Sakura bolted up the stairs, not even waiting to see if the soldiers would follow her up. Her heart rate was erratic, two beats per stair, as she tried to think of a way to fight the titans in this darkness. Even she, the supposed saving grace of this group, was as normal as the soldier next to her thanks to her chakra handicap. Was this terror what every soldier felt before confronting titans? Did insidious thoughts of all the horrible ways to die cross the minds of all of her comrades? If she moved a little to the left, will a titan catch her? If she was a bit fast, or a bit slow, would she meet her end at the gaping maw of a humanoid monster?
That every second could be her last was terrorizing, not exhilarating. How did they all do it? Why was Petra happy to be in the Special Operations Squad? Why did Gunter joke while they were out in the field? How could Eld realistically plan for a life beyond the Survey Corps? Why had Oluo given his spot in the Military Police? Why would Erwin dedicate his life to a lost cause? How could Levi let himself grow closer to dead men walking? The only sane ones in the Survey Corps appeared to be Hange and her entourage. The more they knew about titans, the better she would feel. Even then, all of their work seemed for naught if no soldier was alive to do something about it.
Luckily, the darkness hid her fledgling eyes from her teammates. She could almost smell the fear in the air, almost as strong as the feeling of that horrid chakra caressing her skin like a knife ready to cut her.
She heard someone draw in a breath next to her. "Are you sure, Sakura?" Nanaba whispered, a noticeable waver in her voice.
Sakura licked her lips and tried to swallow saliva, only to find her mouth was impossibly dry. She hadn't had anything to drink in the last couple of hours. Nothing to eat since she left the cottage, either. "Yes," she murmured back, sounding much more confident than what she felt. "They're here."
Just then, the clouds moved away from the full moon, illuminating the empty fields surrounding Castle Utgard. Well, she hoped they had been empty, but they were surrounded by ten titans. The naked eye would've said seven, but Sakura could sense others hiding close to the walls, not visible from their vantage point in the tower.
"How can they move in the dark!" a soldier exclaimed. "It's been hours after sunset!"
"Some are even climbing the walls," the other soldier, a woman with brown-hair, moaned. Pity they had never been properly introduced.
"W-What is that?" the bald recruit, Connie, breathed in horror.
Sakura looked at the direction he pointed and almost fainted at the sight of a giant titan. But he wasn't a normal titan by any means. Its entire body was covered in fur, and the side profile of its face reminded her of an ape. It was around sixteen to eighteen meters tall, with long arms that reached its knees, making it looked deformed.
But that wasn't what made this titan the most terrifying thing Sakura had encountered. It would've been too easy if its enormous height and weird appearance were the only things marking it as different.
If she focused her chakra sense, she could feel no horrid chakra coming from the ape titan, only a human one.
Titan-shifter.
Another one.
By some stroke of luck, the titan didn't seemed focused on them, however. It carried on towards the wall, as if their presence didn't deign its attention. For once, Sakura was all too glad she'd had an encounter with Annie. Ever since she figured out there were others in the world that could also sense chakra, she kept hers tightly coiled around her. This titan-shifter could very well be another ninja for all she knew, and if they were then they were all doomed.
"An aberrant?" Gelgar asked.
Should she correct him? Everybody knew she could sense titans, yes, but she'd never mentioned sensing humans. Plus, she had just confirmed to Gelgar and Nanaba that she could not sense titan-shifters. It would make her seem untrustworthy if she flipped positions and started saying things like this.
No, she would add this to her collection of secrets, yet another kunai pointed directly at her heart.
"It doesn't seem interested in us," Nanaba continued.
Just then the tower shook. Sakura managed to keep her balance better than most, but without the help of chakra she wobbled a bit. Gelgar leaned down from the tower to the source of the shaking and cursed. "Fuck, seriously! Why are they attacking through the door!"
Nanaba's eyes hardened. "All right, rookies, stay here. You're a burden without 3DMG. From now on, this is our job."
The five rookies seemed shocked, but they had no choice but to stand there and nod. Sakura almost felt pity for them until she remembered two could possibly be titan-shifters.
"Let's go," Nanaba ordered.
Sakura then understood why she was such an effective squad leader. Nanaba didn't have Hange eccentricities, or Levi's talent, or Mike's power, or Erwin's intellect, but she easily commanded an immense respect that made people move first, ask questions after the battle was long over. Such self-assuredness not only came from skill, like other squad leaders, but also from her discipline. Nanaba was like any other soldier, only that she made it after years and years of training.
She was an attainable role model in a military faction where all the squad leaders almost seemed protected by divine will.
