Disclaimer: I don't own Attack on Titan, Devil May Cry, or any of its characters…
From the top of the wall where the inner gate was located, stood three soldiers staring down at the mindless titans below that were trying to climb up the wall only for them to stick to hundreds of harpoons scattered along the giant net that was leaning over the wall.
"They're sticking to those harpoons all right. Making a bulwark out of the titan's themselves was the technical crew's idea… but still, we can't let our guard down. We have to forget regular operations and be ready to respond flexibly to whatever happens. The titans could charge… or the Colossal Titan could appear at any moment. This wall is the front line of the war between the human race and the titans…" said Hannes, as he crossed his arms and observed the situation at hand. He then frowned when he saw one of his subordinates visibly shaking. "What's wrong?" he asked.
"...nothing." The soldier shook his head. "Our mission is going smoothly… but… I'm worried about our comrades in the vanguard."
Hannes nodded slowly. "Yeah… for now, it's better we don't know how they're doing… we should concentrate on the counterattack, just like we did during initial training."
"I heard the three kids who escaped with you five years ago are trainees, Captain Hannes… they're on the front line, too…"
"Yeah…" For a moment, Hannes looked visibly tense upon the mention of those 'kids'. It seemed as if he was terribly concerned for their safety, prompting his subordinate beside him to quickly regret his words.
"I beg your pardon, sir… I talk too much…" he said, while looking down to avoid Hannes' gaze.
"They're safe." Hannes said, cutting him off.
"Eh?"
"They're tough kids. Each one of them has something that'll help 'em survive." An image of Eren, Mikasa and Armin appeared in his mind as he looked up. "One has advanced level combat skills. One is whip-smart. And one possesses both along with a tenacious spirit…" He narrowed his eyes slightly. "They're safe. I'm sure they're alive.
In the town past the inner wall, the remaining soldiers who had evacuated Trost were busy gathering supplies in preparation for future orders from their superiors. In one particular area of the place, the cadets of the 104th were gathered altogether, with most of them having grim expressions on their faces because of what they just went through.
"Trainees!" A Garrison soldier shouted out towards them. "Get fully equipped and stand by in squad formation until further orders!"
"It's complicated…" Connie sighed and looked down to avoid the gazes of his comrades. "I don't want to talk about it."
"If you're not feeling like it at the moment, you don't have to tell us about what happened in the town." Krista said with a smile of sympathy. "I'm sorry… I kept volunteering to help with supplying everyone…"
"After everything we went through to secure that gas… weren't you the one who wanted to jump down and wanted to stick with those who were left at the HQ?" Ymir commented, which caused Krista's eyes to slowly widen.
"Th-Then everyone who isn't here right now is…" she concluded, only for Connie to answer her with a nod.
"...Yeah."
"Are you sure? Even Mikasa? Arlert? Eren? He was alive, right?" Ymir raised an eyebrow in curiosity. Didn't that blonde coward tell them that Eren was actually alive and fighting the titans that were around the HQ? Is he truly dead now? What about the other two?
"Like I said, I don't want to say anything." Connie shook his head and turned away to avoid their looks.
"Suit yourself." Ymir shrugged, before turning her attention towards Jean, who was sitting just a considerable distance from them. "Jean, mind telling us what happened with those three?"
Jean wasn't doing any better than Connie, honestly. Only that he was looking more troubled, and not to mention Reiner, Bertholdt, and Annie were with him and sharing similar looks. He then took a sip of water from his jug before finally speaking up. "We all can't say anything… We were forced to swear an oath of secrecy." He told Ymir and the other soldiers, glancing towards them. "Although… I don't know how effective it's gonna be…"
"You were ordered not to tell?" Krista asked.
"What the hell?" Ymir protested. Something wasn't right here.
"It's not the kind of thing you can keep covered up… I'm sure the whole human race will know about it soon enough, so you'll get your answers one way another…" he looked down again, this time narrowing his eyes. "That is, if the human race still exists by then…"
On the other side of the street, Marco was doing his best to calm down a wailing Daz with Sasha closely watching the two, while also having deep thoughts of her own.
