Chapter 3
Carnage Carnival
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Sorry this one took a little longer. I had some problems with the some parts, so I had to rewrite all of it. Still not quite happy with it, but I really wanted it out there. Also, this is where the SnK plot finally gets affected by Eragon and Saphira's prescence! Woo!
I think people flying backwards at great speed are the stupidest thing I have ever seen. Just so you know.
Disclaimer: I do not own the Inheritance cycle or Shingeki no Kyojin.
000000 Eragon
A small group of riders bounded past the trap, the giant directly behind them. With a shock, Eragon realised it almost had its hand around one of the soldiers when the trap was put in motion. At the command of the blond officer, dozens of mortars shot barbed harpoons attatched to metal wires into the flesh of the giant. Eragon clapped his hands over his ears to protect himself from the deafening sound.
That was close! He excitedly said to Saphira, who was already back at the treehouse. She watched the scene through his eyes.
Yes, but the giant is equally impressive. She managed to get up before the hooks hit her. Look, she even took on a defensive stance.
Eragon looked on while the humans secured the giants' joints with thick metal pins. They spoke to each other in a language he did not understand. He frowned. Not speaking their language was something he had not thought about. It could be a real problem if he wanted to communicate with them. As far as he could tell, the language was the only thing distinguishing them from the humans living in Alagaësia. The people in the Eastlands had looked different, with their angular faces and hair that in most had been lighter than their skintone. The more he thought about it, the stranger it seemed. Shouldn't these people look even stranger? It seemed logical to him that people that lived closer together should look more the same, but he went farther than any have travelled before and found a race of humans seemingly identical to the ones living back home.
He did not get the chance to think about it long, seeing how the soldiers were moving again. Two of them flew on their wires toward the creature's neck and attempted to sever the hands guarding it. Their swords made an uncomfortable CLANGing noise as they broke on the hardened skin. If the hardening process was magic, Eragon could not detect it. The soldiers were obviously dismayed by the new obstacle, but immediately started working on a solution. The young Rider started towards them; there were no immediate dangers he might distract them of, and he could help with this. He was certain that with his magic, he could get those hands out of the way for them.
Eragon. Glaedr said. What anthill do you intend to stick your head in now? It is not your place to intervene here. These people have the situation well under control. Retreat, and contact them some other time, under peaceful conditions. Just let them do their business.
But-
No, Eragon. To introduce yourself here and offer them your service could be interpreted as an indication of larger commitment. Are you prepared to throw yourself in another war?
...no, master.
Then observe, or look away.
Grumbling, Eragon settled on the branch once more. One of the men stood upon the creature's head, talking to it in a taunting voice. He could hear every word of his antagonizing monologue, but its meaning was lost to him. Suddenly, the creature opened her mouth and let out a thunderous roar. Eragon shouted with pain as the sound assaulted his enhanced hearing. And the scream had not only been a sound... it had also been mental. It battered against his mind, barely giving him the time to raise his defences.
...What?!
Desoriented, he clung to his branch like a squirrel. Below him people were shouting for a bit, but quickly calmed down.
No, get away! he wanted to tell them. Something bad is going to happen!
And indeed, as he spread out his mind throughout the woods, he found that dozens of the creatures were headed their way. He got to his feet and was about to go down to warn them somehow, but again, Glaedr caught him.
Eragon, what I told you has not changed.
But master, they don't know what is coming! We have to warn them!
This is not the time for reckless behaviour! These people knew what they were up against, but they fought anyway! It is not your duty to save them, or anyone else! Your duty is to the dragons. There are thousands of humans, and still only three of us. You have to remember your place, Eragon. And your place is with us, as you yourself have said before.
But they are right there! I have to do something. I cannot ignore people suffering in front of me!
Eragon, you must think of the implications of your actions. If you go there now, they will expect things from you. They will put their hope on you, and they will want you to do things you have sworn not to. Are your promises so easily forgotten? What worth is in your words if you abandon us, the dragons, now of all times?
Stop saying my name!I know what I promised, and I know my limits, but I can't leave these people to suffer. Would you have me become a cold-hearted monster, who only thinks of some imagined greater good? Would you have me become your pet Galbatorix?!
The ancient dragon growled, and Eragon recoiled from the contact. Saphira joined her mind with theirs and said:
We will never forget our duties, master. But I have been craving a good fight ever since we landed on these haunted shores, and I cannot think of a better opportunity than this. I would like the practice, otherwise I will be fat and slow by the time the hatchlings arrive. Have faith in us. My Rider is not so weak that he will die from some bloated two-legs. Compared to killing Shruikan and Galbatorix, this is sport.
You can still die, and we cannot take that risk. Besides, it looks like the humans no longer need warning.
