Something In The Way

by WOLFEDEN Studios

Ada Fleischer and Gabriel Bauer, two Survey Corps soldiers thrown into each other's lives through dire circumstances, must survive a treacherous journey back to Wall Maria after the latest failed expedition outside of the Walls. They must struggle against the elements in Titan occupied territory as well as struggling against one another.

Attack On Titan

Something In The Way

Episode 1

Madness

The rain fell hard that day. The sky was black, thunder clapped, lightning danced under the blackened veil, and the heavens cried on and on. The droplets fell upon my cracked and bloody lips. I opened wide and took a mouthful to swallow. My throat throbbed as the water gushed down. I breathed hard and tried to open my eyes. Was I still alive? There was no way, but I was. I didn't know if that was a blessing. The sight I saw before me, once I opened my eyes, told me otherwise.

A bloody and ravaged pale arm was strewn across my chest. It was still clothed in the military jacket, and the Wings of Freedom patch was still on it, but the embroidery was soiled with blood, bone fragments, and sinew. A corpse lied next to me in the mud. His eyes were still open and his mouth was agape in horror. His lower body was missing. I wondered if he even had time to scream.

I pushed the arm off of me and sat up. The rain drenched my auburn hair; the bloody mud seeped into each strand. Mud even seeped into my boots and stained my cloak. I looked up at the sky and ran my hands through my hair to clean it. What a mess. This whole operation was a fucking mess.

The mission briefing made it seem so simple: stay in the fancy new formation strategy as we rode into Titan territory, set up fortifications in an effort to retake the known world, and stay alive. As a soldier though, you knew a plan always went to shit and you had to improvise. It's a shame that the Survey Corps barely had anybody capable of improvising his way out of a grocery bag. We even had Humanity's Greatest Soldier in our ranks and we still got creamed. It made me wonder just how futile this war was and how many lives it took just to move one inch outside of the Walls. I knew it was going to be hell when I first enlisted, but I never dreamed it would end like this. I never dreamed this would be how I was going to die. I fantasized of telling war stories to the kids back in Trost and dying from old age many many years after I'd have gotten a husband. I never thought I'd end up stuck in a forest in Titan territory waiting to be some monster's snack.

I struggled to stand; I must have been out for quite a while as my whole body was stiff. I had no broken bones, no bumps, no dings, save for just a few cuts on my face. I checked the tanks of my maneuver gear and the number of blades I had left. Counting the blades in my handgrips, I had five; there was still a fair amount of gas in the tanks too. It wouldn't get me far, but it was something. But who was I trying to kid? I could have all the fuel and swords I wanted, but being stranded out in Titan territory with no horse meant death. I could fight all I wanted to, but it wouldn't mean a thing.

Some hope still clung to me, however. Maybe there were others like me in this pool of corpses, simply unconscious. Maybe there was a horse that hadn't run off either. I don't know why I flirted with the concept of hope. Something inside of me just didn't want to accept defeat. I wanted to win and survive. I wanted to get out of there and go back home...and forget that Titans existed. I wanted to go back home and shut myself up in my house and never leave. I just wanted to live.

My search for another soul went about as well as this operation. I found nothing but corpses as I trudged through the muck and grime. Some soldiers were ripped into pieces, while limbs littered the branches of this dark forest. I spotted a few bodies with swords rammed through their stomachs and a few with their necks sliced open. Some couldn't bear the thought of being eaten. I didn't want to get eaten either, but this kind of response baffled me. You were going to die anyway, why kill yourself? Is it to deny a Titan the satisfaction of feasting upon you? Or is that you just want the nightmare to end so you do the only thing you can think of to wake yourself up? You never do wake up from the nightmare no matter how you decide to die on the battlefield. Death is always going to be there waiting for you with open arms, waiting to take you to Heaven or Hell.

"Hey!" I shouted as I shook the body of a man twice my age. He didn't have much blood on him. I thought him to be merely knocked out. "Get up! Now's not the time to be sleeping!"

