Hey guys, here is the next update of this fanfiction. Hope you have enjoyed the read so far. Thanks for the reviews of last chapter, i really enjoyed reading them but now here is the next update.

Chapter Cover: Sarah flying through the air in her ODM gear with Narissa following after her.

Chapter Eleven

Struggle for Trost

The Burden of Command

"Sarah Gray and Narissa Phel correct?" the Garrison soldier spoke out when he came to stand right in front of both me and Narissa.

He had dark hair upon his head and his eyes were dark brown. The man was looking down toward us with a tight expression upon his features. He had both of his hands at his side and from his face he seemed like someone who wanted to be as far away from this battle as possible.

"Yes sir," the two of us saluted him.

"Come with me," he said, "the both of you."

Narissa and I shared glances before following the Garrison soldier. They were many other Cadets around and by looking at them, I could tell that they were all terrified. Some were curled into balls where they were seated while other had pale faces that were completely devoid of any emotions other than pure fear. It was disconcerting to see something like this just when I was going out to fight against the Titans. I remember just earlier that I was just like them five years ago, completely afraid of the Titan and what had happened five years ago.

But I wasn't that person anymore.

I won't allow myself to fall into despair again…not when I had trained so hard these past three years to fight against these monsters who took my mother away from me. The Garrison soldiers had led us straight toward where another group of Cadets were in and I recognized Paul, the guy that Mina had a crush on. He looked a little pale, but he seems to be holding himself well despite everything. When we reached the group, he was the first one who looked toward us.

"Alright," the Garrison soldier spoke out, "Team 11 is complete. You will be placed on the western side of the city meaning and my team has already gone out. You will be placed in that position and be ready to fight against the Titans that are invading Trost as we speak. Gray, you will be given the command once in the field is that clear?"

I stared at the man, surprised.

"Me…sir?"

"You are ranked 11th in your class are you not?" the man asked, "Let's move out to our position and get ready for combat…all of you."

His eyes observed us all, thought despite how he tried to be convincing, he wasn't convincing anyone that he wasn't terrified out of his mind. From the faces I saw of the team that was assembled, all of us could see it as well. Me, Narissa, Paul, another girl…Jane I think her name was and there was Wayne, he was not a guy who talks a lot, but he wasn't all that good at his ODM either.

Then, the soldier led us out of Headquarters and into the streets as we took the sky with our ODM gears heading straight toward where the Titans were, at least, were our position is going to be stationed. I was following the Garrison that was leading us to our position and my eyes were quickly looking around the city taking in the part that had smokes rising from the direction of where the Outer Gate was meaning that's where they had the most concentrated numbers of Titans.

We're not seeing any this far in yet…maybe the Vanguard is doing better than I thought…

"We're coming up on your position," the Garrison soldier spoke drawing my eyes toward him.

He glanced back toward us.

"Now, when we reach position I will go and rendezvous with the message relay team…," he started but never finished for a large hand had came out of nowhere, snatching him from the air.

Flecks of blood flew everywhere as we were all shocked at what had just happened right in front of us and instinct simply took over as I saw myself pulling to the side with how quick everything had happened as one second our Garrison commander was there and the next he was just gone. I landed upon a roof, sliding to a stop before I turned my attention toward the direction where the large had came from and for the first time in the past five years, I was looking at a live Titan.

It was easily twelve-meter-tall, with an abnormally large hands and a chilling smile upon his humanlike features as he was holding the Garrison soldier in his right hand which was dripping with blood. I can feel my own eyes widening in shock at the sight of how easily the man was killed. The Titan then raised his prey toward his mouth and even from where I was, I heard the crunch of bones as even more blood splattered everywhere.

Another scream drew my attention away from the Titan that was feeding in front of me toward the direction of another Titan who was holding Wayne in his hand and the shocking thing was, the Titan was upon the top of the damn roof to get to him…

What the hell…

"Ah, help…I don't wanna die," Wayne was screaming as the Titan was bringing him closer to his mouth, "I don't wanna die…I don…"

Then just like that, he was bit down by the Titan causing blood and gore to fly everywhere. I turned my gaze around searching for the rest of my team and I quickly spied both Paul along with Jane looked at the Titan eating Wayne with pale and terrified look upon their features as they were completely frozen where they stood, their fears having completely overtaken them.

"Sarah, what do we do?" Narissa asked, her voice trembling from the fear.

