Disclaimer: I do not own nor am I part of the Attack on Titan franchise. I do not own any of the franchise's characters, ideas, or concepts.
Author's Note:
This chapter isn't as long as I wanted it to be, but it is actually what I wanted it to be, it is important to the story and it sets a intensified tone for the rest of the story.
Please leave a comment, a review, or PM me your opinions and critiques. I love to see criticism and the things you guys have to say about the story. Enjoy.
Also I have started another fanfiction based off of Nate's poems. It's called Hell, Through Their Eyes: Nate Orne's Poetry.
Ch: 8 The Survey Corps - Outside Wall Rose Part I
(Nate Orne)
It has been about 11 months since we had graduated. The Survey Corps had lost about 80% of its recruits from the 103rd Trainee Corps during our first 6 months of joining. We have almost completed our task of finding a direct and secure route from Trost District to Shigashina District. After the first expedition I had proven myself, at least to Commander Erwin, to be an excellent leader and respectable soldier that he even gave me full command of an entire squad, with my choice of soldiers of course. He gave me a list of about 100 soldiers, and, after scanning over it for a few hours, I had chosen 4 soldiers, 3 of my fellow recruits and 1 veteran. The new members of Squad Orne were the following: my friends Jade and Norbert, my cousin Gino, and Alexi Blood, a well-respected and well-praised veteran. Commander Erwin was also impressed with Swift after the first expedition and also gave her a squad, Squad Swift, and the members were our close friends Anthony, Herman, Ethan, and Cua, all them big guys that she could kill with the simple flick of her pinky. Our squads would constantly compete against each other in killing Titans, Squad Orne had 172 kills (I had 43, Jade had 35, Norbert had 34, Gino had 32, and Alexis had 28) and Squad Swift had 173 kills (Swift had 43, Anthony had 27, Herman had 30, Ethan had 31, and Cua had 42), however we realized that the competition got in the way of safety, with the death of Alexis, and we started to notice as many of the other squads began to shrink or get entirely wiped out, which led me and Swift to ask Commander Erwin about merging Squad Orne and Squad Swift, especially because we would be together during the expeditions to begin with. He approved of our proposal and named our coalition squad Squad SwiftOrne, but we could only merge on one term. Me and Swift would have to fight to see who would be the squad leader.
Today, a month before the expedition, the sun was beginning to set, the air was becoming dead cold, and all eyes were on us, me and Swift that is. We stood facing each other, her moonlight blue eyes began to darken with their growing focus on me. I was fully prepared for her and I knew all of her tricks. She liked to dictate the fight, so I had to use it to my advantage. Gino told me she had a tendency to carelessly use all of her strength when she fought and he told me that I had to let her make the first move at all times and counter her. Norbert told me to avoid her hits as much as possible because it would help throw her off balance and once she was off balance I could strike. Jade simply told me to kick her ass, mainly by using my surroundings as an advantage, and she told me to try to be close to the walls, for jumping purposes, but to avoid getting cornered. It was finally time for the battle to start. I was about to fight the strongest soldier I had ever knew, besides Levi and Cua, and she was the fastest and most energized person to every serve in the Survey Corps, but she didn't know her strengths were also her weaknesses.
Levi stepped in between us and said viciously, "You both are fine leaders, worthy of being squad leaders of this squad, but Commander Erwin has decided that a fight would be a better demonstration of leadership and has instructed me to allow you to fight until severe injury, or death, whichever comes first, and I will be the judge of what is severe and what isn't. Try not to make a mess, I don't want to touch a bloody corpse. I'll call the fight off when I feel it's over, you brats get it?" We both nodded, he then walked and climbed onto his pedestal, though it didn't make him seem any taller. I began to scan the surrounding, trying to find anything that I could find useful. The pit was 3 meters deep and 25 meters wide, the floor was pure dirt, nothing was strategically useful except the walls. It felt like I was about to fight in an arena. That's when I was brought back to reality with the cruel word, "Fight!" We ran towards each other, Swift swung and I slid under her arm, directly turning around and throwing a punch, hitting her directly in the face without moving it. She then grabbed my hand and threw me toward the wall, 8 meters away. I stood up and saw that Swift was sprinting towards me at full throttle, and again she swung, but again I dodged it. Her hand was now stuck in the wall as the familiar images of blood and Titans appeared in my head again, but this time it was of Gino, Jade, and Norbert.
