Chapter 5
Trapped on the rooftops, Jean grips his hair tightly with his hands, afraid of how much they'll shake if he were to let go. The fearful sentiment is shared by many due to their situation. They are very low in gas, the support squad is nowhere to be seen and the building holding their supplies is completely surrounded by titans. Almost everyone has begun to slip into a state of hopelessness and yet, a few are trying to hold on.
"C'mon Jean! What are we gonna do?!"
Jean drops his face into his hands, "Ain't anything we can do. They finally gave the order to withdraw, but we don't have enough gas to scale the wall. We're all gonna die now. All 'cause of those cowards."
"you mean the supply soldiers?! What's happened to them?" Were they wiped out?" Connie demanded to know.
Jean's eyes darken, "they probably lost the will to fight." He trembles, "I can understand the feeling, but abandoning their duty to supply us so they can barricade themselves inside headquarters?"
Connie glances at HQ, wondering if what Jean just said was true.
"And with the titans swarming the place, we can't even get gas for ourselves."
This frustrates Connie and he anxiously yells, "in that case it's sink or swim! We'll just have to take out the Titans there! Hanging around here's no different! The titans will just gather here, too! We'll only use up what little gas we have left if we keep aimlessly! Once we our mobility, we're really done for!"
Jean chuckles humorlessly, "I never thought I'd ever hear you make an intelligent comment, connie." They both look to the rest of the cadets, all barely holding it together, their eyes clearly showing that they have given up all hope. "Do you really think we have the manpower to pull that off? Most of the veteran members of the vanguard have been wiped out."
And if Connie and Jean could see in the headquarters, they'd witness the titans breaking into the building, surrounding their precious supplies and eating anyone who was unfortunate enough to get caught.
Jean closes his eyes, "there's no way we could get anything done in there."
Connie feels a cold sweat drop down his spine, his voice quivering, "It's h-hopeless?"
Jean scratches his head, "what a dull life this was. If I'd known this would happen…"
Surprisingly, Potato girl tries to raise everyone's spirits, "Come on guys! Let's do it! Get up! If we all work together, we're sure to succeed! I'll take the lead!"
Her fist is raised in the air with triumph, but no one reacts to her words. Her resolve beginning to dwindle she turns to Armin, "Armin! Let's go ahead and—"
She stops as she sees that even Armin was unable to react to her words, still being in shock from the horrors he had witnessed. At this her resolve completely crumbles and her shoulders slump as she accepts that this may in fact be the end.
Not far from them, Annie gives Reiner a side eye glance, "Reiner, what now?"
"It's not time yet. We must regroup first." He tells her.
Marco speaks up, "It's no use. However you look at it, we're not getting out of this city. We're all dead. I mean, I'm ready to die and everything… it's just what am I dying for?"
"Mikasa!"
Everyones attention turns to the number one cadet as she lands in a graceful tuck and roll onto the roof, seamlessly getting into a light jog as she calls out, "Annie!"
"I understand the gist of the situation. So I'm sorry for letting my personal matters interfere but have you seen Eren's squad?"
"some squads have made it back, but I don't know about Eren's." she replied, her expression unchanging.
"I think Armin is over there," Reiner jabs his thumb over to Armins direction.
"Armin!" Mikasa ran over to him.
Mikasa! Armin's eyes begin to tear up once again, I can't do it. How can I face her? It's so pointless that I survived. I wish I had died with him instead!
His heart beats erratically in his chest as Mikasa knelt in front of him, "Armin! Are you hurt? Are you okay?"
Unable to meet her eyes, Armin simply nods. Mikasa stands, head swiveling back and forth as she searches each face of the cadets occupying the rooftop but her anxiety begins to rise as she does not find the once face she's hoping to see. "Where is Eren, Armin?"
With tears marring his vision, he lifts his head to meet her eyes. Mikasa takes a small step back and gasps, knowing exactly what that look means.
Tears begin to slip down his face as he begins, "The members of trainee Corps squad 34; Thomas Wagner, Nac Tius, Milius Zermunsky, Mina Carolina, Eren Jaeger!" Mikasa's eyes darken more and more with each passing name, "These five died valiantly in the line of duty!"
The trainees all stare in shock, cold sweat dripping from their faces.
