And six is here too! Enjoy, review, and thanks for any advice you may have.
Chapter 6: Trost (Part 3)
Nikolai gazed over the group. His eyes scanned them quickly, to find the amount of people who reached HQ was bigger than expected. That was good. But he also noticed Donovan and Hari were not among the survivors. He closed his eyes briefly, before assuming his cocky smile again.
"I see you guys made it, and how! This plan of yours, ambush and stuff, was pretty good. Who made it?"
"Armin." Jean looked at him, eyes as wide as possible, while the other gave a thumb up and a wink at the shocked blonde. "N-Nikolai, shit, we thought you were dead!"
"Meh, it's not the first time someone says that. Any injuries? Sasha, Connie, you guys ok?" he asked the still trembling cadets. They nodded repeatedly, Sasha running at him and hugging his body tightly. "Yeah, you ok." he mumbled, patting her head "Come on Sasha, it's not so bad. Most people would have frozen too. Just promise me" he said, freeing from her hug and holding her by the chin so their eyes met "That you won't let fear win again. Promise?" The sobbing girl closed her eyes and nodded, trying to hug him again.
"What now?" asked Reiner, watching Nikolai with great respect in his eyes.
"You guys refill and shit." he said, walking towards the exit, blades in hand. "I lost my 3DMG, so one of you'll have to carry me on the way downtown. Meanwhile, i'll go kill some fuckers, cause yeah, i can."
"Wait!" Mikasa ran up to him. "There's no need. A new titan showed up, and began beating the rest up! He even looked at us, but kept fighting. He is not interested in humans."
"Oh, so you already met titan-buddy?" he answered chuckling. The asian stared at him. "Well yeah, i know about him. Who do you think brought that dude here?"
"But... but... how did you do that?" Marco asked incredulously. "Is it... i mean he on our side?"
"Actually, yep." Nikolai fought not to laugh at their faces "Since the beginning of this crap. We talked. Bah, he wrote stuff on the ground, with a finger."
"And you believe him?" Jean was still cautious, after all, they talked about a titan.
"Oh, yes." Niko's smile widened as he made his way outside "Turns out, i know the fucker!" he shouted as ran back to the fight, leaving a group of shocked soldiers behind.
-A while before this-
Nikolai could only spare a few moments to check on the recruits as they passed a few blocks away, his attention focused on the increasing amount of titans approaching his position. In order to give the others all the time he could, the grey eyed soldier didn't just fight the monstruous beings: he shouted, swore, laughed maniacally as his blades were driven through their flesh, cutting both muscle and bone as if it was butter. He wasn't afraid of tiring, since he could fight for hours, provided he got a chance to leave and rest after such ordeal, although it wasn't the case in his current situation.
He backflipped to avoid a giant hand, planting his feet firmly on the roof and lunging right onto the titans chest, using his blades to attach himself to it. Not wasting a second, he impulsed upwards, climbing up to the very face and slashing at its eyes before jumping back to his position. The titan swung his arms, confused by the lack of sight, hitting a smaller one in the face and knocking it down before falling istelf on it, crushing its nape. Nikolai laughed at the show, then hopped down the roof, using a blade to stop his fall and hung down from he roof's edge in front of a window, balancing and then crashing into the house. As pieces of glass fell on the floor, he saw three titans looking at him. A huge arm crashed through the wall, seeking for him. He dodged to a side and went through the door, only to find a second limb waving for the catch. He slid under it, right before running down the stairs and the living room before jumping head first through a window in the first floor, rolling upon his fall, and with two long steps got to the nearest titan shin and jumped to cut the tendons behind the knees, watching it fall in amusement. However, before he could get to its nape, the titan he blinded came back.
"Aw, give me a break, asshole!" he sighed in frustration.
Jumping back to avoid its hand, he ran near a house in opposite of the one he got out from. As the creature leaned towards him, he ran up the wall and backflipped onto its nape.
"Nap time, fucker!" he shouted as his blades cut deep.
