", Marco yelled, running up to restrain Jean by holding around his arms from behind.
"They are the ones who abandoned us! Because of you, more died than necessary!", Jean screamed out, fighting against Marco's strong hold. You crawled over to the boy laying unconscious on the ground. Once you reached him, another girl ran over to him as well.
"Titans came into the supply area... We couldn't do anything!", she cried. You started tending to the boy, checking his pulse. You were angry at them for abandoning you, but you realized there were not much they could have done anyways if titans had made their way into the supply room.
"Doing something is your job!", Jean answered her firmly. A sudden sound of something rapidly coming closer from the outside grabbed your attention.
"Everyone! Get down!", you screamed, grabbing the boy, and taking shelter behind a table. The rest did the same. A loud bang accompanied by a strong gust of wind spread throughout the room. You cautiously looked over the edge of the table and met the terrifying face of a titan.
'It smashed its face through the wall!'
"Damn it, we are way too many people in one place!", Marco exclaimed, putting his hand protectively on your back. The room erupted into a frenzy as the cadets in hiding all charged towards the door.
"We can't all fit!", one yelled out
"We need to get in, please!", someone else screamed.
"What the fuck do we do Marco?", you whispered, feeling defeated as everyone charged past you. He moved his hand from your back down to grab your hand, your fingers intertwining. The three of you stared speechless at the now two titans eyeing you with a look of pure lust.
'Is this really it? Is this how we go? I'm sorry Marco, I was supposed to protect you, but I don't see how I can do that right now...'
A huge hand crashed into the right titans face, the force sending both of them flying away from the hole. A tian with long black hair and glowing green eyes was now standing in front of the hole, roaring at the titans it had just attacked.
If you were speechless before, you didn't even know what you were now.
"Wh-what is that?", Jean asked astounded from beside you. You watched as Mikasa, Connie and Armin charged in through the window.
"Connie?", you said surprised as if you didn't recognize him.
"Mikasa?!", Jean called out.
"Armin", you added to not make him feel left out, as you kneeled down beside them.
"That was close... I'm all out", Connie said as he examined his tank. "But we did it! We just barely made it!", he added excited. Jean walked over to Mikasa.
"Y-you're alive!", he said astonished again.
"You did it Armin!", Connie proudly patted Armin harshly on the back. Armin whimpered in pain.
"Hey, be careful with him Connie", you said, stopping his hand from doing it again. "What the fuck is the deal with that titan just now?", you demanded him to answer. Connie got up from the ground, looking exited to share this information.
"That titan is an abnormal that kills other titans!", he said loudly for everyone to hear, pointing towards the black haired titan still placed outside of the hole.
'There is no way...'
"It isn't even interested in us! If we can use it, we can escape!", Connie continued.
"A titan helping us? That doesn't sound real-", Jean said.
"It is real!", Mikasa interrupted him. "I don't care if it's an abnormal or what.. We need to stay here, and keep fighting! That is our most realistic chance for survival".
The titan roared as more titans closed in on him.
~
You had all moved into the next room, planning out a strategy to reclaim the supply room. Armin had an idea, as he always does, and you were now quickly preparing to set the plan in motion.
"Can we even take out the titans with the rifles?", Jean asked Armin while looking at the box of rifles he found in a storage locker.
"If there are still only seven 3- to 4-meter class titans in the supply room, this may be enough firepower to blind them all at once. First we'll use the lift to lower a large number of people through the central ceiling. They'll fire in the faces of the seven titans in unison to blind them. Then seven of us hidden among the ceiling beams will jump down, killing one titan each in a coordinated ambush. All our lives will depend on the selected seven killing those seven titans with one single strike!", Armin explained, as you were all gathered around him.
"The seven will be those of us whose skills give us the best chance, but.. I'm sorry to make them bear the weight of everyone's lives...", he then said stressed.
"It's fine Armin, there is no other way around it", you reassured him. "The risk is the same no matter who goes".
"But is the plan I came up with really the best option we have?", Amrin asked, self-conscious.
"It's our only option and the best plan we'll have. We just have to give it all we've got!", Marco told Armin confident.
"The lift is ready!", a cadet informed you. You got up from the ground, moving your arms and neck to loosen up. You were one of the seven who was going to kill the titans, a lot was riding on your physical ability and you felt absolutely exhausted after todays event's. You met Marco's gaze as he positioned himself in the lift with a rifle. You gave him a smile and a quick nod, as to say it was going to be okay. He quickly returned the gesture. The seven of you made your way down the stairs so you could sneak up to the ceiling beams unnoticed.
"But can we kill titans without maneuver gear?", Connie asked, breaking the silence.
"Sure we can", Reiner answered him. "They're 3- to 4-meter class titans. The target will be easy to hit"
"Yeah, no matter what the size, the target is always that one spot on the neck", Jean agreed.
"One meter long and ten centimetres wide!", Sasha reminded herself.
"Or we can shove it up their ass", Reiner suddenly said, holding up his blade. "Those are their only two weak spots". You rolled your eyes at his comment.
'No one would be stupid enough to believe that, right?'
"Wait, really? I didn't know about that!", Connie exclaimed amazed.
"We can do that?", Sasha chimed in. "I'm just finding out about that now too, Connie!"
'Never mind...'
"Careful Reiner. That may very well end up being your last words!", you teased him smugly. Reiner snickered at your comment and gave you a light nudge on your shoulder.
~
The lift lowered down, creaking and squeaking as the weight of the group made it struggle. The titans noticed them straight away and slowly made their way towards them. You shifted your stance on the beam, bracing yourself to jump down at the exact right moment. Your eyes didn't leave your target's neck and you listened intently for the signal.
