Chapter 4

The air was eerily calm. No one could breath. No one could find it in themselves to move a muscle. All their eyes were locked on the menacing shadow that over took their entire section. A shadow that, despite the heat emanating from its origins, felt cold somehow.

It can't be. That thought was the only thing that passed through Eren's mind as he stumbled back once his eyes locked on to the Colossal titan. It was a thought shared by everyone present. Calian himself couldn't believe it, he would even admit he felt fear. He felt like the small child 5 years ago that ran in terror from the titans. The Colossal Titan simply scowled at them, the severity of it was intensified by it's exposed flesh making it's face seem like death had rendered itself into reality. The wall shook viciously as steam billowed from it's body with such force that that it knocked all the cadets flying off the wall. Calian tumbled in the air before his newly refined instincts kicked in. Thankfully they all had their ODM gear equipped and he quickly grappled himself to the wall. He lets out a breath of relief as his feet make contact with the solid surface but he's alarmed to see as Samuels unconscious body falls past him and he was too late to react.

"SAMUEL!" he and Connie yell together.

They were too in shock to do anything, but Sasha wasn't. She didn't hesitate to run down the face of the wall, closing the distance between her and Samuel flailing body despite the ground quickly getting closer. Sensing that she was about to slip, she somersaults and continues her run, firmly still on the wall. Seeing as how there would be no time to reach him, Sasha fires her grapple straight into Samuels calf, halting his fall.

"Try not to move! Understand!?" she calls out, but gets no response. Still, she and Calian both feel a wave of relief in that she at least caught their comrade.

They all chip in and help Samuel down to solid ground and Calian searches through the cadets swarming their unconscious friend. "Mina! Thomas!"

"W-we're here."

Calian closes his eyes and says a silent thank you to whoever is listening and he meets up with his friends, huddled together in comfort as they both shake in fear, staring wide eyed at the monster above.

"T-this can't be happening… not again, not so soon!" Thomas whispers, his voice quivering violently.

Mina hugs him tighter, seeking some type of refuge. Calian tries to say something but he feels it then. The ground shaking in a eerie rhythm. He slowly shifts his attention to the gate and he feels like his soul has left his body.

"The wall… it's been destroyed."

Connie begins to panic, "They're gonna get in." at first his voice is so low it's barely carried by the wind, but gets louder as the gravity of the situation fully sets in, "They're gonna get in… They're gonna get in!"

Calian's assaulted by flashbacks of the raining debris in the fall of Shinganshina. No. No! Not again! Eren announces from high above on the wall,

"This is it people! Do or die! Mounted squad four, take out the colossal Titan! This is our chance! Don't let it slip away!"

His fear is drowned by righteous fury as he rappels himself up to the wall and swiftly unsheathes his blades. He ignores Thomas and Mina calling out for him and rushes to catch up to Eren.

"What're you doing?!"

"Ya think I'd let ya take that ugly bastard all by yourself? Nah! I made a promise same as ya, so I'm not lettin ya go it alone!"

Eren grins and with renewed purpose zips faster. If that Colossal motherfucker is here, then that means the Armored Titan will follow! I'm finally gonna take that bitch down! He finally reaches the top and lands. But realizes almost too late Eren has already engaged the Colossal Titan and he's already started his retaliation as a massive arm is almost about to smash the very spot Calian is standing in. Thinking quickly, he shoots his grapnels into the incoming hand and reels in, he spins around the massive arm and is clear from impact. But looking back he realizes something, the swipe to the wall was mostly superficial, it only took the mounted cannons on top! He knows what he's doin, he's takin away our only defenses against the titans, there won't be anythin we can do to keep them from getting in!

Growling in anger he continues spinning around the arm until he swings horizontally in the air, bringing him perfectly at eye level with the nape. He sees the Eren is in the air right next to him. They nod at each other and reel in to assault the nape simultaneously. But true to his intelligence, the Colossal Titan emits a powerful steam blast that nearly shoots them both in the air. Calian coughs as the hot air nearly burns his throat but he and Eren hold on. They push their gear to its limits as they both reel in with a purpose, blades poised to attack but just before they get within range, the steam stops. Calian feels the line slacken and as they emerge from the steam, the Colossal titan is gone. The fuck?!

