JEAN
"Good news!" I hollered as I slammed down the box of rifles for everyone to see "Courtesy of the military police and covered with a layer of dust".
Wrenching open the lid I lifted out a long-barrelled gun that Armin had insisted we brought with us when we had searched the armoury, good lot of use they would be.
"Are you absolutely sure buckshot is the way to go. Seems like we might as well throw spit wads. I mean come one, guys. Are guns even effective?" I asked doubtfully as I lifted a rifle to gaze down its scope.
"I don't know but there bound to be better than nothing" Armin muttered as he contemplated a blueprint for lower HQ that he had swiped from the officer's quarters, watching him now I could actually see the wheels turning in his head.
He had a plan.
"We're looking at seven titans in the supply room, of the 4 meters tall variety. If we time this perfectly, this much ammo ought to be enough to do the trick" Armin tapped the map to draw our attention to the lifts "Step one we lower a group into the area via lift to get the Titan's attention. Step two, when the titans come within range, the group fires in all four directions simultaneously blinding them. Then the hard part. The moment of truth as it were. Before the titans have time to recover, seven of us swoop down from the ceiling and strike their vital regions. That's it. That's the plan. It puts all our lives on the line. We screw up, were dead. That's a hell of a risk for one attack, but it's our only chance".
Armin's gaze passed over Reiner, Mikasa, Annie, Bertholt, Sasha and Connie before finally coming to land on me. Dropping his eyes back down to the map, sweat beaded on his forehead and ran down his temple.
If he needed us to do something, he had to spit it out.
Taking a deep breath, he met our eyes again, but this time he was resolved. "Seven people have to slay seven titans in one blow, at the same time. We're going to need the best of you. The seven soldiers most physically gifted and adept with their pairing blades. You'll be the difference between life and death for the rest of us. I'm sorry, that's how it is"
Well thanks, Armin, no pressure.
"Seems like a sound plan" Reiner nodded as a creepy smile began to spread on his face, guess he liked this plan a lot.
"When you get right down to it, the risk is the same for everyone" Annie shrugged "Doesn't really matter who goes".
It could work if we all struck the weak spot perfectly, but that was a big if.
"Look I ...I'm willing to be talked out of this" Armin sighed as he got to his feet "One half-baked strategy can't be our only option, right?".
When all is said and done, this is our best option.
"Hey, don't be so hard on yourself" Marco the enthusiast smiled as he placed his hand on Armin's shoulders,"Come one, with what we're looking at for our only option it's pretty well thought out. If we give it our all we might just pull this off!".
Yeah, Marco, I think we just might.
"It will be fine you just have to be confident, You're a better strategist than you give yourself credit for. I'm serious, that mind has saved our family more than once"Mikasa said as she came to stand in front of Armin and his body jerked in shock before staring at Mikasa incredulous.
"When did I ever saved any of you? That's not..." he trailed off, unsure. Was this really the time to be getting into this?
"All right the lifts ready to go! Guns are loaded to the stocks. Let's kill some titans!" a cadet shouted as he opened the lift barriers and I nudged Mikasa's arm as I passed to let her know we needed to move to take the stairs to the supply room.
"You didn't realise it at the time, we can talk about it later" Mikasa promised as patted Armin's arm before turning to join us heading for the stairs and we all descended in silence, which was short-lived as Connie pipped up to break the nervous atmosphere.
"Okay I'm gonna ask the obvious can we do this without ODM gear?" Connie asked which was a reasonable question, I suppose.
"No problem. These guys are only four metres tall" I said and tried to give my voice some level of confidence "Their week spots aren't too far above eye level."
"He's right, size won't be an issue" Reiner reassured Connie "The spots still only one meter high and ten centimetres across."
"Back of the head to the nape of the neck" Sasha confirmed with a head jerk, however, the tension was still there, and it was close to crackling over.
"Worst comes to worst you can always just shove one of these up their ass. That's the other weak spot" Reiner snarked as he lifted his blade upwards in a thrusting motion and I couldn't contain my scoff, trust him to make light of our imminent death.
"Are you serious? That's news to me" Connie asked unsurely and again I could stop the half-strangled noise that left my lips.
Not the sharpest tool in the box eh Connie?
"Did I miss a day of training or something?" Sasha puzzled. Could they really be that dense?
"Come on, knock it off Reiner" I scolded, as amusing as this was, we needed to focus "You want your final words to be an ass joke?"
ARMIN
"Good were still at seven" I whispered, though why I did not know, the Titans knew we were here.
