Chapter 10: Damage Control

'C-C-Captain's shoooes...!!' Petra and Oruo cried internally, mortified on his behalf. Petra didn't know who she felt more sorry for... their leader for having to endure one of the worst things you could possibly ever do to a clean freak like him, or the poor trainee who had just humiliated herself in front of the whole Corps...

"Wow! That was amazing~!" Hange exclaimed, reaching Levi and Heidi first. "In more ways than one!" the eccentric squad leader added, dismounting to examine the unconscious girl, and wading into the large puddle of mixed stomach contents without hesitation and eyes that were shining with excitement. Hange had never seen someone survive being eaten like that before! Not to mention the way she had been beating them back with her bare hands...! How did she do that? What did you have to eat to get that strong?

'In more ways than one is right...' Miche thought as he landed on the ground a safe distance from the huge mess, covering his nose and mouth. He didn't blame that crazy kid one bit for not being able to stomach the smell of that titan's vomit. And Levi was showing an incredible amount of self-restrain after what had just happened.

"How is she?" Erwin asked as he joined them.

"Alive," Levi answered sharply with a small vein throbbing on his forehead as he did his best to remove as much vomit as possible from his leather boots. It was no good. The damn things had become unsalvageable.

"Mm. There's no major injuries. It looks like she's just fainted from exhaustion," Hange said, nodding in agreement. This girl looked pretty good for someone who was just eaten by a titan. Not only was she still in one piece, but she didn't appear to have any broken bones or open wounds, aside from her knuckles, which were rough and raw from all the punching she had been doing. "I don't think she'll wake up for awhile, though..."

"That's good," Erwin said, feeling immensely relieved as he let out the breath he had been holding. To think they would find Odd's daughter all the way out here... how did she end up this far outside the wall? Were things that bad in the town? "We'll take her with us. Put her on one of the supply wagons. I have no idea what she was doing all the way out here, but it seems the chances that the wall may have been broken just increased exponentially. We can't afford any further delays." He looked north and then glanced south, back the way they had come. There actually seemed to be fewer titans ahead than there were behind them now. He eyed the empty scabbards and gas tanks on her gear. Was this her doing? Just how long had she been fighting? "Levi, take a small advance team with you, and go on ahead," he ordered decisively. "We'll be right behind you with the supply wagons, taking care of the titans attacking from the rear."

"Understood," Levi said, glancing back at his squad and quickly selected some of its fastest and most reliable remaining members as he mounted his horse. "Petra, Oruo, Erd, Gunther, Rina, and Gerold! You're with me. Let's go!"

"Yes, sir!" they answered dutifully, following their leader without hesitation.

Levi finished killing another one of the surprisingly few titans they had encountered on the way and landed smoothly back in his saddle. He and his advance team had the wall within their sights.

"!!" Petra and Rina exclaimed in alarm when they saw the huge, gaping hole in the wall. It really was a repeat of five years ago!

"Damn!" Oruo cursed. At this rate...

CRASHHHHH!! FWOOOM!

They had to shield their eyes as a strong shockwave of wind and dust was sent up by what sounded like a massive explosion. When they looked again, squinting to see through the settling dust, they realized they could no longer see the town through the hole. Somehow, they had managed to block and seal up that huge hole in an instant! It seemed too good to be true...! Levi immediately launched himself off the back of his horse the moment he was within range and fired and a grappling hook into the wall, maneuvering himself up and over until he could see what was happening inside, trusting the others to follow. He was met by the sight of two titans looming over a couple of kids who were standing in the shadow of the corpse of a titan still clutching at the ridiculously large boulder that had been used to plug up the hole in the wall. He attacked without hesitation, killing both of the attacking titans almost instantly.

"!!" Armin exclaimed in surprise, still holding Eren tightly, as both titans' corpses fell to the ground in front of him with loud thud, watching with wide eyes as the person who had just saved them landed effortlessly on the back of one of them. The speed with which they had attacked was incredible! "Mikasa!?" he called up questioningly.

SHHMP!

"Huh!?" Armin cried out again in surprise and confusion when Mikasa abruptly landed next to him. Wait, if Mikasa was there, then who...!?

"That's..." Mikasa said, staring up in amazement as the green cloak that was fluttering in the air around the shoulders of the man who had just saved her friends began to settle and fall flat against his back, revealing the winged crest of the Survey Corps.

'The wings... of freedom...' Eren thought, watching the amazing scene before him through partially swollen eyes. Captain Levi glanced back at them over his shoulder.

"Hey... kids... mind telling me... what the hell's going on around here?" he asked as the rest of his team arrived, repelling down the wall to join him.

—∞—

The Survey Corps and the Garrison's Engineering Division showed up soon afterwards, endeavoring to make Wall Rose impervious to titan intrusions once again. Humanity had repelled the titans' advance for the first time, which was nothing short of an amazing accomplishment... but the amount of people lost to that end were far too many for actual rejoicing to take place.

