Become Monsters
His heart was slamming against his rib cage, his fingertips were moist as he jammed the rod further into the barrel. The Titans eye pears through the window. He wished he could do something to prevent the Titan from coming, but he couldn't. He was helpless, totally at their mercy - as well as everyone else trapped in the HQ. All he could do was continue to load the gun. It was all he could think about... It was an old rifle... It's grimy and ancient to the touch... He hears a signature click of the flintlock mechanism... He took a deep long breath of long awaited relief. The others were crying, scared if they breach…. when they breach. All was lost and they still clung to life. He took one last look at the perfect death. Swift and painless. He favored it over the alternative.
"Great," he whispered removing the rod from the barrel.
"Whats the point of that?" The girl next to him asked.
He didn't answer. He simply smiled not removing his eyes from his savior. He raised it towards his open mouth. He was tense. It tasted as bad as it felt. Like soot and blasting powder. He took a few deep breaths. The others starred in disbelief. For a brief moment he felt like… he couldn't pull the trigger. He was stronger than that.
BANG~!
"Hey, Amber. What do we do now?" Dante was quite his voice could barely be registered if she was not sitting beside him.
"We can't retreat. We don't have enough gas. The Support squads haven't been seen. I can only assume the castle has been overrun. Which means… I don't know what it means…" Amber was holding her gas canisters, they were cold and light. Near empty. Like their futures.
"It means we die." That girl Sakura. She was scraping her last remaining blades together. Her attempts at sharpening them.
"What are you talking about. You killed more than anyone here. Why would we die we can still fight!" Dante laughed looking at his comrades for support. It didn't exist.
"If I killed the most. And I'm still alive. If I say we are going to die. You should believe it. What are we going to do when our gas runs out and we lose our agility. Fight them on the ground!" Sakura stabbed her hard work into the tiles puncturing the roof. Using them to stand she looked towards the castle. Could it have been worse over there than it is out here? The sound of moving gear spurred everyone's eyes. Annie and Mina had returned. Looped around their shoulders. Was Marcus. His face was crazed and wild. They landed near Reiner and Jean. Amber and Dante sprinted with their remaining stamina. He was alive!
"Marcus!" Dante had a wide grin he reached out for his best friend.
"Don't touch him!" Annie tried to warn him but it was too late.
His hand grazed Marcus' shoulder. He turned grotesquely, Mina tried to hold him back, Marcus lept onto Dante sinking his teeth deep into his shoulder. Biting rabidly as Dante screamed in horror.
"I'll devour you! I'll devour you all!" Marcus screamed into Dante's face before trying to rip out his throat.
"Marcus! Please stop!" Amber pushed him off and he dug his nails into her, biting down on her arm trying to tear out the flesh. He stopped upon tasting her blood. He stumbled backwards the same sick expression on his face. He began ranting nonsense until he finally made sense of his words he slowly began to speak.
"We lose because we fight like humans. When we fight like them. Thats when we kill them. To fight monsters we have to create monsters of our own. I became a monster today. I killed more Titans then I have fingers and toes. I killed them with my bare hands! I transformed into a…~" People were starting to stare. Had he lost his mind. Annie couldn't watch him go insane. She balled up her fist swinging it at his face. She intercepted him mid speech and sent him spiraling towards the edge. Connie stopped him rolling off. Marcus groaned getting back on his feet with the help of Connie.
"What is this…. How did I get here!" Marcus clenched his jaw, Annie had dislocated it so speaking hurt him immensely.
Snapping it back into position. He got one good look in before Annie took him into a tender welcoming hug. Everyone was staring at him. Had he done something wrong. Amber and Dante were scared. Blood covered their bodies. Had he done something terrible. He didn't know or remember. Annie let him go. He stumbled towards his best friends. They backed away hesitantly. But he took them in a hug. Tears streaming down his face. They didn't respond at first still cautious of the man they called friend. But after seeing him now. They had come to the conclusion. That he was safe now.
"Reiner. He is like us." Annie whispered to her fellow warrior. He was speechless. Looking at Marcus he had never expected such a thing. Yet in his head he wasn't surprised. Seeing him now. How he was crazed. Meant he hadn't used it in a long time, he had been starved off its power. Marcus subconsciously thought he was still inside the Titan. Annie however, seemed to have fixed that.
"Annie!" Mikasa panted getting the attention of the shorter blonde.
"I think I understand the situation. And I'm sorry to bother you. But have you seen Eren and his unit!" Mikasa was desperate Eren wasn't among the sullen faces of the congregated trainee squads.
"No, and I haven't seen anyone climb the wall either," Annie responded dryly. Her important conversation interrupted.
"Armin's over there though." Reiner pointed out the young blonde isolating himself from everyone else. Mikasa stumbled towards him. Everyone knew what was coming.
Marcus tried to listen. Eren was like a role model that everyone looked up to. Had he been fortunate enough to retreat with the other members of his team.
"Our unit… the 34th cadet squad… Thomas Wagner. Nic Tius. Mylius Zeramuski. Eren Jaeger!" All four of them have fulfilled their duty and died heroic deaths in battle!" Marcus felt a lump between his throat.
Like a bad dream it came flooding back to him. He had tasted human blood. Thomas Wagner. His friend. Marcus felt a sick lump well up inside of him. He keeled over, bile spewed out of his mouth. His vomit was colored crimson red. It wasn't his own blood. He froze unable to consider what he might have done. He ate Thomas Wagner. He killed him. He….