"Okay now nice and easy" Marco reassured the nervous cadets surrounding us with their loaded rifles "Don't lose your cool! Only fire when they are all within range".
We had been lowered down on the lift as I had suggested and were luring the Titan's towards us. I had thought this was a good plan until their hungry eyes had locked on to us and the slither of fear worked its way down my spine. as slowly but surely, we were being surrounded.
"Steady" Marco cautioned as a nervous cadet began to put his finger on his trigger "Steady".
Not yet.
"Almost" Marco whispered as he raised his rifle and took up his scope. The Titans' eyes were nearly on a level with our barrels, just a few more seconds.
NOW!
"FIRE!" Marco yelled, and the room was filled with the sound of repeating gunshots and the wailing of Titans. Flashes of silver dropped from the ceiling, and the two Titans ahead fell to the ground just as Reiner and Bertholt landed behind them.
They've done it!
"Got it! How are you guys?" Jean called out from the other side of the room and I spun around to congratulated him when I saw two Titans still standing, bearing down on a whimpering Sasha and Connie.
God no...
"I...uh....I'm sorry. I didn't" Sasha stammered as she backed away in wide-eyed fear "I didn't mean to sneak up on you."
"Sasha and Connie missed!" Bertholt yelled, and I felt my stomach drop, knowing this was it. I couldn't watch another one of my friends be eaten, I didn't have the strength to survive it.
"Lead em the hell back!" Jean commanded as he began to race towards them but he wouldn't make it in time. I looked around desperately for anything that could help, but guns couldn't bring a titan down, only blades could save them, and we had none.
"Oh god" Connie trembled as his back hit the stone pillar. He had nowhere to run as the Titan in front him began to crowd him. Suddenly, the Titan closest to Sasha reared back before lunging forward, its jaw wide open for the kill.
"I said I was sorry!" Sasha screamed as she dove away from the Titan's snapping jaws and flashes of silver slashed down up upon the Titan's napes as Mikasa and Annie delivered their killing blows. Landing on her feet, Mikasa was pounced upon by hysterical Sasha, a broad smile spreading across my face as I watched Mikasa fumbling with Sasha's pawing.
We made it!
"MIKASA!" Sasha wailed as she clung to Mikasa clothes "You saved my life!"
"Are you okay?" Mikasa asked as she tried to pry Sasha's hands from her body.
"Because of you, I am!" Sasha sobbed in gratitude and Mikasa shoved Sasha's hands from her clothes, giving her a stern look. I knew that look all too well; I had seen her give it to Eren many times and the thought made my heartache.
Eren. I'm sorry.
"Then get up" Mikasa commanded as she pulled Sasha to her feet. Annie stood off to the left of them, staring at the disintegrating Titan form she had just killed with a strange vulnerable look on her face.
Is she injured?
"I owe you one," Connie said with a look of gratitude, Annie turned to look at him and just like that the mask was back in place. What had she been thinking?
"No worries" Annie shrugged before sheathing her blades as Reiner and Bertholt rushed up behind her, the latter staring at her with panic.
"Wow by the skin of your teeth" Reiner scoffed "Your damn lucky you didn't end up worse off"
Annie gave him a dead-eyed stare before walking away. No love lost there, though Bertholt watched her walk away with a look of subtle longing.
"They are all dead! Start loading up supplies!" Jean gave out the order to get everyone in gear and as much gas and blades as everyone was able to carry were handed out, the feeling of hope was spreading like a contagion around the remaining cadets.
"We're going to make it. We're going to live. All because of that Titan" a cadet sobbed in relief.
The irony of all of this was that we were being hunted and devoured by Titans, and yet our salvation had come in the form of an abnormal. Was he a freak of nature or had we never encountered his kind before?
"I caved. I caved in front of the whole group" Sasha babbled tearing me from my thoughts "DAMMIT I'm never gonna be able to face them again"
Sasha screamed incoherently as she clutched her hair in despair and Connie ran over to her and gave a whack over the head.
"Dammit feel sorry for yourself later! Focus on escape!" Connie chastised as he shoved her out the room in haste.
***********************
"Ready people let's do this!" Jean hollered as he again took the lead and not for the first time today, I had found myself thankful for it. Take away the boulder-sized chip on his shoulder, and Jean was an excellent leader.
The cadets all took to their air, and I readied myself to follow suit when I spotted Mikasa on the roof of HQ. What was she doing? We had to go, or we risk being swarmed. Shooting my grapples, I propelled myself up onto the rooftop and landed beside her.
"Mikasa?" I asked gently as I tugged her arm as her gaze fixated on the street below.