Except Mike, but Sakura had a sneaking suspicion his death had been something not even Warrior Maria could have been able to prevent.
The incapacitated ninja followed after her four comrades, swords unsheathed and ready to taste titan blood. Fortunately, Sakura had never relied on her chakra to fight titans. All of her talent had been her own, honed after who knows how many years of ninja training. She also had to thank Levi for teaching her to not rely on a partner, or this fight might've been awkward. Gelgar and Nanaba and the other pair of soldiers fought in sync, while she would've just ruined their deadly choreography.
Sakura stationed herself in front of the door that titans had previously tried to go through and started killing any titan that tried to go through it. These titans were more intelligent than the rest. They could not all be aberrants, right? The chances of that happening by pure luck were astronomically low. Did the ape titan have anything to do with that?
Two titans attacked the door at the same time, and while Sakura made quick work of one, the other easily broke through the remains of the door and entered while she was occupied. Sakura let out a harsh curse and called out to her comrades, "A titan broke through! I'll try to go after it, but just in case I fail, tell the rookies to go after it!"
She didn't bother to wait to see if they'd heard her; she had no time to waste. She crept inside the building as quietly as she humanly could, though without the help of chakra, the work was much messier, but still better than anyone she knew. They were in a cramped space, meaning the titan must've been small to come inside. Still, that meant 3DMG was out of the question.
Just then a splitting headache ripped her head open, and she bit her lips harshly to stifle a moan. She put the back of her hand against her forehead, careful to not cut her skin with her sharp blade. Just when she thought the headache subsided, a new one thundered through, black spots invading her vision. Out of all the times for her body to act up, this had to be the best time!
The hand against her face felt cool, which shouldn't be possible since her whole body is at the same body temperature, but her body felt chilly, and her knees started getting weaker. Sakura lowered her hand from her forehead and shook her head roughly, as if the motion was going to make her headache disappear, for she had a mission and the team relied on her. At least it didn't make it worse.
Sakura pressed forward, determined to get to the titan before it could destroy the tower. To distract her from the pain in her head and the weakness of her body, she forced herself to think happy memories, like the time Eren first laughed in front of her. The first couple of weeks after their arrival at the Jaeger household, Sakura had been a block of ice, brittle but hard to stand close to. It didn't help that Mikasa was completely smitten with her savior, spending her time between mourning her parents and following Eren as he introduced every nook and cranny of Shiganshina to her.
So when Eren had accidentally bumped into her one afternoon after exploring, letting out the most pathetic "eep!" in existence before hiding behind Mikasa, what else could she do but laugh? Eren at first nervously chuckled, unsure as if this was a prelude to something deadly, but when he realized Sakura was genuinely amused, his features morphed into one of pure happiness and he laughed with charm only a boy his age could manage.
She thought about the day she had visited her wards a year ago in the cabin she had rented and Armin had showed her a book he had kept with him since the Fall of Shiganshina. He showed her pictures and descriptions of places she didn't even dream possible: water as far as the eye could see called the ocean, lands filled with snow all year round, pointed land structures called mountains that reached the skies, places without land or water, but filled with something called sand.
"The world is huge!" Armin had exclaimed without taking his eyes off the pictures. "There are still so many things we don't know." He closed the book and looked at her with hopeful blue eyes. "I'm sure that somewhere out there we'll find truth about the origins, and we'll be with you every step of the way."
Even though her body felt impossibly weak, her mind forced every single fiber of her being to carry forward. She couldn't die here. There was still so much to do, so much to see. She only needed to kill one titan, one titan, to buy her a couple more hours. Maybe then she would recover and finally figure out what was happening to her.
She heard a commotion ahead of her. The rookies, Sakura realized. They had gotten there before her, and they didn't sound in pain or alarmed, so perhaps they had beaten the titan.
Before she could so much as breathe, she felt the horrid chakra of a titan behind her. She cursed herself for reminiscing silly memories instead of paying attention and added another curse at her body for being so weak.
Sakura turned around and weighed her options. Being in front of the titan had the distinct disadvantage of being at the opposite side of its nape. She would have to slip between its legs, cut the flesh at its calves, pray that it does't fall behind, then cut its nape. Oh, and all of it without the help of her 3DMG or chakra.
The titan's footsteps were almost impossible to hear over the voices of the rookies behind her, but this also meant that the titan couldn't hear her. At least she could sense where it was, meanwhile the titan had no such luck. It probably thought the only humans inside were the ones making all the noise.
She inhaled briefly then ran towards the titan, confident the rookies loud voices masked her advance. In the darkness of the hallway she had to rely on her ninja senses, and they proved her true when she passed two long pairs of legs. She turned around and slashed the titan's calves deeply. The beast lost its balance and in its momentum fell forward, shaking the ground slightly when it hit the ground.
