A/N: Here I am with another chapter and another authors note, I'm sure you're at least no too keen on one of those lol. This ones a tad late I know but bear with me please, the timeline for when I post these may become funky at some points, the juices don't run as well on some chapters as they do others and life is well...life, but I will try my best to keep a chapter a week for you guys! Anyways hope you enjoy this one, and see you next time! ~Scipias

CHAPTER 14 – THE BATTLE FOR TROST: FOG

"Keep it together… you have to keep it together."

Lukas figured it was almost noon by the time the bells were rung for retreat, as Squad 27 linked back up with a large group of their fellow cadets spread among the roofs of a few buildings. By some miracle the squad had only lost one of their number, their group having found Daz cowering on a rooftop near to their encounter with the 10-meter titan. Had the situation not called for them to be hasteful with their retreat, and had Lukas been anymore sound of mind, he would have clocked his comrade upside the jaw. The teen couldn't fault him for being afraid, hell he was terrified right now, but running them all into that situation was just uncalled for.

The four of them landed cleanly on the roof, boots clinking on tiles as they glanced around. Most of the squads seemed somewhat intact, but the group in general seemed…thin. Lukas, Marco and Connie picked out a few familiar faces in the crowd until they came upon Jean who sat on the roof a ways over. The trio walked over to him, the gray-haired teen giving them a nod in acknowledgement as he stared of into the distance. The three understood the look, the day having been a hell and a half, but Lukas's mind soon drifted to another major concern.

"Sasha?" he muttered questioningly to his friend.

"Yeah…" Jean replied looking at him and nodding down the roof a bit further, "She's ok"

Lukas looked to see the brunette trying to motivate some other cadets despite the horrible situation they were in right now. The black-haired teen felt a sense of relief wash over him, at least that was one thing that was ok that day. It didn't take him long to drift up behind her, and before Sasha could register his presence the former hugged her tightly.

"Guess we'll have to call a rain check on that date huh?" he uttered.

The girl circled around, melting into the embrace, "Yer na funny." She muttered quietly

"I know…" Lukas said solemnly, "I'm just glad you're ok."

Sasha didn't look up at him, "I'm gla yer ok too."

The two stood silently in embrace for a few more moments until the clacketing of roof tiles alerted the duo to the approach of Jean, Marco and Connie.

"Oi Lukas!" Connie spoke, "Knock some sense into Jean again. You killed one of those things, so it should be no problem getting back to the garrison, right?"

Lukas could see Sasha veer her head over from beside him while Jean gave him a questioning look. Lukas looked down and sighed, "That was dumb luck…" he uttered as he looked around, "Even so, it doesn't look like they supplied us with any gas out here. Can't fight with no gas."

"Those quartermasters, the cowards!" Jean responded, "We're all gonna die if we can't get enough gas to scale the wall."

"Were they wiped out or something?" the bald-headed posed a reply.

"They lost the will to fight, abandoning their duty to resupply us, and locked themselves in at HQ." Jean muttered pinching the bridge of his nose, "Now the Titans are crawling all over that place, and we can't refill our tanks."

"No…" Marco said solemnly.

"Fuck…" Lukas cursed silently, his hand curling into a fist.

"There has to be something we can do!" Sasha spoke up trying to remain positive.

"Yeah, in that case, we have to take a chance and wipe out those titans!" Connie added, "It's better than wasting our time here, soon enough the titans will be on us, too."

"If we keep running away like this…" Sasha continued, "We'll run out of gas soon enough, and the titans will pick us off one by one like wolves."

Jean looked up at the duo, "That's unusually good thinking coming from you two, but do you guys think we can really pull that off with our manpower? Those veterans in the vanguard were almost completely wiped out, who among us cadets could take over in the face of sure death"

Lukas looked blankly down at the tiled roof below him morbidly quiet and Jean continued, "Even if the spare one of us was able to take down a titan" Jean nodded towards his friend, "the gas refilling facility is probably packed with three- to four-meter-tall titans. We couldn't possibly get anything done down there."

Connie's face contorted in distress, "So it's hopeless then?"

Marco and Sasha looked down in concern, and Lukas was still looking like he was barely keeping it together.