"What are you doing we have to leave now!" Jean shouted as he landed on the tiles behind us, I should have known he wouldn't willingly leave Mikasa behind.
"Look. Down there" Mikasa pointed and I followed her line of sight down to the abnormal Titan below who had been overcome by his foes. He had been completely overwhelmed, but what was genuinely shocking, however, was the fact that the other titans hadn't just beat him, but they were actually eating him while he struggled to fight back.
"Cannibalism?" I gasped in horror. This opened up so many questions, like is this how they survived beyond the walls all this time? By eating each other, and why wasn't that abnormal healing? "Can he not regenerate like the others?".
The tiles shook around us as Reiner, Bertholt and Annie landed next to Jean and I barely registered the dark looks on their faces before Mikasa began to speak.
"This may sound stupid, but I was hoping he would be the key for us. That he would help mankind break the cycle and turn the tide just long enough to give us a little ray of hope" Mikasa muttered with a crestfallen expression. Hadn't I been thinking the same thing? What if he was the only one of his kind? Do we let this momentous opportunity pass us by because of the fear of the unknown?
"She's right" Reiner spoke up "He's too valuable to just let die. There's too much we can learn from him. I think it's perfectly clear our priority should be to ward off the scavengers off him. He's no good to us picked apart".
"Are you out of your mind?" Jean asked incredulous "We've got a path out of this nightmare, and you want to stay?"
"Think about it" Annie tapped her temple to signal Jean to use his head "Having an abnormal as an ally would be an incredible advantage right. A cannon got nothing on a titan who likes to rip apart his own kind."
"Do you hear yourself? He's not like a new friend!" Jean retorted and it was evident on his face that he wasn't thinking like the rest of us seemed to be. Suddenly the abnormal let out a roar of primal rage as another Titan came within its line of sight and reeling back in fear, I clutched my chest as I recognised this particular monster.
"Oh, no. It's the one that ate Thomas!" I cried as the abnormal pushed forward with all its strength and rushed the Titan that killed Thomas, tearing its arms off in the process. Diving forward the abnormal sunk his teeth deep into the Titan's neck and began to ragdoll him around, smashing him into the smaller Titan's around them before ripping out his nape.
"Holy..." Reiner whispered in awe.
"What was that you were saying" Jean muttered as the abnormal Titan released a pained scream before collapsing in the street below finally succumbing to his injuries "Cause I think it's a moot point now"
I couldn't bring myself to stop staring at him as I felt that little flicker of hope at his possibilities dying with him.
"Alright enough of this, let's leave while we can. We're lucky the ugly bastard didn't get bored. We'd have been next on the menu" Jean reasoned but no one was listening to him as our eyes refused to leave the abnormal below.
"Look a titan's a titan-" Jean was cut off by Mikasa's cry of Anguish as she jumped over the side of the balcony and engaging her ODM gear.
"Mikasa!" I cried as I raced forward to stop her but was too late and watched in fear as she dived for the cobbled streets below. She ran with all she had towards the fallen abnormal and I began to climb the balcony to jump after her when Reiner's hand grasped my shoulder. Jerking round to look at him I saw his wide-eyed expression and followed his line of sight.
The abnormal Titan's nape had burst open below, steam was rapidly rising from the opening as a figure slowly emerged from the bloody muscles and my heart froze in my chest in blind hope when I saw the dark brown hair and bronzed skin. Mikasa climbed the steaming corpse and collided with him before resting her head against his chest.
Her heartfelt sobbing echoed through the streets as she pulled him from the Titan carcass and carried in her arms as she engaged her ODM gear and flew back towards us. Crashing onto the balcony, she rolled his body around so she could clutch him to her chest.
How? I saw...
Running to them, I fell to my knees beside Mikasa and gazed at his face, he was pale and sweaty, but it was him, and he was alive. I couldn't bring myself to believe what I was seeing. I had seen his leg severed and yet it was there now, I had watched his arm removed by the snap of a Titan's jaw.
I refuse to die like this, understand?
Reaching forward, I took his wrist in mine and felt the steady beating of blood through veins and marvelled at his strong heartbeat. This was real, he was really here. I couldn't help the sobs that wracked my chest as my eyes burned with tears. He was real.
"It's him. But his arm. His leg. I don't understand; I watched him get eaten. I watched him die. I saw..." I reached forward and gripped his hand in mine, the same hand that had been severed by a Titan's teeth "How is this possible?"
"Okay" Jean whispered in terrified awe before he turned to look at the smoking ruins below "So, uh...Eren did all of this?".