The Bladed Titan

by greentea-art

Some soldiers lost their families that day. Some of them lost all hope, and even lost what was left of their humanity. But they always had something left. Something was there for them to go back to. I didn't. I lost everything. I lost my family, my friends...and my ability to walk. So why the hell am I even a soldier? It's because I believe I haven't lost everything just yet.

1. When They Came

• Jade Covert's POV •

I wandered around lazily with no destination in mind on the outskirts of town, my bared shoulders nearly pressed up right against the wall. I held my straw sunhat down over my eyes so the sun wouldn't blind me, and my shoeless feet were slightly sore from the small rocks I would occasionally step on. But the grass was soft, and it tickled me from time to time.

"Hey, Jade!"

I turned around a little, still shielding my eyes as I searched for the owner of the voice. I smiled, and waved to two faint figures. Both were dark-haired, though one was a short, slender girl and the other a lean boy.

"Hi, Ren! Mika!" I replied with a big smile on my face. Both were children from my town; Mikasa Ackerman and Eren Jaeger.

Mikasa was rather famous around Shiganshina. She was the child whose parents were slaughtered in front of her very eyes, and she herself was nearly kidnapped if Eren hadn't come and killed her parents' murderers. Since then, she's always been by Eren's side. She could take down bullies by herself, while Eren would only get a nosebleed and a few bruises.

I wasn't too close with them, but we were close enough for nicknames. But I merely turned away from the children—who wore large carriers full of wood on their backs—and continued on my wobbly way.

During afternoons, I would just walk back and forth along the wall that protected us from the Titans. It was a nice feeling, doing nothing in particular.

But for some reason, I was attracted to the walls more than the sense of freedom. They had a mystical air around them, and it would always shake me to my core. Sometimes, I would long for the ability to leap over this hunk of stone and stand on top of the walls. Watch the territory around us and feel the wind on my face. It was very unlike Eren's fantasies, where he just wanted to slaughter Titans for a living.

"Jay! Is that you!?"

Once again, I looked over my shoulder whilst holding the sunhat close to my head. I smiled even wider than I had with Eren and Mikasa.

"Hey, Kenny," I grinned as my best friend came hurtling towards me. He wore the same type of carrier on his back that Mikasa and Eren were wearing earlier, but his load looked a lot heavier. It didn't slow him down, though.

He skidded to a stop in front of me and brushed his short hair back with his fingertips. Sweat sprayed from the mass of blonde, but I ignored the smell as I pressed my cheek to his chest affectionately. "What are you doing out here, Kenny? Shouldn't you be at home?"

"Jay, your dad wants you," Kenny answered, taking my hand without asking me and dragging me away from the edge of the wall. "He says it's something special, and it won't happen again if you miss it today, so I came barreling over."

"What does 'barreling' mean?" I inquired curiously.

"I ran really fast," he said, not paying much attention to me. But I didn't mind. It was good enough being with him, since he was often on errands for his widowed mother. These days, though, it was like he was extra busy. I rarely saw him at all anymore, so I cherished this moment.

I memorized every little thing. The smell of sweat and heat. The warmth and wetness of his palm and fingers enclosed around my own. The small grunts he made when he jumped over rocks. The look of his face as he watched ahead for the quickly-approaching market. I wasn't breathing nearly as hard as he did, as I would sometimes run alongside the walls in my free time. I could run a lot longer than Kenny ever could. But, he might have been panting because of the load on his back.

"Hi, Mr. Hannes!" I giggled as we shot past the drunken guard. He merely gave us a frazzled look and a small wave before taking a swig of the beer in his tankard. My feet burned from the scorching heat from the stone pathways, but I ignored that too. I squinted and pinched my nose with two fingers as we passed the fish section.

"Do we have to take this way...?" I whined in a nasal voice from the way I was holding my nose. "We could have gone around...!"

"But then I wouldn't pass my house on the way." Kenny smiled charmingly, and I realized we were close to his house anyhow. My own home wasn't too far off, so I merely reflected his expression back at him.

"Can we go read by the river after Daddy's errand?" I asked, trying to pull off some puppy eyes. They worked on Kenny all the time when we were littler, but he rolled his with a dismissive attitude.

"I'll try," waved Kenny before he left. I swatted away a fly from my shoulder as I kept walking slowly to my house.