"Man…this life sucks. Hopefully…our families…" Jean paused, "…as many civilians got out as they could."

Jean sighed, scratching his head before continuing, "Had I known, I should've told her…" the taller teen looked to Lukas, "but I guess its good you stepped in for me…Oi Lukas! Come on, we don't need anymore of that weird shit happening to you!"

The black-haired teen snapped out of his trance, "Yeah…I'm good."

"Wait…" Sasha looked confused from beside him, "What do you mean?"

Lukas sighed, turning to the brunette who glared into him more concerned than inquisitive. He recounted all the details he'd revealed to Jean earlier this morning to the assembled group. Not wanting to make a habit of hiding things from his girlfriend and his friends, the teen also recounted how he had somehow zoned out while killing the 10-meter titan not an hour earlier, how it seemed to react oddly, and how he had gotten a nosebleed from the encounter.

"This day keeps getting fucking stranger and stranger…" Jean spoke first sighing.

"I can't talk about that other stuff…titan was probably an abnormal though" Connie added, "but you saved mine and Marco's asses back there and that's all that matters to me."

"Yeah…" Marco spoke, "Everything probably would have been a lot worse without you, even though with all this death that's not saying a lot."

Lukas looked to Sasha.

"I wish…" the brunette spoke looking downward, "I…wish you would've told me sooner."

The tone of her voice and the look of disappointment emanating for the girl hurt Lukas more than anything he'd experienced that day.

"Sash…I'm so sorry" the teen replied weakly, "I…I don't understand what's going on with me, and I didn't want to worry you again because…" he grabbed her hands softly, "I'm scared." He finished; his voice barely audible though the girl from Dauper had heard him clear enough.

The group stood quietly for a couple minutes as Sasha didn't respond to Lukas's statement, though at the same time the girl didn't pull away either. Finally, she looked up, her eyes were red but hadn't progressed to the point of tears.

"My Pa taught me that sometimes the wildlife can sense if somethings off in the forest. We'd be stalking through hunting for something, anything really, and the whole place would be dead quiet for miles around." Sasha spoke softly, "Whatever you got seems to be helping you stay alive and that's enough for me, because as long as you're here…that's enough for me too."

Lukas smiled at her words as the brunette hugged him once more.

"Jeez…I'd rather let the titans kill me now then watch anymore of this mushy shit…!" Jean exclaimed.

Lukas didn't need to see Sasha to know that she was currently staring daggers at his friend in reply, "Maybe that's why Mikasa doesn't like you?" she said, the joke coming out as bile from her mouth.

Jean scoffed, Marco smiled weakly and Connie chuckled a tad bit, "Shit, she got you Jean…ah man I needed that."

Lukas smirked, some of the weight lifted from this darkest of days, "Has anyone seen Mikasa anyway? On that note, has anyone seen Eren or Armin as well?"

The quintet looked around, and after a moment Sasha sounded off, pointing down the way towards a small blonde teen crouched and sitting up against and elevated portion of the roof they we're currently on, "There's Armin!"

Curious, the five of them walked over to the sitting teen, who Lukas immediately noticed was showing signs of a near break. Despite a good portion of the survivors here no doubt feeling much the same, the blonde looked absolutely horrified. Sasha and Connie tried stirring their friend and comrade to no avail, Lukas very close to pulling the duo off to let Armin breathe whatever he was feeling out, he heard a voice calling out from behind them.

"Lukas…Jean!" the two friends turned to see Mikasa jogging down the building.

"Well, it's good to see you made it too!" Lukas greeted the girl.

The black-haired girl nodded toward him as she stopped, "I ran into your mothers when I was with the rearguard, they both made it out of the city ok…Lukas your mother is an…interesting person."

The two boys looked at each other with a sense of relief before they looked back at their class leader, "So I've been told…thank you Mikasa."

"Yeah…thank you." Jean added.

Lukas noticed the girl almost avert her eyes from her friend's gaze but whatever thoughts he might have had were soon drowned out when Mikasa caught site of Armin. The girl rushed through as Sasha and Connie backed off.

"Armin, are you hurt?" she asked, "Are you ok?"

