Author's note: This is my first time writing an AoT action scene so I hope you like it. Also "Vikas Stark" is a character designed by Elsmul of . Enjoy everyone.

Chapter 3: First Blood and Final Breaths

Jasper raced out of the barracks followed closely by Fredrik, Luna, and Erika. Once they were out in the street they engaged their maneuver gear. Grapples dug into the buildings to either side of the squad. It had been years since Jasper had had to use his maneuver gear. Fortunately, he still knew what he was doing. Luna jumped and activated the thrust on her gear, propelling her onto the roof to her left. Without losing pace she ran along the roof. Jasper and Erika were on the roof to her right and Fredrik was keeping pace a few feet behind her.

"How many soldiers can we expect to see?" Erika asked Jasper while she leapt onto the next roof after him.

"I saw at least six flares, so hopefully a dozen. That's assuming none deserted or got killed" he replied flatly.

"In other words, we can only count on ourselves" Luna called out.

"Great" Fredrik replied sarcastically.

The squad maintained their pace towards the merchant district. It was roughly 2 kilometers to travel but using maneuver gear it took little more than 15 minutes. They saw other soldiers along the way. Elsa and Marvin joined up with them. Close by was another young man with light brown hair. He was a tall guy but he kept to himself.

Jasper recognized him as Vikas Stark; a man who graduated a year before he did. Word was that Vikas was a cynical man at the best of times, but Jasper figured he was reliable enough.

They arrived in the merchant district and stopped on a roof to survey the situation. It had only been about 20 minutes since the Titan appeared, but still several buildings were destroyed. Civilians fled in every direction without stopping to grab any valuables. A child wandered around crying for their parents, while a woman held her husband's body close, refusing to leave him despite being dead.

"At least the wall isn't breached"

The group turned to see Vikas standing a few feet away.

"Never thought you were an optimist, Stark" Marvin said sarcastically.

"Who joins the military and isn't either desperate or optimistic" Vikas retorted.

"Enough" Elsa said "Does anyone see the titan?"

Jasper pulled out his binoculars and scanned the city.

"I see at least two other squads on the rooftops to our left. They are looking to the south" He observed

"Any members of the Military Police?" Marvin asked.

"Yeah, they're fleeing to the north about two blocks east of us" Jasper said shaking his head.

When Wall Maria fell, the Stationary Guard underwent a severe retraining process to compensate for laziness and incompetence. The Military Police were exempt from this retraining simply because they were not involved. As a result they continued to grow stagnant and incapable of fighting.

Jasper looked to the south and he could see the flash of steel blades in the afternoon sun.

"To the south, about another five hundred meters out. A squad has engaged the titan but I can't tell how they're faring."

"Let's get going then" Marvin said stepping closer to Elsa "How about a kiss for luck?" he asked while flashing a smile.

"Only because you asked nicely" Elsa replied, giving him a peck on the cheek.

Vikas groaned in disgust, while Fredrik stepped closer to Erika.

"Sounds like a good idea to me" he told her sheepishly.

"Some other time, Fredrik" Jasper said "You need to earn it"

Erika giggled and Luna cracked a smile.

"Are we going to flirt all day, or are we going to kill a titan?" Vikas asked.

"Move out!" Marvin called leaping off the roof and engaging his gear. He rocketed to the south, followed quickly by Elsa and Vikas. Trailing behind, Jasper was leading the trainees.

"This could be a Deviant-class, meaning it might have a shred of intelligence. Hold back while we assess its abilities. We don't want you dying on your first mission" Jasper said.

"Yes, Sir!" the trio answered.

The titan came into view. It was around 13 meters tall with greasy black hair that hung to its neck. Its arms hung all the way to the ground, causing its hands to scrape the street. Its hands were tipped with vicious talons, which were already caked with blood. There was no skin on its cheeks and its mouth was filled with razor sharp teeth.

"You were right, Jasper, it's a Deviant" Elsa called.

Elsa and Marvin broke off to the left, while Jasper and Vikas went to the right. They circled the Deviant looking for an opening. It followed Jasper with its eyes and made a swipe at him. It barely missed him with its scythe like talons.

Elsa saw an opening and made a move for the nape of its neck; a titans one weakness. Mere feet from its neck, Elsa was intercepted and knocked into a nearby rooftop. Luna reacted immediately and went to her aid.

"Elsa! Are you alright?" Luna asked kneeling down beside Elsa's prone body. She was unconscious, but she was alive.

"Fredrik, Erika, Help me move her!" Luna called.

Meanwhile, in a fit of rage Marvin was striking at the Deviant's arms.

"You Bastard! I'll kill you!" He roared.

In his fit of rage he made the mistake of moving too close to its head. In the blink of an eye it grabbed onto his grappling cables and had him in its grasp. Marvin struggled but he couldn't escape the Deviant's vice.

Jasper could only watch in horror as it squeezed. With a sickening pop, Marvin was crushed into a bloody mush. The Deviant hurled the mess that was Marvin into the ground and stomped on it for good measure.

Vikas took the opportunity to strike at the titan's ankles. His twin blades cut deep and let out a spray of black blood. He was coated in the blood and began to shriek. "It burns! It's too hot!". He continued his movement and landed on a rooftop. He broke down; the heat reminded him of that night. The house was ablaze and try as he might he couldn't escape the grip of the soldiers to save his family from his father's insanity. Sobbing he stayed there on his hands and knees.

The titan was effectively unable to turn let alone barely stand. Jasper surveyed the situation while circling the titan. Elsa was unconscious, Vikas was having a mental breakdown, and Marvin was dead. With a sigh, Jasper called to Luna and Fredrik "Engage! Erika, you keep an eye on Elsa and Vikas".

