Chapter 27
Reiner steeled himself for what he was going to do. Yes he had killed before, but not one who was dear to him. He felt his conscious struggle against his decision but logic ruled over emotion in this situation. Reiner prepared to remove the hand not protecting Bertholdt and use it to smash Gabriel. Reiner wanted it to be quick and painless out of respect for the innocent boy he once knew. He never got the chance as he saw something approaching in the distance.
"CHARGE!!" Commander Erwin yelled to his troops he was leading. Behind them a massive horde of ravenous titans closing in.
"Dammit Commander!" Reiner said to himself. "I knew you were ballsy but this?" The others on Reiner also saw the incoming titans. Gabriel turned his head to see the commotion which Reiner used to his advantage. He released his hand and smacked Gabriel clear off of him. The boy fell off and hit the ground hard enough to make him dazed.
"No!" Sasha cried as she flew down to where Gabriel landed.
"Sasha don't!" Jean cried as he followed after her. He was worried Gabriel would kill her, he had already made it clear what his intentions were. Sasha ignored him, only focusing on getting to Gabriel. If he was stuck there then it was only a matter of time before he was squished or eaten. The others upon seeing the incoming hordes of titans quickly got off Reiner as Reiner doubled his speed in an attempt to bulldoze through the incoming horde. Reiner punched through the first four but was restrained by a group. Seeing this, Ymir jumped off to help Reiner fight off the titans since he couldn't use his arms due to protecting Bertholdt and Eren. Mikasa, Connie, and Christa joined with the other scouts to battle through the Titan hordes.
"Gabriel!" Sasha cried running over to Gabriel's dazed body. He was still conscious much to her relief, that's was a long fall and was worried he could have died. She gently placed her hand on him.
"Get away from him!" Jean yelled, landing behind her drawing his swords. Sasha didn't hear him as she felt a powerful hand clasp her throat. She immediately struggled as Gabriel slowly stood up, lifting her off the ground in the process. She struggled and kicked her feet but it was no use, Gabriel was too strong, she was foolish to think she could overpower these hands which could knock down a Titan.
"Gabriel let her go!" Jean cried as he swung his sword at Gabriel. Jean knew better than to risk tackling him and end up ground fighting with someone as strong as his former ally and friend. Jean also couldn't bring himself to kill him so he aimed his blade at Gabriel's shoulder. Gabriel wasn't fast enough as the blade cut through his shoulder, leaving a light gash which immediately turned his clothes red. He let go of Sasha who was coughing and swallowing large amounts of air to regain her oxygen which had been deprived.
"Sasha, we can't stay here with him." Jean said.
"We can't leave him!" Sasha cried. "He'll die out here alone!"
"He died the second he saw the Armored Titan again." Jean said sadly. "He's gone Sasha, there is no bringing him back this time. I think, this is who he really is."
"HOW COULD YOU SAY THAT?" She angrily yelled.
"Because he would have snapped out of it by now. Look Sasha, he is dangerous, he threatened us and then tried to kill you! You need to accept he is gone forever!! HE IS NEVER COMING BACK!" Jean screamed with agony at her. Sasha felt tears run down her cheeks.
"No, no Jean. You're wrong!" She said through her tears. They were interrupted by the sound of feet, they turned to see several titans bearing down on them. Jean didn't even react before he immediately grabbed Sasha and took off with her, leaving a wounded Gabriel clutching his bloodied shoulder to fend for himself.
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Jean thought to himself. He couldn't allow Sasha to die like this. Not to try to save someone who was already lost.
"NO NO NOOOO!" Sasha screamed so loud she strained her vocal cords as she struggled to get free of Jeans grip. The last thing she saw was Gabriel slowly stand up as more and more titans surrounded him.