"No…" Sasha whispers as she shakes in place. Suddenly she gasps, "Armin! You didn't say his name, Calian! What about Calian?"
The blondes eyes widen as he realizes he forgot one more comrade. He tries in vain to search his memory but all he can remember was the gruesome sight of Eren's arm flying off as he's swallowed whole by a titan.
"I was not able to account for him, but I regret to presume that he must be dead!"
She lets out a small gasp, "No."
One trainee whispers, "His whole squad was wiped out? The same will happen to us if we try to take on those titans!"
Armin begins sobbing and bows his head in grief, "I'm sorry Mikasa! It should have been me that died! I-I couldn't do a thing! I'm useless…"
He continues sobbing until he feels a hand grasp his. "Armin, Calm down."
He meets her gaze, but wishes he didn't. Despite not showing much emotion, Mikasa always had a light to her eyes, showing her soul. But the once vibrant grey color is now dull. Like she's dead inside. There isn't even a hint of emotion in her voice. She's shut herself off completely.
"now isn't the time to be emotional. Now get up." She helps him to his feet. "Marco, if we eliminate the titans swarming around HQ, we can replenish our gass supplies and get over the wall. Correct?"
"well yea… but even with your help, there's just too many—"
"I can handle them." She faces all the cadets and raises one sword to the air, "I'm strong. Stronger than all of you. I'm very strong. As such, I AM capable of annihilating the titans there! Even if I have to do it alone."
She lowers her sword as if to point at them, "As for all of you, you're not only unskilled, you're also cowards and wimps. You're real pathetic. You can just stay here and twiddle your thumbs. Twiddle and watch."
One cadet snaps out of their shock, "Whoa Mikasa! What's gotten into you!?"
"You're seriously gonna take on all those Titans by yourself?!"
"There's no way even you can beat them!"
But Mikasa is seemingly unaffected as she calmly replies, "If I can't, then I'll die. It's that simple." She turns her back to them, "but… if I win I'll live. And the only way to win is to fight!" With that she fires her ODM and leaves them to the dust.
Dumbfounded, Jean mutters to himself, "What's pathetic is your way with words." Finding his strength, he stands and unsheathes his blades, "You actually consider that motivational? I blame you for this, Eren!"
Jean turns his glare to the cadets, "Hey! Since when were we taught to let our comrades fight alone!? Or do you guys want to end up as actual cowards?!" he yells then takes off. Connie follows suit with little hesitation.
Everyone finally seems to have snapped out of it with even Reiner commenting, "Never thought I'd hear him say that." Before he and Annie both follow suit.
Armin wipes the tears from his face and goes after them. Marco sighs and follows suit. One by one all the cadets let out a battle cry as they soar through the air once is still in the lead as she quickly cuts down a 15-meter titan that was unlucky enough to be caught in her path.
"Hurry! Follow Mikasa," Jean orders, "fight as little as possible! Get to the HQ before you run out of gas!"
Mikasa cuts down another titan with grace and ease, impressing the cadets even more.
Connie's eyes are wide, "Man, Mikasa's incredible! How can she move that fast?"
The only one who isn't impressed is Armin. Because he's worried, No. She's using up too much gas. She's going to run out right away! Regardless of our skill, once we lose our mobility, we're completely helpless! He thinks to himself as Mikasa tears down another 15 meter. She's not her usual composed self at all. She's trying to distract herself from her anguish. It's only a matter of time until she-, as if to prove his point, the canister ran out of fuel and Mikasa falls from the sky, her impact on the slnted roofs break her blades as she tumbles down in a heap.
"Mikasa!" Armin calls out and he changes his trajectory, heading straight for his friend.
"Damn!" connie cursed out loud, "Jean, you take the lead! I'll help Armin!"
"no I will too!"
But the bald cadet isn't having it, "Don't be stupid! There are still Titans everywhere! Your skills are needed!"
Wanting to argue but seeing the logic in his reply, Jean simply grits his teeth and leads the cadets forward, allowing Connie to provide assistance to Armin.
They couldn't get that far though, they made it another few miles before their gas was seriously depleted. Jean and a couple of other Cadets land on a rooftop, high enough for them to get a closer look at the HQ. Despite knowing the situation, Jean is still disappointed at what he sees.
"It's no use. We can't even get near headquarters. Unless we're prepared to sacrifice lives." He says to no one really as he watches a group of titans swarm the headquarters.