The blonde still silent gave a slight nod which Mikasa picked up on. She glanced around, and Lukas assumed she was looking for the third member of their trio.

"Where's Eren?"

Lukas's mouth opened slightly as he saw a tear run down the blonde teens face. He looked to Jean who looked like he had picked up on the meaning as well.

Oh no…

"Armin?" Mikasa questioned once more, still looking around the rooftops for her surrogate brother.

Armin looked up at his friend, his face in full view now, tears streaming down his face, "We…" he brokenly spat out, "Cadets…of Squad 34…Thomas Wagner, Nack Tius…Millius Zerumski…Mina Carolina…Eren Yeager. These five…carried out their mission and put up a heroic fight!"

"No…" he heard Sasha mutter from beside him. Everyone in the immediate area was now focused on what the blonde had to say.

"Squad 34 was decimated?" Lukas heard a cadet comment from behind him.

"That's what'll happen to us if we fight the titans head-on…" another added.

"I'm…so sorry Mikasa…" Armin sobbed looking down to the floor. "Eren gave his life for me. I…couldn't do anything…I'm so sorry!"

"Armin…" Mikasa knelt down to her friend placing her hand on his, "Calm down. This is no time to be getting sentimental…Come on, get up."

Lukas raised an eyebrow at that.

"That's odd"

The girl turned around, "Marco, if we get rid of the Titans gathered near Headquarters…" Mikasa spoke walking up the building now, "…we could refill our gas tanks, and everyone could make it up the wall. Isn't that right?"

"Yeah…" Marco responded thinking it over, "you're correct, but even with your help, there are too many of them…"

"We can do this!" the cadets class leader cut Marco off.

"This doesn't sound right?"

"Huh?" he heard Marco respond in confusion.

Mikasa turned to face everyone, "I am… strong!"

She raised her unsheathed blade, "Stronger than all of you… Much stronger!"

"What's she playing at?"

"I can scatter those titans, even if I have to do it myself…"

"You guys are cowards and wusses…without fighting skills." Mikasa pointed her blade at the group, "I feel sorry for you. Stay here and twiddle you thumbs and watch me do this…"

"Now hold on Mikasa!" one of the recruits spoke up, "Why are you saying those things?!"

"Good question…"

"You plan on taking on that many titans by yourself?" another recruit posed.

"There's no way you could…"

"If I can't, I die…" she turned shooting off towards the HQ, "…but if I win, I live. I can't win unless I fight"

A few brief moments passed before Jean muttered, unsheathing his swords "Did she just shame us with a lame pep talk?"

Lukas sighed, doing the same, "She did…she may be off her rocker, but she didn't give us much choice…"

"Fuck this…and fuck Eren." Jean lifted his blade, "Hey! Did they teach you to let a fellow soldier fight alone?!" he screamed to the crowd and ran towards the end of the building "You're turning into pathetic cowards!"

Lukas rolled his eyes sighing and looked at Sasha who seemed to be on the same page as him, blades already drawn. She nodded at him and the two along with Marco and Connie sprinted after their friend.

Lukas raised one of his swords screaming, "If y'all want to wait here for the titans to fuck you to death be my guest!"

"Hey you coward! Weaklings! Fools!" Sasha added yelling at everyone.

Soon enough Lukas could hear a raucous scream from behind him and he knew everyone had been convinced to charge forward.

" Damn it Mikasa, I hope we haven't misplaced our trust in you…"

…

"Quickly!" Jean yelled over the sound of ODM gear, "Follow Mikasa! We have to make this quick!"

Lukas glanced to see the girl in question slice the nape of a 10-meter as easily as if it had been a training dummy. Although the method of the kill was brutal and effective, the teen knew from a glance it was no where near efficient. Everyone was already low on gas, and despite how fluid Mikasa was being with her movements, the girl was going out of her way to kill titans not in their direct path. Her face seemed cold as ice, but her actions proved otherwise.

"Shit…she's seeing red!"

"Get to Headquarters before our gas runs out!" Jean added, from all looks of it his friend had taken over command of this charge.

