"Good. We're still at seven..." Marco whispers, informing the entire group that we still have only seven Titans.
We've successfully been lowered into the supply room and everyone else are waiting on the beams above, but now...we've just got to successfully get these Titans slayed.
He abruptly aims his gun down at a Titan, making everyone else, on this lift, aim their guns. "Ok. Now...nice and easy..."
A Titan walks out in front of us and stops, before suddenly turning its head toward us. Sure, this one is scary looking, but I've only got my mind set on succeeding, so I didn't even flinch.
However, Daz, who is on the opposite side of Armin, let out a quiet shout of fear, making Marco say, "Don't lose your cool! Fire only when they're all within range!"
The Titan takes a step toward us...
"Steady..." Marco says, more so, under his breath.
The Titan takes another step, becoming right in front of us now...
I was beginning to get a little worried now. "Marco, how close is 'within range' exactly?"
"Almost..." He replies, moving his finger to the trigger of the gun. So, I put my finger on the trigger of my gun as well.
The Titan leans its face just a little closer to us, almost having its eye poked with someone's gun...
"Fire!" Marco exclaims and gunshots happen all around us, blinding the Titans that have surrounded us.
Everyone on the beams above, then jump down and cut into each Titans nape, making them fall to the ground, well...almost.
I'm pretty sure Connie and Sasha either didn't cut deep enough or just missed by accident. I can't see, because of everyone crowded on here and because of my height.
It's all okay though, because Sasha begins screaming, thanking Mikasa for saving her, but, like I said, I can't see what's happening.
"Hey!" Jean, who I can see, since he's down in front of us, yells. "They're all dead! Start loading up supplies!"
I have the biggest smile on my face. I'm so happy it worked. At least we can all restock and go out and avenge our fallen comrades. I think seeing a Titan up that close has maybe helped me to not hesitate as much when seeing one now.
"It worked!" Armin and I exclaim excitedly. I guess he's glad our plan worked too.
Suddenly, Marco starts to fall down, but Armin and I catch him before he hits the floor.
"Are you okay, Marco?" Armin asks with concern.
He nods weakly. "Yeah. It's just...it's just the pressure I felt just then..."
"I'm so sorry." I apologize. "I should've just done the commands myself instead of asking you to do it. I wasn't thinking about all the stress I pushed onto you. I'm sorry..."
He shakes his head lightly, as the lift begins lowering to the ground below. "I'm fine. Seriously."
He stands up. "You two already came up with the great plan for us. I figured you guys would be pressured enough, worrying if the plan was going to work or not, but it did." He lays a hand on both our shoulders. "Good job."
I feel my cheeks get really warm. I smile at him. "Thank you, Marco."
"Yeah. Thanks. I was worried it wouldn't work, but I'm glad it did." Armin adds.
Marco smiles softly. "You're welcome." He removed his hands from our shoulders. "I'm going to go refill my tanks. I'll see you two later!"
I nod. "Ok. We'll see you later." With that, Marco sends me a small smile and runs away from us to go refill his gas tanks and restock his blade sheaths.
"Have you told him yet?" Armin asks.
I look over at him to see that he's still looking in the direction that Marco ran off in. "Yeah. I told him while we were waiting for Jean and the others to get back."
He gasps softly and looks at me. "And?"
"He feels the same." I reply with a smile, but then drop it. "I just wish I could've told him under better circumstances..."
"What matters is that you told him." He smiles. "I'm happy for you. I'm sure it feels good getting it off your chest."
I nod. "Yeah...but, uh, I've got to go get some gas."
"Ok. What about your blades?" He asks.
I wave a hand at him. "I'm only missing one pair and I don't think I'll be slaying many, if any, Titans. I'll be fine."
"Ok then." He nods. "I'll be refilling my tanks and restocking my blades. I'll meet you outside."
I nod firmly. "Alright."
We separate from each other. Armin ran off toward the blades and I ran toward the gas. Once I reach the giant tanks that hold the gas for our smaller tanks, I quickly fill my tanks up and put them back in my gear, but as I start to leave, I find Sasha crying.
"Sasha..." I crouch down in front of her. "What's wrong?"
She carefully slides one of her tanks into her gear. "I caved in front of the whole gang..." She suddenly brings her hands to her head. "I'm never going to be able to face any of them again!"
"God damn it, Sasha! Feel sorry for yourself later! Focus on escape!" Connie exclaims.
I look up at him. "Let her be, Connie. I know I'd feel the same if I were in her shoes."
"Oh, Y/n!" Sasha grabs me by my shoulders. "I feel like I've failed you and Armin most of all! I ruined your plan!"
I shake my head. "No. You did great. You did you're best and that's good enough. I mean, you were doing this without any gas. Mikasa and Annie ended up finishing the job anyway. We're okay."
