These characters are under copyright by Hajime Isayama and/or Kodansha Comics or others. This is a work of fanfiction, for no monetary gain.
A/N:
If you like my Titans stories, you might also like It's Not What You Think, listed under D. Gray-Man. As indicated in the summary, it's a Karneval crossover story (but it isn't in the crossover section). I've also published an original four book high fantasy series featuring a number of gay and bisexual characters, Descent of Kings, available on Amazon and through the publisher, Dreamspinner.
Chapter 28 – Until We Meet Again
"Fuck," Levi swore, as he stared at the shattered remains of Xi Gate, swords in hands. Everyone else was armed with their swords as well, except for Sasha, who'd strung her bow and had an arrow with dynamite lashed on it nocked and ready. Thankfully her destroyed backpack hadn't been the only one to carry dynamite, and the quivers hadn't been attached to it.
"Well, that explains how the bats got in," Hange commented.
"There aren't any footprints in the guano, but it's been disturbed in a number of places, like someone was trying to obliterate their prints," Sasha said critically, studying the droppings.
The cart they'd left was saturated in bat guano just like the floor, filthy and nasty smelling, but they had bigger problems. Quite probably Titan sized ones.
"So was it Titan shifters, or someone else with some kind of explosives?" Connie asked.
"There aren't any blast marks on the rock. No explosive residue," Hange stated critically, studying the shattered remnants of the Gate. "It looks like a Titan punched or kicked it in. And considering the thickness of the rock and the fact the Gate's hidden, likely someone like the Colossal or Armored. This reeks of intelligence."
"This was done days ago, from the guano evidence in the tunnel. The bats haven't been here too long, but they didn't just arrive today, either. Could the shifters have beaten us to this point by that much?" Sasha asked.
"If they were on horseback, sure, especially if they changed out their mounts. And didn't rest. We were going against the current, remember, at a steady pace, but a lot slower than a galloping horse, if they stuck to roads. If they went cross country instead of using roads, that would slow them down, but you know Reiner. Nothing stops that guy," Jean responded grimly.
"Any sign Eren's waking up?" Levi asked Mikasa hopefully, though it had only taken 20 minutes or so to reach Xi Gate.
"Not yet. He could be out for hours," Mikasa replied, her forehead creased with worry.
"So are they waiting up ahead to ambush us, or just trying to get to Shiganshina ahead of us?" Armin reasoned. "Do we risk leaving the tunnel and go the rest of the way on the outside, to avoid an ambush inside the tunnel, or as we're leaving Nu Gate, or is that what they're expecting, and they're waiting outside Xi Gate for us?" Armin asked astutely.
"It doesn't matter. We looked through the remnants of the Gate from here, as far as the lantern would reach, and only saw more tunnel. In a tunnel, at the most there will be the two of them, and whatever traps they've set. Outside, they could ambush us with an entire army of Titans, or the Titans could just attack on their own. We need to proceed to Nu Gate. We do have some advantages they're hopefully not aware of, most pointedly our new strategy for attacking Titans, them in particular," Erwin said cagily, not mentioning the dynamite in that connotation, obviously being wary in case the Titan shifters were up ahead and listening.
The thought had Levi, who was hovering behind the wall at the mouth of the Gate, clenching his sword hilts more tightly and straining to hear any sounds that didn't belong. "Ackerman, line the cart with blankets and we'll put Eren in it. Everyone who hasn't refilled their canteens yet, do it now. There's no telling when we'll see water again," Levi ordered. He swallowed down the wave of bile the thought brought, but at least there weren't insects in this part of the canal, where the water shot out from the huge hole bored in the rock, unlike when they were here before.
Levi reluctantly headed back towards the canal, his eyes carefully watching the shattered remnants of stone that had been Xi Gate, straining to see what lay beyond, in spite of the danger, the Sirens' call of the surface world beyond the Gate almost too much to bear. Now he knew how Odysseus had felt lashed to the mast and struggling to escape, knowing he would only drown in the Sirens' cold embrace. Even walking such a short distance from the Gate was nearly impossible: it was pulling at him like he was iron and it was a lodestone. He wanted nothing more than to break and run for the opening, dangers be damned, and leave this underground hell behind.
"Levi, eyes on me. Kearney's watching the Gate," Erwin ordered sharply, obviously seeing his need, his tension, and maybe fearing he'd succumb. Levi wouldn't blame him for thinking so. He hadn't exactly shown any backbone recently, he acknowledged in self disgust. His eyes found Erwin's and he gave a reassuring, curt nod. He wouldn't abandon Erwin and the others.