I glanced toward the other Titan noticing that he had finished swallowed our Garrison commander and was now coming straight toward us, it's beady eyes lacking anything human within them…just animalistic intent. I pulled out my blades and heard Narissa did the same as I did.

"Paul," I called out, startling the young man on the other side of where I was, "Take care of the Titan on the roof, Narissa and I got this one."

Without waiting to see if he had listened, I moved forward with Narissa following me.

"I'll work on distraction," I said, "You go for the nape alright."

"R…Right," Narissa said.

It was a tactic we worked together during our training whenever I helped around in her ODM gear or when we were together in training. It was something that she knew how to do, so I wasn't really worried about her underperforming…thought this wasn't training at all. This was actual combat against a actual live Titan, compared to the Dummy we usually trained against.

The Titan reached out toward us and I jumped aside missing his hand by a few feet while Narissa took off into the air. The Titan ignored her as it followed straight toward where I was meaning that the distraction is working. I launched myself forward running with the Titan reaching out for me but before he could do so, he simply stumbled forward like a marionette without strings before he collapsed upon the ground with a booming noise, steam rising from his body and he didn't get back up.

Narissa came to land beside me, her blade wet with blood which was getting evaporated away. Her limbs were shaking as her eyes were wide with what she had just done.

"I…I did it…," she said, "I…I actually killed one of them."

I give her a smile.

"Good job now let's go," I told her, "Paul and Jane need our help."

The two of us headed for the two other members of our team who were engaging the Titan that ate Wayne.

"I don't understand," Narissa spoke out, as we were running across the rooftop we were on, "How can the Titans be that far in already? Surely the Vanguard would have been enough to hold their advance right?"

"The situation must be worse than what the Garrison realized," I answered her, "But enough about that, we'll have time to talk about after we take care of that Titan."

Narissa nodded, focusing back toward the large enemy that was slowly rising from the roof he was on. Both Jane and Paul were engaging it but neither of them managed to get a good clean hit in and it wasn't long before the Titan reached out, grabbing Paul from out of tin air.

"Shit," I said launching a hook forward aiming straight for the nape.

With the Titan distracted upon the human in his hand, I had a clean strike at the weak spot and I took great advantage of it, slicing at the flesh with my pairing blades causing him to falter in his movements before he collapsed back down upon the building his hand falling as well. Paul pulled himself out of the giant fingers as we landed beside him, grunting lightly in pain.

"Paul are you okay?" Narissa said, as the blood upon my blades were evaporating away.

The young man only nodded, thought he was still pale in the face. I turned my attention around, observing the city around us but caught sight of no Titans in the area at all. These must have been stragglers or something that had managed to get through the Vanguard somehow…

Behind me, a conversation was taking place between the rest of the group as I was getting lost in my thoughts.

"Titans this far in…," Jane was scaring, her voice laced with fear, "How are we going to even put up a fight like this?"

"We've managed so far," Narissa told her.

"Managed?" the girl said shocked, "This was only our first fight, but we lost both our Garrison commander and one of our own before we can even move. How are we supposed to last till the evacuation is complete? We're all going to die."

Narissa glanced at her.

"You know what they asked us to do," she said, "We can't just abandon our post."

"Screw that," Jane yelled, "I'm not going to die out here eaten by Titans."

"So, you want to run," Narissa yelled back, "Desertion is punishable by death. You'd lose your head over that."

I let out a sigh turning toward them.

"Alright that's enough," I snapped.

Everyone's attention turned toward me. I stared at the trio in front of me with a frown upon my features. I give Jane a stern look.

"We've trained for situation like this," I told her, "What the hell do you think the past three years have been for? We are the last line of defence against these monsters for the civilians that are evacuating right now or are you going to allow them to die because you can't control your fear?"

Jane opened her mouth to answer but she didn't say anything, simply turning away from me.

"We all made the choice to become soldiers three years ago," I continued looking at them all, "And soldiers worth their salts are prepared for any situation. We don't get to decide when and where disasters are going to happen. The best we can do in those type of situation, is to remember our training and save as many people as we can…and doing that means facing the Titan till the give the retreat signal."

Paul stood up.

"Sarah's right."

I glanced at him and I noticed that the look in his eyes had changed from the fear he had within them moments ago, to a grim determination that was upon his features. The young man had a small frown upon his features.

"We are soldiers," he said, "We made the same oath to protect humanity against the Titans. If we back down now, we'll never be worth called soldiers. We have a job to do out here, and we need to get things done."

Jane looked at him for a few moments before looking away tching.