Within hours, the news of the breach of the wall and the results of the Battle of Trost reached every city inside human territory. And just like five years ago, the people living behind the innermost walls were thrown into great confusion. The official announcement from the government was printed as follows:

The southern gate, located in Trost District, was destroyed by the Colossal Titan that appeared in front of it. In just one hour after that, the whole of Trost was overrun by titans. A desperate attempt to conquer the district back succeeded, and the breach in the wall was plugged. Presently, an operation to get the territory of the district cleared of titans is underway.

This announcement and the controversial news released by a certain merchant company that the military had been aided by a titan, spread like wildfire to neighboring towns and villages, along with a certain rumor of unknown origin...

—∞—

Dauper Village

Jacob Stark happened to be in the main part of the village, trading some fresh goat's milk, homemade Brunost cheese, and eggs for some flour, cow's milk, and salt when the incredible news reached them via a man returning from the neighboring town.

"Hey, Jacob, have you heard!?" one of his friends asked excitedly, running over to share what he had just learned with him while he finished packing his purchases in the bags strapped to his horse's saddle. "This is an awesome turn off events! A titan appeared that's on our side! Maybe... we might even be able to take back Wall Maria!" Jacob's eyes widened in surprise.

"What? No way! Are you sure you heard right?" the strawberry-blonde boy asked skeptically.

"It's true! It's true!" his friend's younger cousin said, running up to join them. "My papa said lots of papers were saying the same thing! He also heard an incredible rumor about a girl who was able to fight off some titans bare-handed!!" Jacob froze when he heard that, suddenly flashing back to five years ago, when a titan killed his aunt.

'Heidi...' he thought, clenching his fist. That's right... in her last letter, she had mentioned that she would be graduating... If they made the trainees fight as official soldiers... that would have put her right in the middle of that mess...!!

"Huh? Something wrong?" his friend asked, wondering why Jacob suddenly looked so serious and pale.

"I've got to go... The milk will spoil," he said, hoisting himself up onto the back of his horse. He gripped the reins tightly in his hands and took off into a gallop, barreling back up the mountain path to tell the old man what he had just heard. For once, he was glad that he had been born a cripple. If not, the old man wouldn't have let him take the horse into town so he would be able to make it back before dark. Living in such a hardy environment for the past five years had done wonders for him, but he still needed a cane to walk most days, and he couldn't run to save his life... That was one of the reasons why Heidi had decided to join the military in the first place, because she didn't want him to have a reason to. They all knew he'd probably be a goner if the titans ever got this far behind the wall.

"Grandpa!" he shouted for Heidi's grandfather as he reached the house. He carefully dismounted the horse and hobbled over to the small barn on the side where they kept the animals as quickly as he could. "Grandpa!" he shouted again, bursting through the doors.

"What is it?" Tollak asked while he continued to go about his business, feeding the chickens.

"The wall around Trost was breached!" Jacob said urgently. Tollak stopped what he was doing and looked at him, giving the boy his undivided attention as he continued to speak. "They say the hole was sealed, and they're retaking the town, but... There's a rumor that a girl defeated some titans with her bare-hands!"

"!" Tollak frowned, furrowing his brow deeply. "I see... It would seem 'that day'... has finally arrived," he said gravely. Heidi must have finally remembered the one thing that could trigger her 'awakening'. Tollak clenched his fists. He knew what he had to do... He just hoped he wasn't too late! "Take care of the animals while I'm gone," he ordered, pushing the bucket of feed into Jacob's hands as he passed him on his way out of the barn, making a beeline for the horse. There was no time to lose.

"What are you going to do?" Jacob asked anxiously.

"Damage control," Tollak replied as he took off, heading straight for Trost.

—∞—

The first thing Heidi noticed when she regained consciousness was the burning pain that seemed to be shooting through every muscle in her body, including some she didn't even know she had.

"O-Owww...!!" she cried out, wincing and cringing in pain. She couldn't even get herself to sit up. "Man, that hurts!"

"Of course it does!" a familiar voice remarked gruffly. "You fought non-stop for a whole hour. What else did you expect?" Heidi's eyes widened as she turned her head to look at its owner.

"Grandpa!" she exclaimed, surprised to see him there. "Huh? Am I still asleep...?" she wondered out loud. Her grandfather stood up from his chair and approached her bedside. He raised his hand... and smacked her hard on the forehead.

"Does that answer your question, you little idiot?" Tollak asked tartly. "I went through so much trouble to get here, and that's how you greet me? Didn't your mother teach you to greet your elders with respect? You're such a handful!"

