Characters thoughts
POV/REINER
Pieces of the roof scattered as a Titan tried scaling the side of the barracks. The Titan bared the usual smile which was etched upon its face along with a raw-boned body. Even with a skeletal-like figure it still possessed immense strength able to break buildings effortlessly.
The Titan continued to attack him, unable to scale the building it opted to charge through it. Which had unfortunately worked, they broke through the walls of the barracks with ease.
The Titan continued trying to grab him, the large hand of the Titan barely missing him. With as many Titans as there were, it did not look hopeful. He had considered transforming many times, but he knew if he did the chances of someone seeing him were too high. He would just have to risk being eaten for a while it seemed.
He thought back to their original plan, which felt like it happened hours ago. Their plan had been simple, distract the Titans and allow the rogue Titan to seal the hole in Trost. He knew if he tried to stop them it would be too suspicious so he opted to continue his role as the big brother everyone saw him as, the role which he took from Marcel.
Once again, their plan failed as many of the Titans went towards the rogue Titan, who he was sure was a titan shifter, though it did not seem to have the powers of the Founding Titan, which could control all the mindless Titans. But it seemed to be skilled and knew how to fight with control, which made him think that this was not the first time it had transformed.
The Titan stumbled at him, mouth wide and hands open, ready to tear him apart, but once again he moved out the way letting his ODM cables fire into a broken tower, the wire through him into the air letting him look down at the chaos below.
The cadets were flying around, moving frantically trying to avoid the Titans. They had begun the battle very successfully, striking down several Titans within the first minutes of the battle. It seems that having a Titan fighting alongside them gave his fellow cadets a morale boost. But during this, they had attracted the attention of other Titans who quickly came over ready to feast upon humans once again.
Despite taking out as many of them as they could, the Titans had quickly spread them out and losing numbers soon their only option became to run, which many cadets accepted. But as the cadets ran, they soon found themselves facing many more Titans which were just as bloodthirsty as the rest.
Unable to regroup and regather, they tried distracting the Titans, which proved effective and they were able to retreat up the wall when necessary.
He fell from the sky, pulling his blades from their sheaths he descended on the skeletal Titan's neck, his blades striking the nape of the Titan with precision. Afterward, he quickly shot out his cables to dodge from an oncoming Titan's grasp. Reiner remembered the days of boot camp, how many wooden titan dummies he had struck down with ease and swiftness, and how little all of that meant now.
I can't lose the Armored Titan, not now. We've finally got a lead after all these years.
Cadets kneeling on a rooftop caught his attention, they did not seem to notice the approaching Titans, instead, he lay there unmoving.
He landed on the broken barrack next to the cadet, remembering him from the training days, his name was Samuel. Samuel looked horrified from the slaughter happening before his eyes, the very people he had known for years being torn apart in front of him.
"You ok?" he asked him.
Samuel still did not seem to notice him. "I… I failed..." Samuel muttered incoherently.
"We need to move, Titans are coming!" he told him.
"Daz… he was right there, I couldn't save him..." he continued muttering.
He looked down at the street below to see the mangled corpse of a cadet, which he
presumed to be Daz. There was no way to confirm unless someone was brave enough to go down onto the streets and measure his shoe size. Reiner didn't know where Daz's upper half went, presumably in the belly of a titan right now.
The Titans neared them and Samuel still did not move, 'Dammit'
He wrapped an arm around Samuel picking him up with little difficulty, firing his cables forward, the metal wires struck hard against the stone across from them.
The shadow of the titan fell on them just as he shot forward, leaving only a trail of gas behind for the Titan.
He continued to hold onto Samuel who was still motionless, they shot up again while he looked for somewhere to put him down, but with his luck, this could go much worse.
Samuels's eyes widened finally coming from his daze, why now? He tightened his grip on him, he moved towards an empty street with no Titans in sight; they should be safe for several minutes.
"Wha… WHAT THE HELL?!" Samuel shouted in confusion, his sudden movement caused them both to spin out of control, the cables keeping them moving suddenly snapped out of the wall letting both of them fall to the streets below.
Samuel hit the ground with a thud followed by a sickening crack, splattering blood on the cobble. He hit the ground just as hard, several stones came loose when he collided with them sending pieces of stone everywhere, he rolled across the street leaving a stream of blood.