The monster fell flat on its face, Nikolai ran along its back as it collapsed and impulsed with great force to fly in the air, landing on the titan that was now standing, his swords wounding the right side of its belly. Of course it did nothing but catch its attention, a hand reaching for him as the two titans that destroyed the house neared them. Thinking fast, Nikolai used his feet to jump on its forearm before the elbow, piercing the flesh to stay in place. As it tried to grab him with the other hand, he swung and pulled the blades out, the force sending him past the incoming hand, that closed a single second too late, almost catching his head. He stabbed with both swords again, this time one at each side of the gigantic wrist, pulled the left one out, and strongly swung to the right, using the blade as support to trace a circle and land on top of the forearm, jumping towards the titan before it could react. Landing on its shoulder and shoving a blade on the nape was done in a blink. He sighed slightly as he jumped once again, covering five meters to get to the other roof, which was intact. Looking around, he saw five titans, his sensors revealing three more hidden from sight. Fucking great.
Preparing fot the fight, he spotted a titan running at full speed towards his position, the ground shaking by its movement. When the huge creature reached the zone, it launched a powerful jab at another titan, making it fly backwards, headless. Nikolai stared, jaw dropping at the sudden, unexpected help. The rest of the creatures seemed confused, standing frozen in place, as if not knowing who they should attack. Five of the seven went after the new titan, the other two after the white haired soldier. He simply waited for them to arrive, focusing mostly on the... "berserk" titan. His eyes studied every movement as it dodged a bald moustachy titan, shoving its left fist into the creature's nape, the right elbow hitting another on the face and knocking it backwards.
The first titan reached Nikolai. He jumped on its head before it could try and grab him, using it as a platform to jump on the other, smaller titan, passing above the huge head and stabbing a blade into the skull in the last moment to stop his movement. Sticking it out, Nikolai simply dropped and used both to attach on the back of the monster's neck, looking up as a big shadowy figure flew above them. A titan's head. Chuckling, he felt the huge abomination fall on its knees, jumping down to the ground. As the bigger titan tried to catch him, he ran up to a wall and jumped, flipping and planting his feet on the side of the creature, using the impulse to bounce back. Another bounce in the wall, and he jumped aiming left, landing on the arm stretched towards him and running along at inhuman speed, getting to the shoulder and slicing the monster down before jumping back to the roof.
As he ran towards where the new titan fought other three by itself, he spotted a fourth one stumbling nearby. His plan was to get to the "friendly for now" titan and help it... him?
"He has no balls, doesn't that make him a... rock?" he thought.
He reached the roof's edge just as the fourth titan glanced to his position. All of a sudden, it lunged at him, mouth open wide. Nikolai was in the verge of jumping, and couldn't retreat. He focused in impulsing himself with all his strength, the whole world slowing down as he twisted his body to the left, turning in the air and avoiding the lethal bite by a hair's width. He couldn't avert his eyes from the grotesque visage, even his flight seemed endless as he absorbed every detail of the monstruous face. And then he hit flesh, a titan's back or nape, he didn't care as he instinctivelly made his blade stab deep, attaching to the creature...
The roar of pain caught him by surprise. Looking up, he realized he had stabbed the friendly titan, a bit left of the middle of the back of his neck. And it looked like it hurt, by the way it suddenly turned, arm stretched out to hit the assailant, instead giving the titan which attacked Niko a mouthful of fist and sending it back and down to the ground. The soldier was thrown down by the powerful swing, landing and rolling, watching as the raging titan proceeded to dismember the other two in front of him. Not wishing to be left out of the fun, Nikolai aimed for the back of a high knee, dropping the monster into a knelt position before forcefully climbing, blade between his teeth, and holding by its hair before shoving the weapon deep into the flesh. He then turned to the titan dispatching the last monster, before shouting at it. Or him.
"Hey, hey! I SAID FUCKING HEY!" he used his hands as a megaphone. "BUDDY, HERE!"