"Uhhh…" Daz moaned out in despair, holding his head with both of his hands. "Marco… I… I'm done… I can't… I can't fight the titans… My buddies were eaten right in front of me… They were eaten alive… and I didn't feel anything! No sadness or hate… I was just incredibly grateful that it wasn't me… But next time, it'll be my turn… I've figured it out! What our job really is… In short… we keep fighting… until the titans devour us!" With a wail akin to that of a child's, he pulled out one of his blades. "If I'm gonna be eaten alive… I'd rather die here!"
"Don't!" Marco quickly acted, preventing him from drawing his sword. "Get a hold of yourself, Daz! You're not the only one! We're all struggling with our fear…" He turned towards Sasha, who was just beside them. "Look at Sasha! Even after what she went through, she's still the perfect soldier!"
However, in contrast to Marco's words, Sasha simply hugged her knees together and looked incredibly worried. She was one of the people who witnessed what happened earlier at the HQ; sure, she was very relieved to see that Eren wasn't dead but… with how the soldiers from earlier took him away along with Mikasa and Armin… is he anywhere near safe? Then she was also forced to be quiet about it with everyone else so… she couldn't talk to anyone about it.
"Eren… please… stay safe…" she whispered in a soft tone, unable to be heard by anybody else. Tears also began gathering in her eyes again. She didn't want to experience the feeling of losing Eren again.
Daz mistook her current state as fear of those monsters and it caused him to become more paranoid. "That's it…!" He shouted, pulling out his blade again.
"No!" Marco was quick to stop his hand, preventing Daz from going any further.
*BOOM!*
That particular explosion was loud enough to gain the attention of the many soldiers gathered there, as they all looked towards the direction of where they heard it.
"Cannon fire?!" Reiner snapped out of his grim expression and rushed into the street with Jean, looking towards the direction of where the explosion was. At that moment, cries from various soldiers could be heard all over the place.
"Just one shot?"
"Hey!"
"It came from inside the wall!"
"Has the floodgate been destroyed?!"
"Nah, that's the most fortified spot. There's no way… I'm sure someone just dropped an explosive."
"Still… what's all that smoke?!"
"It can't be… steam coming off a titan?!"
Hearing that last outcry made Reiner's eyes go wide and he begun to shake in fear. "...!" Without any other word, he fired his gear and flew up to a rooftop to head towards the source of the explosion.
"Reiner!" Jean cried, calling out for his comrade who wasn't able to hear him since he was already on his way. Jean and Annie were left wide-eyed in their places before firing their gears as well, following after Reiner as more soldiers got up and did the same.
The two immediately saw Reiner standing on the rooftop that was the nearest to where the smoke was coming from. They quickly made their way towards the blonde man as he began to speak.
"What the hell is going on down there?!" he asked with a confused frown, unable to see anything because of the smokescreen that covered the area, only for them to take a slight step back in fear when they caught a glimpse of the ethereal demonic arm that could only belong to one person.
"W-What happened?! D-Did we get hit?!" Armin asked, looking up with one eye open. The sight of Eren's Devil Bringer outstretched was the first sight to greet him, making the blonde let out a small 'eep' out of fear, only for it to finally disappear when Eren finally brought down his arm.
"No… we… weren't hit at all…" Mikasa said, as her eyes widened before finally letting go of Eren's arm so she could look at him, as the white-haired teen as a serious expression on his face. "E...Eren… he… protected us…"
"You guys okay?" he asked, glancing at his two friends only to see them nod at the same time. "Good. I don't know if they're waiting to see what happens… or if they're shocked at seeing this…" he raised his right arm. "The Garrison soldiers can't see us… but eventually… they'll resume the attack. And after what I just did, I'm not sure if we can talk our way out of this now."
"But… there still must be a way!" Mikasa cried out, still afraid of losing Eren and Armin.