Xxx
Mikasa growled as she flew through the hordes of titans to reach Reiner. After leading a charge, Commander Erwin had been bitten and pulled away by a Titan, his last orders being to advance no matter what. Mikasa didn't know what his fate was, she saw one scout disobey the order and go back to rescue her commander. It was pure carnage, the inexperienced and incompetent soldiers of the Garrison and MPs dropped like flies, essentially just acting as cannon fodder to give the Scouts an opening. After killing another Titan she arrived at Reiners position as he aggressively fought off the large group biting into him. Mikasa figured he had to be desperate since he was no longer covering Bertholdt who had to rely on his own swords to fend off any titans who got too close. This was a good opportunity, she would sneak in while they were distracted and grab Eren who was strapped to Bertholdt. Eren cursed his body for taking so long to heal, if he could just transform right now this would be over. His transformation would kill Bertholdt at this range and severely crippled Reiners titan. His eyes caught Mikasa getting close and felt happiness, if she could get him out of these bonds he could grab some ODM gear and fight till his body was able to transform again. He screamed when he was a Titan grab her tightly in its large hand. He could tell she was hurt bad since she wasnt getting out, he knew she was skilled enough to slice her way out of a titans grip. The titan opened its disgusting mouth to devour her, sending Eren into a frenzy! He couldn't lose her! Mikasa was barely conscious, the Titan had crushed her rib cage when it grabbed her rendering her unable to even move without excruciating and crippling pain. She tried to swing her way out but her cracked ribs wouldn't allow her too, even in this life or death situation. She thought quickly on what to do when suddenly the Titan fell dead. Mikasa hit the ground hard since she was still stuck in its grip. Who had saved her? She struggled to get up as Connie ran to her to help her up. Eren let out a huge sigh of relief seeing Mikasa was safe. He then gasped when he saw it was Gabriel who had killed the Titan!
"He saved her! That means he came back!" Eren thought happily knowing his brother was back to his normal self again. Those thoughts quickly purged from his head when he saw Gabriel getting closer and closer.
"Reiner! Bertholdt!!" He screamed violently. He was getting exhausted, the nonstop fighting over the last six hours was getting to him, the large amount of blood he had lost from his wound wasn't helping either. It didn't matter though, even if he had to die to accomplish it, he would kill Reiner and Bertholdt, then the bastard Jean who wounded him and left him for dead.
"Shit!" Bertholdt cried seeing Gabriel coming. Bertholdt couldn't transform leaving him vulnerable and he knew Gabriel had the speed to decapitate and kill him faster than he could trigger his transformation. It didn't matter anyway as Bertholdt would kill Eren and Reiner if he transformed here. Reiner was too busy stopping the other titans from ripping them to shreds so it was up to him to fend Gabriel off. Bertholdt steeled himself and took a drop breath, he could see Gabriel was wounded due to his awkward movement and blood soaked uniform. Bertholdt knew this would leave Gabriel vulnerable. Gabriel charged in as Bertholdt in quick movement, taking advantage of Gabriel's exhaustion, swung his sword though Gabriel's abdomen much to Erens horror who screamed through his gag. The blade went through his intestines on an angle meaning his spinal cord had been spared along with any major arteries. While it had not been enough for an immediate kill, it would definitely be a killing blow within the next hour due to all the blood he had already lost. Gabriel screamed as he stared down Bertholdt with bloodied and dark eyes, the look alone was enough to send chills down Bertholdt's spine as Gabriel grabbed the sword and pushed it in farther allowing him to get closer to Bertholdt who was panicking. Gabriel cut his hand from this but ignored it as he grabbed Bertholdt by the skull and pushed his thumbs in his eye sockets. Bertholdt screamed as he tried to swing his other blade at him but Gabriel kicked it away. The screaming caught Reiners attention and looked to see what was happening. Reiner prepared to quickly kill Gabriel when another slash erupted through the two. Eren looked to see it was Commander Erwin who had severed his straps and grabbed Eren to safety who held onto the commander himself due to lack of Erwin's right arm.
"Wait! Commander! Gabriel he-" Eren tried to say.