I appreciated the nice cool breeze that tickled the backs of my bare legs. The skirt of my dress was very light and thin, so the wind escaped between my thighs, too. I kept one hand on the edge of my skirt to keep it down, and my other on top of my straw hat. I fiddled with the ribbon of it as I knocked gently on my door.

"Daddy?" I asked as I pushed the door open slightly. "What do you want me to do?"

Daddy was sitting by the fireplace, and there was a roaring blaze inside. I was shocked, since it was a simmering summer day today. Daddy didn't look too comfortable, either, with his forehead soaked in sweat, much like Kenny's when he was dragging me here.

"Oh, hey, Bluejay," Daddy smiled when he noticed me. There were two sticks of metal in his hands, and the ends of them were in the fire. Medical equipment littered the top of our small table, and I blinked in confusion.

"What...is all this, Daddy?" I asked, removing my hat and hanging it on the hook beside the door.

"Bluejay, could you come here for a moment?" requested Daddy, and I noted the soot streaking his cheeks. I complied, pulling up a chair near the fire. I brushed away the smoke that was now swarming my ankles. I looked at him and motioned for him to start talking with a hand.

"Look at my right hand." Since said hand was busy, I took the metal stick and held it for him as he showed me brands on his skin. One on the palm, and one on the top of his hand. Both were pale and stark against his tanned skin, shiny and looked as if they were melted a bit.

The one on the roof of his hand was a mess of lines. but when I looked harder, I realized it was an image of three feathers. The bottoms of the plumes were all connected together, and the edges were wavy lines that were entangled together. It was slightly relaxing, in a strange, unfamiliar way.

On his palm was the badge of the Survey Corps. Also known as the Wings of Freedom. It looked cool, and I pointed it out to Daddy. He chuckled, and ruffled my short brown hair.

"It is...and your Mommy asked if you could have these on you as well before she left..." his voice contracted slightly when he said 'left'. "The feathers are the most important people in your life. The first one is your Mommy. The second is your late brother. And the third is you, my little bluejay."

I giggled. "But...why the Survey Corps?"

"Because that's where your brother left to," Daddy answered. "The one on the palm is something that's very special to you. Your brother was very special to me, so I put the Wings of Freedom on my hand."

"O-okay..." I blinked in confusion. "Why are you...telling me this stuff?"

"Because you're getting these as well today," Daddy said, smiling a hint. "And I knew what you would want for your palm brand..." He showed me the metal stick that he'd pulled from the fire, and I realized it was in the shape of the silhouette of a blue jay.

"Why would I want a blue jay?" I asked, confused. "Isn't that kind of arrogant?"

"It represents your whole family," Daddy explained. "Your mommy gave that name to you, your brother and I called you that, and a blue jay is the symbol of vigilance, determination, and clarity. That sums you up rather nicely."

"Thank you, Daddy!" I grinned, wishing to hug him. But I knew it was dangerous, so instead, I held out my hand.

Daddy sighed in relief. "It's going to hurt a little, Bluejay. Please be careful not to move, okay?"

I nodded firmly and stuffed my mouth with a cloth that was on the table. I also wiped my skin clean, used to these procedures since I'd seen them before, and then let Daddy press the brand into my skin.

I screamed—though muffled by the towel in my mouth—but I kept my promise and didn't move for a minute longer until he removed the metal stick from my skin. He then covered it with another spare cloth, before quickly taking the metal stick from my other hand and looking at me. "How many people do you want on your feathers?"

I thought hard before speaking. "One for Mommy. One for Jojo. One for Kenny, Min, Mika, and Ren. And one for you."

"So, you want four?" he checked. I confirmed it with a nod and clenched the towel tighter with my teeth. He then carefully pressed the stick four times into my skin. I gave a loud cry of pain each time, but then he covered it with the cloth and sealed it away from the world.

Then, taking a thick bandage into his hands, he tightly wrapped up my fresh brands. Blood mildly seeped through the whiteness of the gauze, but I didn't mind it. "Daddy...can I go to the river?"

"Sure, honey," Daddy kissed my forehead lovingly before tying off the gauze. "Just be very careful with your hand. It will take a while to scar, so don't pull off the bandage or anything, okay?"

"Okay, Daddy." I ran back to the doorway and pulled my hat onto my short hair before gently pushing the door open with my bare toes. Daddy waved to me as I left, and I ran outside to go to the river to meet up with Kenny.