The worst headache she had ever felt left Sakura breathless. She let out a small yell of pain, letting her blades hang in the air, sustained by the 3DMG. She clutched her head and leaned forward. It felt as if there was something beating her up from the inside, punting her brain, stomping her cranium, jumping up and down.
In the throes of her pain she saw the titan move around, and knew that if she didn't do something soon she would soon be inside the belly of the titan. She jumped on the titan's back and ran towards the nape. With a pained yell, she slashed deeply with killer precision, and soon the titan was no more.
Sakura just wanted to lay down and cry from the pain, but she needed to retreat. She wasn't sure from where inside her she mustered the power to keep moving to the end of the hallway, but she was just grateful she found the will to continue.
As soon as she stepped over the titan the willpower left her body and she fell, only to be caught by small delicate hands.
"Uhm!" the blonde girl ––Krista?–– yelped in surprise. "H-Help!"
The rational side of her brain screamed at her for allowing herself to be touched by a potential enemy, but the majority of her brain was just happy to finally be safe. She closed her eyes in the hopes that it would alleviate the dark spots in her vision, and though it did help make her feel a bit better, she still felt utterly miserable and helpless.
"She's burning up!" a voice said. Male. Deep. Reiner, was it?
Sakura let out a shuddering breath.
"What do we do?" another male voice asked. Sounded younger. Connie, maybe?
"Stop standing around like idiots and lay her down," a female voice said with no small amounts of sarcasm. Had Sakura not felt like a sack of shit, she would've laughed. There was no doubt that was Ymir. "Bert, help me close the door will you?"
She felt her arms wrap around two distinct shoulders, and the two people carried her somewhere, she didn't know where. She only knew the floor was incredibly cold, though she could feel the gentle lick of flames nearby. She sought the fire, needed fire. Fire was her friend. Fire would help.
"Dammit, isn't she one of the best soldiers in the Survey Corps?" a voice whispered in fright. Sakura had to focus intensely on the voice lest she lose herself to her pain.
"Yeah," another voice replied in the same intensity. "One of the most talented titan killers in history."
"Survived the Female Titan."
Sakura grit her teeth both in pain and to prevent the clatter of her teeth. Why was this happening right now? What was going on? With every thunder in her head she could fill her body filling up with chakra, but it wasn't hers. The chakra didn't feel violent, but it was foreign, and that meant that her own chakra didn't like it. They warred inside of her, fire and ice, neither wanting to give control of her body.
"And she's out of commission," a voice deadpanned. "That means that our lives are entrusted in our commanding officers." The same voice whistled. "But look at that! The soldiers of the Survey Corps surely are in another level. Those four are actually holding their own against them."
"They practice more than anyone else."
Sakura could feel the headache wane a bit after listening to their conversations. She licked her lips, her thirst coming back tenfold now that her mind could focus on other things. "W-Water," she croaked and opened her eyes blearily. The warm light of the fire didn't hurt eyes, so she risked opening them a bit further.
Krista scrambled from her spot next to her and disappeared from Sakura's sight, only to come mere seconds later with a brown canteen. She gingerly picked Sakura's head and slowly tipped the canteen towards Sakura's lips. The water was cool and refreshing, a small pleasure in the midst of her pain.
"Thank you," Sakura whispered. The headache seemed to abate, so she used her elbows to get up and scanned the room. All the rookies in the room were looking at her with a mixture of fright, concern, and wariness. She had talked about flushing the traitors out from her midst, so perhaps she shouldn't expect the warmest of welcomes. Plus that she was out of the fight like some kind of green soldier didn't make things better.
"Are you sure you should be getting up?" Reiner asked.
A crash from above made everyone tense in surprise and stress. Sakura scrambled up, causing her headache to spike in intensity, but she tried her best to overlook it, even if she was failing rather miserably. She trailed behind the rookies as they hurried up the stairs, intent to find out the commotion.
They arrived at the top of the tower quickly. Gelgar and Nanaba were crouched over the two other soldiers, blood pooling around their bodies.
"What happened here?" Connie exclaimed.
Nanaba answered quietly, "They both died instantly, crushed by a boulder."
"Careful, it came from the direction the wall."
The wall? "Wasn't..." she croaked, then cleared her throat.
The sound of her pitiful voice attracted the attention of her two comrades. "Sakura! What happened!" Nanaba yelled. She was immediately upon her, inspecting her face with concerned blue eyes. "Your skin is pale and you're sweating. Are you sick?"
"I... I don't know," she replied in the same small voice.