"A lost cause and a liability at this point, I heard what happened, I'm sorry Eren but you are the only priority here." Erwin explained.
"No! We can't leave him! He's my brother!" Erwin didn't listen to a word as they landed on the ground in relative safe area with a high concentration of soldiers.
"We have Eren! All troops! Return to the walls!" Erwin ordered as a loud boom and dust cloud filled the area. Jean in shock looked up and saw Reiner grabbing a smaller Titan and throwing it at them!
"Dammit! He's throwing titans at us!" Jean yelled. Gabriel and Bertholdt were locked in a deadly embrace. Gabriel had a sword in his abdomen while Bertholdt had Gabriel's hands crushing his skull. Gabriel was furious, while yes he wanted to kill Bertholdt for his role in this, Reiner was his true target and he hadn't been able to face Reiner one on one without the risk of him turning into a Titan.
"I will! Make! You SUFFER!" Gabriel yelled as blood spurted from his mouth, his strength was fading, there was no enough blood to fuel all the muscle tissue in his body to use more than a quarter of his strength at this point which is the only reason Bertholdt still lived, his skull would have caved in quickly under Gabriel's full power. Bertholdt, who was in agony from having his eyes gouged in, could tell Gabriel was getting weaker and weaker. For the first time ever, Bertholdt could overpower him. He pulled Gabriel's hands apart and as his eyes regenerated, could see Gabriel beginning to fall out of consciousness. This was his chance, he unlatched the blade in his opponents stomach and kicked him, sending the bleeding boy to fall to his final resting place. Gabriel's body never hit the ground as Ymir had gently grabbed him and began running towards the position of the scouts. Unbeknownst to Bertholdt, Eren had the coordinate, the power of the founding Titan. Reiner had seen it from the titans obeying Erens commands.
"Hey! What are you doing?!" Bertholdt yelled, angry that Ymir had seemingly betrayed them.
"We got worse news, Eren is the one with the coordinate!" Reiner said. Ymir approached the scouts who prepared to attack before she gently lowered her hand to show the bloodied and mangled body of Gabriel who was hanging on to life by a thread.
"I. Couldn't. Let. Him. Die." Ymir said, her words slow and spaced apart. "There.is.still.good.in.him." She continued as she turned to Christa to say goodbye to her.
"Oh no!" Connie cried seeing the condition of Gabriel's body. Jean felt a surge of guilt for leaving him to die after giving him the wound on his shoulder. Sasha ran up and immediately started administering whatever first aid she could though there was much she could do aside from slowing down the bleeding and keeping him hydrated. Eren arrived with Mikasa on his back after using the founders power to order the titans to attack Reiner who were about to kill Bertholdt were it not for Ymir's last minute save. The scouts began their retreat back to Wall Rose with Gabriel in a wagon being tended to by whatever medical personnel they had left. Due to Erens new ability, no Titan had been seen in the distance. Jean saw Sasha sitting on the wagon with her arms around her legs weeping. Eren, Mikasa, Christa, and Connie were also there in hysterics begging Gabriel to survive.
"Sasha…" Jean said, reaching his hand to her. "I hope you can under-" His hand was immediately slapped away by her.
"Don't you start!" She whimpered. "If you hadn't left him after hurting him he wouldn't be like this!!"
"Wait… what??" Eren asked angrily.
"Go ahead!" Sasha lamented. "Tell them Jean! Tell them how you stabbed him in the shoulder and then left him wounded with a pack of titans closing in on him!" Jean immediately saw everyone giving him a death stare.
"You did what??" Mikasa growled despite the pain from her ribs. Eren angrily walked up to him and grabbed him by the collar.
"What the fuck!" Eren yelled. "Why the hell would you-"
"I was trying to save her goddamn life!" Jean retaliated by slapping Erens hands away. "And she's lucky I did because if I wasn't there, Gabriel would have choked her to death!"
"No he wouldn't have! I saw him fighting himself to regain control! I could have gotten to him if you hadn't done that!" Sasha yelled, her grief now turning to anger.
