"Eren!!" Mikasa cried jumping towards the evaporating body of the Titan.
"Eren" She shook the body her heart thudding in fear when he didn't respond.
"Don't worry" Ash assured as he scanned Eren's life signature "He is alive and uninjured. But his body is drained of energy"
"So he is....
"Unconscious? Yes" Ash nodded, as he slowly took Eren body in a cradle style. The thudding footsteps of more Titans approaching alerted them.
"Let's get out of here" Ash motioned to Mikasa "You lead the Team. I will carry him over the walls"
Mikasa didn't looked convinced as she stared at Ash with hard eyes.
"Trust me please" Ash sighed "Nothing will happen to him"
"I hope so" Mikasa replied coldly before firing her cables towards the walls of the HQ to get on top where the rest of 104th were still standing.
"Obsessed much" Ash muttered in amusement, as he jumped over the building, Eren secured in his grasp.
"What in the Three Walls was Eren doing inside a Titan body?" Jean asked incredulously, as Armin quickly hurried to see his best friend's body. He didn't see the pale faces of Reiner or Berthold. Nor the expression of determination on Annie's.
"Armin said he was eaten?" Marco muttered.
"Mayhaps the Titan had indigestion and couldn't digest him?" Ash joked with a grin, trying to ease the tension "That would explain his anger and his desire to pummel other Titans".
"But the Titans don't have any digestive system" Connie said obviously not getting the joke.
"It's a joke bruh!" Ash deadpanned "You guys had no sense of humour".
"Oh" Connie muttered feeling like an idiot. There were some sniggering at that, while Mikasa glared at Ash for making such jokes in a delicate time.
"But this isn't possible!" Armin shook his head, as he inspected Eren "Eren....he...he lost his arm when he tried to save me"
"And his leg, when he went after the Titan which killed Thomas" Mina seconded, her voice shaky.
"Look! Whatever the reason for his survival is. We can discuss it after we are behind the safety of Wall Rose" Jean interjected. The others nodded at that.
"Wait how will Ash climb the Wall?" Tom asked looking at his savior. The others too looked at Ash questioningly. They have seen him jump high atop buildings with speed so fast that their ODM gears could barely keep up with him.
But could he jump over a 50 Meters tall wall? With the weight of another person no less.
"Don't worry about me. I would be fine" Ash winked back assuringly.
"If you say so" Tom muttered back.
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Soon the Cadets got another shock of their lives when they saw Ash, along with Pikachu, fly in the air, reaching the top of the walls within a blink of an eye.
At the top, Ash carefully put Eren down making sure not to disrupt his rest. The others too quickly climbed over, with Armin and Mikasa quickly rushing to see their friend.
"If you could fly then why do you jump from building to building?" Jean asked curiously.
"Because flying is boring if you are the one doing it" Ash said shrugging "Jumping from here and there is much more thrilling and exciting"
"You call flying boring" Marco shook his head in bemusement, lamenting "What would I have given for an ability like that?! To soar through clear sky, free as a bird".
Then they noticed a few Garrison Soldiers quickly coming towards them, with Officer Jan at tow.
"Pikachu hide" Ash ordered. Pikachu didn't question his command, immediately squeezing under Ash's trench coat, out of sight just as Jan and his squad reached them.
"So you all made it out of there" Jan looked in awe. He had thought that most of 104th would be wiped out. But it looks like almost everyone made it.
"We need food and medicine for the wounded" Jean immediately stated ignoring Jan's obvious statement.
"Yes of course. The Barracks are over there, go and get some rest" Jan nodded before looking at them "You all did well cadets"
The compliment made many of them stand a little straighter. But Mina stepped forward and said "While we did our jobs" She began pointing at Ash "He is the one who helped us get here. Without him most of us would be dead"
Many nodded at that, muttering in agreement.
"I did no such thing" Ash thought "They are here because of their own skill and determination. I only gave them a push"
"I knew I made a right decision on trusting you" Jan nodded at Ash, relief flooding his tone. He hated how Weilman ordered the Cadets to join the battle, even knowing they didn't have the necessary experience.
Jan had protested at that, but alas he was outranked by the Captain and had to follow orders. He had maintained his tough soldier mask while giving the orders, but inside he was torn with guilt for sending good Cadets to slaughter.
But now seeing most of them alive had eased much of the guilt he had.
Suddenly another soldier arrived doing the classic salute of fist near the heart.
"Officer Jan!" The Soldier saluted.
"What is it Soldier?" Jan said warily. He is not a normal Soldier but a courier boy, no doubt bringing fresh sets of Order from Captain Weilman. And knowing the paranoid, it could be anything.
The Soldier hesitantly looked at where Eren's body was laying, before coming closer to Jan, and whispering the orders.
The others looked confused at that. They become concerned, as they watched Jan's face turning to a grimace.
"Is he serious?" Jan asked incredulous with the soldier nodding hesitantly. He sighed before looking at the Soldiers "104th please report to the barracks".
The others still confused, nodded at the order. One by one they used their ODM to go down towards the barracks.
"I will meet you guys down" Ash informed, patting his coat where Pikachu is hiding "There are wounded being treated in the barracks. They would need me there".
Armin and Mikasa nodded, as Ash jumped off, shocking Jan's squad a little, as they had never seen a human doing that without ODM.
Jan however was unaffected, as he already saw Ash's powers. Which is the reason, he waited until Ash left before giving his orders.
"Please leave Cadet Yeager here" Jan's words caused Mikasa to freeze.
"What?!" She whispered, her voice soft but cold.
"Leave Cadet Yeager here" Jan repeated.
"No" Mikasa stared hard at Jan.
"It's command from the Captain himself"
"Then I will stay with him" Mikasa said resolutely.