"From here on out, we're going to proceed in a seek and destroy formation," Erwin ordered. "Blouse, Springer, you two take point, bow and swords. Kearney, O'Seanessey, Ackerman, Hange, you're in the middle with Yeager. Anders, Arlert, you're our right flank. Anders, use your bow. Bauer, Kirstein, you're left flank, Bauer with your bow. Levi and I will take up the rear."
Erwin was protecting Yeager and their mechanics and medics, covering three sides with bows and the rear with the two of them. He likely would have paired Anders with Bauer and Arlert with Kirstein, otherwise, pairs and couples, like Pixis's Special Forces.
"We need to search past Xi Gate, to make sure they're not waiting just beyond our light. Not me, someone else," Levi qualified quickly, when he saw the objection in Erwin's eyes. Regardless, it would be a risk, and they could ill afford to lose anyone.
"Let me do it, sir!" Sasha immediately volunteered.
"Not without me you're not," Connie snapped.
Levi felt his heart start to race at the thought of Sasha being endangered like that, but if it wasn't her it would be Armin or Mikasa or Anders. Everyone here was important to him. He refused to lose anyone, but he knew his limitations. If he went out that Gate, he'd never be able to force himself to come back, not after the insects and bats and cave-in. It was all he could do to keep from running past the rubble of the Gate now.
"Alright. But have your bow ready, as well as swords. Kirstein, you go with them. You're in charge. I can't risk a second archer," Erwin ordered grimly.
As the three headed past him towards the Gate, Levi called out gruffly. "Don't die, brats. That's an order."
It was an indication of how tense they were that they all just nodded solemnly at the ridiculous command.
0 0 0
Sasha was relieved Levi hadn't insisted on scouting the Gate. After the way he'd been hovering by it and looking at it in so much longing it hurt to watch, she didn't think he'd be able to come back underground, once he was out of the tunnel, especially not after the cave-in. She was amazed and thankful he'd understood why Connie hit him; Levi seemed to understand better than she did. A look had passed between the two of them, as if they shared a secret none of the rest of them knew.
Well, they knew from what they'd heard. They just hadn't experienced it, thankfully. Being mad. Except maybe Jean, when he tried to kill himself. She shuddered at the grim memory of his tearful confession to her and swallowed hard. If Connie died, would I want to kill myself?
Angrily, she forced the thought down. Connie wasn't going to die. And she'd never give up, no matter what. She couldn't hurt Jean or the others.
What if they're dead too?
She shivered at the insidious question whispering in her mind. Then I'll keep fighting until I kill every last Titan or one of them kills me, she thought defiantly.
"I'm taking point this time," Jean stated, his strong, sure voice snapping her out of her grim thoughts, as they stood at the mouth of the Gate.
"I'll keep an eye out for footprints, but I don't expect to find any. Connie, you're behind me, and Sasha, you're in the rear. That will give you time to draw and aim, Sasha, and Connie, you light the fuse," Jean whispered, the lantern he was holding adjusted to emit the smallest possible amount of light.
They needed it to see what lay ahead, but they didn't want a glaring beacon announcing their presence to the Titan shifters. To Reiner and Bertolt. Were they really the Armored and Colossal? Sasha still couldn't believe they'd do something so horrible, that they were the Titans who destroyed the Walls, but the evidence certainly pointed to them.
"Got it," Connie agreed.
Jean and then Connie entered the gateway, and finally Sasha. She picked her way carefully through the rubble of the shattered Gate. It was impossible to see anything past Jean's broad back, but they'd already seen from holding up their lanterns and peeking inside from the tunnel that this Gate didn't immediately open onto a cavern or the outside, the way the Nu and Sigma Gates did. All they'd seen was unrelenting blackness, beyond shattered stone, indicative of another tunnel. Both her unlit lantern and Connie's bumped awkwardly on their hips as they walked. She jerked her attention away from Connie's butt. Now wasn't the time to stare.
Jean's lantern illuminated a narrow corridor, the walls and floor of chiseled rock, similar to the tunnel containing the canal. It was astonishing, what their ancestors had been able to engineer, tunnels and canals bored underground through solid rock. And all it took was a single Titan to destroy something that had stood for centuries: the ceiling, the cable, even the canal, before Eren had cleared it again.