"This smoke can only conceal us for as long as a minute or less…" Eren said, looking around. "So I'm going to be really quick and I need you both to listen carefully, because I'm not going to repeat anything I say." Realizing that he was finally going to give them their awaited explanation, both Armin and Mikasa nodded and he did the same in return. "Alright, have you two heard of the Legend of Sparda?"
It took a few moments, but Armin was quick to utilize his memory and he immediately answered. "Yes, I know about that! The legend goes that Sparda was a demon who rebelled against his own kind and fought for humanity, banishing them to the Underworld single-handedly." he explained, while the raven-haired girl looked intrigued, to say the least. Mikasa didn't know anything about that legend, but she was quick to understand Armin's words.
"That's nice. Now…" Eren raised his demonic arm for them to see. "Relate that legend to this arm of mine."
Mikasa was silent for a moment, putting piece after piece together and when she was done, her eyes widened as she raised her hand to cover her mouth. It didn't take long for her to figure out that there was a connection between Eren and the legend that Armin just explained. Meanwhile, Armin just looked down and took a deep breath.
"So my suspicions were right…" he mumbled in a defeated tone. "You are really… a demon… Eren…"
Mikasa was about to argue that Eren wasn't anything like a demon, but the teen himself beat her to it. "That's not really the case, Armin. If I was a demon, I wouldn't look anything like this."
The blonde boy looked up with a confused expression. "...what?"
"Alright, now that you are aware that the Legend of Sparda is real in every way, you have to know what happened after that. After Sparda continued to protect humanity for thousands of years, he met a woman and fell in love with her, before they started a family. They had twins as their children, and they grew up to be as strong as their father. One of them made a family of his own with another human, and that's where I come in."
Armin and Mikasa could only gasp in response, too shocked to even come up with anything else to say.
Eren clenched his arm into a fist and slammed it into his chest. "I carry the blood of Sparda in me, that's why my arm is like this. I am human, but I'm also part-demon." he revealed, narrowing his eyes slightly. "That's pretty much everything you need to know for now. I can't give the details in full with us getting cornered like this. Plus, the smoke is about to clear up soon and they'll be fire at us again."
Armin looked down, disappointed with Eren's decision but understanding his reason nonetheless. "So… what are we going to do now?" he asked.
"I'm… going to go away." He said with a grim tone and expression, causing Armin to look up in shock and Mikasa's eyes to start shaking.
"What? Where will you go? How?" Armin asked, frowning at the white-haired teen.
"For now, anywhere will do." He felt the key that was hanging from his neck through his clothes. "My dad told me that I must head back to my house's basement, and that I'd understand everything there… I suspect that there's valuable information hidden inside… most likely about the titans and maybe even about demons too."
Upon hearing Eren mention the titans, Armin gasped in surprise. What did Eren's father know about the titans? "Can you even do that when we're cornered by a squadron of soldiers?!"
"You saw me use my Air Trick, haven't you? You saw how I can 'disappear' like how you said it. I can escape even if they use their gears to chase me." Eren answered his friend with a smirk, before returming "Anyways, I have two ideas. As long as you two don't cover up for me… they won't kill you. I've already caused you enough trouble, so from here on out, I'm going to go alone."
"...no…!" Armin said, fear taking over him. If Eren leaves and runs off by himself, not only can he be attacked by the hundreds of titans beyond the wall, but there was also the chance that those demons could show up and ambush him. His plan basically a suicide mission where he could end up dead.
"Eren…" The two turned towards Mikasa, who spoke up for the first time in minutes, as she had tears in her eyes and shook her head slowly. "Please don't go… p…please… don't…" She didn't want Eren to leave, not when he will most likely meet his doom if he goes alone with titans that can ambush him at any moment.