I peered down at his neck. It had been snapped. A harpoon from his maneuver gear was stuck in a branch above us. The other harpoon was in a completely different tree from this one. The wire of the harpoon above us had wrapped around the man's neck. He probably missed one of his shots and panicked, causing him to flail until the wire caught his neck just right. He was lying on the ground peacefully when I found him, but to die from an accident like this was probably better than getting eaten alive.

"Hello!" I yelled around the forest. "Is anybody there? It's Corporal Ada Fleischer! I need help! Someone! Help me!

Only the rustling leaves of the branches and the booming thunder replied. Was I really the only survivor of this squad? That couldn't be. I couldn't be the only one left.

I checked more bodies, but I still didn't find anyone alive. I did, however, loot anything valuable off of them that could help me. There were pieces of stale bread, small bottles of antibiotics and bandages, and a half-full canteen. Some of the fallen soldiers had blades that were still sharp and intact. I resupplied and transferred what little gas each soldier's 3DM gear had left. It was enough to at least get me out of this forest, and maybe the small scraps of food would last me the night.

Here I was thinking about surviving out in the wilderness. What a crock. They didn't teach you this kind of training in the military. You were told how to use the maneuver gear, to swing a pair of swords, to kill Titans, and how to stay in formation during expeditions outside the walls. You were never told how to survive if you were stranded out there. Everyone figured you were as good as dead, so why bother? You just had to suck it up and "be a good martyr for humanity" and all that bullshit. I didn't want to be just another statistic for casualties out in the field or to give pleasure to that "offer your hearts for humanity" mentality. I offered my strength and my drive to fight, my heart belong to me and only me.

Bushes rustled beside me as I grabbed a few more pieces of bread and a small satchel from another corpse. My mind went blank and my heart stopped beating. My body operated on its own, drawing my swords and aiming my harpoons for the nearest tree. The earth wasn't trembling, so it couldn't be a Titan...well, at least a fifteen meter one. Maybe it was a smaller one. They would have still caused some kind of tremor right? Sweat slipped down my brow and it slid to the corner of my mouth. I bit the inside of my cheek.

A boy stumbled through the bushes and fell face first into the mud. His tattered cloak was stained with dried blood, his light brown hair stood on end, and his aqua colored eyes were red with tears.

He flailed in the mud screaming his heart out.

"GET OFF ME! GET OFF ME!" he cried. A hand gripped his boot.

A young girl squeezed his boot tightly and would not let go of him, but he kept kicking her off of him. His foot bashed her face in, breaking her nose. Her dull eyes never flinched once at his cries or his attacks. Not a single bit of her budged.

I sheathed my swords and rushed over. I yanked the girl's hand from his foot. The boy stumbled and crawled to a tree. The girl fell into the earth and didn't even twitch. She didn't look much older than fourteen. A baby in the military...how desperate could the Corps be to recruit a kid this young? She'd be nothing but bait, Titan fodder. Maybe that was their plan for recruits like her, just to be bait to keep Titans busy wild the veterans went for the kill. At this point, I wouldn't put it past the Corps to do something like that.

"GET AWAY FROM ME!" the boy continued to scream. He dug his nails into the bark of his tree to stand up, but he fell down with each time.

I ran to the boy and slapped him hard across his face.

He stopped squirming enough to rub at his cheek.

"She's dead," I said to him. "Relax. You're safe."

The boy sniffled; his knees knocked together.

"Do I have to hit you again?"

"N-No..."

"What's your name, boy?" I held his shoulder. Our eyes met. "Speak up."

"G-G-Gabriel...Gabriel Bauer...from the rear guard squad..." He wiped his nose on his sleeve.

"What? The rear guard?"

"I...uh... yeah, the rear guard. I was with them."

I studied his face. He was roughly the same age as that girl he had kicked off of him. I'd say thirteen or fifteen at best. Poor bastard was out of his mind. Gentleness was never my thing, and you'd normally go easy on a guy who's just been through Hell and back, but I didn't have the time or the patience for luxuries like that.

"What's the rear guard doing all the way up here? This is where the center of the formation was. What happened?"

Bauer shifted his eyes all around me. His throat quivered.

"Hey!" I jostled him.

"No! I'll talk!" He shook his hands in front of him. "The s-squad leader got word that the center formation was getting murdered out there, s-s-so we were summoned for back up."

