AN: Firstly let me say a big thank you for all the reviews this fic has received. It's good to know people are enjoying this.
Secondly, as you all no doubt noticed this battle for Trost arc has followed Canon in most ways, and while I can say that after this things start to diverge more, I wanted to explain my reasoning as I did on AO3. Trost is such a vital point for SnK; it reveals Eren's power, which kicks off the show as we know, it gives our main characters their first taste of the brutality of war and everything that comes with that. I didn't feel like I could create a truly different situation which could do all that without it seeming really contrived (I struggle enough with that as it is lol) so I thought it best just to semi-stick to canon.
Armin suppresses a grimace as he salutes, clenching his wounded hand into a fist and slamming it over his heart. He screams out their innocence and loyalty to humanity in front of dozens of terrified soldiers. He stands, unwaveringly, in front of drawn swords and pointed rifles as he yells to the garrison captain, imploring him to understand that with Eren's powers they could re-take Trost.
He knows it is pointless, he knows his words will not convince or placate the dogmatic officer, but he has to play for time. Eren had already saved them from the first cannonball, the slowly disintegrating skeletal titan stands testament to that, but if another was fired Eren might not be able to stop it.
Mikasa stands a few metres behind him, like a silent sentinel, midway between Eren and himself. Her face is a picture of fury, and she brandishes her swords at the surrounding troops, as she rests her tongue between her teeth, ready to bite down and transform at a moment's notice.
Some of the lesser officers look towards their bearded captain, suggesting that his plan is worth considering. They can see the strategic value of a 'friendly' titan as part of the counter-attack.
But it's no use. The man loses his composure, ordering them to remain silent. He has already decided they are threats and traitors and won't listen to anyone else.
Armin stares coldly at the nervous captain, already expecting this tremendous display of obstinate refusal to see logic and reason. He can only hope he's brought enough time.
The captain brings up his arm, hand pointing towards to sky, ready to signal the cannon to fire. Mikasa is a split second away from biting down, and Eren's hand is drifting toward his mouth when someone grabs the captain's arm and preventing it from going down.
"That's enough. You should really do something about your nervous disposition, Captain Woerman."
Despite the man's advanced age and genial smile, he radiates an aura of authority. Arms now resting behind his back, the bald man calmly walks forwards, pushing aside the stammering Woerman.
"Can you not see this cadet's heartfelt salute? I've only just arrived but have been informed of the situation along the way. Go gather our reinforcements Captain, I think we can at least do these young cadets the favour of hearing them out." decreed Commander Pixis.
Dot Pixis was by all accounts an eccentric man; his stance that being eaten by a titan wouldn't be so bad if 'it was a sexy lady one' and his predilection for hard liquor, regardless of the situation, definitely made him stand out compared to most other members of the armed forces.
But he was not a man to be trifled with; beneath the friendly, if slightly odd, exterior he was an effective leader able to command and inspire his subordinates with ease. He could also be just as ruthless as Commander Erwin if circumstances required it. After all, he had been prepared to let the government execute Erwin for his scheme to overthrow them, had they not shown their true colours during the fake report of Wall Rose being breached.
He was the highest-ranking commander of the southern territories and had authority over 65% of the entire garrison division, nearly 20000 men and women. Subsequently making him one of the most powerful, and therefore dangerous men within the walls.
Pixis stood at the very edge of Wall Rose, overlooking Trost. He took a swig from his flask, seemingly oblivious to the horde of ravenous titans scratching at the wall 50m below him.
Eren had just finished telling the Commander about the basement in Shiganshina and what his father had told him.
"So… Visiting this cellar should clear everything up?"
"Yes, sir. Well, at least I think so."
"For the moment, there is no way to validate your claims, but for now, I will catalogue them in my head. With that said, I can usually tell the difference between unctuous and the sincere, which is why I personally guarantee your safety."
Eren let out a small sigh of relief at that, while Armin and Mikasa remained quiet. They knew that regardless of what Pixis said, Eren would still be arrested by the MPs after this and have to go through that farce of a trial again.
"You're Cadet Armin Arlert. Is that correct?"
"Yes, sir." He replies with a quick salute.