While a tearful Mikasa continued to plead for Eren to stay, Armin looked down with a paranoid expression. "It looks like the Garrison isn't moving to engage us in close combat… Eren's senses are quicker than a stray cat's, he would've noticed them moving in. It'll probably take them at least another 20 seconds to reload the cannon… I'm sure he will already be gone by then…" He thought back to the times when the three of them would share laughs at the refugee camp, as if everything else didn't matter to them. "Why would I think of that at a time like this…? Because this is the end for us…? And even at the end… I'm nothing but a coward. Eren rescued me from trouble many times… Mikasa would do her best to make me feel happy… but not once did I return the favor."
He looked up at them, seeing Eren conflicted upon seeing Mikasa openly crying before him, while pleading with him to stay.
"What gives me the right to call them friends?" He looked to the side, a lone tear falling from his eye. "After this… the three of us… will probably never… be together again."
"Eren… please… no…" the poor girl continued to shake her head, denying the idea of Eren leaving before he silenced her completely by putting his hands on her shoulders.
"That's enough, Mikasa. I did say I had two ideas, didn't I…?" He said with a serious look. "I told you the last resort I came up with to help with this decision. But I want Armin to make the final call."
Upon hearing his name, the blonde teen looked up with widened eyes just as Eren and Mikasa turned towards him. "Wha…?"
"Even I know the plan I came up with is crazy." He chuckled in a sarcastic manner. "It'd be most effective if I use my power strategically, alongside the army to fight both titans and demons. It may sound impossible…" He returned to his serious expression and stared directly into Armin's eyes. "But Armin, if you tell me you can convince the Garrison that I'm no threat to them… I'll believe you and stay. But if you can't do that… I'll follow through with the plan I came up with. Just decide in the next 15 seconds." He leaned closer towards the blonde teen. "Can you? Or can't you? I'll respect your opinion either way."
"Eren," he said in a conflicted tone. He was entirely confused with why Eren would trust him with this. "Why are you entrusting me with such an important decision?"
"Because when things are messed up, you always find the right thing to do…" Eren grinned at him. "I want to rely on that."
"When have I ever…?"
"A bunch of times. Take five years ago… if you hadn't gotten Hannes-san, my mother and I would've been devoured by a titan." he explained.
Armin couldn't say anything afterwards.
"Armin…" Mikasa spoke up, looking at her blonde friend still with tears in her eyes. "I have faith… in you… I… believe you can do it…! I know you can…!" She put her hand on his shoulder in a comforting way, attempting to give Armin confidence in his own self.
"I had just… convinced myself," Armin thought. "Convinced myself that I was useless… that I was a burden… but these two… didn't think of me that way…" Eren's face was of complete seriousness while complete faith in him could be said from Mikasa's expression, and it caused him to look down with his hair covering his eyes.
"Armin…" Eren said, noticing that his friend may have gotten into a trance.
"What other evidence do I need? These two are putting their lives in my hands… They… trust me more than… anyone else in the world…"
Finally making his resolve, Armin looked back up with seriousness and determination burning in his expression, before quickly standing up and removing his gear. "I swear I'll convince them! You two do your best to show them you don't intend to resist!" he cried out to his two friends as he walked forth, leaving his discarded gear behind.
The smoke had disappeared completely, and many of the surrounding soldiers were shocked and slightly scared at Armin slowly approaching them.
"Eren has been trapped from the moment he revealed his arm and started fighting… and I still haven't collected my thoughts, but… I have to do this! I'll think while I speak!" Armin told himself with determination in his eyes.
"You!" Kitz shouted out loud. "Stop right there!"
"He isn't an enemy of the human race!" Armin yelled back. "I wish to disclose all of the information I have acquired from him about his true nature!"
"It's meaningless to beg for your lives! He revealed his true form before our eyes! There's nothing left to be said! If you claim he is not a titan, show me proof! If you can't do that, I will eliminate the threat!"
"He is not a titan! He is something different from any titan out there! He hasn't even transformed into something as bad as a 3-meter class, no less!" Armin explained, causing most of the soldiers to frown in confusion. "First of all, how we see him isn't the issue!"