He lay on the ground in unbelievable pain. He would have laid there for hours if not for the thumping which came closer and closer by the second.
He tried rising from the ground but found it impossible to move, the thumping grow louder each step shaking the broken stones around him. He crawled forward desperately trying to escape the Titan which came closer by the second. Crawling out of the shallow crater he had left in the street, he pulled his aching body across the ground, refusing to accept his death
The thumping stopped, the Titan stopped moving. Why? He realized why it stopped, why else would a Titan stop. Food.
Samuel.
"Reiner?... REINER GET UP AND HELP ME! PLEASE." He ignored Samuels's screams, instead, he stumbled across the street, tears in his eyes as he listened to his fellow cadet get pulled closer to the Titans mouth.
He tried firing the grapples of his ODM gear, both cables shot out and flew towards the rooftops, both of them locking into a chimney.
"REINER DON'T LEAVE ME. PLEASE!" Samuel screamed desperately
He fired forward off the ground and leaving Samuel to his fate, landing on the rooftop his ODM gear not pulling the cable back in. He turned to see Samuel finished by the Titan.
"WHY?!" His arm moved up as if he was trying to grab him. "Why Rei—," his sentence was cut short by the Titan which crushed his skull between its teeth. His blood sprayed across the street covering nearby surfaces in the red liquid. The Titan finished its meal by pushing Samuels lifeless body further into its mouth then it bit down again sending a second spray of blood.
The Titan looked up at him, hunger in its eyes, it moved towards him slowly, each step it took shaking the ground.
He fired his grapples again, both of them shot out across the street once again locking into place. He pulled himself forward and began moving toward the wall, too injured to continue fighting.
The corpses of the cadets littered the street, most of them were unrecognizable but some were people he knew. People that died because of him. If only they had returned to Marley. Then at least, he wouldn't have to deal with all of this.
Change Pov/Eren
His fist slammed into the Titan knocking it down and releasing steam from the now caved in head. Only three Titans remained in his path, the rest of them were cut down by the cadets or were beaten to death by him.
Mikasa flew by him, she was by far the most skilled of the cadets, far better than him as well, even with double the experience in actual combat from his time in the Survey Corps, he could not compete with the Ackermann blood in her veins. No matter how skilled Eren thought himself at this point, her strength, speed, and agility were outmatched.
Mikasa struck the closest Titan's leg, her blade cutting through the Titan flesh with precision and ease. The Titan shrieked in pain then fell to the ground its leg steaming. Mikasa finished the Titan by striking the nape, killing the Titan before it hit the ground.
He moved forward to attack the next Titan, his fists held at the ready, the Titan moved at him, its body twisting unnaturally as it did so.
He swung his fist which collided with the Titan making a sickening crack as its bones were shattered. The Titan tried to get up once again but was put down by a kick to the face crushing its skull and nape in one go.
He looked up to see Mikasa swooping away from the final Titan which now lay on the ground deep cuts all over it.
He walked towards the hole in Trost, eight meters tall he could have sealed it with the boulder which laid untouched far from him. He now stood directly in front of it, cadets from all around watched him in anticipation.
He knelt and grabbed both sides of the hole, looking out of it he saw vast fields which stood in between him and Maria.
With a single thought, his Titan began to harden, the diamond hard crystal traveled up his body turning Titan flesh into crystal. His body soon was unable to move as the crystal hardened his limbs and joints.
He pulled himself out, smashing through the crystal he fell backward and onto the ground leaving his crystalized Titan body kneeling in the sealed hole.
"Eren!" The voice of Mikasa was unsurprising.
She hugged him, tears running down her face. "How? How are you alive?" She asked, her voice filled with joy.
He opened his mouth to speak but the large figure of a Titan caught his eye, it was moving towards them. With the shape of the cadets right now they wouldn't last long against multiple Titans, it was smarter to retreat.
"Mikasa..." he told her hastily, mounting up what energy he still could. "I'll explain everything later. For now, we have to move."
She looked up, her eyes filled with both joy and relief. Nodding and grabbing hold of him and firing the grapples of her ODM gear up the wall, they shot upwards, Mikasa's grip on him unwavering.
