Thump thump. Thump thump.
Ten seconds. Ten seconds was all it took to delve a peaceful scene into a living nightmare. How in a few moments some of his comrades were laying dead; that is if they were lucky enough to not be ingested by those horrendous titans as nearly everyone feared would happen.
Thump thump. Thump thump.
The terrified screams of the innocent as titans ranging from 5m to 15m pored into from the new hole created by the colossus titan only a few minutes prior. 'Why,' he asked himself flinching at the thought of fighting. 'Why is this happening now?'
Thump thump. Thump. Thump.
There was one of his teammates on the ground holding his eldest brother's limp body close, ignoring the blood spilling on his uniform. "Iain! You can't die! Think of Francine! Think of becoming a father! Y-You still have too much to live for to die on me!"
Thump. Thump. Thump thump.
Behind their small scene was in incoming 6m class, and he knew if he didn't make his move now they would both be dead. But his body didn't respond, his fingers twitching at the handles of his duel blades and watching helplessly. As he took a step forward, two of the female students - Natalya and Elizabeta - swooped in to grab Arthur and bring the titan to it's knees.
Thump thump thump. Thump thump thump thump.
Natalya landed in front of him on the wall with the man, holding back a wailing Arthur as he watched his brother got lifted limply up by another 10m class that had showed up and be swiftly crushed in it's hand. It went painfully silent for a moment before he started screaming like a lost child. His brother was swiftly devoured.
Thump thump. Thump thump.
"Let me go Natalya! You need to let me go and save him!" Arthur screamed at the woman. "He had so much to live for! I never told him how sorry I was for all the shit I gave him! Let go of me! Let me save him-!"
Smack.
Thump. Thump thump.
The Belarusian stood there tightly in place, her eyes glaring through the man as he blubbered in front of her nursing his now-reddening cheek. "Get yourself together you idiot...! Nothing will be solved if you suicidally go in looking to rescue you're brother! He's dead Kirkland! Now let's get a move-on! We need to protect the citizens evacuating behind the wall!"
Most of the squad left at the woman's forceful command but Arthur stayed behind kneeling pathetically and watching humanity's downfall with the obvious wish of death in mind. He looking at the retreating troops and back before rushing to the blond's side and shaking his shoulder roughly. "Arthur! We don't have time for this! If you don't help, more than just your brother will have died in vain! So get you're ass in gear and go!"
Thump thump. Thump thump.
Arthur looked up with glassy eyes looking so distant from where he stood now. "What's the point...? Leave me here to die...there's no point in going on...I couldn't save him..."
"Damn it don't talk like that!" He snapped, growling to himself as he grabbed the man by the back collar of his shirt and shot off towards the safety of Wall Rose outside of Shinganshina. No matter the protest he wouldn't stop himself until Arthur was left brooding in safety.
Thump thump thump thump thump.
'I don't want to die here yet,' he thought to himself as he quickly maneuvered himself through the town as safely as he possibly could, keeping in mind the squirming weight he held with him. 'I can't die yet...I promised Matthew that I'd join if he didn't come back and by hell I'm not letting Arthur weigh me down!'
Thump thump thump thump thump thump.
His pulsing, racing heartbeat drumming in his ears was driving him mad. When he had cleanly scaled the wall he dropped Arthur and turned with a cold glance. "Stay here, alright? I'll be back when I've damn well finished everything I'm supposed to have completed. Don't waste your life so carelessly. Your brother wouldn't have wanted that."
Thump thump. Thump thump.
"Alfred...don't go..." The blond cried out pathetically, reaching forward and quickly noticing the blood still covering over his body from his brother. "You'll die if you...!"
"That's a chance I need to take to save everybody." He said with that goofy grin that everybody knew and loved. "I know what it's like to loose someone because of the titans...my older brother died a few years ago in the Scouting Legion. But we can't back down even if they're gone...because then what would they have died for!?"
He jumped, hearing Arthur screaming Bloody Mary as he reentered the titan-infested village below.
Thump thump thump thump thump thump thump.
Thump thump.
Thump thump thump.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
Thump.
"I guess...I'll see you soon Mattie..."
Arthur was couldn't move, his body frozen in place as he watched Alfred go off on his own like a complete idiot knocking at death's door. A hero...that's all he ever wanted to be. But barely a moment into the city once more, he was grabbed by a deviant-class and gripped tightly in it's clutches.
He tried to yell something out, tried to call Natalya or Yao; any one of them that had graduated top in their class. There was no help though, nothing to save him. When he body lifted up, when he finally managed to move, he quickly dropped off the edge and aimed right at the titan who was now turned away, walking with Alfred's limp body hanging in it's disgusting hands over it's mouth.
'Damn it Alfred! Damn it all!' His mind screamed as he quickly managed to grapple on the nape of the titan's neck, draw his swords and deliver the killing blow. As it fell, Arthur sliced Alfred from it's grip and held his comrade close to him while moving to the safety of the wall while narrowly avoiding death at every corner.
"Damn it Kirkland, get your ass down here and help us protect the citizens if you're that concerned!" Turning over he saw Elizabeta shooting a glance before going off to continue fighting. "Hurry up! We can't hold them off forever!"
"I need to get Alfred out of here! Hold on for a few moments!" He snapped back, quickly getting himself up on top of the wall and leaving the bubbly man in the care of some of those keeping guard on the top of the wall. When he was assured he would be taken care of, Arthur unwillingly flew back into battle with Alfred in comatose.