His eyes drift down towards the street as terrified whimpers catch his attention. He sees a cdet panicking as hie gear lay lazily on the street, unable to function. Damn! He's out of gas!Jean makes to help but two titans appear around the corner.
The trainee whimpers in fear as he takes weak steps back, "Stay back!"
"Tom I'll save you!" Someone yells as a male and female soldier start running towards the captured cadet.
"no! Jean yells, "It's too late!"
But he in fact was too late to warn them as a titan grabs the boy from the air stopping him violently.
Tom sobs, hyperventilating as he's caught in the monsters grip, screaming in terror.
"Stop please! I don't want to die!"
Jean, Marco, Sasha and the others can do nothing but watch powerlessly as the titan lifts him and opens its mouth. But just as it's about to bite down, a frightening battle cry rips right through the air as cables imbed themselves in the titans back and Calian careens through he air, slicing the nape of the titan holding Tom. He shoots another at the wall behind tom and using his momentum, he swings parallel to the ground, the cable rapping around the dead titans neck and he releases, allowing him to fly like a torpedo directly to the other offending titan. He stabs both eyes and lands feet first on top of its head. He roars as he yanks onto his blades, the force of which splits the titans head open. It drops the cadet and doubles forward. Calian sues the force of its movement to jump high into the air and turn. He them shoots his odm catching the back of the titan and just as he reaches the apex of his jump, he reels in and releases, spinning like a helicopter as his blades cleaves through the flesh of the titans neck. He lands, not looking back as the titan falls, its body steaming.
Everyone is shocked silent by the display.
"Is that Calian?" Reiner asks, amazed.
"He's alive!" Sasha quietly exclaims, a small smile adorning her face.
"you saw the way he killed those titans?"
Tom practically crawls to Calian and hugs him tightly, "Thank you! Thank you! You saved my life!"
Calian pats his back awkwardly, "Alright that's enough. We gotta get off the roads before anymore titans surprise us."
He grabs Tom under his shoulders and helps him to the roof, landing before Jean.
"We thought you were dead!"
Calian sadly looks away, "Some weren't as lucky as me. Did- did anyone else in my squad make it?"
His eyes are imploring Jean for some type of reward for his hope. "… Armin was the only one who made it back."
Calian grits his teeth and closes his eyes tightly, willing himself not to cry. Almost my whole squad, everyones gone. No Don't. Ya can grieve later. Armin made it, that counts for something. Now I gotta make sure everyone else makes it, I gotta get focused.
He's broken from his thoughts by Annie, "How'd you even make it here? I would've thought you'd be out of gas by now."
"Unfortunately, there were a lot of barely used gas canisters… laying around, I switched with a few so I should have half my fuel left. You're all trying to get to HQ right?"
They nod, "Alright, I'll defend ya'll as best I can to make it as safe as possible for everyone to there."
Their taken aback. "Calian that's too dangerous—" Marco starts.
"Not anymore dangerous than what we're doing now. I can cover more ground then everyone else right now and any other way will just cause more people to die. I can only afford to lose so many friends today. So if ya got a better idea, then I'm all ears but if not, stop wasting time and get moving."
He looks at every cadet in the eyes, "Anyone? Anyone? Alright then, start moving!"
Jean grips his blades tightly, "He's right we gotta move now or they listen to the taller cadet and get moving. Calian shoots ahead of them, aiming for the abnormal Titan that's crawling atop the rooftops like a giant spider. It's eyes seem to redden as it locks its sights on Howlett. He yells as it screeches and leaps toward him. It tries to grab him but he tucks in and rolls in the air, his blades sticking out and cutting off its fingers. He continues rolling, slicing up its arm and stabbing one blade down as he gets to its back. He drags his blade through the flesh and spring boards off it. He takes a moment to check the path and sees a titan appear near Bertholdt near the rear. Practically snarling, he shoots down from the sky, his odm speeding him faster and faster until he finally gets to the titan. He slices downward this time, and the giant monsters eyes roll to the back of its head as it falls. Bertholdt releases his baited breath. He smiles weakly,
"You're breezing through this, Howlett!"
Marco can't help but mutter to Jen, "he really is. Its like he's an entirely new person! He's moving kinda like Mikasa."