I sat there for a while, letting my feet hang over the edge while the sun was slowly moving through the sky. Eventually, it was mid-afternoon. But I got impatient, stuck waiting for Kenny who would probably not show up. With steam flowing out of my ears, I held my branded hand to my chest, and stormed over to his house. I ignored the smell of the disgusting fish market stands and knocked on his door angrily.

"Kenny!" I huffed. It was a few second before he opened the door.

"Oh...hey, Jay." He sounded out of breath, but he still wore that casual smile like nothing was wrong. "I'm sorry I couldn't go and read with you...Mom had some stuff to handle, so I had to watch her goods."

"Hrgh..." I puffed out my cheeks, but Kenny didn't notice as his attention was caught by my bandaged hand.

"Hey, what happened? That wasn't on you earlier today..." he furrowed his brows, trying to figure out what happened. Then his face was overcome with shock. "Did the bullies get you again!? I swear to God, I'll make them pay this time..." He looked furious, and I was amazed at the lightning-fast transformation.

"N-no, Kenny!" I protested. "It's not like that at all! Daddy branded me, that's all!"

Kenny blinked before he let out a sigh of relief. "Oh...your Dad did that, then...?" he relaxed when he realized it wasn't something that was done to me against my will. "What's it look like?"

I opened my mouth to answer, but suddenly the ground suddenly shook and launched me into the air. It all happened so fast that I could barely register the loud boom that came with the tremor. Kenny was sent flying into the air, too, and he landed a little ways away from me. I was collapsed on the stairs that led up to his door, the bottom of my left cheekbone bruised from the edge of the steps.

"K...Kenny...what...was that...?" I breathed, the wind knocked out of me from the shock. I couldn't move, terrified of what had happened. My left hand shook as I tried to support myself up, and it was slippery with nervous sweat. I forced my dazed eyes open, and I looked at the top of the wall I was once walking by this morning.

Steam—or maybe smoke—was billowing above it, creating a dark cloud over the once clear blue sky. Then, the steam parted to make way for a large, skinless face.

I screamed mutely at the sight of it, while I externally stiffened and let myself drop a little. It had the mouth of a corpse, and small pig-like eyes stared around. It had a small nose, and exposed flesh was the majority of its color. The muscles were lined with ridges, showing off each movement perfectly.

I silently screamed again as another earth-shattering boom rattled the air. But this time, I watched as the gate outside of Wall Maria was fragmented into pieces, gliding upwards effortlessly. Debris flew into the air, but Kenny seemed unaware as he stood up, holding his head. My eyes caught sight of a large, heavy-looking boulder that was flying in the air, almost as if it were weightless.

"Kenny!" I shrieked. I shoved myself onto my feet and threw him aside as a large rock smashed into the place where his was once standing, and where I now was. It hit me right in the legs. The pain sent a tremor up my spine, and I was viciously thrown away. When I finished skidding, the rock had settled atop my right leg, and it tore out a cry of pain. My hand was still covered in the bandage, thankfully. I tucked it tightly to my chest.

"J...Jay!" Kenny jumped with a start as he saw me limp on the ground. My leg was firmly pinned under the rock, but he didn't seem to care at all as he threw himself against it, trying to push it off. It budged, and I screeched.

"K-Kenny..." I croaked, tears streaming down the sides of my face. "Run...The Titans, they'll...kill you..." A crack sounded from my leg, and I wept louder—It was my knee bone shattering to pieces.

"I don't care!" shot Kenny. "It's my fault you're like this! I'm not leaving you!"

"Please..." It was hard to keep my eyes open, but red met my vision as I looked at my leg. "I wouldn't be able to run..."

"I'd carry you like I used to when we were younger!" Kenny replied instantly, still trying to push aside the rock.

But I heard periodic thumps on the ground, and I shifted my blurry gaze upwards. There stood an ugly three-meter Titan, with a terrifying smile on its face. Its nose was oversized, and the eyes were angled to an extreme.

Kenny seemed to have noticed it too, and he started trying harder. "C'mon! C'mon!" he kept saying over and over as he kept throwing his shoulder into the boulder.

"Bluejay!"

I felt a smile decorate my lips as I saw Daddy run to me. The soot from before still clung to his cheeks, but he still looked the same. But he had a worried expression as he looked at my leg.

"What happened, Bluejay?" he asked, kneeling down and brushing my hair from my face.

"Titan...broke Wall...Maria..." I managed to say, coughing a little.

Daddy looked behind himself to see the Titan edging ever closer, then back at me. "Pretend you're dead, sweetie..."