"Are you out of your mind?!" Kitz glared at the boy.
"You said everyone saw him! In that case, they must have seen him fighting the titans! And they must've seen the titans in the area ganging up on him!" The blonde teen argued back, which caused many of the Garrison troops to widen their eyes in realization.
"In other words, the titans saw him as prey, just like us! No matter how long we think and argue about this like children, that truth still stands!"
Various murmurs and whispers filled the place afterwards, with Armin's words leaving a mark in the soldiers' minds. Many of them have already lowered down their swords and thought twice about this situation, and even Reiner who was watching from afar with Jean and Annie, saw the Garrison troops beginning to stand down.
"He's got a point…"
"That guy might actually be on our side…"
Kitz's eyes twitched and he quickly raised his arm. "Prepare to counterattack! Do not be taken in by this clever trap!" he bellowed, causing Armin to look on in bewilderment.
"Wha…?!"
"Their behavior has always been beyond our understanding! I'm saying they could have the ability to turn into humans!" He shouted, inducing fear once again into the soldiers that surrounded the trio of cadets. "But we can't let them get away with it any longer!"
"No good… he's given up thinking it altogether…" Armin said in his mind, before he noticed the paranoid expression on Kitz's face. "He's… too scared to think!"
"Eren… Mikasa…" Armin muttered in fear, turning back at his friends who both gave him serious looks as a sign of their faith in him, which caused the blonde teen to grit his teeth and clench his fist tightly.
Armin slammed his fist to his chest in a military salute. "AS A SOLDIER, I VOWED LONG AGO TO DEDICATE MY HEART TO THE RECOVERY OF THE HUMAN RACE! IF MY LIFE ENDS WHILE KEEPING THAT VOW, I HAVE NO COMPLAINTS!" He shouted at the very top of his voice, shocking nearly every soldier that was present, including Kitz. "But if you combine his unknown power with our remaining military force… it might even be possible to recapture this town!"
Eren and Mikasa could only look at Armin in disbelief as well, shocked that he could do something like this. He always made himself look weak and even talked down on his own abilities that they didn't know he was capable of being this way. Eren himself was almost tempted to summon Rebellion and defend Armin from the soldiers earlier, until his salute of course.
"For the glory of the human race, I beg you! In the moments I have left before I die! Let me explain his strategic value!" Armin continued to shout, while closing his eyes tightly.
Kitz narrowed his eyes and glared at the boy. "No matter how he begs… I will follow regulations! And those who violate regulations will be eliminated!" He was about to give the order to fire, only for someone to grab his arm firmly in place.
"Stand down," said a deep voice.
"You never change. For a man your size, you're as delicate as a fawn. Can't you see how magnificent that boy's salute is?" said a bald man with a distinguished mustache and notable wrinkles under his eyes. He was wearing a Garrison uniform paired with a white button-up shirt and a red sash with gold trim.
Kitz turn around and his eyes widened.
"COMMANDER PIXIS…!"
"I just arrived, but the situation was relayed to me by a rider. As of this moment, I'm putting you in command of the reinforcements." The man then turned towards a tearful Armin and the two cadets behind him with an amused smile. "I have a feeling… it would be worth our while… to listen to what these kids have to say."
Well, that ends this chapter! It was fun writing this, especially towards the end hahahahaha. That bastard Kitz is too traumatized to listen to Armin, but good thing Pixis arrived to save the day! What will happen next chapter now that he's willing to listen to the trio? Tune in to find out!
I've talked about adding the DMC4 storyline here, but now I'm starting to think of how to incorporate DMC5. Vergil was a key part of that game, but since he's dead here, I'm kind of stuck on how to do the whole "V and Urizen" issue now. I thought of a crazy idea to have Eren himself separate his human and demonic sides, but that's not final. I'm still thinking about it. If you have suggestions for the DMC5 storyline, you can PM me and we'll see.
Goodbye… and good night! BANG! *too sweet gesture*
-Lance