Sasha hoped he'd be OK. She knew Eren would feel horrible for attacking them all, even Armin. No one had said anything about it, but she was pretty sure they were all thinking it: the other two times, Armin had been the one to calm Eren down. He'd listened to Armin. But this time… this time Eren had tried to kill him, too.
0 0 0
Jean eyed the dark void in front of him warily, expecting a Titan to lunge out at any moment and swallow him. They hadn't expected another tunnel, nearly as wide as the first one, to lie beyond the door before they'd seen the shattered Gate. But then, even the tunnel they'd been in hadn't been on the Aqueduct map Reiner and Bertolt had stolen. When they'd tortured Randall to death.
Damn it. How could they fool us like that? I still don't understand why they helped us so many times, if they just want to see us all dead. And why didn't they just kept attacking, and destroyed the other two Walls too? None of it makes any sense! What do they want?
Pay attention, dumbass, Jean scolded himself. Something was bothering him about the walls, the floor, but he'd been too distracted to realize it, other than a vague confusion.
"The carving's different. Not finely tooled, like the other tunnel. This one looks unfinished, or maybe just dug out by someone with lower quality tools," Sasha observed, voicing his nebulous thoughts.
That's what had caught his eye, without him realizing it!
"Like it was an afterthought, maybe? Not part of the canal system, but a way into it, maybe a safe way, to protect the workers from the Titans? Maybe the Gates were added later? Were there Titans contained by the Walls? I mean, when the Walls were being built, was the land overrun, and they built the Walls and then killed everything inside, the way we did when we retook Trost?" Connie asked.
Jean shivered as a sudden icy wind blew across the back of his neck at Connie's words. It was so damned chilly and dark. "I don't know," Jean admitted as he adjusted the brightness on the lantern, abruptly needing to assure himself it was safe, flooding the wide tunnel with light, anxious to prove there was nothing hiding in the shadows.
He yelped in shock and sudden fear as two hooded and cloaked figures lurking against the left wall 20 meters in front of them were caught in the sudden flare of light, his heart hammering when he saw the distinctive Wings of Freedom emblem flashing on the jacket over the heart of one of them, when they lifted their arm, shielding their face from the revealing light. A grapple shot out from the second, smaller figure, whose face was hidden within the depths of their hood before he could react, slamming into the lantern in his left hand, shattering it and bathing his hand and arm and the brace in hot oil, more splashing onto his chest his clothes. The fire!
Jean fought a scream from the shock and pain as an icy gust extinguished the hungry flame and the tunnel was plunged into pitch darkness. He cursed silently so he wouldn't betray his position as he dove and rolled, to evade future grapples, cradling his burnt left hand under his right arm. Reiner, Bertolt, it must be, although the sizes and shapes were wrong, so who…? But at least the sudden blaze of light had thwarted their ambush. How could they see down here without light?
"Come back here, you bitch!" Connie roared, the sound of whining maneuver gear filling the air as Connie gave chase, as the tunnel was once again flooded with light from in front of Sasha, a lantern with the glass chimney removed so the open flame was exposed.
"Oh my God, Jean!" Sasha cried, even as she dipped down and lit the dynamite on her arrow from the lantern, and nocked it. "Hold on Jean, hold on. Connie, pull back!" she yelled, terror and tears in her voice, even as Connie's harsh curse sounded from ahead, abruptly cut off as a grappling hook shot towards him from the end of the tunnel and Connie slammed into the wall and then fell limp, as the two figures fled in a dead run away from them, up the tunnel.
"No!" Sasha screamed, as she let lose her arrow. It rocketed towards the fleeing figures. Moments later there was the roar of an explosion, and a bright flash of light, followed immediately by the thunder of falling rock. Sasha nocked and lit the fuse of a second exploding arrow, sending it to follow, and the tunnel was rocked by a second explosion and more falling rock.
Sasha bent down and lifted her lantern high, her hand visibly shaking. Jean could see the entire opposite end of the corridor was completely blocked by fallen rock now. She lowered her lantern partway and ran to Jean, the flame almost extinguishing, without the glass chimney to protect it from the wind of her passing. "Don't die! Please don't die!" she sobbed.
"Sasha, I'm alright. It's just my hand, just a burn from the oil," he assured her. "Check on Connie," he ordered, cradling his arm as he stumbled to his feet, to prove to her he could stand, though his stomach rebelled as flaming agony burned all the way to his injured shoulder, making the gunshot wound flare in renewed pain as he fought to keep from hunching over.