"Hold it... Just a little more guys", Marco said calm, some of the cadets shaking in fear. "It is crucial for us that they are close enough, keep the rifles steady and be patient". The titans got closer and closer, any irregularity in their movement causing a wave of panic through the crowds of cadets. "Stay calm! We need to draw them in, just a little more...", Marco continued to reassure the others. You knew he was just as terrified as the rest, but he put it aside for their sake.
The titans were now a hand's lenght away from the rifles.
"Ready... Fire!!", Marco yelled out, and the sound of bullets rapidly firing spread across the room. The seven of you jumped down simultaneously and you quickly eliminated your target. You watched as the other titans collapsed one by one. All except for...
'Oh no, Sasha! Connie!'
They both missed theirs, and the titans were now moving towards them.
"Don't you dare touch them!", you screamed and ran to the one closest to you. "Someone, help Connie!". You hooked your wires to the shoulders and ran up its back, relying on the reeling feature of the gear and your own pure strength to get up there, as you didn't have any more gas left. You quickly sliced its nape and grabbed a hold of its hair so you could safely fall down along with it. You looked to your right and saw Annie standing beside the other titan's decaying body.
"Y/N! You saved me!", Sasha screamed on her knees and grabbed a hold of your arms as you got down.
"Of course stupid, I would never let it eat you!", you said and dropped down to her level, pulling her into a hug. "Are you injured?", You asked her worried and pulled away to get a good look at her.
"No I'm not, thanks to you Y/N", she said, pulling you in for another hug.
"Everyone let's resupply and get the hell out of here!", Jean ordered.
A relaxed and happy atmosphere spread across the room as people were finally able to fill up their tanks and get a hold of new blades.
As you fiddled with your tank you overheard Marco talking to Jean a little distance away from you.
"I don't think I'm cut out to be a leader...", Jean confessed. You remember their conversation on the rooftops earlier. "Don't say things like that again". THere was a slight pause before Marco answered him.
"I hope you don't get mad when I say this... but you aren't a strong person.", you heard Marco say. Where was he going with this? "That means you can relate to how the weak feel. In addition, you excel in sizing up any situation. Isn't that why you immediately know what should be done?", Marco paused. "You gave the right orders. That's why I could jump and it's why I'm alive".
You smiled at his words. Jean needed to hear it. Being a leader isn't easy and it brings a lot of responsibility with it, but you knew Jean was right for that role, just as you knew Thomas was. Some people just know what to do in hopeless situations, and that' what saves lives. Jean saved lives today.
You turned around to look at them properly, and your heart warmed up at the sight of them.
'I really don't know where I would be without these people'
You called out for them, pretending not to have heard what they said.
"Hey, guys! Ready to venture out into hell's den one more time?", you asked with a little playful tone. The room sparked of newfound energy and motivation after this little victory.
They both got up to their feet and joined you towards the rest of the group.
~
The plan was now to get to the wall as quickly as possible to retreat and rendezvous with the rest of the military. You watched as all the cadets and a handful of your friends maneuvered their way to scale the wall.
"Mikasa?", Armin said and looked up to the rooftop of HQ. Mikasa was standing there, staring at something you could not see. Armin flew up to her and you followed, curious as to what she was looking at. That's when you saw mindless titans munching on the abnormal one that had attacked them earlier.
"Cannibalism?", you asked dumbfounded.
"I think we should help it. It may answer some of our questions if we can get a better look at it", Mikasa said.
"I agree", Reiner's voice suddenly said, and you turned around to see Annie, Bertholdt and Jean with him. "If it gets eaten, we won't learn anything."
"Are you insane Reiner? Us helping a titan? We can finally get out of here!", Jean exclaimed frustrated.
"What if it might be able to help us? It has been a great aid so far, and it would be a shame to lose it before we get to learn anything from it. No one has ever seen anything like this in the hundred years humans have lived inside these walls!", you tried to reason.
"Hey! It's the titan that ate Thomas!", Armin yelled out, and you stomach turned as you moved your gaze from Jean to the titan. It was as if you could still see Thomas hanging out of its mouth, and you felt a sudden anger build inside of you.
Right on cue the abnormal titan broke free from the mindless titans hold and charged right at Thomas' killer. The rage radiating from the titan reminded you of the way Eren charged at the same titan earlier before he got killed. The abnormal bit the titans neck, and used it to beat the other titans. He then proceeded to bite off its nape, killing it entirely.
'It knows titan's weak spots'
"Looks like it doesn't need our help", Jean said astonished. The titan roared again, as it finally collapsed to the ground, completely drained of energy.
"Looks like it's finally exhausted. Let's leave while we still can-", Jean started turning around.
"Jean, wait! Look", you grabbed his wrist. It looked like it's neck opened up, and you could spot a silhouette of a person, the steam covering most of the sight. As the steam cleared up you gasped.
'Eren?!'
Eren raised his upper body from the neck, tendons from the titan still clinging to his flesh. He leaned back and looked to be unconscious. Mikasa jumped down and ran straight to him. Her body crashed into his as she put her arms around him. It looked like she didn't really believe that this was real, not that you entirely believed it yourself from where you stood looking down at them.
She gently placed her ear to his chest, checking for a heartbeat. She waited in silence, before she suddenly started to cry. You had never seen her cry before, and her cries sent chills down your spine. She bawled as she held him in his embrace. Armin joined her, needing to see it for himself before he dared believe it.
Eren was alive.
___________________________________________
A/N:
This was an action filled chapter and I hope I manage to capture it in words in a way that satisfied you all :)
Thank you for reading this chapter and I'll see you in the next one!
Have a wonderful day!<3
~Jen