Their conversation had only lasted for half a minute, but already he could hear the thunderous footsteps approaching, and he knew the soldiers had heard it too, for they were shouting things and preparing for a fight. The first giants were emerging from the trees, only to be immediately eliminated by the soldiers. One of them was especially agile, but Eragon did not take the time to admire his technique. He clenched his teeth and drew his sword.
Whatever objections you may have, I need to help these people, or I will no longer be me. You may scold me later, master.
Eragon then closed his mind to any but Saphira and jumped from his branch, driving his sword into the skull of the giant that had been passing under him. He shouted as he went, the impact jarring his bones. His blood sang. This was what he was meant to do, fighting for humanity. Battling great enemies. Not sitting on his arse playing with swords and doing... doing hobbies. He needed this. He wanted this. He drew Brisingr out of the screeching creature's skull and laughed. The giant, however, simply reached for him, sticking its grabby fingers on top of his head. Eragon chopped them off, but the arms kept coming, spurting steaming blood and bits all over him. Eragon slided down and reached for his magic, shouting "Brisingr!" as he sliced the creature's face in two, cleaving through flesh and bone until his sword lodged on a collarbone. They fell to the ground together. Eragon landed beside it, crouching to protect his bones against the impact. Through their link, he could feel Saphira jumping into the air with a mighty roar, and the sound of it reached him a few seconds later.
He looked at the creature's corpse. Its skull and neck were cleaved neatly in two ribbons, the insides steaming fiercely. The Rider tugged out the still-flaming sword and for a moment just stood there, holding it in his hands, panting. The giant had been the first living thing he had killed since the little fish at the islands, and the first enemy since the battle for Uru'baen. It felt good, exhilarating.
He had not felt so alive since the war ended.
000000 Irvin
Commander Irvin's head snapped up at the sound of a distant roar. It was neither man nor titan. It had come from an animal, a big animal. There was something fishy going on, and he didn't like it. As he couldn't spot any irregularities he again focused on the spectacle before him. His eyes narrowed as he examined one very sloppy kill. There were too many things going on that he could not place. As a commander, he needed to be able to make decisions for his people, and he did not know what was the best course of action until he knew what was going on. There was still something going on down there. A titan stumbled and fell. He frowned, attempting to make sense of the chaos below him. Its tendons were cut. Anger welled up inside him. Someone was still fighting, even after he had signed the retreat. Someone, but he couldn't see him. He looked and looked, and every time he could almost see something, but not quite. It was driving him crazy.
Rivaille landed next to him.
"What a mess..." his soldier said. "And right after my taunting words too... Havoc all around and no benefit to us whatsoever. I wonder what they'll do to Eren and us when we nonchalantly come back after a failure like this."
"We'll think about it after we'll have returned. At the moment we must concentrate on returning safely without suffering any more damage." Irvin aswered. "At the moment..."
He looked at the steaming corpse of the female titan, thinking about the smoke signals when he realized something.
"I'll go join with my squad." he heard Rivaille say. "Hope they didn't get very far from here yet..."
"Wait, Rivaille. I want you to look down there and tell me what you see."
His right hand looked at the cluster of titans.
"Right there" Irvin added, pointing at the titan that had its head split in half and its fingers chopped. "Who killed that one?"
"Must be one of the new recruits." Rivaille said with disgust. "But-" Irvin looked at Rivaille's face as realization obviously kicked in. This team had consisted only of trusted veterans. None of those men would have executed a kill that badly. He saw his subordinate's piercing eyes examine the scene before them, and he knew he too saw the signs of someone fighting, even though there seemed to be no one there.
"...I'll go take a look."
000000 Eren
"Looks like it's over." Gunther said with a smile, looking at the blue columns of smoke filling the air. Moses shouted for them to retreat. Eren could hardly believe it. Had they won? This time, had they actually won? He still wondered about the shout and the roar. The first had obviously come from the female titan, but the second he wasn't so sure of. It had not sounded like the voice of a titan, more like an animal, and it had come eerily close after the first. Like an answer.
"Do you think it called for a friend?" Eren said hesitantly. "Maybe there's another here, waiting in the forest." The others looked at him nervously. "What else could it have been? It certainly wasn't a human."
After a short silence, Auruo punched him on the arm. "You heard him. We're retreating, not fussing over noises in the woods. Let's go see for ourselves what kind of face the shithead that was riding inside that titan is making."
They swung towards the horses at great speed. Petra reassured him, which led to a brotherly taunting session between the five of them.* Gunther spotted a green signal a small distance east.
"Oh.." he said, readying his own flare gun. "It must be a signal from corporal Rivaille. We're gonna join up with him! Save your bickering for when we're back!"
They changed course, heading for the source of the smoke signal.