"D...Daddy...?" I choked.

Daddy ignored me, but instead pressed a kiss to my forehead, which was likely streaked with dust and rubble. "Stay alive, my little Bluejay."

My heart stopped when he said those words. It sounded…like a parting. I tried to use my arms to crawl to him, but my leg kept me fixated in place. He stood up, and walked away from me and my cries, running straight up to the Titan. I watched as he yelled insults, before it stumbled forward and snatched him off the ground with meaty palms.

"Daddy!"

Blood spewed into the air, and I outstretched my branded hand in his direction. But I still watched as the monster swallowed Daddy whole. Kenny looked horrified, and he tried pushing the rock aside harder. But it didn't stop the Titan from coming to him next and taking him off the ground.

"Kenny...!" I was sobbing by this point, tears likely cutting streams through my dirt-covered cheeks.

"Jay—AAUGH!" He screamed a scream that made my breath stop, my heart thudding fearfully. I fought the urge to cry out his name as the Titan placed its teeth over Kenny's skull, cracking it open like a walnut. Blood spilled everywhere, staining my face and memory.

I went limp with fear, collapsing and dropping myself into the pool of red below me. My eyes were glazed open, and miraculously, the Titan that just slaughtered what was left of my family ignored me. It was hard to listen to Daddy's words when his blood was mixing with my own.

Kenny...Daddy...

I was in a daze. Kenny was dead. Daddy was dead. Mommy was missing. Joseph was dead. And I had no clue as to where Eren, Mikasa, and Armin were. My branded feathers were scattered already, dropping from my wings and making me drop into the cold hard ground.

Tears were falling down my face, but I faintly made out the shape of three people. One tall, and two short. "H...help me...please...!" I whimpered, my voice cracking.

Their heads turned, and I heard familiar voices. "Jade!"

It was Eren, Mikasa, and Mr. Hannes.

Mr. Hannes took one look at my leg and froze solid. Eren and Mikasa, however, moved away from him and began trying to push away the rock like Kenny did. The thought of his name made me tear up even more, and my vision became so unclear that I could barely see my friends.

"Ren...Mika..." I rasped, looking up at them. With Mikasa's powerful strength that overpowered Kenny's by a ton, the rock budged more than just a hint. But I cried out in pain. Mr. Hannes noticed this and blinked out of his own daze.

"Look, Jade..." he said quietly. "I'm going to help these two move this, and we'll try to make it fast. It's going to hurt, so be strong for me, okay?"

I nodded briefly, trying not to wail.

Mr. Hannes then sheathed his blades, and took a few steps back, dragging Eren and Mikasa with him. "Alright, kids. On three, we charge the rock and push it off Jade's leg, okay?"

Eren nodded firmly, and I couldn't help but notice a change in him. He looked grief-stricken almost, and I knew it wasn't me. He probably lost his mother and father. The rocks had fallen near his house too, after all. I wondered how he'd escaped unscathed, but I screamed out as I felt the stone dig deeper into my crushed bones. Mr. Hannes, Mikasa, and Eren had charged into the boulder while I had been lost in thought and were now pushing with all their might.

Slowly but surely, it rolled off, and I sobbed a little in relief.

"Can you walk...?" Mr. Hannes asked while Eren and Mikasa eyed my shattered and bleeding leg with concern.

"N...No..." I whispered, feeling more tired by the second. "My leg...is…"

Mr. Hannes gave a short, curt nod, and lifted me bridal style into his arms. My leg—bones the consistency of sawdust—hung limply like an empty rubber glove.

"Jade, are you okay?" Eren asked as we began to walk quickly through the Titan-infested district.

"Where's...Min?" I asked quietly.

"Armin's fine, I think," Mikasa spoke up. As per usual, her eyes were blank and emotionless. "He should be with his grandfather."

I nodded, and let my consciousness slip away. It was hard to hold onto at the moment, but I didn't care. I didn't want to keep staying awake in this hell. No place could be remotely even close to a heaven without Daddy and Kenny.

• Third Person's POV •

Mikasa held Jade close to her. The girl had been taken to a medical boat, which was loaded with other people and their families. But out of all of them, many of the doctors were saying that only Jade would be a cripple for the rest of her life.

Armin, his grandfather, Eren, Hannes, and Mikasa were allowed to go with her, since she had no family left. She wasn't like Mikasa, who still had Eren. Or Armin, who still had his grandfather. She was entirely alone as a crippled orphan.