"You mentioned a plan to use Cadet Yeager's 'titan ability' to retake Trost. Do you believe that could work, or were you grasping at straws to try and save your hides?"
"The former, sir. I was going to suggest that Eren use his ability to lift that giant boulder and use it to seal the breach."
Pixis looks back over the city, assessing the merits and drawbacks of his plan. After a moment of deliberation, he turns back and crouches in front of Eren.
"What do you say, Cadet Yeager? Can you seal that hole, son?"
"I…I don't know, it might be possible, but I don't understand my power any more than you do, Sir."
"Ah, yes. Of course, my apologies. I asked you the wrong question." The commander's friendly smile faded, and was replaced with a heavy stare, "Are you willing to, Cadet Yeager, or not?"
Eren was quiet as he looked behind him at the land behind Wall Rose. They can barely produce enough food to sustain themselves as it is, and if Rose falls and they have to fall back to Sina… The consequences are too dire to imagine.
"I'll do it. I'll do it! I don't know if I can seal that hole, but I'll do it."
The smile returned, "Well said, Cadet Yeager. Now stand up lad, there's a battle to be won."
With Commander Pixis's approval, the planning could begin in earnest. He had summoned up his senior officers, minus Captain Woerman, and set off across the wall with Eren in tow.
Armin and Mikasa watched them go, knowing Pixis wanted to talk to Eren privately before speaking to his troops. It was a sadly familiar sight, and one that had occurred countless times before; Eren leaving them, willingly or not, while they stayed behind. Even when they tried to change the future, they couldn't change that.
A forced, but polite cough from behind brought them out of their melancholy. There stood two of Pixis's aides and senior officers; a tall short-haired man, with a broad chest and stern face and the other was a shorter brunette woman, known to be Pixis's most trusted advisor and his right-hand woman.
"The commander said one of you had a plan to retake Trost?" The woman said with a soothing voice, expecting the two cadets to be nervous about this whole situation and wanting to put them at ease. It wasn't needed, but it was considerate of her to do so.
Both saluted, and Armin stepped forward, "Yes Ma'am, I do. Is there a map we can look at?"
With a slight grunt, the man unrolled a map of Trost and laid it out on one of the wall's crenulations.
"Ok, for this plan to work, we need to execute two simultaneous operations. The first is to gather as many soldiers and cannons as possible in this corner of the city." He pointed to the inner right-hand side of Trost, furthest away from the boulder. "Titans are naturally drawn toward large groups of people, so if we station enough people on top of the wall, the titans will gravitate towards this area, clearing the city."
"While this is going on Eren will travel around the top of the wall and then move into the city, discreetly reaching the boulder, then he will transform and carry it toward the outer gate. However, while Eren is moving it, he will be exceptional vulnerable and will need to be protected at all cost. For that reason, I recommend assigning a squad to go with Eren and defending him once in Trost. And for the record, both Mikasa and I request assignment to this squad, as Eren's closest friends we may be the best people to help him if something goes wrong."
The two garrison officers shared a look of surprise. They hadn't expected two cadets requesting to be sent back into Trost.
"Once the breach has been sealed, we can finish off any remaining Titans with the cannons. There is no reason for more pointless deaths today, so no-one, except the infiltration team, should be sent back into the city until it's secured."
The stern man looked over Armin as if seeing him for the first time. "Hmm, not bad kid. I can't see any massive flaws in that plan, the only issue I have with it is that so much relies on your friend's ability to lift that boulder, if he can't then we're dead in the water." He looks to his colleague, silently asking for her opinion.
"I agree, there's a lot riding on his ability, but we're working against the clock, titans are still lumbering in even as we speak. It's a risk, but it's still the best chance we've got. As for your 'request', that will be for the commander and the squad leader to decide."
"It'll take time to reposition all the cannons and bring up the supplies, so I'd advise the two of you to rest for a moment, you've been fighting since the beginning, and you might not get another chance until Trost is secured. In the meantime, we'll sort out the finer details while the commander mobilises the reserves."
"Yes, Ma'am." they both reply in unison, giving a final salute.