They reached the top of the wall within moments, Trost lay before them, the bodies of cadets laying down some hundreds of meters below, people he was unable to save. His plan originally had been to stop Bertholdt before he destroyed Trost, but he failed, Trost was broken and Titans rushed in. It seemed even with his knowledge and accumulated strength, some things he still couldn't change.
Cadets lay along the wall, many were injured, many had missing limbs or were dead. More cadets were arriving, most of them looked at him with suspicion.
"Eren. Wha-... Why did you just come out of a Titan?" Jean asked him, utterly confused by the situation before him.
"I don't know, one moment I was going to attack the Colossal Titan the next I was falling out of a crystal Titan," he replied. trying to act dumb.
Jean narrowed his eyes. "So, you don't remember anything?"
He nodded in reply.
"What's the last thing you remember?" Armin asked him.
"I remember trying to slice the colossus's nape but I was blasted by steam which threw me away, I vaguely remember being surrounded by a yellow glow but that's it," he explained, other cadets were coming over, intrigued by his story.
"Well, in your Titan form you saved me, Mina and Milieus. Thomas didn't make it," Armin told him. Milieus' face darkened at the mention of Thomas, guilt filled his eyes but he stayed silent.
He didn't reply, he remembered it so clearly, Thomas had been lying there broken and he had walked away. In truth, there were some things more experienced soldiers could have done. A squad of medics could have patched up his wounds, Eren could have tried to carry him over to safety. None of it would have saved him however, it would only prolong the inevitable.
"Eren, did you see where the colossus went? When we went after you it had disappeared." Connie asked him.
He resisted the urge to look at Bertholdt and ask him where the colossus Titan was.
"I don't know, I was blasted by the steam, that's all I remember," he replied.
"We can sort this out later and we first need to get back to Rose. With Trost sealed the scouts and Garrison should be able to finish the last of the Titans off," Jean told them.
"What about the wounded? we can't carry them while using our ODM gear, and some of us don't have enough gas to make it back. Even if we got back to headquarters it would be too risky to try and refill our gear," Armin explained.
Armin was right, they would need to leave their wounded and many would have to refill their gas to make it back to Rose. Their only other option would be to travel along the wall and drag the wounded.
"We'll wait for the Garrison," he told them, wanting to settle the conversation.
"If the Garrison finds us, they should be able to tend to our wounded," Armin told the cadets who trusted Armin far more than him at the moment.
"But we could be out here for hours, they don't even know we're out here," Mina exclaimed.
Armin sighed before replying. "Then we need to send someone back to Rose to tell them that we're here."
"We can send Mikasa, she got the highest marks in training." a cadet shouted out.
Milieus spoke up suddenly. "Even if we send Mikasa she could run out of gas before she gets there, we need someone who won't run out of gas."
He may as well just shout my name with how obvious he's being.
"I'll go," he told the cadets who like him knew what Milieus was hinting at.
"How do you know if you'll be able to transform again?" Milieus asked him.
He shrugged. "Guess I'll find out if I can," he told the cadet.
"I'm coming with you," Mikasa said walking over and standing next to him. "If you arrive as a Titan then they'll shoot you, I can convince them not to."
He looked at her. "Fair enough. But stay back when until after its done,"
"Until after what's done? " She asked him.
He walked over to the edge of the wall and looked down.
"Eren what are you doing?" Mikasa asked him
"Jumping," he answered obviously, before jumping off the edge of the wall.
He plummeted towards the earth with Mikasa nearby falling much slower with the help of her ODM gear. As he neared the earth he bit down on his hand and he was once again surrounded by a familiar golden glow.
His Titan formed starting with the bone, which was followed by muscle, and finally covered by Titan flesh. By the time he hit the ground, his Titan had fully formed and stood fifteen meters tall with a pair of glowing green eyes.
Mikasa landed on his shoulder immediately after his transformation was complete, she stood on his shoulder silently.
He started running forward towards Wall Rose with Mikasa on him, even from across the district he could hear the canons endlessly raining fire upon the Titans. It soon became clear that climbing the wall would be hard, with all the Garrison members and cannons atop the wall they could shoot him down or kill Mikasa if he wasn't careful.
