Chapter 1: Purple Smoke
"In the short period of time that we have on this earth, a Man's destiny is to work for the good of the community to which he belongs to."
- Frederick the Great (1712 – 1786), King of Prussia
Blood oozed from dead body parts lying everywhere. The ground was slippery, but Hanji blocked it out. Her body shook with morbid excitement since she had seen the dark column of purple smoke.
Purple…, she thought, heart beating wildly, black for titans, green for shifting positions. And purple… The thought was too unbelievable to even finish.
Impatiently she dismounted her horse, her gaze immediately locking on the soldier. Both of his lower legs were missing, messy, bloody stumps in their place, but his hands still clutched the flare gun with desperate resolve. And that mattered.
Her squad hadn't imagined it. The purple smoke still wafted around them. It wasn't wishful thinking. Something extraordinary had occurred.
Oh, how long Hanji had waited for this day.
Right beside the soldier Hanji dropped to the ground. Ignoring the filth around them, her hands clasped his bloody ones.
His eyes flickered towards her. "Lieutenant Hanji…!" he rasped, his eyes dulling. Death was stealing the light out of them. "Lieutenant… Hanji…!"
"Yes, I'm here. We are all here," her eyes filled with tears of both, sadness and joy. She inched closer. "What happened here, Jan? What was it?"
"The titans…," he wheezed. Blood dripped from his mouth. "They suddenly turned back. There was… a scream, but it was different… from back then… Then they went east. Except for two."
Hanji stared at him. She was at a loss for words.
"I took them on, but Walter…" his voice broke. He was fading fast. "I will die…," panic filled his eyes, "I will die, won't I, Lieutenant?"
Hanjis eyes wandered to the remains of his legs. Blood poured from the disgusting wound in unsteady bursts. There was nothing she could do for him. Her stomach lurched at the thought.
With his last strength he abandoned the pistol to hold onto her fingers. "Did I further humanity's cause, Lieutenant?" he asked, "Did I… help…?"
"Yes," she answered firmly. As she shook his hand, tears streamed down her cheeks. "Yes, you did, Jan Michalczik. You rendered us an invaluable service."
A shaky smile formed on his lips, but faded shortly after, together with the last light in his eyes.
She remained rigid where she was, coping with yet another fallen comrade, when she felt a hand on her shoulder.
"Lieutenant…" Moblit said, "We should go."
Hanji pulled herself together and stood up. "Yes, you're right," she said. There was no time to lose. Every new death would be for naught, if they just stood around idly. Besides, the concentrated smell of living humans would attract too many titans before long.
"Take Jan's body on one of the horses," she ordered, striding back towards her horse and mounting. "Then fire another purple signal, to make sure Erwin sees it." She turned her horse around. "We ride east."
She spurred the horse and led the way. Moblit called after her, but she knew something important had happened. Nothing could stop her from finding out what.
Her squad followed soon. After about a mile, they reached what had once been a forest, spread thin by fallen trees, as if a titan had mercilessly run straight through it. Only there was no titan in sight.
Her horse hadn't even come to a stop, when Hanji jumped down. With no regards to her clothes she cut her way through the undergrowth of burst branches.
As usual, she followed the feeling in her stomach, which buzzed like never before, while her mind cooked up the wildest theories.
Why had the scream compelled the titans to turn back? Communication, no doubt, but initiated by a titan shifter, perhaps? Back then, the female titan had screamed to save herself. But why was this scream different then, like Jan had said? He had been with them when the female titan attacked and had heard her scream, so he had to know. So what had been different?
And why didn't every titan listen to it?
So many questions and so many possible explanations.
Hanji was so lost in her thoughts, that she didn't realise her feet had tangled up in the branches. She tripped.
Yelping, she toppled forward and slid… downwards. The world rushed past her, her body falling down the slope.
To avoid further injuries she rolled. Too late. Face first, she fell into a thick, slimy puddle.
"Ugh!" she exclaimed, "And ow! I should pay more attention to the signage…" She looked around. Her surroundings were blurred. "Hmm?"
Only after a moment she realised that her glasses weren't on her head. Blindly she fished for them in the slime cleaning the glass on a part of her shirt afterwards.
Once Hanji could see clearly again, her eyes went wide. Her heart quickened many times over and she slapped her dirty hands over her mouth. Her body trembled as she jumped on the spot and took everything in.
She had never seen something like that. An excited shout broke from her throat.
A nauseating stench filled her nose. The discovery would have probably caused Levi to be violently sick then and there, but for Hanji it was a reason to grin brightly.
Moblit's silhouette appeared at the edge of the sinkhole that she had fallen into. "Lieutenant! Are you alright?!"
"Yes! Yes! Never been better, Moblit!" She gesticulated at her surroundings in excitement. "Look at all that!" She kicked the slime into the laughing like a maniac. A great feeling. "It's fantastic!" she called, "Fantastic!"
She let herself fall backwards into the mess. "Fire all the purple signals we have! Erwin has to see this! Everyone has to see it!"
Just two weeks later all military officers flocked into the auditorium of Wall Sina's military base. More and more of the countless seats were occupied with every passing minute and Armin's heart thrummed in his throat. Colonel Erwin, Lieutenant Hanji and Levi were present too, but that didn't change the fact that he hadn't been so nervous in all his life.
The door closed with a resounding click. General Zackley stepped onto the small stage. All present saluted respectfully, as Armin took a deep breath.
The General greeted Erwin with a handshake that would've broken Armin's fingers before approaching the podium.
After a brief, formal welcome, he turned the floor over to Erwin. As usual, the Colonel's face was carefully blank and his pose radiated determination. One of many things Armin admired him for.