Sometimes it can be difficult to comprehend the sheer scale of wall Rose; 20m thick, 50m high and runs continuously for 1193km. If you kept a steady pace and didn't stop to rest or sleep, it would take nearly 13 days to walk around the entirety of the wall.
But just running along the Trost district section of the wall gave Armin a healthy respect for its size as he sprinted alongside Mikasa and Eren. He was a soldier, so he was more physically fit than most civilians, but after fighting for several hours with limited rest, his body was starting to tire, and this sprint was only making it worse. He was certainly glad for that brief period of rest they got before this operation, as it was probably the only reason he was even able to keep up with his two friends.
In the end, it hadn't been too difficult to convince the squad leader that they should join the mission. The man, Ian Dietrich, had been Mikasa's squad leader in the rear-guard and knew of her combat prowess, so when Mikasa vouched for him, he readily accepted Armin into his squad.
As they approached the infiltration spot, he glanced across the city towards the massing Titans in the far corner. They were trying to reach the brave, or insane, soldiers who were abseiling the wall, but none were tall enough to get close. The city had mostly been emptied, with the majority of titans making their way towards the amassed human defenders on top the wall.
So far, everything was going according to plan like he knew it would, but he was careful not to feel too confident. The tricky part of the plan was still to come.
And speaking of difficult…
"I can't believe you both volunteered for this! Seriously, why would you both do something so stupid?" Eren fumed in anger as he ran.
At first, Eren had been surprised to see the two of them in the squad, but that had quickly turned to anger when one of the soldiers told him they had volunteered to keep him safe. He had been giving them the silent treatment for most of the run, so it had taken Armin by surprise when he blurted his question out.
"We want to keep you save, Eren. And we can do that best when we're together." Mikasa calmly replied, unfazed by Eren's bad mood.
That only seemed to anger him more. "Get it through your heads; I'm not your responsibility. You're not my parents, so stop treating me like a child!"
"Yeager now isn't the time to be playing house." Rico Brzenska didn't attempt to hide the annoyance in her voice as she cut past Eren. The silver-haired elite hadn't been subtle about her negative opinion of Eren, and his complaining wasn't doing anything to improve it.
"Make no mistake, more than a few of our comrades are going to die today trying to pull this off. I'm talking friends, captains, lieutenants, squaddies. Yes, they are soldiers, and they are prepared to die for humanity, but remember they are not just the faceless bodies. They have names, dreams, hopes and families. Their blood will be on your hands, so at least do them the honour of acting like a soldier rather than a whinging child."
"That's enough, all of you." Ian shouted over his shoulder, "We're nearly in range of the giant boulder. Rico, fire the signal flare. The rest of you prepare to jump."
Eren gritted his teeth as he jumped off the wall. They didn't understand. He was a soldier, he had trained long and hard so he could kill titans and avenge his mother, yet they kept trying to hold him back. Why were they so willing to fight, yet wouldn't let him do the same?
This was his dream, his goal. He had been the one who wanted to join the military, and they had followed him. They hadn't tried to stop him then, so why are they trying to do it now?!
'No.' he thought to himself as he flew around spires and under skywalks, scrapping along the cobbled road. 'I'm going to do this. I will move that boulder, I will save this city, and I will Kill. All. Titans!'
He bites down, hard, on his hand, splitting skin and drawing blood.
A ball of energy appears in front of the boulder, emitting a deafening piercing sound as it whips up a cloud of dust and debris. Eren was gone, and in his place stood a new creature, one of immense strength and power, one that would soon come to symbolise hope for humanity within the walls.
The Attack Titan.
Mikasa landed behind Eren a few moments later, as the rest of the squad touched down on the numerous buildings surrounding the boulder. She was fully prepared for Eren to lose control and throw a punch at her and had stationed herself behind him again for that very reason.
Armin had tried to talk her out of it, but if Eren killed a soldier, or even seriously injured one, he would either be immediately killed by the others or handed over to the MPs for execution once Trost had been secured. She was the fastest and strongest soldier here, and with her healing ability, she wasn't worried about being injured. It was better if Eren tried to attack her and fail than successfully attacking someone else.