Eren opened his eyes, suddenly coming back to consiousness, feeling pain on his arm. He saw a dead titan in front of him. How did he get to this place? He looked around, confused. The last thing he remembered was being... eaten. He quickly looked his hands. Thank god, he had both! But... they were different. He looked down, and then saw he was standing on the ground, only that the ground was 15 meters from his eyes now. Scared, he backed away, only to crash against a house. Then he heard shouting, and looked down to see Nikolai, waving at him. What was going on?
When the titan finally looked at him, Nikolai smiled. "Damn, dude, you fight savagely! You remind me of some people!" he shook his head "Shit, were are my manners. Nikolai, leader of 31st squad, at your service!" he saluted the titan. It didn't move, eyes fixed on the soldier. "Do you understand me?"
Slowly, the titan nodded. "Great! Can you talk?" The huge creature opened its mouth, but no words came out. Frustrated, it shook his head. "Meh, whatever. But you're a friend, right?" asked Nikolai. Strong nodding. "Cool, what's your name? If you have one, that is. Write on the ground... of course, if you write."
The titan knelt, a big finger tracing lines on the ground. Once he finished, Nikolai read. "I... am... Eren." he looked up at the creature. "No shit, man! I knew an Eren dude! He was a good guy, but got munched by... by..." he sighed "Sorry. A bad memory."
The titan wrote another word. "Jaeger".
"Yeah! Jaeger, Eren Jaeger!" Nikolai looked at the titan, confused. "But how did... you... know..." the soldier looked back at the words, then at the titan, at the words again, and at the titan again. "Naaaaaahhh! You shitting me! Eren? Are you FUCKING SERIOUS? You a titan?" Eren nodded. "Holy motherfucking shit!" he started laughing "No fucking way! Oh god! How did you... when... aw fuck it. Now is see you clearly, your eyes have that green, nice colour of yours. You're totally badass!" He looked around, sensing more titans approach. "No time for a chat, damn it! Eren, take me to your shoulder, i need my blade back, then race to HQ. The rest are trying to reach the gas storage. Fuck, i can't wait to see their faces!" as Eren leaned, allowing him to jump on his shoulder, he chuckled, and pulled the blade out. Eren grunted. "Sorry man. I didn't know it would hurt. But... that means..." he held onto his hair not to fall "You're in there, then! I mean, your body, inside the sweet spot! Guess i'll have to take you out when we're done, but for now, onwards, titan buddy!" he shouted, pointing at HQ with his blade.
The trip to HQ was surrealistic for both of them, Eren looking from time to time at the smiling soldier, Nikolai shaking his head whenever he thought of how weird everything had gone... again. As they arrived, the duo saw the last cadets get in through the windows. Eren stopped near the building, gesturing at Nikolai to get down and into the lower levels.
"As you wish, pal." he pointed at the few smaller titans near the entrance. "Don't worry about those, they are cheese! In case you didn't notice, i was fighting without 3DMG before you arrived! Just take care of the big ones, but save one or two for me!" Laughing, he jumped down from Eren's shoulder, landing without problem in front of the surprised shifter. Nikolai then raced towards the titans, as Eren's attention was caught by two titans which destroyed HQ's wall and peeked inside. Somehow, he knew his friend would be okay, even when facing the fearsome creatures. "No" he thought "They aren't fearsome. They are just enormous brutes without brain, stupid animals. But Nikolai" he smashed his fist into the titans looking at the recruits "And i... we are fearsome. We have the power to face them now, and they will learn to fear us!" he roared in challenge, bracing for battle.
Nikolai heard the sound of Eren's roar, his heart beating faster as he dodged a five meter titan's hand. They were so clumsy... he lunged between its legs, the creature leaning so much to catch him it fell on its face, the soldier jumping onto a three meter's belly and bouncing back, spinning with both arms stretched. He made several cuts as he passed above its neck. Two left. Becoming a mere blur, he sliced both knees on the shortest titan, stopping behind it, and just jumped stright up, a single slice killing it. The third one, six meters of floppy meat, lumbered its way towards him, Nikolai threw both blades and hit its eyes. The titan stumbled back and fell on its butt, the soldier running and jumping on its leg, then to the face, pulling both blades out and using them to climb above its head, slicing fingers as they approached. The titan fell a few seconds later. Smiling, he simply walked into HQ.