Calian and Eren both get themselves back to the wall and survey the scene, but the giant monster truly is gone. "How? How can it disappear?!"

"I-I don't know." Eren replies softly, shocked to the core.

"Eren! Calian!" Thomas calls from atop, "Where'd he go? Did he get away or'd you two take him out?"

Calian shakes his head slowly in disbelief, "We couldn't even lay a scratch on him. He's gone!"

"DAMMIT! Exactly like five years ago! He's here one moment and gone the next just like that!"

"Enough Eren, there's nothin either one of us coulda done. Let's just get back up."

The quickly meet up with Connie and Thomas, the only ones who followed them to the wall. Eren is still demoralized, "I'm sorry I couldn—"

Thomas waves him off, "Don't apologize. Look at us. We were too scared to move."

A frustrated Connie breaks their moment of self pity, "HEY! Wallow on your own time! In case you hadn't noticed, there's a breach! We have to act now! If they start pouring in, that's it!"

Suddenly a member of the elite squad rises into the air, "look alive!" They all salute, " Operation Colossal Titan Response is in effect! I expect all of you to take part! Report to HQ NOW! If you got to the damn thing, we need details!"

Connie, finally saluting correctly, "sir! We pray the Advance team will be victorious!"

"Tch, I pray we live through the day." Calian mutters darkly.

Trost is in a panic, people trample over each other as they desperately try to escape the looming threat of the titans. HQ isn't faring any better as the air is buzzing with an anxious energy. Everywhere people are scrambling to put in effect contingencies, placement of squads, who will be in those squads. Connie doesn't register the person who bumped into him as he shakes his head, " I-I don't get it… There haven't been titans inside the walls for five years! Why, Why now!?"

Calian glares ahead, "it doesn't matter. All we can do now is fight." His thoughts solely on finding the Armored titan and killing it with every bit of hate he can muster.

Not privy to his friends dark thoughts, Connie laughs nervously, "heheh yea… we were just cadets a day ago! We won't stand a chance."

Calian turns his friend roughly, "Yes we fuckin will Connie! We trained to take them out and that's exactly what we're gonna do!"

Sasha places a calming hand on his bicep, "Hey calm down! We're all pretty rattled right now, this is scary!"

Calian does in fact calm himself, "I'm sorry. Just a lot of bad memories poppin in my head."

She purses her lips but before she can respond Kitz Wiermann begins shouting orders, "I want everyone split into four squadrons, as we practiced! All squadrons are responsible for supply-running, message relay and enemy combat under the command of the Garrison Regiment! The Intercept Squadron will take the vanguard. Cadets will take the middle ground, led by the support squad. Rearguard will go to the elites. I expect you all to man your posts knowing the Advance team has been wiped out!"

The tall cadet's heart drops at the news, Already? He pushes away the small scared voice in the back of his mind that said, that could've been ya, and he resumes paying attention to his orders.

"That's right, the outer gate is history. The Titans are in. This means the Armored Titan is likely to reappear. If and when he does, the inner gate will also be history."

At the mention of the Armored titan, once again the unyielding rage is at the forefront of his mind, Calian clenches his teeth, his hands itching to grip the blade handles. It takes all his will power to not go flying to take on the titans by himself but he waits. As cadets, they're the second squad behind the Garrison, meaning they'll be right in the thick of it should the vanguard fall. The sounds of retching take his attention and he watches as Christa comfort a cadet as he throws up the contents of his stomach. Honestly if I wasn't so angry right now I'd probably be doin the same.

He quickly finds Thomas and Mina, "Hey ya'll alright?"

Mina gives him a strained smile, "A bit frazzled but who wouldn't be."

Thomas rubs his hands together, "I still can't believe that Titans are attacking again! B-But you know what, it's like you said Calian! This is what we trained for! And we didn't bust our asses for 3 years just to buckle under the pressure right?"

Mina nods gratefully, feeling some semblance of confidence, "You're right! We're gonna make baldy eat his words!"

Calian grins, the tension in his shoulders slowly ebbing away, "Ya sure know how to brighten someones day guys. Seriously though, no matter how bad it gets, as long as we have each others backs we'll be fine!"

Thomas gives him a thumbs up, "You can count on me!"