My memories were still fuzzy. I only remembered leaving Wall Maria, riding into this forest, and that was it. The rest just happened in a flash. Nothing else rang a bell in my head. I hoped this kid would say something that would jog my memory even in the slightest way.

"All right, so then what?" I said. "Keeping talking."

"When we got to the center formation, it was almost obliterated. There must have been, like, five Titans out there eating everyone. I, uh, sprained my ankle during the fight when I was using my gear. I hit a tree the wrong way, so I tried to retreat to patch myself up. My gear got busted up when I fell too, so I had to hobble around... but I was knocked out just when I found the medic team. I came to just a bit ago...right when...I saw her looking up at me...grabbing my leg..."

It wasn't uncommon for someone to sprain their ankle or break a few bones using the 3DM gear. His story didn't add up though. All of his blades were unused, the handgrips were still in their holsters. His gear looked to be in pristine order too; I didn't find any dents or anything that was out of place.

"Pull the triggers on the handgrips."

"The what?"

"I wanna see how damaged your gear is. Shoot some gas."

He stared at me for a few seconds before taking his grips. His hands shook. Not even a finger dared to move.

I seized a handgrip and pulled one of the triggers. The gas from the tanks shot out forcefully. I squeezed the triggers just a few more times to gauge his fuel. He still had a lot in them, just about full. So his blades were unused, his gear didn't appear broken or have any defects, and he had plenty of gas to move about the forest.

"And you sprained your ankle when you ran away?"

"Y-Yeah...that's right."

"You just said you sprained it when you hit a tree wrong from using your gear."

His eyes shifted much more furiously.

"I...uhh..."

I grabbed his ankle and shook it about. He didn't scream or cry. He only watched me with fear in his eyes. I ripped off his boot and inspected his ankle. It wasn't swollen and seemed to be fine.

"You lying piece of shit." I punched him square in his face.

Bauer gripped his jaw. His whole body trembled.

I lifted him up by the collar of his jacket. I stood over him, gnashing my teeth as I yelled.

"Want to explain yourself?! Huh?! Why are you lying to me?!"

Bauer still nursed his jaw.

"Look at me!" I shook him. "People were getting themselves killed trying to save their friends and to push the Titans back, and you just ran away without even drawing your sword, didn't you?!"

"I..." he muttered as his eyes started to tear up again.

"Couldn't take it so you just wanted to go home to your mom, huh?! Why are you even in the military then if you're afraid to fight?! You sonuva bitch." I tightened my grip on his collar. "I'm pretty sure desertion's a capital offense. Should I just string you up and have you wait for a Titan to eat you? Or should I just run you through with your own sword right now?"

His tears fell onto his lips.

"Answer me! Why did you leave your comrades to die?!"

"...Do what you think is best."

"What'd you say to me?"

Bauer whimpered and cried as he spoke, yes, but that face hit me. Those tears and that face didn't belong to a soldier, they were the tears and the face of a child who had no idea where he was or why he was even there. He was confused, that was obvious, but why was an idiot like him in the Corps? He was too vulnerable, too inexperienced...too innocent to be outside of the Walls.

"I know I messed up and that I lied...but I was too afraid." Bauer's teeth gnashed together. "This...this is my first mission ever...I never been in a real fight before...I froze up...and just couldn't take the pressure anymore. I couldn't help it...my body just acted on its own. I'm sorry, I know that doesn't mean much, but I really am sorry. I just...I'm just afraid...

"I wanted to live so I ran...but I tripped and hit my head on a tree root. Everybody was dying all around me and I just couldn't face it...I couldn't stand it anymore...so I ran...I wanted to go home...I failed everyone...and now they're all dead..."

The kid started to bawl again.

I dropped him to the ground. He landed flat on his backside and looked up to me like a frightened calf being led to slaughter.

"Why'd they let a brat like you in the Corps, that's what I wanna know. This is supposed to be an operation to take back our homeland, and they allow someone like you on the front-line?" I spat out a chuckle. "They must be getting really desperate or they just don't take this seriously anymore. Whatever. Their lives are on your hands, you dishonorable pig."

I turned my heel and re-positioned the satchel I had picked up around my shoulder. I walked a few feet away from Bauer.