"Fuck," Gelgar said softly. "You can't fight like that!"
Connie pointed at the woods. "There are more titans coming! More than twice the amount as before!"
"What?"
"This is suspicious," Nanaba muttered. "They're acting as if there's some kind of plan."
"That's never happened before," Sakura said, her voice regaining some strength. "The only difference this time is the ape titan."
"Yeah," Connie continued. "He was also walking towards the wall last time we saw it. It probably had something to do with the boulder."
"Sakura, stay with the rookies. We'll try to take care of things here."
"I'm sorry, Squad Leader Nanaba, but I cannot stay here. I'll fight."
Nanaba shook her head. "You can barely stand, Sakura. I appreciate your valor and your fighting spirit, but Commander Erwin would never forgive me if I wasted one of our most precious soldiers on a suicide mission."
Sakura almost winced. She wasn't sure what the Survey Corps had decided about her powers, but she knew it wasn't anything good. Still, now that the headache had receded, she could at least prove her worth one more time.
"Let her," Gelgar said, resolute. "We fought together in her rookie years, Squad Leader Nanaba. Her skills are no joke. Plus I'm already used to watching after her."
Gelgar winked at her, hoping to draw one of the annoyed reactions he used to get in the beginning, but Sakura only smirked and shook her head slightly.
The sound of titans approaching dispelled the rather amicable mood.
"Fine," Nanaba declared. "But if you feel ill again come back here to rest. And stay near the tower."
Sakura nodded vigorously, then grimaced when her headache resurfaced slightly, as if to remind her not to forget about it. She shouldn't fight right now, her rational mind was yelling at her for pushing herself past her limits, but she couldn't allow more soldiers to die because of her.
The foreign and her native chakra still battled within her, but, as if sensing the danger, the fighting became less prominent. It would still be idiotic to try and use chakra right now, but at least she could trust that her body wasn't going to pull up a stunt mid-fight.
Nanaba and Gelgar leapt into the air, going after titans with finesse only achieved after years of titan-hunting. They were both offensive, going after titans before they could come after them, meanwhile Sakura was strictly defensive, taking care of whatever titans passed through their blades. Whenever Sakura got tired, which was more often than usual, she would easily go to the top of the tower where the rookies were staying and take a breather.
She wasn't exactly sure how much time passed ––an hour? thirty minutes?–– before another weird feeling came over her. She immediately killed a titan that was near her and then left towards her resting spot. It wasn't unpleasant like her earlier headaches and body weakness, but it was weird, and, after the feeling was over, she got new memories.
Memories she shouldn't have.
Running away from herself towards Wall Sina; finding Levi, Mikasa, and Sebastian speaking in a dimly lit room; affirming her loyalty to Erwin despite her being branded a traitor; healing Levi's ankle; leaving Wall Sina to find the origin of the titan attacks along with Armin, Eren, Mikasa, Levi, Hange, and an unfamiliar priest named Nick; arriving at District Hermiha, which was in the process of evacuating; finding out about the one person who could speak about the secrets they searched, Krista; Levi explaining the significance about Ymir's name privately (even though she was branded a traitor for all intents and purposes); volunteering to stay behind to watch over Pastor Nick along with Hange's soldiers meanwhile they went after Krista; telling Levi to take care; hugging Mikasa, Eren, and Armin; feeling herself growing weaker; dismissing herself...
It was as if those memories were a part of her, even if she hadn't lived them. Her clone had lived them, and had transferred the information to her upon her dismissal. That power was extremely useful, but she didn't have time to ponder the repercussions of her newfound ability. The person they were searching for, Krista, was here, and from the sound of it, she was an extremely important person. From what Levi had told her clone, Ymir was also a very suspicious character, having been mentioned in the journal by the titan who could apparently speak. She remembered that mission; it had the normal doses of danger, Hange acting weird, and Levi being an insufferable ass. The only differences were Oluo being in a tough spot and a titan that could speak, which had never been seen, but Sakura wasn't really interested in understanding titans as much as killing them.
Perhaps she took more after Levi than she had previously thought.
She had known about the existence of the journal, but not its contents. That it mentioned Ymir, a name she had not heard until she met the girl standing a few feet away from her, was surely not a coincidence. Now she lamented she had not paid more attention to cryptic journals written by soldiers on the verge of death.
