Author Side note:
I do apologize for not very consistent uploads. It's hard to be consistent when you have writers' block and then you end up procrastinating in the process. I do hope you forgive me for that.
Anyway, yeah! hope you like this chapter! I work really hard on everyone I create. :)
Chapter 14: Why not throw a wrench in it? Ugh.
First things first: you should ALWAYS assume something went wrong in a testy situation. Like now, for example. I mean, think about it. We've got a group of soldiers over on one corner to lure Titans away, another group protecting Eren, and Eren himself transformed into a Titan to move the boulder in Trost.
Testy as you can get, for a typical military group here anyways.
After I finally stop being pulled (Actually, it only lasts a few seconds, but it felt like an eternity for God knows why), there's no time to waste. Running across Wall Rose, despite everything going on, it's rather quiet. Too quiet, actually, which means something's really wrong.
Then a thought occurs to me. "Hey, Armin?" I ask nervously.
"Yeah?" He glances back at me.
"Had you noticed that there were no new Titans being lured over from where we just were?"
This gets him off guard. "What do you mean?"
Time for a better approach to the topic, I suppose. Hmmm…
"...what I mean," I start off, more hesitant, "Is that there should have been more Titans over where we were luring them. I mean, Titans are still spilling into Trost, aren't they? Shouldn't they be heading away from the broken gate? And also, if there are, where did they go?"
"Ohhh." His eyes widen slightly at the thought. "You're right, there should be a steady stream of Titans heading towards the 'baiting soldiers', so to speak, but so far there has been a shortage of which, so…..Oh. Oh my God."
"What? What is it?"
"The way I see it, there are only two viable options: one, we could be dealing with a lot more Abnormals than usual, or….well, they might be heading to something else-or probably someone else-important."
"Oh NO. So they could be heading towards Eren instead?"
"Most likely that's the case. If that's not, either way, we're in a lot of trouble here."
After that little bombshell thought, nothing much happens afterward, unless you count arriving at the scene of the disaster. Of course, I use my wings to get there, because it's much more efficient than wasting gas. I'm not doing that quite yet. Landing isn't exactly easy, either, I think I crush a few dozen roof tiles just trying. The bad landing is mostly from shock at what I'm looking at though. It's much more sinister than what I would have previously imagined.
Without making it too gory for you dear readers, here's the layout: Yes, we're at the boulder and so is Eren, but not in the way you'd think. He's left just sitting as a Titan, half of his face still steaming, probably from injury. And he's not doing anything. Is he unconscious somehow?
"Uhhh, Yuki? Do you have any idea how he ended up like this?"
"Nope." I shake my head in astonishment. "Whatever happened here, it wasn't good at all...Wait a sec." I stop and look around for someone in particular. "Wasn't Mikasa in the squad to protect Eren?"
"You're right, she might have a clue what in God's name is going on here." Armin agrees, looking for her himself. Then he points. "There she is!"
He's right, too. Following his gaze, I watch as Mikasa kills of a Titan, mostly wide-eyed and very wound up. As a new addition to her features, a red mark across her right cheek is slowly welling up with blood.
"She looks out of sorts," I murmur, before cupping my hands around my mouth and yelling, "Mikasa! What's going on over here?!"
Startled, she turns to face the two of us. Armin stands on top of Eren's passed out Titan body while I'm slightly farther back, but she can still see us just fine.
"Armin?! Yuki?! What are you two doing here?!" She cries back.
"We saw a red flare! Why'd the plan go belly up?" Armin asks in surprise.
"It's dangerous, guys, get out of here!" She screams, before deciding to explain. "Eren can't control that Titan for some reason! I've tried talking to him, but I've got no reaction! It doesn't matter who talks to it or anything, it's useless!"
"Wait a minute, what?!" I say, in shock.
"What about the mission?" Armin presses.
Mikasa hesitates for a fraction of a second. "It's failed, so we've switched to defending Eren. Everyone's fighting Titans, but-but with this many, I don't think we can last for much longer! We're soon going to be toast!"
Just as I thought, I think to myself. Titans had to have been drawn towards Eren. Now there's no doubt.
Armin suddenly moves to grab one of his swords, startling Mikasa and I both.
"Uhhhhm….wh-what are you doing, Armin?" I ask nervously.
"Let me see...Strike from the back of the head to the nape of the neck….one meter lengthwise, ten centimeters across," I hear him mutter to himself.
"Armin?" Mikasa asks.
"I have an idea. I'm going to get Eren out of here," he says without missing a beat.
"Wait a minute, you plan on doing what?" I say, dumbstruck.
"Yuki, go fight the Titans with Mikasa. I'll handle taking care of Eren, okay?" Armin says, looking back at me. "Eren came out of the Titan's weak point before, so it would make sense that they would follow the same principles. Sorry, Mikasa. I'm going to have to find a way to wake him up." At this, he shudders. "It'll all be fine...as long as I avoid hitting the middle."
"What?!" Mikasa shouts. I unfold my wings, preparing for the worst.