Within minutes they had arrived at the wall and they could now see the full extent of what was happening, dozens of Titans stood at the base of the wall many clumped together at the gate. And as he suspected the further, he looked along the wall the fewer Titans there were.
He started running towards a part of the wall where there were no Garrison members or Titans but his running caught the attention of the Garrison members who were shocked by him and Mikasa.
As he neared the wall, he hardened his hands making crystalized claws. He struck the wall with his hand the crystal claws breaking through the hard material with little difficulty.
He continued to climb the wall as fast as he could, he could now hear the screams and shouts from the top of the wall. They must have noticed me then.
"DON'T SHOOT," Mikasa shouted trying desperately to save them both.
He felt something smash into the side of his Titan. Dammit, how did they aim the cannons that fast? Steam billowed from the Titans body which was trying to heal from the explosion.
More cannons fired, the first struck him in the head which blew the face apart and sent pieces of bone and teeth to the ground below. The second smashed into his shoulder throwing Mikasa off of him. Mikasa shot up the wall with her ODM gear reaching the top of the wall within seconds.
"Wha-" one of them started but was cut off by Mikasa who punched the Garrison Member down. Mikasa continued to fight the Garrison members who were now trying to shoot him and fight Mikasa who was taking them out easily.
Another canon fired this time striking into his left leg, the shot ripped apart his thigh but it quickly healed. Finally reaching the top of the wall he stood up and looked down at the vast city below him.
The Garrison members atop the wall were frozen in fear and even Mikasa had stopped, now she looked at him motionlessly
"FIRE. KILL IT QUICKLY!" the shouts came too slow as he jumped from the wall using the crystalized claws to slow his descent to the ground. The Garrison members at the base of the wall looked at him in horror.
"TITAN!" The shouts from the Garrison and the people below caught his attention. Is this how Bertholdt felt looking down at Shiganshina. Did he just see ants below him or did he see devils that must be killed?
He slammed into the ground steaming billowing from his large body, he released himself from the Titan body which slumped to the ground without him.
He jumped from the shoulder of the Titan corpse and raised his hands in surrender to the Garrison who all stood still stunned from the recent events.
"Trost has been sealed. The cadets need your assistance, there atop the wall directly above the gate," he explained to them who still were motionless.
"Sir?" One of the Garrison members asked, looking at Kitz Weilman.
"Send men over to help the cadets," Kitz said, still staring at him.
"NOW goddammit!" Kitz shouted, finally looking away from him.
Mikasa dropped down next to him suddenly.
"Mikasa. Don't fight them," he told her in a whisper.
She looked at him questioningly but said nothing.
"I would like to speak to Dot Pixis as well. If you wish to arrest me, I'll come willingly but I want to speak to him," he told them.
"I DECIDE WHAT HAPPENS HERE!" Kitz shouted in reply.
"And what do you think, captain?" he asked Kitz calmly.
Kitz thought for a moment. "Take him. now," he told the Garrison.
"Sir. Are you-" one of them started.
"ARE YOU QUESTIONING ME?! TAKE HIM!" he shouted again.
Several Garrison members walked towards him blades drawn.
Mikasa still had her blades drawn and looked ready to kill the members.
"Mikasa. Put your blades away..." he mumbled.
"But-" she started.
"Put them away or this is going to get worse!"
Mikasa slowly put her blades away, she eyed the Garrison members as they approached but did nothing.
The Garrison members put their blades to his throat and pushed him forward.
"Where should we take him?" One of them asked.
"Take him to the barracks," Kitz told them.
They continued pushing him forward, their blades at his back both looked at him with fear.
He was thrown into the Barracks holding cell, though it wouldn't do much good if he tried to escape. Even without the Warhammer's powers, he could transform into his Titan and that would destroy the cell and part of the building.
Now I just need to survive until the scouts arrive, shouldn't be too hard.
Notes
Wasn't the best chapter but I hoped you enjoyed it this one took quite some time to write out. You can ask any questions I'll answer them as quick as I can, give me criticism if you have any. Go check out Winter1231505 he helped edit this chapter and all the chapters before. The next chapter will be out next Sunday as usual.