He lowered his head to me.

I spotted something interesting on the ground as I walked. There were some tracks in the mud and on the grass that stood out from the other human and Titan footprints. The tracks looked like horse hooves. They weren't going deeper into the forest, where Bauer and I were, but they led outward. There was a whole lot of them. That must have been when the commanding officer of the regiment gave the retreat order...assuming there was, in fact, a retreat order if anybody survived the clash.

It was quite a long shot, but what if those tracks led to the surviving soldiers from the regiment? I couldn't have been out for too long, so maybe the survivors couldn't have gotten far. If I could make it to their current position quick enough, I could link up with them and make my way back to Wall Maria. The problem was that I didn't know where they'd be by now or if they had all got wiped out or not during their escape from the forest. It was worth a try and it beat the idea of waiting to die by the hands of a giant. My mind was made up. I'd follow the tracks as best I could and figure things out from there. That small inkling of hope lurked back into my heart. I wasn't about to get my heart set on this theory of mine, but it was worth the attempt.

"Hey!" Bauer yelled to me as I started walking along the horse tracks. "Where are you going?"

"I'm going back to Wall Maria."

"You're what?"

I pointed to the muddy ground. "Look carefully. Do you see a different set of tracks from the other indentations in the ground."

"No."

"Look harder." I knelt down. "See these? These are horse tracks. The remaining soldiers must have fled when things got hairy. My guess is that if I follow these, I might just find the survivors. If they're still alive, I might just be able to make it back to the Walls."

Bauer's tears started to fade. A small smile crept across his mouth.

"So...we're not gonna die out here? We're going to live?"

"I'm going to live. You can rot out here." I turned my back to him and continued my walk.

"What?! But-But you can't just leave me here! We're the only two soldiers from the squads left!"

"There's only one soldier here and that's me. The other thing that's here is a frightened pig."

"But I can't make it out here by myself! Let me come with you! We'd have a better chance of making it back to the Walls if we stick together!"

"You're a liability. I can't trust you since you've already lied to me before and you've proven yourself to be a coward. What use are you to me? You're also incredibly selfish for abandoning your teammates when you fled. Who's to say you wouldn't leave me behind to save your own skin when the time comes? You'd leave me to die while you live to see another day."

Bauer stayed silent.

"You're on your own. You got enough blades and gas to get to the edge of the forest if you're lucky."

"That's just cruel. How can you just turn your back on a fellow soldier?"

I looked at him over my shoulder. "You turned your back on your fellow soldiers."

He clenched his fists.

" You can't fight, you get left to die," I continued. "I'm not sticking my neck out for someone who wouldn't return the favor. Get out of my sight, you traitor."

"Then give me a chance!" Bauer ran to me and grabbed my arm. The strength of his grip was impressive for someone of his age. His eyes flashed a deadly glare at me. "I messed up before because I was scared and selfish. I covered up my failure to fight because I was too embarrassed with myself. I wanna live as much as you do."

"This is a land filled with Titans and we don't have a horse. The chances of us surviving are highly unlikely even if I did let you join me."

"Then what have you got to lose?" Bauer squeezed my arm tighter. "If we're both gonna die, then what's the point of pushing me away? We're the only two people in this squad left. I'm coming with you and you're not stopping me. I don't give a damn who you think you are."

The tears started to flow again.

"Let me redeem myself...let me atone for what I did...I can't die with that big of a sin on my conscience. Please...I'm begging you...let me help you. I do whatever you want, but please give me this last chance..."

I ripped his hand from my arm and drove my nails into his skin. He screeched in pain. He yanked his hand back and stroked the fresh cuts I gave him.

"You touch me like that again, you're gonna lose that hand," I snorted back at him. A wry smile appeared on my face. "Alright. If you're so keen on 'redeeming' yourself...you can tag along."

Bauer's glare shifted back to that childish hopeful simper.

"But I got rules," I said with my own leer. "You fall behind, I'm leaving you. You get in my way, I'm leaving you. You listen to everything I say and do whatever I say without talking back. And if I see you run away from any kind of situation we get ourselves into, I'll kill you myself. We clear?"