000000 Irvin
As he got onto his horse, he thought he could see blue light emanating from above the treetops, but it was gone before he could look better. He cursed. Any other time he would have sent men to investigate, but things were hectic and confusing now and he did not want to risk spending any more time in this damned forest. There was also the intruder he had to think about, in all probability disguised as one of his own.
"Hanji." he said to the curiousity-driven woman. "That roar, what do you think?"
She was quiet for a bit, before saying: "I do not think it was a titan, sir!"
"My thoughts as well."
They rode for a bit, before Hanji asked: "Why did you send Rivaille down there? We hardly have time for that..."
"There was something I had to know. I did it because of I remembered one of your hypotheses." She looked at him questioningly, so he continued. "You surmised that when the colossal titan disappeared the reason why no one'd seen the person inside it was because that 'insider' equipped himself with the 3d maneuver gear beforehand and, using it, quickly secaped under the vapor cover."
"But I also concluded it is hardly possible based on the similar situation with Eren when he emerged out of a titan." she protested. "His equipment was hopessly dameged and even his uniform was gone, but the most important part is that Eren was so exhausted he couldn't even stand without help."
"The female titan had the ability to draw titans to her with a scream. We didn't know she could do that, so our plan failed. We need to adapt our way of thinking and concepts quickly if we want to outsmart the enemy. If that 'titan power' can be trained, then basing our perception and conclusions on the abilities of Eren, who is only a beginner in using that power, is wrong. It's as you hypothesized: if the enemy used vapour as a cover and escaped, with a gear the same as ours put on in advance, they could very well mingle with the scouts."
Hanji turned away, looking a bit sick. He could see her mind was racing, taking in the new possibilities- and the new dangers. But Irvin wasn't done talking yet.
"And if the enemy has a way to preserve their stamina, it's possible they can transform into a titan again."
000000 Armin
He stared. He could not help it. His mouth hung wide open as he looked at the beautiful monster flying just over the treetops, spitting out thick jets of blue flame towards the ground.
"What is it?" he heard Jean say.
He shook his head, and a shiver went down his spine.
"No..." Armin said, his expression grim. "The question we need answered most right now is- is it our enemy?"
000000 Eren
"Gunther, sir?!" Eren shouted as he saw one of his guardians go down. It had all happened so quick. He descended towards him. As he closed in on the man, he noticed there was something really wrong. "Hey! What is-"
Then he saw. Gunther's neck was cleaved through almost completely, his head bobbing and twisting in odd, unnatural ways. Eren's stomach churned, and his body froze. Auruo grabbed him by the scruff of his neck, shouting for him to keep moving. His companions were shouting things, but he could only think of Gunther, the way he had dangled on his wires.
"Gunter, sir!" he shouted again, still not really believing what had just happened. A hooded figure appeared behind them- chasing them. Everyone else were still shouting things. To each other, to their assailant, was it the one inside the female titan?
"...the female type? How can it be?" he muttered to himself. "Why? Didn't they catch her?! No.. it must be that ally. The one that roared. Yes... That's what it is. We won, and they can't take that..."
At that moment, an explosion threatened to throw him off-balance, but he managed to catch himself in time. As he looked back, he saw the female titan, steaming fiercely as she bounded towards them.
"It's really her! She's coming!" Moses shouted. "The female type's closing in!"
And she was fast. Very much so. Looking at her terrifying form, he made up his mind. "Shit!" he shouted. "I've had enough! This time I'm going to do it! I will fight her!"
"No you won't!" shouted Erd. "The three of us will deal with her! You go on ahead to our commanders' place as fast as you can, Eren!"
"I can fight too!" It wasn't fair. He had the power. He could probably take her. Why wouldn't they let him fight?!
"It's best if you don't! Using your power is too risky!"
"What's that, you little bastard?" pitched in Auruo. "You dare doubt our ability?!"
But it was Petra who did him in. "Is that true, Eren? Do you really... not believe in us?" she said, looking at him, accusing, begging, oh, she looked at him with those big pretty eyes and Eren felt his reasons ebb away. He wanted to believe. He needed to believe. So he turned around and screamed:
"I believe in my squad's victory! Good luck!" And he swung away, away- into the safety he did not desire, leaving his friends to fight for him. He could not help but look back, and what he saw amazed him. The three of them were a stunning team, executing the most difficult of moves with elegancy that could only be the result of great experience. Together, they drove the female titan back against a tree, blinded and stumbling. 'They're so strong', he thought. 'The fight looks one-sided. And they're fighting completely in sync even without saying anything to each other. It must be because-'
His thoughts were interrupted by a great cacophony of noise. He whipped his head around and gasped as he saw the great blue shape descending on him. He tried changing course, but it was already so close and he was going so fast- The edge of the great blue wing came closer and closer and then- blackness.
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*I'm not really interested in copying the non-essential original dialogue, but if you want me to write it down anyway I will, just leave it in your review^^