She nods slowly. "Yeah...yeah. We're okay and I did fine. Thanks."
"How do you always have the right words to say?" Connie asks.
I stand up. "I don't always, but I'd have to say I got it-"
"By being your smart, beautiful, and kind self, right? Isn't that what you were going to say, Doll?" Reiner asks, appearing out of no where.
I quickly turn around. "Uh, no. I was going to say that I got it from my grandpa. Now he always said the right things, but, uh, thank you, Reiner."
"Oh, drop the charm, Reiner!" Connie yells, putting his tanks in his gear. "Now isn't the time to flirt with her! We've got Titans to kill!" Then, he runs away. I assume that he went to get some blades.
"What's made him so eager all of a sudden?" Reiner questions, as he watches Connie.
"He's just doing what we're intended to do." I hang my head. "We've got to get back outside soon, but...this may be the last time we see a lot of these people. In fact, this will probably be the last time I'm seen by anybody..."
"Come on, Doll." Reiner wraps an arm around my shoulders and starts leading me somewhere. "Don't think about shit like that. How about joining my squad? I'll make it my top priority to keep you safe."
"If I join with your squad, can Armin join too?" I ask, looking up at him. "We're all that's left of our squad..."
He nods. "Sure thing. I know how much he means to you."
I smile softly. "Thank you."
"Any time, Doll." He replies. "I'll always be there for you. I promise."
I let out a soft chuckle. "That's sort of like the promise that Eren and I made to each other as kids. I...I tried to keep it, but I couldn't save him...or the others. It...it all happened so fast and all I did was watch them die..."
"Listen to me." He stops us, faces me toward him, and lightly grips both of my shoulders. "Don't you start blaming yourself, ok? There's a lot of people in here that have hesitated. You're not the only one."
"Ok...I'll stop blaming myself." I nod.
"Let's head out, everyone!" Jean exclaims, already having a bunch of people following behind him.
I look up at Reiner. "I'm going to go find Armin. We'll meet up with you all outside, ok?"
"Sounds good to me." He lightly pats my shoulder twice, before running off to find his squad.
I let out a deep breath and look toward the exit just to see Armin running out, so I quickly run after him.
"Armin!" I call out, before stopping beside him, right outside the exit. "Reiner said we could join his squad, since it's just us."
"That's good..." He replies, sounding in a daze. "Why do you think Mikasa is up there?"
I look at where he's looking to see Mikasa on a nearby roof. "I don't know..."
Suddenly, he shoots his hooks into the roof and propels himself up there, exclaiming her name.
I was about to shoot my hooks, but someone grabs my arm. I look back to see Reiner, Bertolt, and Annie. Marco's probably getting gas or restocking his blades or maybe he went on over the wall already. "What's wrong?"
"I just wanted to know if you told Armin yet." Reiner replies.
I nod. "Yeah. He's fine with joining you guys. I'm going to go see what's wrong up there." I shoot my hooks into the roof and propel myself up there to find that Jean is up here too.
I run over to where Mikasa and Armin are standing. "What's going on? We've got to get going."
"Look..." Armin replies.
I look past the two to see the helpful Titan we rode here is now being eaten by other Titans. I gasp. "Cannibalism?! Why isn't he regenerating? I thought all Titans regenerated."
"This may sound stupid, but I was hoping he'd be the key for us." Mikasa remarks. "That he'd help mankind break the cycle. Turn the tide just long enough to give us a little ray of hope."
"You're right." Reiner's voice joins the conversation. He, along with Bertolt, Annie, and Jean, are standing to our right. "He's too valuable to just let die. There's too much we can learn from him. I think our first priority should be to ward the scavengers off him. He's no good to us picked apart."
"Are you out of your mind?!" Jean exclaims. "We've got a path out of this nightmare and you want to stay?"
"Think about it. Having an Abnormal as an ally would be an incredible advantage, right?" Annie asks. "A cannon's got nothing on a Titan who likes to rip apart his own kind."
Jean raises an eyebrow. "You do you hear yourself, right? He's not like a new friend!"
"But Mikasa, Armin, Connie, and I rode him here and he punched both of those Titans that had their heads in the wall of HQ." I reason, then look at the Titan we're talking about. "He's been so helpful..."
Suddenly, Armin gasps. "It's the one that ate Thomas!"
The Titan gets up, shaking off the Titans that were eating him. He runs at the Abnormal that ate Thomas, and bites right into its nape, making us gasp.
"I think it's okay to say that he definitely has intelligence." Armin notes.
The helpful Titan slings the Titan in his mouth to hit other Titans that were beginning to surround him, killing them.
I nod. "Yeah...that's true."
The helpful Titan finally throws the Titan that was in his mouth away and stands still.
"What was that you two were saying..?" Jean asks, as the Titan drops to his knees before finally landing face first onto ground. "'Cause I think it's a moot point now."