I vigorously started to rain punches on Swift thinking 'It's for my squad. It's for my squad. She would do the same.' a fist hit me in the face, sending me flying 3 meters away. It was her free hand, and she then used it to pull her hand out. She was viciously bleeding from her now broken nose. I was covered in her blood. My cheekbone and one of my ribs were cracked, that's when I realized I had to end it now, any longer and one of us would be beyond repair. I taunted her by smirking, showing no pain or despair. That's when her eyes became black slits as she launched herself towards, her fist erect for a landing. I dodged it, grabbed her leg, spun her toward the wall 10 meters away and threw her. Unexpectedly, she bounced off it and back to me. I ducked and shot my fist up at her knee, and felt it crack in my hand. I broke her leg and the crack echoed across the field.
She finally crashed hard as Levi shouted, "We have a winner and a new squad leader of Squad SwiftOrne, Squad Leader Nate Orne!" Everybody that was watching us stood up and cheered, except for me, I walked up to Swift, who was on the floor holding her leg. She didn't scream, but she was obviously in pain so I picked her up and ran to the infirmary.
On the way I looked down at Swift. The feeling of guilt was eating away at my conscience, so I felt I needed to talk to her, "I'm sorry Swift, it wasn't personal, I needed to end the fight, rather than having either of us get killed." I was ashamed of myself, at the moment she had her hand stuck in the wall, I was willing to beat her to death, and I nearly did, I threw away my humanity to win, I almost threw away Swift's life to win.
She laughed, weirdly, "Nate, it's okay. You had to do what you had to do, but if you didn't do it, this would probably be you and I'd be carrying you feeling guilty, but you would forgive me, so I forgive you. At least I know the group is safe in your hands as it was your 1st priority, Squad Leader Nate," She reached up and kissed me on the cheek, "Think of it this way, you can't change anything if you aren't willing to lose anything, even if you have nothing to lose." We smiled at each other. I stopped and I passionately kissed her. I must've stood their kissing her for at least half an hour as I lost myself in our passionate moment. I would not forget that moment anytime soon, nor would I ever forget what she had told me.
The expedition had started 4 hours ago after we parted from Trost District. I was with Commander Erwin and Captain Levi as the commander had ordered a regrouping so he could officially order the retreat back to Trost. According to the Survey Corps' records, the Titans were migrating from the south and Trost had been breached. We were riding at half speed, going slower and slower as more troops were visible to us, until a messenger pulled up next to me. It was Squad Leader Kaiser Williams, the squad leader of Squad Kaiser that was stationed with my squad, "Squad Leader Nate, your squad is being held up in the Forest of Giant Trees, south of here!" I stopped immediately turning myself, "My squad was annihilated, but I came here to get reinforcements."
I nodded and began to ride south at full speed, until I heard the roar of Erwin's voice, "Captain Nate, please continue retreating back towards Trost," I stopped turning back to see Commander Erwin on his white stallion, "If we don't get back to Trost in time, we could possibly be risking the breach of Wall Rose by the Armored Titan, just like in Shigashina."
I nodded, still turned to him, waiting, "Commander Erwin, with all due respect, I understand what you are saying, but I don't want to be wondering in Trost whether my squad is alive or dead, not like I had to do with my father," he bowed his head, almost in regret, "But Erwin, I don't blame you. It was his decision, and this is mine. If they are dead, I will at least know about it and I will immediately return to Trost and assist in it's defense."
Commander Erwin nodded saying, "If they're alive, bring them back. We will probably need as many soldiers as possible to defend Trost," he turned away as he continued to talk, "Think of this as a repayment for your father's disappearance and my negligence." I saluted and rode into the direction of the Forest of Giant Trees, south of Trost. My squad would be fine, they will all still be alive, we will all make it back to Trost, alive.
Come back to read the next chapter and find out who is going to live and who might end up getting eaten and killed in the process. Huge secrets will be revealed and a mysterious Titan might make its debut.
Thank you for reading.