"You're letting your emotions get the best of you!" Jean yelled back. "He was going to fucking kill you! And everyone else! You all heard it from his own mouth! How were you gonna bring him back huh? His grip around your neck was so tight you couldn't have even talked!"
"ENOUGH!" They all turned to see a sobbing Christa. "Please, just stop! So much has happened today! I can't handle this yelling! Just please! With losing Reiner, Bertholdt, Ymir, I can't!" Everyone quickly calmed down, Christa was right, it had been a brutal four days for everyone, ever since they departed on the expedition and encountered the female Titan, it had been non stop fighting.
"She's right, man." Connie said. "I think we all just need a break." He was heartbroken to learn of Reiner and Bertholdt's betrayal. They saw a horse coming up to them on the side of the wagon.
"I was ordered to inform you that Heimer has been stabilized, we have gotten the bleeding down to a controllable level but he won't be fully out of the woods still surgeons can remove that blade. For now though he is in no immediate danger." The Scout said. This gave everyone a sigh of relief, at the very least Gabriel would live.
But what was to come after that for him?
Xxx
Levi sat in Erwin's hospital room with a distressed look on his face. He had begun making his way to the scouts position but there was no way he would ever have caught up to them. As such, he made it as far as Karanaese district where they had returned through. Seeing Gabriel's condition nearly sent Levi over the edge but didn't get a chance to see him again as he was rushed into a hospital for surgeons to remove the blade and stitch him up. Since Levi couldn't be in there with him, he went to Erwin's room where surgeons had sterilized and smoothed down the bone so they could stitch up what was left of the commander's right arm. Erwin had explained to Levi everything that had happened.
"What will happen to him?" Levi asked Erwin.
"It's not looking good for him." Erwin said honestly. "Even if he were to return to who we knew him as, his crimes can not go unpunished. He has proven at this point he is a serious threat and liability.
"You wouldn't seriously have him put to death would you?" Levi asked fearfully.
"No, whatever happened to him for him to be so violent and dangerous was something he had no control over, I've taken into account all the good he has accomplished. My recommendation is internment in the mountains with daily therapist visits to see if we can get this thing under control, if not he is a threat to everyone else around him." Erwin said.
"I understand." Levi sighed. "Do they have any idea why he is like this?"
"Hanji is working on it." Erwin said. "What Gabriel is suffering from is not a natural condition. From what she's told me, she theorizes that some form of brainwashing may be involved."
"Who could possibly have the ability to do that?" Levi asked.
"Like I said, it's only a theory." Erwin said as he looked out the window. "We have learned much about our world these last few weeks. Perhaps the conflict with the titans is not as black and white as it would seem. We've learned people can become titans based off what happened at Ragako village, and that to some degree they can be controlled."
"What the hell are you smiling about?" Levi asked, noting the smile on his commander's face. "I'm not too thrilled with the idea I've been
Killing people this whole time."
"It's just, with all these new developments, we are one step closer to tearing down the walls hiding the truth." Erwin said, eager to learn what the future held.
Xxx
Wall Sina-Undisclosed Location.
Two adults walked down the hallway in an underground meeting room. The man was 7'3 and heavily muscled with mahogany hair and blue eyes. The woman was 6'9 and had green eyes with long blonde hair, her physique also heavily muscled. They walked into a room where they saw a tall older man smoking a cigarette.
"We are here Kenny." The man said. "What do you want?"
"Hmm." The man known as Kenny put out his cigarette and stood up. "Heinrich 008 and Annalise 021, I'm sure you thought you were the last survivors of the Zeus Project?"
"Get to the point old man!" Annalise demanded.
"Oh now no need to be rude." Kenny laughed. "I'm sure you'll be happy to learn this, there is another survivor of the program, he was hidden for a long time and only confirmed recently."
"Who?! Who is it?" Heinrich asked.
"You're long lost little brother Heinrich, Gabriel 009."
End of Part 1