Lukas flew over another street, hooks latching into a nearby chimney. He could feel his tanks getting dangerously lighter and knew if he was getting low, being one of the best ODM users in the class then most peoples were close to cutting out. As the mass of cadets passed another block, he swung towards Connie and Armin.

"Mikasa is incredible…!" the former exclaimed, "How is she able to move so fast?"

"She's using way too much gas Connie…" Lukas replied, turning to Armin, "Armin, there's something up with her…if she keeps this up, she's going to fall out far before we get to headquarters."

"You're…you're right!" Armin replied, "She's covering her shock with her actions. At this rate…"

Suddenly the girl's gas cut out, the three of them passing quickly ahead of her as Mikasa fell towards the street…

"Shit…!" Lukas screamed in shock.

"Mikasa!" Armin yelled shortly afterwards curving off from the path.

"Damn it!" Lukas heard Jean utter from ahead him.

"Jean…!" Connie added, "Keep leading them towards headquarters, we'll stay with Armin…"

"No…so will I!" Jean protested.

"Jean…they need your leadership!" Lukas commented, "If too many of us break off the formation will scatter."

The gray-haired teen scoffed accepting his role as Lukas and Connie peeled off after Armin.

The three traced back their steps in an attempt to find their comrade. Although Mikasa had fell out barely a minute prior to this point, the speed at which people fly using ODM mean that given the speed and drift the girl was moving at, she could be anywhere within the maze of streets they had just passed. Even Lukas, having been a native of Trost most of his life, only had a vague idea of where she might have landed. That's why he regrettably tried to concentrate, and after a few moments felt a haze fall over his eyes.

"Fuck today, fuck these titans, and fuck whatever this shit is going on with my body! Mikasa can go off and martyr herself if she damn well pleases but dragging everyone else into a charge and not having the mind to see it through? I know she's mourning but damn that's selfish…"

Lukas's mind drifted to thoughts of Sasha. He felt like he was going crazy today, but that girl, ever trying to be the optimist seemed to pull him out of the fugue state he was in and put everything in perspective. He was still scared of whatever was going on with him internally, but as long as it helped her, helped him, and helped his friends he would do his best to oblige it.

Not that it was proving any good at the moment. Though most the smoke and debris fogging the air from earlier had cleared it proved exceptionally difficult to spot anything smaller than a 10-meter titan. Through the haze in his eyes, he could tell there was plenty of those monsters that had managed to infiltrate the central part of Trost. Lukas's head pinged a million different ways and he saw dozens of red colored blobs scattered across the street below that he knew were titans. After minutes of searching, he was about to transition back to just looking normally until something caught his eyes.

"What the hell is that?"

A ways off, Lukas saw a white blob way too big to be a human despite the pinging in his head being no where close to the ones he felt for a titan, what's more was, the white form was pulsing. The teen had never seen anything with the haze take a white color before so seeing no better option he signaled Armin and Connie in that general direction. The former took the lead again and as they approached where Lukas had seen the anomaly, Armin spotted a human form on the street below.

"Mikasa!" the blonde yelled swinging towards the ground below and sweeping the girl up to the roof of a nearby building where Lukas and Connie joined them.

"Mikasa!" Armin exclaimed as the two landed in a roll onto the building, "You're not hurt?"

"Are the two of you good?" Connie questioned swinging in ahead of Lukas.

"Yeah." Armin replied.

"Good. We have to go!" the bald-headed teen exclaimed. "Damn! Two 15-meter titans!"

Lukas looked toward where his friend had motioned to see two titans approaching each other on the street across from them, and one of them through the haze was…pulsing white.

"No" Mikasa answered, "that one is…"

"Different…" Lukas finished.

The group was validated in their opinion when the two titans screamed at each other, the abnormal one taking up what seemed like a fighting pose. Its opponent charged and with one powerful swing the abnormal took the titans head clean off, the appendage flying at least five blocks away and colliding with a tower in a resounding crash. The abnormal seemingly regenerated its hand which hand come off with the impact of its punch, and not missing a beat stomped its foot into its downed opponents' nape, killing it before it had time to regenerate.

Rhia Schmidt had been one to tell her son that there were some things in this world that we could never understand. Lukas never knew he would run into so many of those things in one day.