"Me too" Armin stood beside her. Eren saved his life, now time has come to stand beside him. If he is correct then someone from the garrison must have seen Eren emerging from the Titan's corpse. This must be the reason Weilman wants Eren.
Jan breathed heavily knowing that nothing would dissuade them. So he nodded grudgingly "Very well"
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"So what's your name buddy?" Ash asked a wounded soldier, as he used his Aura to mend the wounds. The man had a deep wound on his leg like it was stabbed with something sharo, while his left arm is completely shattered.
"S...Sa..Samuel" The Soldier gritted out sighing with a little relief, as the Aura numbed the pain and knitted the bones and muscles together.
"Nice to meet you Sam" Ash said as he finished healing the wounds "How did you get wounded?"
"We were cleaning the Canons, when suddenly the Colossal Titan appeared and blasted our butts off the wall" Samuel explained tiredly. With his wounds healed and painful anymore, the exhaustion finally hit him.
Ash frowned. The Colossal Titan? Must be a specification like the Abnormal. The name Colossal suggest that the Titan must be big. Big enough to scale the walls.
"Sasha saved me by using the hook of her ODM" Ah! That's must be the reason for the leg wound. Samuel's eyes slowly closed, as he driftled off to sleep.
"Well take some rest" Ash patted Sam's head before moving on towards the next wounded.
On the other side of the building, Jean, Marco and a few others were sitting along with Ymir and Krista, taking stock of the situation. There were few slices of bread on the table, but no one, not even Sasha, had the appetite.
The high of battle had finally worn off, and they were finally dealing with the survival's guilt at the deaths of their comrades.
"Stanford, Maren, Bill, Faren, Jake all five of them dead within the first fifteen minutes of the battle" Sasha muttered massaging her head tiredly "Straight off, just like that".
"Liam and Beren too" Connie muttered, mind flashing to the deaths of his two buddies.
"So is Alexi and Taynor" Jean breathed out with Marco putting a comforting hand on his shoulder.
"Thomas, Milieus and Nack, from my Squad too" Mina looked down, her eyes shining with tears "It's a good thing, Ash arrived otherwise many more would have died"
They turned to look at where the mentioned boy is. Ash is currently healing the Soldiers who are too injured for normal medicine to work. They saw how he joked with the wounded, patting their shoulders, giving words of encouragement and how brave they were.
"Now that is the question" Reiner muttered "Who is he? Where did he come from? What are those strange powers?"
"And his yellow rat" Jean muttered "Did you see it shooting lightning and slice the hand of a Titan with its tail?"
"It also understands human language which is scary" Connie muttered, a chill crawling up his spine "It glared and sparked his cheeks threateningly at me when I said it 'a thing'. Like I am an idiot who had offended it"
"Animals are good judges of character. It knows you are an idiot" Sasha muttered tonelessly elevating some of the tension, as few of them sniggered at the barbed insult, while Connie glared bloody murder.
"Does it really matter?" Marco asked confused "He saved our lives after all"
"Maybe" Berthold nodded "But how do we know that he is not a threat? He may be merely bidding his time?"
"Come on Bert be logical" Annie sighed "He had all the cards. You have seen those powers. If he wanted he could have killed all of us or may have left us at the mercy of the Titans. We couldn't have done anything to him."
The table become silent.
"It's rude to talk about someone behind his back" They flinched at Ash's voice, and turned to look at him walking towards them "But with you all battle weary, I will let it slide".
"Eh...you heard that?" Connie asked timidly.
"Loud and clear. You guys aren't the quietest bunch in the bench" Ash smirked at the rhyme, taking a jug of water from the table. He chugged it all down, sighing in relief as the cold liquid slid down his throat.
"So how are the wounded?" Ymir asked, trying to appear uncaring. But Ash could easily read her Aura to know that she is, intact, worried about them.
"Most of them had broken bones and all, so they were easier to heal. They would be better within a day or two" The others looked surprised. Normally a broken bone meant a month of rest, so to hear they would be fine within a day is surprising.
"Their were a dozen who were maimed" Ash grimaced "I have healed them but unfortunately I can't grow them their limbs back". Back in his World, doctors did flash cloning with Ditto Cells to grow back limbs maimed by battle, or use advanced cybernetics to fashion a robotic arm.
Unfortunately this World is far too primitive for this kind of technology to be available.
"Being maimed is often a death sentence because of blood loss or infection. And you still healed them" Krista said assuringly "You saved their lives"
"I could have done more" Ash thought sadly. Maybe he can fashion them Wooden leg harnesses for those who have lost legs. Franz would appreciate it.
Suddenly a telepathic message echoed in his mind.
[Ash!] Pikachu's shout caused him to flinch. He had sent Pikachu to keep an eye on Mikasa and Armin, who along with Eren, were escorted by some soldiers of the Garrison. He had sensed that something was off with them, so he had sent his best friend to ahem.....spy on them.
"What happened?"
[Ask me what didn't happen?] Pikachu shouted in annoyance [You were right in your suspicion. Shit has hit the fan!]
"Armin, Mikasa?"
[They are surrounded by Soldiers! Their fucking Captain is threatening them] The Electric Type informed [Come here quickly, they have already taken out Weapons. Armin is trying to calm them but.....]
"I am coming" Ash said cutting the connection.
"What happened?" Jean asked slowly standing up, seeing the look of alarm on Ash's face.
"Well" Ash looked at them smiling grimly "Looks like your Captain had finally blown his brain"
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Hope you like it guys!
In this chapter I want to show the PTSD side of Soldiers once the battle rush ends.
If you liked this chapter then don't forget to leave a comment below because remember reviews are food for a writer's soul.