Jean narrows his eyes as he watches the tanned Cadet, No. It's different. Yes he's moving quick like her, I'll even admit it's like he's now as strong as her, but Mikasa was always more refined more smooth with how she operates. Calian… it's like he's almost gone Berserk! He's much more aggressive. Has he gone insane?
He watches as a cadet is caught in air by a titan, blood quirts out due to the massive damage caused by the Titans powerful hands. But Calian is upon it, cutting off the hand with one blade and he unlatches the other now dulled blade, throwing it perfectly into the monsters eye. It cries out in pain as Calian catches the cadet and begins carrying him to headquarters. Jean sees that its now barely meters ahead, providing him with relief as his odm is now running on its last bit of fumes. With a last frantic cry he angles himself inwards and bursts through the glass window and into the safety of the headquarters office.
Did anyone else make it? Answering his prayers, Annie, Marco, and Reiner burst through the windows as well, followed by the rest of the group of cadets. Thanks to Calians assistance, they suffered no losses on the trek to safety.
Said cadet bursts through the window and carefully places the injured cadet to the ground. "This man needs medical assistance!"
Some of the cadets quickly start working on him as Calian steps away allowing them room. We did it! Jeans knees buckles and he falls to the ground in relief, his hand clutching his hair. We-we actually survived. But he hears a little whimper to his left. Turning, he finds huddled into themselves with their knees up to their chest, were the supply squad.
Unblinkingly, he asks, "You're with the supply team… aren't you?"
"yea."
Suddenly full of righteous fury, Jean clutches one by the collar and yanks him out from under the desk. He throws a strong hook to the boys jaw, knocking him down.
"Marco quickly restrains him, "Stop Jean!"
"These are the ones who abandoned us! People are dead because of you guys!" Jean viciously accused the whimpering soldiers, still cowering on the ground.
One found their courage to speak, "The titans overran the supply room!" she tries to explain, " There was nothing we could do!"
Calian grits his teeth and he stomps towards them, "There was plenty ya could've done! Case ya hadn't noticed, we're all fighting titans here!"
A whistling noise stops Calian from continuing his rant, a noise that's getting louder like as if its closing in? "Get down!"
The wall at the far end of the office is blown in, two cadets unfortunate enough to be standing near are sent flying across the room. Lower his arm that shielded his face, Calian glares as he sees the smiling faces of two titans. Jen realizes why they're there. "Shit! There's too many people here, we're drawing their attention!"
The cadets beginning running towards the door trying to climb over each other to put as much distance between them and the mean eating behemoths.
"hurry!"
"Get further inside!"
"Stop! We can't ALL go at once!"
Jean continues staring in horror, "This is normal…this must be what the real world is like…"
He feels someone grab his shoulder. "Get out of here Jean, I'll clear out as much as I can."
He does a double take as Calian pulls out his dulled blades, "You can't be serious?! There's too many and you've got to be at your last bit of gas!"
"I am, but I figure even if I go down, I can take some of those fuckers down with me! Make it easier for everyone else to find a way out."
"C-Calian… t-there's no way to stand against these monstrosities."
Out of nowhere, a massive fist appears, crushing one titans face and knocking both down clear off their feet. The rogue titan roars triumphantly as it continues its assault. The teens are gaping, "What in the hell?"
A window breaks to their right and Mikasa comes in, followed by Connie and Armin, "Huh? What the hell!? Mikasa!" Jean calls out.
"Man that was close." Connie taps his canister in relief, "It's completely empty. We did it! We managed to make it!" Connie slaps Armins back happily. "We did it Armin!"
But the blonde isn't paying attention as he stares wide eyed at the tall cadet. "Calian? I-I thought you were dead!"
He smiles weakly, "ya can't get rid of me that easily. But ya got no idea how happy I am to see ya. At least someone made it."
Armin's chin trembles as he remembers their loss. Mikasa's eyes are hidden by her hair but Connie is still making noise, "Your plan worked! Guys!" he points at the rogue titan, "That Titan's an abnormal! It's killin all the other Titans! And it shows no interest in us! We can use it to our advantage to escape from here!"
Howlett looks at him like he grew another head, "Let me get this straight… ya want us to use a titan to protect us and help us escape?"
Jean shares the same disbelief, "A Titan helping us? What kind of nonsensical dream—"
"It's no dream! Whether it's an abnormal or not, I don't care. We're going to let it rampage here for as long as possible."