"If I'm an idiot, it's because you're always hitting me on the head!" Heidi retorted, chagrined. "The last thing I remember is finding myself in the middle of titan territory after Wall Rose was breached, and the Survey Corps showed up, and I... I..." Heidi froze and her eyes widened in horror as she realized just what she had done. "... I just puked all over humanity's strongest soldier...!!" she cried as she held her head in her hands, positively mortified. How could she do that to one of her future commanding officers!? Why did it have to be someone so famous!? Why, why, why couldn't she just hold it in!!?

"Heh. You threw up on that unfriendly brat?" Tollak asked, raising an eyebrow. "Good job," he praised her with the hint of a smirk.

"It's not 'good' at all!" she snapped, about to go off on a panicky rant about how disgustingly embarrassing it had been, when she realized the full context behind what he had just said. "Wait, a minute... have you met Captain Levi before?" she asked, blinking. "And why are you here? It's dangerous! Come to think of it, where is 'here'? What happened? Is Jacob all right!?"

"Calm down," Tollak said forcefully, hitting her on the head again to shut her up so he could talk. "Don't ask so many questions at once. Jacob's fine. I briefly met that sour-faced brat when I went to have a chat with Erwin Smith about your 'circumstances'. And you're in the town neighboring Trost, behind the main part of Wall Rose, but it's safer than you think, because the battle's already over, and the hole in the wall's been plugged up. You slept through humankind's first victory against the titans," he stated bluntly. Heidi stared at her grandfather with wide eyes, stunned.

"... Ehhh!?" she exclaimed loudly in shock. They won!? For real!? And she slept through the whole thing!!?

"And before you ask, Sasha's fine, too. Though she was really shocked when they brought you back unconscious..." he added, feeling irritated, as he remembered how she and that Peter boy had made such a huge fuss in their relief to discover that she had managed to survive after hearing she had been assigned to the advanced team, which had been reportedly wiped out within minutes of the wall being breached. Heidi let out a sigh of relief upon having the safety of one of her friends confirmed. She hoped the others were all right...

"So, what happened? What did you mean by my... 'circumstances'?" she asked just as the door opened. "!" She was surprised to see both Commander Erwin Smith and Captain Levi standing in the open doorway. Even though she knew the battle had ended, she had assumed the Survey Corps would be busy helping with damage control and dealing with the aftermath of the attack.

"About that... We'd like to have a word with you," Erwin stated calmly as they entered the room, having overheard her last question. Heidi tried to at least sit up and salute as a proper sign of respect, but her body wouldn't listen to her, and she ended up flopping uselessly back onto the bed. She couldn't help but notice that Levi was wearing some very new and shiny boots. She had obviously ruined the previous pair.

"Um, I-I'm really sorry about your boots...!" Heidi blurted out nervously. "I'd like to reimburse you, or rather... please let me pay for them," she finished earnestly, hanging her head in shame, as she let out a dejected sigh.

"Hmph. It's his own fault for being in the wrong place at the wrong time," Tollak huffed gruffly, earning himself an incredulous look from Heidi and a sharp glare from Levi.

"Grandpa... please don't try to help," Heidi said grimly. If she didn't know any better, she might think he was doing it on purpose, but he was pretty much this rude and standoffish to everyone.

"..." Levi stared at her. She was so flustered, that her face had become an interesting mix of red and blue. Her apology was sincere, and it was obvious by how troubled she looked that she was seriously regretting her actions. "... It's fine," he said dismissively. "They were already ruined anyway, before you added your mess to it. But you really need to work on your aim," he added bluntly, crossing his arms as he leaned back against the wall. "Besides, that isn't why we're here."

'Well, no... I didn't think it was...' Heidi thought, slightly bemused, but she was relieved that he didn't seem to be holding a grudge against her.

"We're here to discuss your future," Erwin stated seriously, taking a step forward. "Heidi Trumbauer... do you still wish to join the Survey Corps?" he asked. He knew he didn't have to lecture her about the dangers of scouting or the high death toll. She knew them all too well.

"... Yes," Heidi answered resolutely, furrowing her brow as she clenched her fists. Her eyes glowed with a soft, steady determination. Her body was trembling slightly from the memory of everything she had been through in her first battle, all of the great and terrible things she had witnessed. She knew the horror of having to watch titans eat people while they were still alive. There was no escaping that. She was going to do whatever she had to in order to prevent the people she loved from meeting that fate. She was going to fight to live, and to be free. And she was going to see the outside world with her own eyes before she died.

'Hmm... That's not a bad look in her eyes...' Levi thought as he quietly observed the situation.

"I see..." Erwin said, closing his eyes for a moment. She really was her father's daughter. "In that case, as previously discussed... I will take full responsibility for your granddaughter's wellbeing," he promised seriously as he glanced at Tollak, looking the old man in the in eye.

"Huh? Wait a minute..." Heidi started to say, frowning slightly in confusion. 'As previously discussed'...? What was that supposed to mean?

"Heidi," Tollak said gravely. "Let me tell you an old story..."