"Well, you're in charge Gray," she said, "What do you want to do?"

I turned my gaze toward the direction of where our post was, thinking.

"We need to make contact with a relay team where our position is," I told them, "They should be one nearby from what our Commander was saying before he was killed. If we can make contact then, we should have our direction as to what to do then."

I moved forward and launched at the direction we were originally going, hearing the rest of the group following behind me. There was a good chance that the relay team had been wiped out as well if the Titans getting this far into Trost was any indication of how bad things were. If the Vanguard couldn't hold back the Titan onslaught, then there is a good chance that many Cadets are going to be killed before the day was over.

The situation is much worse if the Vanguard is wiped out as well, I thought, If they are…then the Titans will burrow deeper into the city and the Cadets would not be able to hold them back…

I instantly focused forward as we were nearing the place we were supposed to be posted at. There was no one visible around but, in the distance, I took sight of Titans moving between the building. I narrowed my eyes at them as we landed down upon one of the roofs.

"Titans in the distance," Narissa said, her voice quivering in fear at the sight of their forms.

"The Vanguard is completely overwhelmed," Paul said.

"Fuck," Jane said, sounding afraid again.

It's just as I feared, I thought, They couldn't hold them back at all, and even the Cadets will be wiped out at this rate…

"Never take on a Titan by yourself," I spoke out giving them a backward glance, "We will work in teams to take them down. Remember your ODM training. If the Titans makes it through the middle ground, then the elites will deal with them. We will do our job here and stop the Titan advance here."

I give them a backward glance.

"Team 11 move out," I yelled.

We all flew off together aiming straight toward where the Titans were. I can feel my heart hammering in my chest as I was flying, back toward battle once more as I was focused upon the Titans that I could see and searching corners to that we don't get surprised by another one like we did before. The only advantage that I could see with these Titans was that they were normal Titans, and, they were a little bit slow as well and despite their size, we can outmaneuver them and then we can stop them.

I hope, I thought to myself.

The first Titans have seen our approach or seems to have sensed them for they turned their attention toward us, their hungry eyes looking at us as they reached out to us but I managed to avoid them by going low and slicing at the tendons causing it to fall down upon his knees and Narissa came from above, with her pairing blades and sliced at the nape again, making another Titan kill under her belt. I retreated as another Titan was reaching for me and with a burst of gas I was out of hits range and was no in the air above the rooftops glancing downward, my eyes taking in everything around me.

Then something strange happened in that moment.

It was like…I could see everything around me…like a switch had been flipped within me. I was looking around at the Titans in front of me seeing Narissa working on distracting one of the Titan that had reached at me earlier making the large monster follow her. From the side, I saw Paul doing the same to another Titan leading it elsewhere…

Then I moved forward, launching my hook straight toward a Titan's nape before zooming down and with a yell I sliced the nape causing blood to fly everywhere at my strike. Then I was already moving launching my hook forward yet again, using the gas to propel me forward once more.

"HELP," a voice screamed out.

I found Jade in the hand of a Titan as she was struggling to move from the large hand she was caught in. The Titan was moving her toward it's jaw and from the distance I was in, I knew that I wouldn't make it in time…

"Jane hold on," Paul yelled launching forward, and my eyes widened at the Titan that was peeking from the side of a building he had completely missed.

"Wait…," I yelled out to him.

But my warning had gone unheard for the Titan that was hiding suddenly jumped from his hiding place, straight at him before the two of them crashed through a building raising a whole lot of dust and debris everywhere and Jane's screams had ended abruptly as well as the Titan had her within his jaws, blood dripping between it's large fingers.

Shit…shit…, I thought, I was supposed to lead them…so why…why couldn't I even do that…?

The Titan had dropped half of Jane's body down upon the ground having finished with her and continued, this time, coming straight at the direction of where I was in. The one that had smashed through the building was getting up as well and I knew that I wasn't at the level to take on two Titans by myself…

And that one is definitely an Abnormal, I thought looking at the one that had crashed through the building, Not going to try and take this one on by myself…

A familiar voice screamed from my left and I instantly turned at it.

"Narissa," I whispered.

Then I was running, aiming at the direction it had came from finding Narissa on the rooftops of a building with a Titan coming upon her. There was another Titan down on the ground with a steaming hand that was regenerating but I didn't pay any attention to him as I pushed myself forward launching a hook into one of the Titan's shoulders before aiming straight at the nape, slicing through it causing the Titan to collapse against the building and stay there as it started to evaporate. I landed down beside my friend, giving her a glance.