Calian steps dangerously close to the hole, watching as the Rogue titan sends another monster to the ground, stomping on the nape until t was sure it was dead before continuing on to the next. Well I'll be damned, she's right.
"What the hell, might as well give it a go."
Jean gives him a wide eyed glare, "You're going along with this?"
"I'll ask ya the same question I asked before, ya got a better idea? Cause way I see it, we're fresh outta any other options.
Inside the HQ, a wooden elevator came up to the level the trainees were on.
"I don't think I said it before but I'm glad everyone got here safe!" Connie comments.
"Yea we suffered no losses thanks to Calian!" Marco states.
Connie is taken aback and he looks up to the tall cadet, "Really?"
Reiner smiles and smacks Calians back, "Should've seen him, he was like an animal!"
"He really saved us back there!" Bertholdt admits.
Sasha smirks comically as she playfully nudges Mikasa with her elbow, "guess you're no longer the cadets phenom anymore huh?"
"Wow Potato girl, I'm surprised you even know a word like phenom." Ymir says with a smirk of her own.
"Don't call me that!"
Getting uncomfortable with the praise Calian clears his throat, "can we focus here?"
Jean steps off the elevator with several other cadets, all holding long boxes. "We found some rifles! They belong to the military Police. Damn things are covered in dust."
All the cadets starts opening the boxes and loading up their rifles. Calian loads his but has to ask, "So what's the plan here? Cause I'm very sure that a buckshot's not gonna do much against a titan."
Armin places some floor plans on the ground, "I may have an idea. We're looking at eight titans in the supply room of the four-meters-tall variety. If we time this perfectly, this much ammo outta do the trick. Step 1) we lower a group into the area via lift to get the titans attention. Step 2) when the titans come within range, the group fires in all four directions simultaneously, blinding them." He takes on a worried look, "then the hard part, the moment of truth as it were. Before the titans have time to recover, eight of us will swoop down from the ceiling and strike their vital regions…. That's it. That's the plan. It puts all our lives on the line, we screw up we're dead. That's a hell of a risk for one attack but it's our only chance."
Some of the soldiers whisper anxiously amongst themselves, scared of the huge risk in the plans.
Armin continues, "We're gonna need the best of you, the eight soldiers most gifted with paring blades. You'll be the difference between life and death for the rest of us. I'm sorry. That's how it is."
Reiner smirks, "Seems like a sound plan."
"When you get right down to it, the risk is the same for everyone. Doesn't really matter who goes." Annie explains.
This slightly affects Armins confidence, "Look I… I'm willing to be talked out of this. One half –baked strategy can't be our only option, right?"
"Welp… I'm in."
Ymir gives Calian an exasperated look, "Seriously? Just like that?"
Calian shrugs, "It's basically how this entire job operates. It's how we've all made it so far, what's the point in changing it now?"
He smirks reassuringly to Armin, "Besides Armin's got more brains than any of us combined, see no reason to doubt him now."
Mikasa adds in her reassurance as well, "It'll be fine. You just have to be confident. You're a better strategist than you give yourself credit for."
He gasps at her admittance and tries to deny it but she cuts him of, "I'm serious. That mind's saved eren and me more than once."
"When did I ever save you? That's not—"
A cadet loudly opens the lift and announces, "Alright the lfit's ready to go! Guns are loaded to the stocks. Let's go kill some titans!"
Now standing, Mikasa answers, "You didn't realize it at the time, but we can talk about it later."
The cadets chosen to kill the titans from above were Mikasa, Connie, Annie, Bertholdt, Reiner, Sasha, Jean, and Calian to his surprise. But word had gotten around quickly by his battle prowess so he was unanimously chosen as the eight cadet. The team files down towards the side steps in preparation for their sneak attack.
Shaking with nervousness, Connie asks, "Okay, I'm going to ask the obvious question. Can we do this without ODM gear?"
"No problem! These guys are only four meters tall. Their weak spots are not too far above eye level." Reiner answers, voice firm with confidence.
"He's right, size won't be an issue." Jean supplies.
Sasha looks at Connie, "Back of the head to the nape of the neck!"
"But don't let your guard down, just cause they're smaller don't mean it's a guarantee. Hit hard and quick." Calian reminds them.