Bauer took a few seconds, but he nodded his head with a grief-stricken glance at me.

"We're clear," he muttered.

"Don't get the wrong idea," I continued. "I'm not letting you follow me out of the goodness of my own heart, nor am I allowing you to 'atone' for your sins. As far as I'm concerned, you committed a heinous act of treason by abandoning your duty as a soldier. If we get back to Wall Maria, I'll have you before a judge in a court martial. You got that, Gabriel Bauer?"

He nodded his head again.

"I understand. I'll accept whatever punishment I'll get."

"Good. Now grab anything you can take from the dead and let's get going. Take any food you can find, medicine, spare gas tanks, or anything you might think is useful to bring with us. Don't dawdle. We're leaving in one minute."

"Yes. I'm on it." Bauer got right to work.

We began to move after that solid minute. We took to the trees on our 3DM gear. I instructed Bauer only to use as little gas as we could during our exodus from the forest. We'd primarily use the momentum from the trees to carry us. It wasn't as fast as using the gas, but we had to conserve everything we could. We managed to take a couple of extra canisters from the dead back where we started, but we couldn't be over encumbered. Only take what you can carry I said, to which he listened to me. It was a start. I still didn't have any faith in the boy, but at least he obeyed every order I gave so far. Maybe we would make it through this after all, assuming he didn't give me an excuse to execute him where he stood.

"You know, I never got your name," Bauer called out to me as we swung from tree to tree.

"Fleischer. Corporal Adelaide Fleischer. My friends call me Ada."

"Ada, huh? That's a lovely name for a girl." I could picture his innocent smile behind me.

"You're not my friend. That's Corporal Fleischer to you. Besides, I'm not interested in brats."

"You don't have to be so nasty to me," he whined. "We're gonna be partners now, so we should at least be cordial with each other."

"You want my respect, you gotta earn it, Bauer." It was as simple as at.

Something caught my eye as we swung through the trees. I motioned to him to follow me to the ground, to which he acknowledged. I took cover behind the thick trunk of a tree while Bauer huddled beside me. I peered my head around the trunk. There it was.

I felt the earth rumble beneath my feet. It was faint, considering I saw the thing in the distance, but it just enough to make my heart race. I didn't want to get any closer. I'd just have to wait and see what it would do before making a decision.

"What's the matter, Corporal?" Bauer said out loud.

I elbowed him in his side to shut him up.

"Quiet! Or do you want to give us away?"

"What's the problem? What'd you see?"

"Fifteen meter ahead of us."

I could just make out the Titan. It was looking up into the trees. Its hands were at its sides. The rain pounded against its dark blonde hair. It smiled. The Titan just kept smiling. It stretched far and wide and never stopped.

It seemed as though it was looking for something. It bent over and checked the ground, then looked up at the trees, and then back to the ground. After a few minutes, it turned and walked away. It headed deep into the forest, nearing the direction where we had just came from. Luckily for us, it wasn't heading directly near us, but it navigated towards the corpse ridden field in a roundabout manner.

Once it was clear, I had Bauer follow me. We crouched down and make a silent break for it. I didn't want to risk using the harpoons, since the sound could alert the giant, so we moved on foot as quick as possible. We made it to the spot where the Titan was originally standing still. We stopped for a quick break.

Bauer breathed hard. "What was up with that thing? What was it looking for?"

I looked up into the trees.

"I think I know what." I pointed to a pair of thick branches above us.

There was a waist with a pair of legs, decked out in boots and a 3DM gear. There were harpoons in the separate branches keeping the body aloft, but the waist and legs were missing the complete upper body. A piece of ripped green cloth was at our feet, along with a broken blade attached to a handgrip that got severed from the gear.

"It was looking for the other half of this poor guy," I said.

Bauer covered his mouth to control himself, but he ultimately vomited at my discovery. He wiped his mouth and breathed even harder.

"This...is insane," he murmured. "This is just absolutely insane..."

"This is reality." I elbowed him again. "Come on. We got a ways to go before we get out of this God forsaken forest."

Bauer looked back up at the mutilated body and then followed after me. It was finally starting to sink into that brain of his.

That could have been us...or it could be us soon enough.