He starts walking away from us. "Alright. Enough of this! Let's leave while we can. We're lucky the ugly bastard didn't get bored. We would've been next on the menu."
He walks back over to face the Titan. "Look! A Titan's a Titan-"
"There-" I look at the steaming Titan corpse with wide eyes. "There's something moving in the nape!"
Whatever it is, squirms a bit more before finally rising out of the nape, revealing a person, but it's not just any person, it's...
"Eren..." I mumble in pure shock.
Mikasa immediately propels herself down there, making Armin call out her name. He eventually propels himself down there as well. I drop to my knees, as I still look down at Eren in shock.
"Are you okay?" Bertolt asks, sounding concerned.
"I'm just in shock...that's all." I reply
I don't know how Eren's down there right now. Armin and I watched him get eaten. We saw him die. How did he just come out of that Titan's nape? I have so many questions...
Mikasa and Armin soon take Eren to a tall, nearby tower and the rest of us join them. This is where Mikasa has been crying, as she hugs Eren for about two minutes now.
"How does he have his arm and leg again?" Armin asks rhetorically, sounding on the verge of tears. "They were bitten off..."
I'm also on the verge of tears. I walk toward Mikasa and Eren and sit down, gently grabbing his wrist, which lead to me interlocking my fingers with his. The tears come spilling out. "How is any of this even possible?"
"Uh...let's just take the lift down inside Wall Rose." Jean suggests.
"It'll be safer for us in the wall than it is here. Titans can still eat us here." Reiner adds.
I let out a deep breath and stand up. "Yeah...we should get inside the wall." I look at Mikasa. "Do you think you can carry Eren there?"
She nods. "I know I can."
"Ok..." I wipe my cheeks off.
"Let's get going, guys." Armin suggests.
So, one by one, we all fly off toward the wall. I really hope the news hasn't spread already. It would be just our luck that it has though. We all land on top of the wall.
"Armin. Help me with Eren." Mikasa orders.
"Right." Armin got on the other side of Eren, supporting him by slinging Eren's arm over his shoulders.
"I've got the lift ready for us to go down." Jean informs, standing on the lift already.
I thank him, as we all climb onto the lift. I choose to stand in between Reiner and Bertolt. I sigh and hang my head back, looking up at the sky, as we start going down.
"Is there something wrong, Y/n?" Bertolt asks.
I look over at him with my head still hung back. "It's just hard for me to believe what just happened. I mean, Eren isn't a Titan...is he?"
"That's difficult to explain." He replies. "He appeared from the nape, seeming to be attached to the Titan, but humans can't be Titans."
I bring my head down and grip my hair. "Then...what's going on..?"
"Who knows." Reiner intervenes, putting an arm around my shoulders and pulling me close to him. "Maybe it'll make sense sometime enough."
"I hope so..." I mumble.
"Cadets!" Someone yells, as the lift comes to a stop. All seven of us look at the person who just yelled for us and there stands Commander Woerman, whom first gave us orders at HQ. This possibly can't be good.
"What is it, sir?" Jean asks.
"I have been informed that Eren Jaeger there just came out of a Titan's nape." He replies. "I intend to hold a trial right here, which will determine Jaeger's fate. If he is Titan, I'll have no choice but to execute him with cannon fire."
Gasps are heard all around. I move my way toward the front of the lift. "Sir, even if he really is a Titan, he's been extremely-"
"I'll allow you three to stay with him." He interrupts, gesturing to Armin, Mikasa, and I. "The rest of you go find the other cadets. Now!"
Jean hesitantly nods, but nods firmly. "Sir!" He flys away.
"Be careful with what you say. Ok, Doll?" Reiner remarks, laying a hand on top of my head.
I nod. "I will..."
"Alright. We'll see you later." With that, him, along with Bertolt and Annie, go flying after Jean.
"You three stay right there with Jaeger." Woerman orders, so we all step off of lift. Mikasa now stands protectively in front of us, while Armin and I sit on either side of Eren.
If Eren doesn't wake up soon, how are we going to explain this to them? We didn't even know that Eren was a Titan to begin with. Is he even really a Titan? I mean, it'd make sense as to why he appeared from the nape of one, but humans can't be Titans...right?
A/N: Hey, cadets! So, we finally got Eren back after he 'died' in chapter eleven. I'm sorry if this book is starting to get boring and long, it's just...I try to put good details into each chapter.
Anyways, I've put more interactions with Reiner, because I honestly find their interactions really fun to do, but that goes for all the boys to be honest. I'm trying to add more of Bertolt, but it's hard for me to fit anything, since he hardly talks, so I'm sorry.
I hope you all enjoyed. Remember. Ask me some questions, because I kind of want to do a Q&A. Please let me know if I'm not writing enough of someone. Have a wonderful rest of your day/evening/night! Bye, cadets!