Mikasa took charge.
"We can do it! I'm strong. Stronger than all of you. Extremely strong. I can kill all those Titans there. Even If I'm alone. You're either incompetent or spineless cowards! How pathetic. You can sit here and suck on your fingers. Yeah, do that."
"Hey, Mikasa! What are you saying?"
"You want to fight all those Titans yourself?!"
"There's no way you can do it!"
"If I can't, then I'll just die. But if I win, I live. Unless I fight, I cannot win." Without a moments hesitation Mikasa leaped off the building. Everyone didn't respond. They stood there unable to move. Yet they felt something. Something spurring them. Like a fire building inside their chests. Somebody just needed to add the fuel.
"Hey! Where we trained to let our comrades fight alone?! At this rate, we are going to be spineless cowards!" Jean and Connie took off after her.
"Hey! Cowards! Weaklings! Retards!" Sasha taunted disappearing in a flash following after her departed friends.
Soon almost everyone had gone after them. All the Soldiers waving their banners for one last struggle against their enemy. All that was left was Marcus, Annie, Dante and Amber. It had dawned on him. He had no gear. They couldn't carry him the whole way. He was dead weight they were burdened with him lumbering around.
"Marcus we can carry you! Between the three of us we can…"
"No! You can't, I'm useless without my gear. Carrying me there will only result in your own deaths." Marcus had only one option.
"Is everyone gone?" He asked without removing his eyes from the brick wall.
"They already left," answered Annie.
"Tell them not to attack the Titan. I'll get you all there safely! If its the last thing I do! RAHH!" He punched the wall the bricks cracked against his fist and his bones crunched in response. A wound was necessary, he had his goal. Nobody else shall die today. Not if he can help it. He leaped of the building, Dante ran to the edge trying to save his friend. The street below was covered in smoke. But he saw the body of a Titan. It took off in dead sprint following the others. He had to warn them. But where did Marcus go?!
"That thing is Marcus. We have to make sure they don't kill him!" Annie blasted off after him connecting her spikes into his back. Reeling herself in. She grappled onto his thick fur. Riding the Titan, covering its neck.
"Well way to go big guy!" Dante chuckled. There was no way any of this was possible yet it happened right before his eyes. Well destinies a bitch. His best friend is a cannibalistic monster whose girlfriend is trying to protect him from the slaughter he deserves. Yet he couldn't stop himself from following in her footsteps.
Marcus' Titan form slammed its feet against the stone streets its rapid speed overtook all the candidates till it was leveled with Mikasa. She readied herself to strike it down. But Annie stopped her.
"Its an aberrant its killing the Titans!" Annie screamed, latched onto its nape.
A Titan blocked Marcus' path. He came in like a wrecking ball. His fist collided with its head at super sonic speeds exploding it into fragments. Its pace not even hindered. A small one maybe four to five meters leaped up. In its current path it would capture Jean and Connie. Marcus was faster. Swinging a claw wildly, it tore the leaper in half throwing its remains far off into the distance. Mikasa couldn't believe what she was seeing. A Titan fighting other Titans. Something like this had never been seen or heard of before. Seems like somebody really wanted them to make it. The Titan collapsed, A crawler had tripped it. Amber came in hard. Her blades tearing through the Crawlers neck. It dropped dead. Marcus got back on his feet regaining his former speed. All the Trainees followed behind him, they were hesitant but seeing it save some of their own spurred them to fight alongside it. They protected it and Marcus protected them. Mikasa was speeding ahead of them all. She was using way too much gas. She felt her momentum die. Falling from grace to the streets below. Armin and Connie turned off to help her leaving Jean with leading the Titan. He was uneasy at first, but seeing it fight. He figured it would be his ticket to safety. He sped in front of its face landing on top of its head. He pointed his swords the castle wasn't far.
"Tell… them… too… hook… on." It spoke. Jean couldn't believe what he was hearing. Could it be sentient. This Aberrant was different from all the others.
"Everyone hook on to the Titan!" Jean's orders were read loud and clear.
A bombardment of hooks plunged deep into Marcus' Titan. Almost all were latched on. Dozens of hooks. Marcus prepared his legs. He jumped as high as he could into the air. Dragging many others with him. Giving them the momentum they needed to reach the castle. The hooks escaped his body dozens of people flew past him. Annie climbed in front of his eyes. She whispered to him.
"Fight well, my love." She jumped off of his nose and evacuated into the castle safely along with her other comrades. The moment she got inside the castle walls, Marcus crashed into the stone.
The Wolf's body broke from the force of ramming into it. It tried to rise onto its hands and feet. All its hair, skin, flesh and muscle had been torn off from the front of its body and face. Blood was smeared with chunks of meat carved all over the stone he had grinded on. He had come to a halt just in front of the castle. He felt a sickly sensation of something cold slicing against his back. He disconnected from the Titan emerging from its nape, it's gigantic body beginning to evaporate. Reiner and Bertolt looked down to see the sight, swooped down and grabbed him, then carried him off into the castle.
"Did... I fight well?" Marcus smirked, the pain in his back was still tremendous, but it was necessary.
Bertolt and Reiner just laughed as he passed out from the pain. Going limp against them.