"Heh, worst comes to worst, you can always just shove one up their ass."
"That's the other weak spot? Are you serious?" Connie's baffled and he's not the only one.
Calian drops his face into his hand, "Connie for the love of god, he's fuckin with ya."
The bald cadet blushes in embarrassment, "oh."
Jean rolls heis eyes, "Come on Knock it off Reiner. You want your final words to be an ass joke?"
As the titans stomp aimlessly in the dark basement, the cadets take their positions above, they watch with baited breath as the titans move about, still searching for prey to feast on. Thankfully, whether it'd be pure luck or how small the titans are in comparison to the ones plaguing the city, these titans have yet to notice their would be attackers. Good, there's still only 8 titans so far, s'long as we do this right, we can get everyone back over the wall. All the cadets share a look, making sure that everyone is in place and they wait, hearing the lift slowly descend into the darkness with them.
Soon enough the lift slowly enters the room, the cadets get ready and take aim in all directions. Some are fidgeting in panic as the severity of the situation ways down on their hearts. Being in a small unmovable location with weapons that will not truly harm these unstoppable monsters, and their chances of survival resting in the hands of 8 trainees. They dare not make a sound. The tension is thick enough to be cut with a blade, and it rises exponentially as the titans stop, and turn sharply to face the cadets trapped on the lift. Their collective breaths are stolen as they take menacing steps towards the pack of humans.
Calian slowly unsheathes his blades. He doesn't realize it, but he turns the blades into a reverse grip as he watches intently. He can hear Marco order one cadet, "Don't lose your cool! Fire only when they're within range!"
Come on! Get within range before someone loses their shit! Only 5 more steps… 4… 3… 2… Now! All the cadets fire their weapons, steam instantly clouds the ceiling as the titans are blinded. Without Hesitation, the 8 trainees leap into action. Calian spins in the air, his blades striking true as the titan makes a choking sound before falling face first to the ground, steam beginning to billow from its entire body. Calian kicks, Die you scum! He checks the others and sees that Reiner, mikasa, annie and the others have killed their titans. "good, we handled—"
His blood goes cold as he sees a titan with a healing nape turn to a cowering Connie and Sasha. They must not have sliced deep enough!
"u-um … so sorry to attack… from behind!"
"Sasha and connie missed!" Bertholdt screams.
"Someone help them!" Jean orders as he's too far away.
Tears stream from their eyes as Sasha and connie try to shimmy away from the titan. No! No! I won't lose anyone else today! With a fierce battle cry, Calian charges and leaps into the air, he puts so much force into his swing, his blades not only cut off the titans neck up clear from its body, but his blades shatter as well. Annie follows suit and kills the titan that was advancing on Connie. Calian grasps his knees as he sighs, relief courses through him as he thanks heavens that neither one died.
"Calian! You saved my life!" Sasha tackles the larger teen in a tight embrace as she continues to cry in relief.
He returns the embrace, pulling her in tighter, "It's ok, it's ok you're alright! Thank god you're alright!"
His eyes widen as he realizes he's been holding her for a bit too long and untangles himself firmly but gently. "ahem, you're ok. Come get up."
Connie pays no mind as he gulps and graciously thanks annie, "I owe you one."
"no worries."
"wow, by the skin of your teeth." Reiner and Bertholdt step up to Annie, " You're damn lucky you didn't end up worse off."
As Calian is watching, he doesn't realize Mikasa walk up to him. He raises a confused eyebrow and she points to his shatter blades, "You broke them."
He holds them up and stares at them confused at first but realization slowly takes over his expression. "Yea… I did…" How?
"Hey!" Jean calls as he's refilling his canisters, "Stop standing around and hurry up and reload! We still need to get back up to the wall."
Mikasa gives Calian a look that says, we'll talk about this later, as she too joins the group.
Authors note: Thank you to everyone who reviewed! i always enjoy it and i'm happy you all like my story so far! just wanted to remind that as stated before, this story is based on the Attack on titan 2 videogame and though it seems like such a small and insignificant detail, i decided to incorporate how the blades are broken by the character you make over time and just wanted to say, there is a reason for, won't be revealed for now, but im pretty sure either by watching the show again or reading other fanfics, some might piece together what exactly is going on with Calian, anyway next chapter will be coming soon! See ya then!