"You surely wonder, why I have gathered you all here today," Erwin started, "Well, the answer is rather simple: About two weeks ago the Survey Corp discovered something extraordinary."
Struggling with his remaining arm, he turned a page on his writing tablet. Taking a pointer in hand he motioned towards the neat drawing on it. "We found this gargantuan sinkhole in a forest 35 miles beyond Wall Rose. Inside we found both rotting body parts and vast quantities of transparent slime. Lieutenant Hanji took samples of this slime to examine in her laboratory. The results show that it consists mostly of proteins ejected during the reproduction process."
Some stroked their hands through their beards. Armin observed the audience's reactions and clutched his speech tighter.
"So you assume the titans are, contrary to expectations, reproducing?" someone asked boldly.
"Yes," Erwin nodded, "That is what we believe."
"Believe? Do you know for sure, or not?"
"Now, now, keep your shirt on, Sir," Hanji interrupted.
She put a bunch of documents on the table, together with the sample. "Our expert will explain everything in a second."
That was his cue. Hanji waved him to her, but he stood frozen. He didn't want to up there.
Only after Levi pushed him forward, Armin rushed onto the stage clumsily.
He nodded to both his superiors, laying his speech down on the podium. Colonel Erwin had caught the attention of the audience, which was now solely focused on him. Armin was starting to sweat.
He tried to calm himself down through some deep breaths, but just as he opened his mouth to speak, someone beat him to it.
"Your expert?" a disembodied voice came from the crowd.
Armin tried to make himself even smaller.
"He's just a child."
"And you're just a jerk," Levi growled from the corner of the room, "So shut the fuck up and listen what the kid has to say."
Erwin didn't react to any of this. Instead handed Armin the pointer. "That is correct," the latter said mustering all his courage to look at the Military Policeman. "You can judge me later."
Hanji smiled proudly when she turned the page for him. Armin gave her a thankful nod. "Lieutenant Hanji and I believe that the sinkhole was, in fact, a nest," he explained nervously. His heart was beating wildly. "It's structure suggests that it was dug and… and the slime probably protected eggs that were placed there. O-or have even hatched."
He had to glance at his papers for a second, and took yet another deep breath before he continued.
"Furthermore, a soldier stated that he heard a scream that made some of the titans turn back."
"Why just some of them?" someone in the room asked.
"We don't know yet," Hanji answered having Armin affirming it.
"No, we don't. But I believe that this behaviour is similar to that of primates. Apes. A group of animals who inhabited parts of our world."
He turned another page, revealing his rather poor drawing of a monkey. He was relieved when no one laughed.
"In the case of, uhm, reproduction or danger, they communicate through a variety of loud screams."
Armin was surprised to see the hall silent with anticipation. Though some rows seemed more anxious than interested.
He held the pointer tightly with both hands. At this point he was more excited than nervous. Their discovery had him shaking. "We already know, that intelligent titans are able to produce such sounds." He said, "…but apparently different sounds have different meanings, which the titans can, even if just by instinct, tell apart."
He gave Erwin a nod.
"Thank you, Armin. Your observations were very clear," the Colonel said, smiling.
He turned towards the audience. "Retreats are, more often than not, a defence mechanism," he said, "So we assume the titans were protecting something."
"Or something wanted the titans to protect it," Hanji added.
"Exactly. This fact, together with the screams, the nest and the slime let us come to the conclusion that there has to be some kind of brood animal. A mother of titans."
All faces in the hall paled considerably. No one made a sound.
"How sure are you, Erwin?" Colonel Nile Dawk asked after a moment.
"Rather sure. We don't know where she comes from, what she uses for sustenance or what she looks like, but the facts are clear."
The reactions in the hall were, to Armin's surprise, rather divided. Any interest had morphed onto something akin to resentment and showed in many different ways on the faces of the crowd. Darius Zackley, who was seated in the front row, combed his fingers through his beard.
"In our function as Survey Corp, we want to get to the bottom of this," Erwin continued, "We will try to find tracks leading away from the sinkhole that will maybe lead us to this mother."
Again he turned a page. This time he pointed at a route that had been marked on the map. "For that, we will search the close proximity of the sinkhole, before riding to Shiganshina. Eren Jaeger assumes that his father stored valuable material in his basement."
His features turned hard. "Lieutenant Hanji, Levi and I need an Elite Squad that can move undetected and over long time periods through titan territory to accomplish this mission. Fact is, we lack the soldiers for such a move. That's where you come in."
With an – more or less - elegant move Erwin turned back to page one of the writing tablet, before turning fully towards the audience.
"We need eight to ten people, volunteers from the Military Police, to be precise. As much as we respect the tasks of the Garrison, their skill set is less fit for this mission ours and that of the Military Police."
Colonel Pixis nodded approvingly, when Erwin looked at him at that.
"We are talking about a mission with an extremely high risk and I understand every doubt that might arise. But we need every help we can get. Every volunteer is welcome."
Even more determined he added: "This nest is proof that the titans didn't just appear out of nowhere. There is a creature that creates, even breeds, them. If we find it and kill it, the next generation, your grandchildren, will be able to live without fear."
He tapped on the documents Hanji had put on the podium. Candidacies. "Think about it."
Saluting to the crowd he left the stage.
Now all left to do, was wait.
Welcome everybody! This is the translation of my on-going German work 'Die vereinte Front'! It is based on the system of MMFF that is unknown in the English fanbase. So I thought, I just try out whether you like it, too!
Thanks to my best friend Michita for translating the first chapter and my Beta OveractiveImagination39!
Until next time!
Vii