"Hey, you're okay?" I asked her.

"I'm fine," Narissa answered, "I…I just…got surprised for a moment there and I screamed out."

I turned my gaze toward the Titans noticing that the one who had a wounded had a finished healing and was now coming at us again. Both Narissa and I moved as one as we dodged the large hand that came at us. Using my ODM gear I jumped off the roof launching my chook straight toward the Titan and spun to the left to avoid his arms as Narissa worked on distracting it and then with the nape open, I struck for the kill, dropping it down upon the ground landing upon the Titan's head as well.

Turning my gaze toward the distance, I found more Titans appearing from around the buildings, so I shoot my hook into the air landing beside Narissa who was on the roof.

"They are so many of them," she said looking at the monsters approaching toward us, "We can't fight them all on our own."

"Then we fall back," I told her, "We find some soldiers and team up with them. If we take on that many by ourselves we'll be killed."

"That must mean…the Vanguard was wiped out," Narissa said.

I didn't answer her as I moved but my silence might have been an answer all on it's own. The two of us moved as one as we all left the post we were in. With so many Titans already this deep into the middle ground, the Vanguard didn't hold out as much as we had hoped them to, but what can they do in a situation such as this…

"Sarah, what happened to Jane and Paul?" Narissa asked me.

I didn't answer her, just focusing upon getting away from where the Titans were. And just like before, my silence was its own answer. I didn't look back to what type of expression Narissa was doing for I was still completely in shock at what had happened. My entire team was just wiped out. A team that I was given command to and under my orders, they were all killed because I give the order for it.

Is this what being in command is like? I thought, To simply order men to die on our orders because we can do it. How can anyone bear such a burden and not break? I was supposed to have guided them and yet, I couldn't do a single thing.

The image of Wayne being eaten flashed within my mind as well as Paul and Jane.

All I could do…was just stand and watch.

From above, the cloud had darkened considerably, and it wasn't long before rain had started to fall. It was like the world was reflecting just how dark the mood really was in this situation with so many of our comrades in arms killed by the dozens because of the Titans and even the roads bellow us had bloodied splash upon them marking them as battlegrounds against Titan and from the looks of it, many soldiers fell here.

"Sarah, soldiers," Narissa yelled out.

I glanced upward toward the front of us and sure enough, they were other soldiers here in front of us. Our approach drew the attention of the soldiers that were upon the roof and my eyes were instantly drawn toward one of the boy since I recognized them.

Jean Kirstein was not someone I interacted a whole lot of with over our three years training. While I knew he was ahead of the class during ODM training, and he was pro-military Police I didn't really know him at all. Thought, him and Eren were always butting heads about something whenever the two worked together.

"Sarah, Narissa," a familiar voice spoke out.

It was Sasha and the girl give us a small smile as we approached.

"That's your entire team?" Jean asked.

"The ones that survived," was Narissa's answer.

A somber look crossed the few Cadets that were with us at the revelation of what had happened. I looked away form them, still feeling the brunt of what my orders had done to the people who had decided to follow my commands. We were wiped out in seconds before we could even actually put up a real fight and only had managed to take down a few Titans before we were completely overwhelmed.

"The Vanguard was completely wiped out by the time we were in our position and then they were just so many…," Narissa spoke out looking down.

"Where are the supplies team?" one of the Cadets asked, "We are starting to get low on gas."

That was a good question thought. I don't think I ever saw them during the time I was out there. I glanced around myself for a few moments, taking in the numerous soldiers that were around us. As far I can see, it was only Cadets here, no member of the Garrison at all. Did all the teams get wiped out, before we even knew what was going on?

Then my eyes spied a blond figure in the distance and I blinked.

That's…

I ran toward the direction of where the person was and as I got closer, sure enough, it was Armin. The young man was seating on the ground and the expression upon his features stopped me from calling out to him. He looked traumatized…

Armin…what happened to you?

I glanced around myself once more. If Armin was here, then Eren won't be far behind considering that the two of them were part of the same team at least as far as I knew along with Mina, but I didn't see either of them.

Mina and Eren aren't here, I thought, If Eren was here…I doubt he would be seating around doing nothing…

A chill ran through me at the thought of what could have happened to him to cause Armin to be this way…and I felt my hands tightening into fists.

In the distance, bells started to ring…

Death and despair hangs over all...

Next Time: A Dim light Amid Despair

Jacques0 out.

R&R