"Sorry about this, Eren!" Armin calls out, raising his sword higher. "This is going to hurt-a lot!" And with that, he shoves the sword, slightly away from the middle, into Eren's Titan body. Almost immediately, Eren shrieks in pain the way a Titan would, almost throwing Armin off in the process. I also shouldn't have unfolded my wings, because they were built to catch the wind (because, you know, part bird!), so I'm being nearly swept off my feet and into the sky as well. Whoooooah!
"What are you doing?!" Mikasa practically screeches. "Get out of there!"
"I'll be okay!" Armin shouts over the roar. "Right now, you two do what you can! If you can save lives while you're gone, then it's worth working at, right?!"
You have to admit, he does have a point there. It would be a waste of precious time just sitting here and watching. Mikasa looks back at me, still fairly alarmed, yet she understands perfectly. She nods at me, indicating she's ready to go. Returning the gesture, she and I take off, leaving Armin to take care of Eren and his unconscious Titan form.
When I'm within hearing range, Mikasa decides to ask the obvious question. "You think he'll be able to get him out of that state?" she queries to me.
"What, you mean Armin? Of course, he would be able to! It might not be easy but I'm sure he'll figure out something," I reassure her. Then as an afterthought, I add, "Which team are we going on to fight Titans anyway?"
"Mitsubishi's team," she replies simply before pointing to a team not so far away from us. "They're over there. We're heading over there because that's where we've been able to drive most of the Titan activity." She pauses briefly before continuing, "I have a crazy idea, but it is insanely dangerous."
"Well, I'm all for crazy in this situation," I say with a nervous smile. "Lay it on me, Mikasa."
She sighs, as if trying to find a good way to convey this to me but can't find the right words for it. "Okay, so step one: I'll kill off one Titan to grab the attention of the others. Then you and I will join team Mitsubishi's team, but this is where it'll get complicated. I need you to work together with me to get as many Titans knocked off as possible."
"So….Mostly just assists, right?" I ask.
"For the most part, yes," Mikasa says, steering us to stay on course. "Though of course stealing the spotlight is also not an option or we're both toast."
"You got that right." Then I spot one-the first Titan I've seen since I was dangling off the wall, luring them away. "First one at ten," I add, pointing to indicate our position vs. its position.
"I'm on it. Follow my lead," She says as soon as she sees it, starting to speed into a run, and taking off to kill it off. I soon follow, taking it a tad slower. Yes, I can go fast with my wings, but at the same time in thicker, denser air, I can't go as fast without risking a major injury, or at the very least both my wings getting torn off in gale force winds. Ow, no thank you.
"We need to distract it!" She yells so I can hear her from the wind. "You fly in front of it so I can kill it without suspecting a thing!"
"On it!" I yell back, steering myself into a steep bank just tight enough to face it head-on.
Now, I'm not good at insults. Staying quiet is usually how I go about dealing with people taunting me (Which I suppose will happen more often with my big secret blown up, but that's beside the point). So you can imagine how I must have felt when I suddenly realize: Shoot, I've never really insulted anyone, let alone a Titan before. I'm gonna have to insult it in order to get its attention, so I think one up on the fly and scream as loud as I can:
"Hey, UGLY! Yeah, you! Come up with any good recipes lately? Or do you just like grabbing people without thinking?"
Okay, okay, I know it was bad, but I just said I suck at insults. It's my first time, okay?
Either way, it's enough to get the Titan's attention. Almost at sonic speeds, its head snaps around and up to stare at me. Oh, GOD, that look is enough to send anyone nightmares. Shutting out the fear of that ghastly grin and piercing eyes, I continue to hold its attention by waving my arms and continuing to shout nonsensical insults towards him. As it continues to stare at me with a curious but slow stare, Mikasa rushes behind it to strike its soft spot as fast as possible, killing it instantly.
"What the heck?!" Someone calls out on a roof. "It finally croaked?!"
" 'Bout damn time," someone else replies, to which I barely suppress a snicker.
"Rico!" Mikasa calls out to a silver-haired soldier. "Yuki and I are joining up Team Mitsubishi!"
The soldier named Rico glances back at us and nods curtly. "Whatever you two can do to help, we're all for it," she answers with a stern look. "Go on ahead."
Mikasa nods back at her and signals me to follow to Team Mitsubishi. One of the soldiers looks back up at me and his eyes widen, clearly having never seen a bird kid before. Can't blame him though.
"Hey, Mikasa, that one of your friends?" The leader asks her imploringly, jerking his head in my general direction.
"Yes, with all due respect, sir, she's been one of my childhood friends. She can help us were some soldiers can't, so don't be alarmed by her appearance."
"Alright, then, if you're sure," He nods. "Heads up, two Titans at one o'clock, one at 3. Mikasa, you, me and Yuki will take the two, the rest of you handle the single one. There may be other Titans lurking there."
Half the team splits off in pursuit of the Titan; Mikasa and I follow the team leader against the two on sight. Killing these Titans is not easy, as I guess you've already assumed. Let's just say it takes several evasive maneuvers before you can even kill 'em off, hence why Mikasa wanted me to distract them when I can.