Jean's breath caught in his chest as a familiar sensation of ice and reassuring warmth enveloped him. Marco. But this time, after embracing him, it centered on his hand, his forearm, soothing the worst of the pain from the burn.
Jean was more relieved to feel his presence again than to feel the lessening of his pain. Marco's back. And he doesn't hate me. Thank you, God. It was almost like having his own guardian angel to watch over him, like in those biblical stories his mother used to read to him. Although it seemed he got hurt anyway. But if anyone deserved a guardian angel, it sure wasn't him.
A ghostly chill finger pressed gently against his lips, as if he'd said the self deprecating words aloud.
Sorry, he apologized. Then his eyes widened. That sudden chill, when he'd felt so uneasy he'd brightened the lamp, had that been Marco warning him of the ambush? And that gust of wind that blew out the flame, both protecting him from igniting his oil soaked clothes and from further attack, was that Marco? Had he saved him again?
"Connie!" Sasha screamed, as she ran to her boyfriend.
Jean belatedly trailed after her. Guess I'm in shock or something, he excused himself, knowing it would only get worse once he looked, once he saw his dead friend.
He expected to hear Sasha scream, to see a grappling hook imbedded in Connie's chest, his back, to see lifeless eyes staring up at them. To his immense relief Jean realized Connie was alive, breathing, though unconscious. The only visible blood was a small spot on his head. The other grappling hook had merely tangled his own line, instead of punching through his body as Jean had feared, but the effect was devastating enough. Connie had hit the wall hard. There was no telling what kind of injuries he had, how many bones were broken, or…
Connie groaned and put his hand to his head, as he began cursing up a blue streak.
"Connie! Thank God! Don't move, don't try to talk, where does it hurt, lie back, stay still," Sasha demanded, contradicting herself as she babbled.
"I'm fine, Sash. You're the one always telling me what a thick skull I have, right?" Connie joked, as reached out and embraced her.
"Don't ever scare me like that again!" she yelled into his chest, clinging to him.
There was the sound of pounding feet, and Jean spun around, the move sending him in a stumble and a lurch as a renewed wave of pain seared his hand. He almost collapsed in relief as he realized the noise was coming from behind them, from the way they'd come, from their friends. He stiffened. Unless it's a two pronged ambush? He drew his right sword, ready for anything.
Then a grapple slammed into the ceiling down the tunnel from them, and there was a blur of motion, almost too fast for the human eye to follow, a lithe figure spinning and looping and diving through the air, followed only a few seconds later by a second blur of green, white, tan and black. Jean let out a shaky breath of relief. Levi and Mikasa. Thank God.
"Sasha, Jean, Connie!" Levi called, even as his piercing gaze flew from them, to scan the corridor for their attackers, his eyes locking on the cave-in further up the tunnel. "You got them? Was it Hoover and Braun?" Levi snapped, landing a meter in front of them.
"Who's hurt the worst?" Mikasa demanded just as fiercely, raking a critical eye over all three of them.
"Connie hit the wall with his head, he was out for a minute or so, and might have some broken bones. My hand is just burned, and Sasha's fine," Jean reported, even as he braced himself against the wall of the tunnel.
"Sit down before you fall down, Jean," Levi ordered, as Erwin, Hange, Anders and Bauer arrived.
"Where's Armin?" Jean demanded, all thought of his injury vanished when he didn't see him.
"Guarding Eren with Kearney and O'Seanessey," Erwin replied. "What happened? Report."
"We were heading up the tunnel with the lantern low, we didn't see or hear anything, but I realized how wide the tunnel was and that someone could be hiding in the shadows and I adjusted the light suddenly, and caught two of them in the glare. Scouts, or at least, two people in Scout uniforms," he reported.
"Hoover and Braun?" Erwin demanded.
"No, I don't think so. They weren't the right heights," Jean admitted.
Connie snorted in disbelief. "Or the right sex. What, you didn't see who they were?" he asked incredulously, even as he hissed under Hange's probing fingers along a bloody splotch on his scalp.
"Oh my God? It wasn't them? Who was it? Who did I blow up?" Sasha asked, sounding horrified.
"Don't go crying over them, not after they attacked Jean and me. I saw her face, just before she covered it with her arm. It was that bitch Ymir. Which means the other one, the one who hurt Jean before you blasted her, must have been Krista," Connie said, his voice filled with cold satisfaction.