"Me too!"

Calian pulls them both into a warm hug, "I never doubted either of ya for a sec. Now go get geared up."

Thomas and Mina start running to get their gears on. The cadet quickly gets himself to the rooftops just in time to catch Ymir and connie having a little spat.

"Hey! What did you just say?!"

Connie tried to appear intimidating, but given Ymir's still casually leaning against the wall with her arms crossed, he can tell it wasn't working.

"I said it sucks to be stuck with an idiot." She replies unapologetically.

Watching in disbelief, Calian rolls his eyes, annoyed that they're having this kind of argument given the circumstances.

Thankfully Christa is there to salvage the situation, "This is no time to be bickering! Agh!" she throws her hands up, "I've had enough of this! Ymir, Connie, you two are always fi—"

Ymir relents and wraps her arms over Chirsta's shoulders gently, "Ok, ok we get it! Just for you Christa, we'll make nice with each other… ok?"

Connie reluctantly relents as well, "Well there's not much point in arguing at a time like this I guess."

"Anyway, let's all try to work together, alright?"

Scoffing Ymir narrows her eyes at Calian and Connie, "I wish you guys would stop getting in Christa's and my way all the time."

Rolling his eyes again, Calian replies, "Trust me, if I could avoid ya like the plague I would."

Ymir gives him a withering lgare while the bald cadet snickers behind his hand, "Anyways, that's enough talking. We got our orders, let's get going already."

Not waiting for them Calian rappels up and swings gracefully through the threatened city. He glides low to the ground and like a pendulum, rises into the air and lands perfectly a top a taller building, with Connie landing next to him not long after.

"Our job is to support the middle guard," he gulps nervously, his hands trembling slightly and he grips his blade handles for support, " Let's put what we've learned to good use!"

Howlett doesn't reply just yet as he witnesses 5 titans heading towards them, 3 of which are large, the other two medium sized.

"Whether we like it or not cause we got a few big boys ahead of us. I'll draw it's attention to me, go for it's legs. Once it's down we'll take it out."

"Got it!"

With that they shoot towards their target. Calian's heart beats furiously in his chest, adrenaline coursing through his veins as he gets dangerously close to the titans face. It grabs in the place he was just at, narrowly missing his large body and he uses it's arms to swing high up, it's eyes following him. As it's distracted, Connie glides low and twirls around one of the titans ankles, slicing its Achilles tendon. He stumbles and quickly does the same to the other ankle. The titan falls catching itself on the ground. Still high in the air, Calian hooks the flesh of the titans back and pulls himself in, he readies his blades and roars ferociously as it slices deep into it's nape. The titan lets out an inhuman groan before it keels over dead.

Connie starts whooping, "WE did it! We took it down!"

But Calian speeds past him, "No time to celebrate let's move!"

The next titans fall just as quickly, Connie slips past it's face, it's hand nearly closes around him but Calian comes in, slicing all it's fingers off, Ymir appearing behind and cutting its nape as well. The falling titan nearly crushes the smaller ones to which Christa and Calian both use as their opportunity to come in and from either side, killing both titans. Though they end up being bathed in the fountain of blood. The bitter taste of it disgusts Cal and he spits it out as much as he can.

Despite himself, Calian takes pride in the fact that they have all had their first kills, not only that, but they've survived. Where are ya, ya armored Bastard? It looks like I can actually make good on my promise!

Christa stares up at him impressed, "Wow Calian! I didn't know you could fight like that!"

Even Ymir commented, "You definitely were a lot more useful than I thought. Heh, more than that idiot anyway."

Connie turns red, "What the hell did you just say!"

"Oh my fuck, don't start! Look!"

Howlett points at the red flare not to far in the distance. Christa's hand flies up to her mouth in shock, "That's a distress call! We have to do something!"

"Ya read my mind blondie."

Ymir grabs christas arm, "That should be a sign we should stay away from there."

Christa pulls her arm away, "I've gotta do my best… I wanna show that I can be useful to everyone too!"

Ymir groans, "If it's red then they're as good as dead."

Horrified b her callousness Calian looms over her, his teeth gritted so hard they nearly crack, "We can try at least, ya wanna stay here and save yourself be my guess, but I'm goin and so is Christa it seems. I know ya pretend not to care about anythin, but ya do care about her. How much better is her chances of survivin if you're not there?" Calian calls out Ymir.