Now that she knew they were coming she didn't know what to do. She couldn't abandon her post, not only because it was impossible with all the titans around, but also because she couldn't leave Nanaba and Gelgar to their deaths only because she wanted freedom. Besides, where would she go? She wouldn't be surprised if she was the most wanted person inside the walls at the moment. Sakura had counted on taking Annie captive as a sort of peace offering to the military, but without the titan-shifter her bargaining chips were few. The little information she knew Mikasa had already told Erwin. She couldn't offer her powers because she was untrustworthy. Erwin wouldn't risk his neck out for her like he had done with Eren because she was already branded a traitor. She could willingly surrender herself to a tribunal, but with the limited information they all had, the sentence would most likely be death, and she wasn't ready to die yet.
Perhaps she could use the chaos of the fight to slip away once the Survey Corps soldiers arrived, if it was still nighttime. This could buy her more time to figure out what was wrong with her body and devise a plan to catch Annie by herself. She had a feeling Annie wasn't as strong as she feared, and she could use this to her advantage.
Gelgar shouted in pain, snapping Sakura from her plans. She leapt away from the tower again towards her comrade, and helped him get rid of two titans that were preying on him. They anchored themselves to the tower's wall, Gelgar hoping to catch his breath, and Sakura trying to discern what was wrong with him.
"I thought we told you to stay behind," he growled through clenched teeth. He was bleeding from his forehead, a streak of red trailing down the left side of his face.
"You've got a head wound," she stated calmly. "You know the rules, Gelgar. Nobody can fight with a head wound."
"We don't have much of a choice."
"I'll take your place."
He snorted. "You can barely fight for more than ten minutes. What makes you think you can take my spot?"
"I've been feeling fine, I swear. I'm smart enough not to offer otherwise."
A hook latched itself next to Gelgar, and Nanaba sped towards them. "Are you okay?"
"Ye–"
"He has a head wound, Squad Leader. I was offering to take his place meanwhile he rests with the rookies."
"A head wound is a death sentence in this situation, Gelgar," Nanaba murmured, her eyes conflicted. "Are you sure you can take his place, Sakura?"
It was a shitty situation. Nanaba knew that Gelgar was more than likely going to die if he kept fighting, meanwhile Sakura had lower chances of dying, but they still weren't great considering how weak she looked just an hour ago. Either way, she was dooming one of them, and if she ordered both of them to rest, then they would all die.
However, ordering a soldier to die was easier when they volunteered themselves so earnestly like Sakura was doing.
"Of course. I'll hold down the tower with you, Squad Leader."
Gelgar wanted to say more, but Nanaba sent a firm look his way, leaving no room for discussion. He grumbled something under his breath but left immediately towards the safety on top of the tower.
Sakura and Nanaba shared a look before jumping into the air once again. Together they attacked the remaining titans with renewed vigor. Though Sakura was still weak from her earlier aches, she pushed that to the furthest part of her brain. She was a ninja. She had heightened pain tolerance. She couldn't allow her body to control her, not now.
Not when Hange and her squad was coming for them. The end was close, and she'd be damned if she let anyone die.
She wasn't sure how much time passed. The night seemed awfully stagnant, but there was no way only one hour had passed. This was the longest she had fought in her life, and in the worst possible conditions. The foreign chakra was still dormant within her, but at least the animosity it had with her own chakra had calmed down considerably. Still, she didn't want to risk anything at the moment. Not when help was so close.
A loud crash interrupted Sakura's flow. She looked to the side and saw one of the towers she usually perched on completely destroyed, a titan lying on top of it. Sakura killed the titan she was focused on plainly and went after Nanaba, who was now balancing on the one remaining tower.
"Shit, that's it for the convenient tower."
"No matter," Sakura panted. "We'll make do."
"I'm almost out of gas, Sakura," Nanaba mentioned in a weak voice.
She whipped her head at the blonde, her eyes wide with horror. "Squad Leader, we cannot lose you too. We already lost Mike."
Nanaba smiled sardonically and stared at her 3DMG. "I shouldn't be surprised you still have one pair of blades left. The Special Operations Squad is all about survival, isn't it. Maybe that means something. Look at everything we've killed. This must be some record, yes? Maybe my count got closer to Levi's."
Sakura growled under her breath. "I don't like what you're saying, Squad Leader. It sounds like you're giving up."
The blonde looked down from her perch in the stone wall, staring at the titans trying to claw their way up with detachment. "I wouldn't say I failed, Sakura. I protected my comrades to the best of my ability. I gave it my all." She looked back to Sakura, her blue eyes more resolute. "No, we gave it our all."
She cringed and turned away, ashamed. Why couldn't she do anything? Was she really about to let Nanaba die because she was afraid of using her chakra? How many people had died because she never gave it her all? How many more people would die because of her?