The hallway was dark, which was good as his enhanced senses detected seven titans ahead. He smirked, thinking of how he could take them as he hid behind an enormous pile of boxes, listening to the sounds of battle outside. His thoughts went then to his team, wishing they'd made it, then to Armin and Mina. Then Eren. Now he had a moment, he finally thought about it calmly. Did anyone know about it? Impossible, Armin wouldn't have cried like a girl, and Mikasa wouldn't have doubted like she did before. And judging by Eren's actions, not even he knew about it... which was weird. He then wondered what the superiors' reaction would be. Nothing good, if he knew about military, politics and stuff. Nope, definitely. Eren would need a hand to stay out of trouble with the government. And Nikolai wasn't someone fond of bowing to the authorities. He smiled again, but his thoughts were distracted by a mechanical noise. The elevator! The recruits where getting into the death zone! He heard the titans turn and stumble towards them. He quickly got out from his hiding spot, but before he could shout or move, he spotted the guns in the soldiers' hands... and the people above, wating in ambush. He couldn't help it. He smirked again, and decided to see what was going to happen.
-Flashback End, Finally-
His eyes fixed on the gigantic figure standing amidst the broken, battered ruins of the houses near the building. While he had been waiting inside HQ, Eren had fullfilled his duty: steaming bodies lied scattered, titans slowly evaporating into nothingness. He wasn't unscathed, though. His left arm was missing, yet Nikolai saw how it slowly began to regenerate. Unlike before, he let the rogue titan have his fun, studying his technique, shouting a warning whenever he let a titan approach from behind. He heard the sounds of recruits leaving after refilling their tanks, hurrying to climb wall Rose. He also knew their eyes searched for him, and he felt glad to be in the upper room, laying against one of the sides of the hole the titans made when Eren and he arrived. He heard steps closing in, but did't turn to see.
Mikasa, Jean, Armin, Mina and the B.A.R. trio where there.
"Nikolai..." Carolina began shyly "Who is he?"
"A friend." he said lazily, arms crossed. He didn't even look at them.
"But... but you said you knew him." Reiner stepped forward, his hand resting on Nikolai's shoulder "How is that possible?"
Before he could answer, the titan roared and lunged at another. Nikolai remembered it, it was leaving the zone in which Eren and his team where slaughtered. He smiled as Eren used his only hand left to crush the other's throat before slamming it on the ground, proceeding then to stomp on it until nothing of the head remained.
"Hey buddy!" Niko shouted "Come here, will ya? Some people here want to meet you!"
The others backed when the creature turned to them. It slumbered his way until he was in front of the building, staring at them.
"C'mere and turn around. If you feel i'm stabbing too deep, shout or something."
The Rogue Titan climbed on top of the roof of the first floor, turning around and sitting in front of the shocked people and the white haired male. Nikolai jumped on its nape, blades carving their way into the flesh with strength, yet in a careful way. He cautiously probed the zone, stopping as soon as he felt an obstacle. Grinning despite the heat he felt on his skin as his hands reached deep for his target, he gripped tightly to the fabric of a shirt and pulled. With a strange noise, a body started to emerge, steam hiding the person's features. It wasn't until Nikolai jumped back through the hole in the wall that they saw who it was.
"So, guys" said Nikolai as he helped a semi unconscious Eren to sit on the ground "Who's gonna take me and Mr. J back to town?"
Chapter End
I know, lemon ain't happening. It will be like this for a while, so endure it or just wait XD. Also, if any of you has a request of a girl (or guy, i feel creative :P) you wish to see, MP or comment me, and i'll see what i can do.