It took a hesitant moment of staring down at the battlefield below him before taking that first step off and allowing his body to fall freely for a few long seconds then use his 3D maneuvering gear to quickly pull himself back in the air to relative safety while joining the rest to protect the fleeing citizens.
"Glad to know you're still with us!" He turned his head lazily, seeing another one of his trainee comrades, Yao nearby waving his sword in the air and bringing him over. "They're finishing up evacuation right now. Try keeping near Natalya or that Ludwig guy. You're not exactly in the right mindset-"
"I'm alright for now Yao..." He murmured softly, looking at the mess spanned before him and trying to ignore the screaming pleas for help. "I'm keeping it out of my mind for now...it's not the biggest problem that we're facing right now, is it?"
"Alfred definitely got to you, didn't he aru?" He laughed to himself then narrowed his eyes to span out over everything. "There are a few 10-meter class closing in that we should take care of."
"I'm not doing this because I want to..." Arthur hissed coldly before taking off once more in the direction of the titans coming towards the evacuating people, being cautious to not waste all of his gas and royally screwing himself over.
He dove in, quickly pulling out the slightly-dulled blades of his and taking one down easy and Natalya swooped in beside him and taking another out. Her eyes were cold when she looked over to Arthur but a slight nod made sure that she was okay with taking out the other on her own.
"I'm no hero..." He murmured to himself as he took out a smaller 5m class titan in one swift blow. "I'm no Alfred...no Iain...I don't even know why I'm here...I should've died in Iain's place...
"Because then what would they have died for!?" Arthur slipped back into attentiveness, barely avoiding being snatched up by a 15m. "Because if we back down, we'll die in vain! There's a deviant-type closing in! Don't be caught off guard!"
Unfortunately as the word came out, the particular titan Arthur had spotted had its hands wrapped tightly around Yao's body and quickly crushed his body with an audible crunching noise. While watching the scene, Arthur failed to latch onto a building, quickly throwing himself into the side but fortunately was caught by an unfamiliar soldier and brought back up to the rooftops.
"Damn it all to hell!" The man stammered, slamming his foot onto the tiles loudly. "We're like, loosing way too many people to be comfortable with. You should totally watch what you're doing too trainee. You almost ended up like that man."
"Who the hell do you think you are, dumbass!?" He snarled, throwing himself at the man and grabbing his shirt roughly. "You sound like you don't even care about these people at all!"
"I do care about them," he murmured, easily breaking the younger man's grip. "I am in the Scouting Legion...I like, see this everyday. Nows totally not the time to be worrying about them though. There's like, too much to worry about right now."
"He was my friend!"
The blond's green eyes shot over coldly,"so was Toris." Without another word, the soldier shot off with others in suit. "Keep a perimeter around the evacuees! I'll be totally pissed if any of you let them through!"
A chorus of "yes sir"s rang though the air at the man's command and Arthur went off to do the same. "All the trainees go help the people get their lazy asses outta here! Natalya was it? You're assigned to hold perimeter."
The rest droned off as a humming noise. How many more were going to die before this was over? Yao was talking to him a minute before and now he was all but gone. He had brothers and a sister that were part of a training squad too he believed. He'd have to offer condolences later...
What kind of hell did he land himself into?
Alfred shot awake, laying on the ground amidst a row of groaning and pain-filled bodies. Some without limbs and some dying in front of his eyes at that very second. There were a few soldiers running back and forth to them to make sure they were comfortable.
"Sir," he looked up to see an unfamiliar young woman there with frightened blue eyes tearing up. "M-My brother...have you seen my brother Vash anywhere...?"
"V...Vash...Zwingli...?" He muttered, not realizing how tired he really was. Her eyes widened in happiness as she nodded. "Vash was...I can't remember much after Iain..." His eyes widened at the sudden realization that he had seen Vash's body being bitten in half. "He...isn't coming back...I'm so sorry..."
She shook her head, looking at him in pure disbelief at his words. "N-No...he's not dead. He's strong! Big brother can't be dead! I need to keep looking!" With that, she had dashed off to look for some sign that he may be alive. It was futile; a deviant-class had caught him early on in the attack.
"Alfred...!" His eyes looked up to see Arthur running to him with a pale face and a shaken expression. Blood dotted on his face and his green eyes were wide-open. Without warning, he fell to his knees and vomited on the spot. Alfred quickly gathered himself, going beside his friend and rubbing his back. "I lost my squad...!"
"The whole squad!?" Alfred asked in disbelief but noticing Arthur's expression knew nothing would come out that could help him now. "Arthur, you need to stay with me for a minute! Yao! Yao couldn't have-"
"They're all dead Alfred!" He screamed to the other's surprise. Once again, he gagged and managed to lean forward to hurl once again with tears streaming down his face. "Yao Wang! Vash Zwingli! B-Bella...! All of them...gave their lives to help better humanity...!"
"What about my team!? What about Natalya!? Ludwig!? Any of them!?" He snapped, shaking Arthur's shoulder's roughly and nearly causing him to throw up once again. "Please tell me only Iain died on my team!?"
"T-That one dark girl..." He murmured softly,"the one that had the pigtails."
He nodded grimly, releasing Arthur and laying back on the dirt with a groan. "Damn this all to hell...what the hell did we ever do to deserve what we're living in...?"
"I don't know Alfred..." He murmured, falling beside him with a loud 'thump.' As if he cared much. "I honestly don't know..."