That had to end. She had to stop being afraid. She was a soldier of the Survey Corps. They tempted death in every expedition they took. It had been easy for her to go on all those missions, knowing she would always be safe. But everyone else had risked themselves. Their lives worked on maybes, not certainties. So, maybe her chakra would backfire and she would die, but maybe it wouldn't. Maybe she could save the rookies and her comrades.
The risk was high, but the payoff was higher.
The sky was lightening. Dawn was coming, and she wanted everyone to be alive to see it.
"No, Squad Leader, we haven't," she said loudly, much more confidently than what she truly felt.
"What do you mean?"
She tightened her grip around her swords, forcing her chakra to come to the surface. It burned, but she commanded it to glow. Her chakra had always been a icy blue, but right now it was corrupted, with red blotches appearing in a disarray. But it was too late now. She had to do something.
"Sakura? What is that?" Nanaba whispered. It was only because of her heightened senses that she could listen. "What are you?"
"Please go watch over the rookies. I got this. I won't die, I promise."
Nanaba looked at her warily but nodded, using the little gas she had to propel her to their little tower.
Sakura sheathed her swords and coated her feet with chakra. Much to her surprise, the chakra failed to stick, and she would've definitely fallen had her 3DMG not kept her in place. She could've sworn she was using the right amount of chakra, too. The new amount of chakra she had was screwing her chakra control! She cursed at herself for not realizing earlier. Her chakra wasn't burning her, yes, but now that it was starting to mix with her own, the sheer amount of chakra she felt overwhelmed her. It was like opening a faucet slightly, expecting a small trickle of water, but getting a waterfall. Her chakra pathway system had never held so much chakra, and using her chakra just now had opened a torrent she had no hope of controlling.
The titans were starting to attack the foundations of the tower. No, she couldn't have that. If that tower fell, then all of humanity might as well fall. Krista was the only one who could help them solve the riddle of the walls, and the Survey Corps needed that answer.
But she had just told Nanaba to go rest, and she couldn't rely on wounded Gelgar either. No, there had to be something she could do, something that could help out with this new problem. It was in the tip of her tongue. She had to find a way to hold them the titans off until Hange came with reinforcements. They were coming, she knew it!
And she knew it because...
The idea made her face light up. It had to work! It solved the problem of her enormous chakra reserve, and the hand sign was so easy that there could be no leaks that would make the jutsu explode in her face.
She made the tiger seal and said clearly, "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"
Sakura had meant for only one shadow clone to split her chakra with, but instead thirty appeared from her simple command, and she didn't even feel slightly winded. In fact, it was almost like whatever chakra she had used had immediately replenished.
"Don't let them touch the tower!" Sakura ordered, loud so that they could all hear her.
The clones nodded and dispersed in a blur. Even though they possessed no 3DMG, the clones made quick work of incapacitating almost every single titan, making them easy pickings for Sakura's blades.
Even though she had devised a way to keep the titans under control, she was still human. She wasn't sure how many hours she had fought (an hour? two hours?) or how many titans she had killed (twenty? thirty?), but the truth was she was reaching her limit. Her 3DMG was also reaching its limit. She was running out of gas and her last pair of blades were already dull.
She wasn't surprised when her blades finally broke. They hadn't been made for long combat, or for killing more than five titans per blade. That they had lasted this long was a true testament of her skill and conservation techniques.
Sakura used what little gas she had to propel herself upwards. She landed on the tower gracefully, her signature style that had earned the admiration of many soldiers in the Survey Corps, only to be greeted by seven pairs of surprised and wary faces.
"There is little time to explain," Sakura started. She had never rehearsed what she would say when she her secret was out. She had hoped it would've never come to this, but there were only a few times when her hopes actually occurred.
"Ah, yes, we have absolutely no time," Ymir drawled, gesturing at the horde of titans being kept at bay by her super strong clones. Perhaps she was a bit too effective at what she did.
The ninja shook her head. "Instead of using this time to explain, we must find a way to get out of this one alive."
Nanaba and Gelgar looked at each other and nodded. "You're right, Sakura, but don't think we'll overlook this."
"I don't think you can even if you wanted to."
"We're out of weapons," Connie said. "And all the Sakuras down there can't do anything to kill them."
"Do we really have to do anything about them?" Bertolt asked. "As long as she can keep making more of those, we should be fine, right?"
"Yes, but more titans will keep coming," Gelgar pointed out. "They have been for the past couple of hours. There will come a point when we can't rely on the Sakuras to control the flow of battle."
"Then what difference does it make?" Ymir said. "We either die now or we die later. There is no way help will come fast enough."
"You're wrong," Sakura said, the confidence in her voice startling everybody. "Help is coming. Squad Leader Hange's squad is coming this way."
"How do you know this?" Nanaba asked suspiciously.