She presses her lips into a fine line and nods stiffly. She faces Christa, "Let's go before I change my mind."

They quartet head towards the flare. Though they're conserving their fuel, they're able to still make it to their destination in record time. When they do, they find themselves at the clearing where a large boulder is sitting in. There a single cadet scared shitless is standing between an elderly woman and a large abnormal on all fours heading right to him. Doubling his efforts, Calian swoops in just in time to grab both the cadet and citizen around their waist and hoist them out the way, the titan crashing into the building, its large body causing it to crumble. The citizen gets on their knees weeping,

"Thank you thank you thank you!"

The cadet simply stares ahead, shuddering as he's unable to even blink. Calian sighs then slaps his fellow soldier, breaking them out of their shock. "We'll deal with the titan you escort this lady to safety, got it?"

His chin quivering, the soldier answers weakly and slowly gets up.

"Hey Howlett we need an assist here!" Ymir yells.

The abnormal titan had already shaken off it's crash and is violently attacking the rest of the squad, all of which are zipping around its body like mosquitos. Calian takes a running start then jumps into the air, his ODM propelling him further. He spins around the arm of the titan, his blades cutting through it along the way before finally reaching its nape, killing their adversary.

Connie shakes his head in amazement, "Man Shadis had no idea what he was doing not naming you one of the top ten!"

"That was nothing, let's retreat already, unless You aren't done sucking his balls yet?" Ymir asks with a smirk.

Connie angrily glares and opens his mouth to retort but a terrified scream cuts through the air. A scream that sounded just like,

"Armin?"

"That sounds like it came from where Eren and Armin went, we have to go check it out!"

Eren and Armin?... Thomas and Mina were with them! Worried Howlett zips across the streets in the embattled city. He keeps looking ahead, desperately hoping to see anyone, any familiar ponytails or blonde head. He swings over a church and he sighs in relief as he sees Mina. He lands near her,

"Mina!"

She stays staring forward and he nudges her, "mina?" he slowly turns to where she's looking. His eyes widen in horror as a titan is hugging the side of a church like a bug. It slowly turns it head to the right and his heart drops at what he sees. A human is caught in between its teeth. But not just any human… it was Thomas. Calian didn't want to believe it, he wanted to refuse, but the hair was unmistakable, the blue friendly eyes belonging to his dear friend. All sound and color leaves Calians world as a weak, "No" escapes his lips.

Mina whimpers, "Thomas."

"Please," he croaks, his trembling hands reaching out to them, "Help me."

All Calian could do was stand and watch as The monster tilts its head back and swallows Thomas whole. Calian drops to his knees as his ears ring with Thomas' terrified cry before being silenced. A gong rang out, eerily emphasizing the tragedy as the cadets stared. As if it was bored the titan drops from the tower and begins to walk away from them. No… no…. don't you walk away. Don't you dare leave now! You give him back! Give him back now!

Calian pulls out both blades and charges towards the monster, "YOU BASTARD!"

He flies so fast in the air the titan hardly turns its head before its nape is run through. It falls and Calian lands near it. Before he can take another step forward a titan appears around the corner and it tries to smack him to the ground but he back flips and runs up its arm. The titan tries to slap him like a fly but Calian is too quick and cuts its hand clean off before slicing its eyes then leaping from its collar bone to behind its head then slicing downward, killing it. He uses the ODM gear to swing away from another titan and just as he gets behind to kill it, a massive hand pops out of nowhere and smacks him out the air and skidding across the rooftops. Dazed, Calian groans as his vision is swimming, spots popping all over, his ears ring and his body aches. He slowly gets to his hand and knees and shakes his head trying to refocus his senses. Slowly his world stops spinning and he looks up but wishes he hadn't/ He doesn't know how long he was dazed but it was long enough to see everyone get decimated. He witnesses Eren skid across the rooftops like him, but it was worse as he sees that his left leg is missing, blood spewing from the open wound! Another recruit, Nac, calls out for Eren, but that proves to be fatal as a titan bursts from the side street and snatches her from the air.