He fired his grapples into a building to the titan's left. It got ready to intercept him, but Luna made a slash across its face. Howling in pain it changed its focus. It lost track of Fredrik, and it proved to be a fatal mistake. Fredrik began to spin and he cut a large chunk out of its neck.

The deviant crashed to the ground and lay there.

Fredrik, Luna, and Jasper landed on the same rooftop as Erika and Elsa. "How is she?" Jasper asked.

"She's asleep. She hit her head pretty hard" Erika replied while wrapping a temporary bandage on Elsa's head.

Everyone let out a sigh of relief. They had succeeded in surviving their first combat.

Without warning Vikas let out a horrified shout "It's still alive!"

Before they could react the titan's wounds healed and rose to its feet. It howled in rage and made a swipe at the rooftop, aiming for Fredrik. Jasper knocked him out of the way and was sent flying into the air. He was hurtling towards Wall Rose at a terrible speed. Unsure of what to do and partially disoriented, he engaged his thrust to try to slow himself down. He managed to slow down enough to survive the impact; unconscious he fell towards the ground.

Luna was speeding towards him and fired one of her grapples. It hit and pierced his left thigh; arresting his fall, but causing him to hit his head. She reached him and carried him up the side of the wall.

Simultaneously, Fredrik drew the titan's attention and made to kill it again. As he propelled towards its neck it covered it with its hand, effectively protecting itself. Cursing, Fredrik redirected and evaded the titan's counterstrike.

Vikas, having found his focus, rejoined the battle. He severed the titan's left hand at the wrist and made to do the same with the right.

While the titan was tracking him, Fredrik moved in for the kill. This time he made a deeper cut and almost severed the titan's head. With one last swipe, the titan fell to the ground and began to decompose.

Relieved, Fredrik and Vikas landed on the rooftop next to Erika. Their relief was short lived because a squad of Military Police arrived and surrounded them.

"I am Captain Lukas Fuchs. Who is in charge here?" a burly man with black hair and a beard asked.

"Sir, I am Vikas Stark. By default I am in command" Vikas answered.

"Report, Stark"

"Sir, we arrived in the merchant district under the command of Jasper Shutz. During the battle, Elsa Himmel was injured and Marvin Ritter was killed. This young man, Fredrik was it? Believed he had killed the titan. It reared up and swung, knocking Jasper into the wall. Another trainee, a girl, went after him. With teamwork Fredrik and I killed the titan: for certain this time."

Fredrik resisted the urge to say the Vikas had had a nervous breakdown, but he knew that it would do him little good.

Lukas nodded when Vikas had finished. "I will confirm this with squad leader Shutz when he has been recovered" He turned away and began issuing orders to his squad.

Upon the wall, Jasper began to regain consciousness.

"What happened?" he asked sitting up. He winced when he felt a surge of pain through his thigh. Looking down he gapped at the grapple that was still in his leg.

"You hit the wall and were falling. I did what I had to do" Luna answered apologetically.

"No worries, I've been meaning to hang around the nurse's office. Michelle's probably tearing her hair out right now" he said with a weak chuckle.

"Well, you'll have company" Luna remarked "Elsa's going to be there too".

"On that note I have a request." He said leaning towards her so he could whisper.

That night Elsa woke up in a medical bed. Her head was pounding and her body felt like she'd fallen down a mountain.

She took a look around. She was in a separate part of the hall and was screened off by white curtains. She took note of her uniform lying folded and washed on a chair beside her bed. Continuing her investigation, she saw something on her bedside table. She grabbed it and realised it was another jacket; reddish orange with the markings of the Stationary Guard. She looked at the tag inside: "Marvin Ritter" it read.

She began to cry.

Back in the merchant district, Erika and Fredrik surveyed the devastation. These were streets that Erkia had grown up on. Rounding a corner she saw a horrifying sight: her family home had collapsed. Stricken by thrown debris the building was unable to support itself. Outside was a squad of Stationary Guard. At their feet were two bundles wrapped in bloody white cloth.

Erika ran for the bundles with Fredrik not far behind her. Before the soldiers could react, she pulled off the covers and stared into the faces of her parents. As she began to cry, Fredrik grabbed her and pulled her to her feet. She struggled at first, but quickly turned and cried into his shoulder.

He offered kind words and held her close.

It was around midnight when Fritz entered the nursing area. He pulled aside the curtain and stepped into Jasper's room. He noticed Luna lying with her head on the bed sound asleep. Reluctantly he woke her up and dismissed her. She tried to stay, but he made it an order.

Sitting in the now vacant chair, Fritz woke Jasper up.

"I figured that you'd want a report" he said once Jasper was conscious.

"What happened?" Jasper asked in a serious voice.

"Elsa is currently unconscious to keep her pain and sadness under control. Vikas has been quarantined and is awaiting mental study, turns out that he left out his little breakdown in his report. Marvin has been cremated as is procedure. As if that wasn't bad enough, Erika has learned that her family was killed during the titan attack."

"The only escape is death" Jasper said bleakly "It was her first day of combat and while she survived, she'll need to live with this for the rest of her life"

"Quite true, we lost over a hundred soldiers in that hour. Most were too confident or too incompetent. We're still count civilians." Fritz pulled out his flask and unscrewed the lid. "To those we've lost" He toasted taking a drink before handing it to Jasper.

"And to those of us left" Jasper said taking a drink in turn "may their memories never fade."

End of Chaper 3