"I can't really explain it now," she muttered. "I know I'm asking a lot, but please, trust me."
"You're asking a lot, but it seems we have no other choice," the blonde Squad Leader replied. "Even if help is coming, there is no way this tower will hold long enough till they get here."
"Maybe we can launch an attack," Krista said, resolute. "Some of us sacrifice ourselves to gain some time."
"I sure hope this is not you volunteering yourself to commit suicide, Krista," Ymir responded, her tone dark.
"W-What?" the blonde yelped.
Ymir looked around, her eyes analyzing each and every one of their faces. "I probably shouldn't say anything, but we're about to die anyway. Please remember the promise you made, back in the snowy mountains."
Krista just stared at her, her blue eyes wide.
Sakura grunted slightly as the memory of her last clone came back to her. Thirty clones gone in the span of an hour. This was much longer than what Sakura had anticipated; she wasn't sure how much chakra she had put in each clone, but it had been sufficient.
"That was the last one," Connie said. "Can you make more, Sakura?"
She looked down from the tower. Some titans were trying to climb the tower, meanwhile others were weakening the foundations of the tower. "I guess my clones could pick up the titans and move them away, but I don't know how much time it'll buy us."
Connie sighed and stared at the rising sun. "In that case, there's our last sunrise. Who would've thought I would say that today."
"Don't be so negative, kid," Gelgar said. "It's not over till we say it's over."
"Connie, can you hand me that knife of yours?"
He gave her the knife, not really questioning her but also unsure about her motives.
"Ymir," Sakura warned.
Said girl looked at her and laughed. "Relax, there's nothing I can do against a ninja."
Sakura's jaw opened momentarily before her eyes narrowed at Ymir. "What did you say?" Ymir had said the word ninja. Sakura had never mentioned it, not even implied that she was one. How did Ymir know? Was she a titan-shifter?
"You're not the only ninja out here, you know. I hope you figured that out already. If not, then you don't stand a chance against them."
Her words left Sakura stiff with shock. Ymir continued speaking to Krista, something about living life freely, but she wasn't really paying attention. Ymir had confirmed the existence of other ninjas in this world. She had possibly met other ninjas, and had alluded to their strength. What did she mean about standing a chance against them? She knew they were allied with the titan-shifters, but why? And what did they want with her?
She remembered the encounter with the man. Now, it seemed as if it had been ages, but it had happened less than a year ago. The man had mentioned always watching her, but more interestedly he had called her his "Vessel." With no other clues and a rather hectic life to continue, Sakura had buried that encounter in her memories, but now that more information about titan-shifters and their ninja instructors was coming out, it seemed to be important.
Did these ninjas want her because she was a Vessel? What did that mean? And how did she wake up inside the walls, instead of outside with them.
Her train of thought was interrupted when Ymir jumped from the tower. Without 3DMG, she was basically committing suicide, which was a bit hypocritical of her after criticizing Krista for wanting to do the same.
But then a bright flash of light left her slightly blinded. From the light appeared a titan she had never seen before, one with short black hair and small stature.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
There was one more titan-shifter.
Ymir fought ferociously. Her small size allowed her to quickly jump from titan to titan, attacking with those sharp teeth of hers. Sakura could hear the buzzing of conversation around her, but she wasn't paying much attention. The identities of the Colossal Titan and the Armored Titan were still a mystery, and there was another titan added to the mix that no one had ever heard about.
That she chose to fight to protect them was a bit reassuring, but she had hidden her identity for a long time. And, echoing what one of the rookies said, she had chosen to keep her power a secret, unlike Eren who didn't know he could turn into a titan until he accidentally did it. In a way, Ymir and her were very similar. Sakura knew that because of this she should give her the benefit of the doubt, but there was something about Ymir that didn't sit right with her.
Perhaps this is how everyone else would feel about her.
Ymir had used the tower to pirouette and jump around from titan to titan, but as the foundations of the tower weakened, she quickly let go of it, falling to the maws of many awaiting titans.
Gelgar and Nanaba's leadership was overshadowed by Krista's charismatic encouragement of Ymir. She stood upon the edge of the tower, shouting harsh words at Ymir that served to spur her onwards. Sakura didn't know much about the relationship between Krista and Ymir, but whatever they had was special. Krista encouraged Ymir to not sacrifice herself, and loudly proclaimed to stop protecting the tower. Sakura had half a mind to clamp Krista's mouth shut, but something told her Ymir wouldn't let them callously die, at least while Krista was also with them.
Sakura thanked her great sense of balance that kept her in place when the tower started tipping over.
"Oh no!" Nanaba yelled as she clutched Gelgar. That head wound wasn't looking so good, either. If only she had good chakra control to heal him.