It doesn't waste time and bites off half her body, blood spraying into a red mist in the air. He stares in open mouth horror as Mina's cable is grabbed and tugged on by a flat-faced, large eyed titan. It tugs so hard on the cable that she smacks terribly hard against a stone column, a sickening crack reaching even Calian as she slumps to the ground, her head dropping to the side with open lifeless eyes, blood smearing where her head hit. No…. mina! Calians heart aches as he witnesses the death of the closest thing he's had to a family in so long. He remembers the laughs they had, the training they went through together. He remembers how Thomas confessed to him how much he cares about Mina. OH god he didn't even get a chance to tell her. Tears drop from Calians eyes as he screams in inner pain. But he stops and thinks to himself, wait Thomas was still alive when the titan ate him! He could still be alive now!

On unsteady legs he gets up and clumsily falls to the corpse of the abnormal titan that ate his friend. Desperate for someone, anyone to be alive he slices along its stomach until its putrid contents begin to spill out. He gags at the repulsive stench but pushes on searching through the mangled body parts and acid burned corpses, hoping to find his friend. He does… but the sight brings him to tears again. Thomas limbs were contorted and sticking to his body in ways unnatural to the human anatomy. Bones were pocking out of his skin and he can tell from the way his friend is grimacing, the stomach acid was making the pain so much worse in his open wounds. The titans throat was smaller than Thomas' body, it must've crushed him. Calian carefully lifts his friend and carries him into the nearby building,

"It's ok Thomas," his voice thick with emotion, "You're gonna be fine! I'm here ok? (sniffles) I'm gonna make sure you'll get Through this!"

His friend smiles sadly, "No…. I won't. I can feel it already, I-I just, just wish I could've seen her smile one more time."

He groans as pain shoots through his body and he coughs up blood. He slowly and unsteadily digs his hand into his jacket pocket and pulls out his notebook. He presses it to his friends chest as hard as he can. Calian is weeping as he grips the hand holding the notebook tightly. Thomas coughs again and meets the taller cadets eyes but they begin to gloss over, "Live… for both… of us."

His head lolls to the side as his friend dies in his arms. Calian stares, his eyes watery to the point he can't even see anymore as he hugs his friends corpse tightly, weeping. Suddenly a memory pops into his head, the Garrison soldier who saved him in Shinganshina. He remembers him saying the same thing Thomas just told him. Live. For both of us. Suddenly the wall behind him is ripped open as a titan finds him but he doesn't care. In fact, he doesn't even feel fear. His body wasn't shaking anymore, the room and the world falls away, leaving Calian in his own space. He feels total control of himself, his anger despite it being great, felt like it was a storm under his command. He feels like he can do anything. Live, the word echoes in his mind and suddenly it feels like lightning hits his brain and wraps around his entire body, filling him with incredible energy.

The titan slowly reaches for Calian who's still kneeling over the corpse, immobile. Live! His muscles bulge and twists, his hands fly to the handles of his blades, the metal creasing under his fearsome grip. Live! His scowling eyes open, and he turns, the concrete floor cracking warping under his feet. He dashes towards the monster, leaving craters where he had stood. He roars barbarously as he cuts the titans hand off and he leaps into the air and swings with such force the titans head flies off its body. It falls back and Calian still cuts straight through the front until the nape had been destroyed. He roars again as he uses his ODM with incredible mastery and in the span of 10 seconds, kills three more titans. One was right ahead, bent over on all fours. It charges at him and he sprints at it, crushing the concrete floor with each step. The titan opens its mouth but in the blink of an eye its jaw is ripped off its head. The titan rears back but Calian isn't done. It swats wildly but he was too quick and he cuts off the hand from the wrist then leaps and slices its torso open. Seemingly feeling pain, the titan screeches but Calian doesn't care. He roars louder as his hooks latch onto its front and he reels himself in so fast and with so much force, he bursts straight through the titan and out its back, his blades breaking on contact. It falls forward but he doesn't stop. He continues bellowing as he hacks at its remains, shredding it to pieces. Blood and guts cover him but he doesn't stop, until the whole area is bathed red.

He turns and sees 3 more titans nearby but they don't move despite staring at him with their lifeless eyes. He growls and readies himself with new blades,

"COME ON! I'LL TAKE YOU ALL ON!"