Without any warning to my senses, I hear the familiar sound of a Titan approaching behind me. I flinch and spin around much too fast for even me, nearly having the force let me fall. At first, I think it's another Titan coming in our direction trying to get to Eren, but upon studying the scene longer, I realize that the sound was coming from where Eren was just sitting there. Mikasa, standing on the roof next to where I've been hovering, beckons me over to watch.
"I can't believe it," she tells me when I get there. "He's actually doing it."
I don't have to ask who "He" is because the bit of boulder I can see slowly moving over through the buildings. And not five seconds later, I bet you can guess you showed up.
"It looks like we're all set," Armin says after a second. "He's going to do it. He's going to plug the wall up!"
It takes a moment for this information to sink in. Then, almost out of the blue, the soldier Mikasa talked to a short while ago practically explodes, yelling, "Defend Eren at all costs! Even if it means your life is on the line, defend Eren so he can get to the wall!"
Almost as soon as he finished his rant, all the soldiers save for Mikasa, Armin, the leader, and I collectively head off to defend Eren. Then the Garrison soldier turns to us, a look of determination on his face.
"You three should be with him," he says simply.
"Huh?!" Armin says in shock.
"Wait a minute, what do you mean, sir?" I ask at almost the same time.
"That's a direct order, soldiers!" he snaps before anyone else can interject and startling us.
I nod hesitantly before heading in the same direction of the others, Armin and Mikasa shortly following suit.
Of course, no plan is without someone going to extremes. And this is no exaggeration: a cursory glance down underneath me reveals a smallish group of Garrison soldiers, trying to lure the Titans away from Eren. I cannot believe my eyes. Attempting such a thing at this point is very much considered suicide in the military. Just because it's nearly the end of the battle doesn't mean you should give the Titans a chance to EAT you, jeez! So, of course, my brain decides to argue with itself. Do I help them or do I just go with the others? I know they'll likely disapprove of it, but they're gonna die if I don't! I have to do SOMEthing!
Well, as I'm sure you're bound to guess, the side that wanted to help them won that battle. Before I even know what on earth I'm doing, AGAIN, I find myself down there and trying to get them out of harm's way.
I really have to break that habit, I know. Think on how to do it before actually acting. Old habits die hard.
"What are you doing?!" one of the soldiers yells at me in astonishment, seeing this girl with 13-feet of blue and white wings come down to ground level with them. (In all honesty, I can't blame him. If I were him I'd be shocked too.)
"Come on and don't ask too many questions," I say quickly, pushing them out of the way. " We've got to move perpendicular to Eren's path. The others will take care of the Titans. For now, let's get moving."
Despite the fact that they are higher staff in the military than I am, they don't hesitate to take my advice. I watch as the others follow save for my other friends, who are back with Eren still.
"Divert the Titans away from Eren!" a soldier shouts from the crowd, and I nod in assent, allowing the soldiers time to run so the Titans can't catch them. (Not in this setting anyhow.)
"This way! Come on!" I shout, trying to let them hear me over the Titans now following us. "I can hold them back if you need, just get going!"
"I'll help!" I hear from the back. It sounds like someone I should know. "You shouldn't do this alone, Yuki!"
Definitely, someone, I should know. Actually, now thinking about it, it sounds like Marco, but it's too late to think about that. I nod to the person who called out and set to work almost immediately. Working hard, we manage to knock off a few Titans before things start to turn for the worse. You think it was easy fighting off Titans and slicing their napes practically wide open? Oh no. the professionals make it look easy. It isn't long before I'm trying to escape their grasp several times, slicing wounds open and getting more than my fair share of bruises. Still, more Titans are disappearing, so all of the pain is worth it.
Finally, finally, enough Titans are slain so that my friend and I can make our escape. Except...he disappeared a while ago, and I think I saw him fall once and never came back. For now, I shrug it off, thinking that he might have made his escape, meaning that I should probably do the same. So I sprint off in the direction where I led the other soldiers, hoping that I managed to spare a few extra lives in the process.
Suddenly, without warning, a Titan crosses my path-probably an Abnormal because of how quickly it appeared-and stares directly at me with that sickening ghoulish smile of his. Talk about your nightmares coming to life. I stare frozen in fear for a few seconds before trying to escape the other way. But life just wants to screw me over for trying to do a good deed, it seems, because that direction is blocked by debris. Sure, I could fly over it, but I also risk the chance that there's another Abnormal just waiting for me to take a chance to escape before taking the leap. Not to mention how fast the other one is, which would likely grab me and bring my life to a sudden close. Uh, no thank you, I'll stay down here and try to immobilize it. But even that doesn't help my situation. The Titan reaches down to grab me, leaving me stuck with chopping off fingers repeatedly to avoid being picked up.
And then, because everything had to present the icing on the cake, something else hits the side of a house, causing debris to fall. It causes the Titan to be buried, yes, but as I try to escape the falling rubble, frantically flapping my wings and getting airborne by at least a solid 10 feet of the ground, a large solid chunk of wood hits my back with such a force that I forget to flap my wings, immediately closing the space between me and the ground.
My last thought before everything suddenly cuts to black is, I should have been more careful about my escape. Good to know in the future.