Eren had an exceptionally dazed yet dark expression on his face, his eyes wearing a thousand-meter stare. Armin was curled up against his grandfather's side. Hannes was pacing around in Jade's small room agitatedly. Mikasa was sitting by Jade's side, holding her close. She was even sharing Eren's scarf with the poor girl out of sympathy.

The door gently squeaked open, startling Armin mildly. Footsteps on creaking wood resounded in Mikasa's ears, but she didn't mind as she stared up at the doctor.

"We have a solution for the girl, though it won't make her life as easy as it was before. It is also quite expensive," the doctor said, and Hannes whirled on his heel.

"What solution would that be?" he asked instantly. Jade had always been one of the children he felt rather attached to, as she would buy beer for him in secret sometimes when her friend Kenny was off on errands for his mother. Even pretending to drink with them and joking around quite often. So of course, he would feel panicked when she was in such an unstable condition.

"We could perform a very long surgery on her knee and put the bone fragments back in their original places," the doctor began to explain. Mikasa, Armin, and his grandfather were listening intently on the man's words. No one knew what was going on in Eren's head, as he still had yet to even show signs of acknowledging the man in the room. "Since her nerves weren't damaged too much, she can still feel pain in her leg and any other problems in her leg's general health. However, she won't be able to make it move or function with the damage she has taken. So, we found a solution."

The doctor then pulled from behind him a brace made up of complicated gears and leather straps. It seemed to be just the right size for Jade's leg. There was a switch that would go by her hip, and there was a dial by it too. Multiple words were engraved on the dial, such as 'run' and 'walk'. Even 'kneel' and 'sit' were there.

"These are positions for her brace," the pale doctor continued. "If she wears this, it would make it easier for her to get around, and she wouldn't need her leg to be replaced altogether. However, this will need manual maintenance, so she must learn to clean and fix this brace should it ever become damaged. Also, this won't change her foot positions, so she will likely lose her balance often. It would be nearly impossible for her to become a soldier, so we made this."

He then held up another dial-like mechanism. It was identical to the one already attached to the complicated haze of metal. "She can attach these if she wishes. This is for the omni-directional maneuvering gear, should she ever decide to become a soldier. But, know this. If she can't learn to fix herself, then she can't learn her freedom."

"Freedom..." Eren spat quietly from the corner. Only Mikasa heard him, and she looked at him with her usual black stare. "She never had freedom to begin with..."

Armin caught wind of his words and stiffened under his grandfather's arm.

"I'll pay for her," Hannes decided aloud. He cared for the newly-made cripple, so he would willingly pay up whatever price it was for her leg to be fixed.

The doctor nodded. "Now, since it will be a long way until we arrive at Trost District, we will start the surgery right here." The pale man gestured the door behind himself. "Please leave the room so that we can do this more efficiently."

"I'll stay here," Hannes said firmly, glancing at Jade's sleeping face. "Mr. Arlert?" Armin's grandfather looked up at the sound of his name being called. "Would you mind keeping an eye on all three of these children?"

Armin's grandfather nodded, and slowly stood up. He took his straw hat and placed it on his own head before turning and ushering the three childhood friends out of the room. "Move along, now..." the old man said softly, tugging on Armin's hand with his own. "Let's leave this to the professionals."

The three listened, but each of them subconsciously looked over their shoulders to look at Jade's sleeping face once more before they left.

They settled outside, crowded amongst other people. Eren hunched over when he thought back. The blood spurting from his broken mother's mouth...The pool of red that was at Jade's leg when they found her...And the image of how his home used to be.

Unknowingly, he had begun to cry, and he furiously stood up. "I'm gonna destroy them!" he whisper-yelled, standing up and storming over to the railing. There, the Armored Titan stood, steam coming from his mouth like fire. Mikasa merely watched him with mild surprise. "Every last one...of those animals...that's on this Earth!"

Mikasa looked away and habitually pulled her scarf over her mouth and nose. She wished to only remain by Eren's side...but part of her wanted to do the same things that he wanted. To slaughter the Titans that hurt her friend. To murder the monsters who killed Eren's mother. To kill the beasts that ruined their lives. But she kept her face stoic and remembered Jade's leg.

The girl had her whole life ruined. And unlike Mikasa, who had undergone the same situation, Jade didn't have someone like Eren who could protect her.

If Mikasa ever killed a Titan, it wouldn't only be to keep Eren safe. It would be to avenge her now-crippled friend.