"Hey! She's really gonna destroy the tower!" Krista yelled in exuberance. The tower she had spent hours protecting was doomed to fall, in the end. "Way to go, Ymir!"
She had barely finished speaking when the titan appeared in front of them, shutting all of them up.
"Wanna live..." the titan spoke, its voice grating on her ears. "Grab on..."
Nobody needed to be told twice. Nanaba helped Gelgar climb on the titan's hair, while all the rookies did so effortlessly. Sakura briefly considered not following them (how much weight could Ymir hold?) but decided against it. She wasn't sure if she could survive that fall with a rather crappy chakra control, and she didn't feel like dying at the moment, especially after the tiny tidbit of information Ymir had revealed.
Sakura held on to Ymir's titan form's hair like a lifeline, and so did everyone else. The tower shook with each attack of the titans, and Ymir positioned herself on the side of the tower so that it would fall forwards, not backwards. Everyone let out a yelp of surprise as they fell, the feeling of gravity not very comforting in this stressful time, and they landed harshly on top of the rocks.
"She buried the titans," Nanaba whispered.
"Quite a way to finish the job," Connie mentioned.
"Ymir," Krista said, her blue eyes happy.
But then the stone underneath them shook, and the titans started rising from their short imprisonment. There were just six titans that survived the tower falling on them, but even then it was a bit too much for Ymir, who already seemed tired.
"Hey! Fuglie!" Connie shouted. "Finish 'em off before they get to us!"
Ymir needed no further encouragement. She hurled herself at the nearest titan, using her sharp teeth to rip the tender flesh of its nape. It was then that a titan came out of the stone and grabbed Ymir by the hair and whipped her back.
"That doesn't look good," Gelgar mentioned nervously.
The titans started devouring Ymir. Sakura had read the reports of the Female Titan calling upon other titans to devour her, but she had thought that had been a fluke, or the Female Titan's way of escaping. It seemed as if titans could tell the difference between titan-shifters and other titans, just like humans could. Even though the titan being eaten in front of her wasn't Ymir, Sakura was still horrified at the carnage in front of her.
And so was Krista.
The blonde girl started running towards the titans, foregoing her survival instinct. Everyone around her yelled at her to stop, but no one managed to go after Krista. Why would they? In their heads, she was an idiot girl who would die trying to protect her best friend.
But Sakura knew the situation was different. Krista was an idiot girl, but she was far too important to die. So Sakura ran after her, making a conscious effort not to use chakra. She couldn't let anything mess up this moment.
She felt familiar chakra signatures approaching. Humans. Mikasa. Eren. Armin. Levi. They would be safe. They would survive. But they needed to get here first, and Krista needed to survive.
"You can't die yet!" Krista yelled. "I have yet to tell you my real name!"
A titan appeared in front of Krista, using one arm to keep the stone that had buried it above. It used the other arm to reach for Krista, but Sakura quickly pulled the blonde girl back and placed herself in front of her.
Sakura felt Mikasa's chakra signature approach them at breakneck speed. Her adopted sister masterfully slashed the titan's nape, not letting a single finger touch Sakura's body.
"Mikasa!" Krista exclaimed.
Sakura smiled warmly at her. "Nice timing."
The black-haired girl glared at her. "Why would you do that?" Of course she wouldn't be pleased to see her in harm's way. That style befitted Eren more than her, anyway.
"I knew you would show up."
Mikasa rolled her eyes at her and assumed a fighting position. "Stay back. We got this from here on."
"We?" Krista echoed.
Sakura smiled warmly at her. "I told you help was coming, didn't I? Now step back and let them do all the work. We're safe."
This chapter was not brought to you by Fire Emblem Fates and Dragon Age Inquisition. I swear to god video games are the bane of my existence. That and I hated this part of the manga so it was a pain to write. I think there's only two chapters left in the Clash of Titan's arc before I can start with my own original content. Finally.
pianoman555, to answer your question, I didn't make the story AU from the beginning because I think there are some aspects of SnK's world that were determined from before the story started, and Sakura it simply not knowledgeable or powerful enough to change them. But, as you've noticed, we're slowly going more to divergence point. If you watched Steins;gate, the best way I can describe Sakura's actions in this story is by changing a reaaaaaaally small amount in the divergence number. They add up.
By the way, to everyone, I recommend reading the manga to have an inkling on what's going on. Sakura's POV is limited, so there are a lot of things that happen that I can't write but they do happen.
Next chapter is juicy, so stay tuned! I didn't end this chapter in a cliffhanger, so you can kinda guess what kinda chapter the next one will be.