Chapter 7: Commander of the Scouts
It was only after an hour or so of keeping the titans at bay had passed that Jason began hearing the explosion from inside the forest. The three of them had stayed silent, waiting for orders of any kind. None had come. Jason had thought about whether or not he should leave this group. He knew that Armin wanted to help him, but he couldn't wrap mortals in his troubles. He could use his new found speed to try and get away? But that speed was temporary. The last time he used it he lost all his energy. Once he lost speed, he would be eaten by these monsters.
Speaking of which, one of them was trying to climb up the trees to reach them. The thing creeped Jason out way too much. He had faced much uglier and scarier monsters before. But for some strange reason these 'titans' petrified him.
"We gotta move Armin." Jean ordered.
"It's teaching itself how to climb." Jason noticed.
"What do you mean Jason?" Armin asked.
Jean jumped to a higher branch using his ODM gear. Armin, with Jason holding on to him, did the same.
"Monsters never learn from their mistakes. Well, at least, not the monsters I fought."
Armin gave him a confused look. "It just means they're capable of learning."
"That's a scary thought." Jean lamented.
"Yhea…" Jason let the thought go.
Another explosion ringed through the forest. What is going on in there? Jason wondered.
The three of them were silent once again. Another explosion had gone off.
"Armin, there is something going on in that forest." Jean began. "And I think I sort of know what it is."
The two glanced at him.
"They lured that female titan all this way so they could capture it."
Armin's eyes widened. Jason focused on Armin.
"More precisely, they want to capture the human inside it. That's Commander Erwin's objective."
"Commander Erwin?" Jason asked.
"Commander Erwin Smith is the leader of the scout regiment." Jean explained, "Since his promotion he has greatly increased the survival rate of the scouts using the Long-Distance Enemy Scouting Formation."
Jason remembered the flares that he saw earlier when fighting the female titan. He also remembered Cristas words. I'm surprised that after all the casualties we took, we haven't returned home yet.
"You praise him, yet you guys have had way too many casualties on this mission."
Armin studied Jason.
"I'm not saying he was right. After all, one of the casualties was Armins superior…" He glanced cautiously at Armin.
The climbing titan lost his grip and fell to the ground.
"No, his decision wasn't wrong."
"How could it not have been wrong? Think of all the soldiers that could have been saved if he hadn't…" Jean began but was cut off.
Jason grabbed Armin by the collar.
"Are you saying those lives were worthless?" he asked sharply.
Armin didn't back down.
"No. But no one knows how things would have turned out."
Jason didn't let go.
"We don't know, but we will always face choices. We have to choose."
Armin's blue eyes glared at Jason.
"One hundred lives of our comrades, or the lives of humankind within the walls."
The lives within the walls. Innocent people. People that can't protect themselves.
Jason slowly let go. Jean sighed with relief. Armin continued.
"The commander made a choice, sacrificing one hundred of our comrades." Jason took a step back, ashamed of his outburst.
"I haven't been around here long enough, but there is one thing I'm convinced of. A person who can bring about change is a person willing to sacrifice what's important to them. Someone who, when faced with overcoming a monster, is willing to abandon even his own humanity. A person who cannot give up anything can change nothing."
Armin stared at Jason with conviction when he said that last line.
Give up…a childhood with Thalia, a life with Piper, Leo's life, his life. All the demigods whose lives were sacrificed battle after battle, quest after quest. Was none of that good enough. How much more did Jason have to give up for this world to be satisfied. Even with all the sacrifice, nothing changed. Nothing would ever change.
He peered at Jean and Armin. New found friends in a world he didn't understand. They too would be next. Not to them, I can't let them get hurt.
"I… I need to go."
Armin asked in bewilderment, "What?"
"I… I can't stay here, you'll get hurt. I need to go!" The energy found itself in Jason again. Using his new found strength he leapt away from the two. Jean and Armin yelled out to him, but Jason didn't look back.