Mikasa tensed slightly as Eren's turned, staring at her with those piercing emerald eyes. Her own eyes narrowed in response as she saw the muscles in his arm tightening as he prepared to swing at her. She leapt to the side and rolled out of the way as his fist came crashing into the roof, chunks of masonry and tiles were sent flying in every direction, as the other soldiers cried out in horror.
A piece of tile caught her across the face, slicing a deep cut across her cheek. Letting out a hiss of pain, Mikasa clamped a hand over the wound, hiding the mark from anyone who might see. She could already feel the wisps of steam rising from it as the flesh quickly stitched itself back together.
She didn't have time to contemplate the usefulness of her new healing factor fully, as Eren reared back for another strike.
Flipping over the second punch, which shattered a nearby chimney, she fired her grappling hooks directly into Eren's forehead and reeled herself in, landing on his face. She was slightly surprised to find that Armin had the same idea and had beaten her there.
"Eren! Listen to me; I know you're in there." Armin looked alarmed, banging his fist against Eren's nose. He hadn't seen Eren lose control first time and had been shocked at how fast Eren had turned.
"ACKERMAN! ARLERT! STAND DOWN! NOW! GET AWAY FROM HIM, THAT'S AN ORDER!" Captain Ian screamed at them from the roof.
"This isn't you Eren. You need to fight; you need to take control!"
Mikasa could see Eren's healing hand clench into a fist, ready to strike. She got ready to grab Armin and dive off if Eren tried to punch them again.
"Remember when we were kids? All we wanted to do was see the outside world; fields of ice and sand, mountains the pierced the heavens, vast jungles and the ocean, that vast salt-filled ocean. We promised each other we would see it together, don't you remember Eren, all three of us promised."
Eren's arm seemed to freeze as his clenched hand shook. It looked like it was trying to move but was being held down by some unseen force. Mikasa dared to look away from the potential lethal fist into those bright green eyes. Something seemed to shift in those swirling pools of green.
"I don't know if you gave up on that dream Eren, I don't know if we could achieve it, but I know one thing. That we will never give up on you Eren, that even in the darkest times we won't abandon you."
"So please Eren… just come back to us." The last line came out as a whisper, something only the three of them could hear.
The yelling of the other troops faded out as they both stared into the titanic eyes of their friend, silently hoping he could hear them.
Slowly, as if it were moving through quicksand, the frozen arm lowered itself and came to rest at Eren's side.
Mikasa let out a small sigh of relief, as the predatory look in his eyes disappears and is replaced by something more conscious and controlled. The low rumbling growl from Eren's throat sounded like a mixture of an apology and a reassurance that he was now in control.
"It's alright Eren, I'm fine, I promise. But this isn't over yet; we still have a mission to complete." She spoke softly to reassure him, not wanting him to be distracted for what comes next.
Eren growls again as he nods his giant head. The two of them jumped off his face, landing in front of the dumbfounded elite garrison squad, as Eren turns and ever so slowly lifts the boulder.
There was an ancient tale that existed within the folklore of the walls. A legend past down from one generation to the next around the cooling embers of a campfire. A story about a great Titan which held up the world, carrying it on its giant shoulders.
No one truly believed it, of course, thinking it was merely a tale to teach young children some forgotten lesson. Everyone knew (or hoped) that there was no Titan large enough to hold up the world, not even the Colossal, and before today Titans had only ever hunted Humanity, not helped it by literally holding up their world.
Yet as the stunned soldiers watched Eren picking up that enormous rock, steaming pouring from his body as his muscles bulged, tightened and tore under the weight, more than a few of them started to wonder if maybe there was some truth in that old tale.
To them, he looked just like that mythical Titan.
The entire world seemed to shake with every step he took; glass shatters and the cobbled stones were crushed to dust under his feet. It takes everything he has to keep the boulder steady.
One wrong move, one misplaced step and he will fall, and the boulder will squish him like a bug under a boot.
Everything comes through to him as a strange haze; he's not entirely sure where he is or even what he is. All Eren knows is that he has to keep moving forward, that he has to reach the breach.
Left foot.
He sees small things darting back and forth in front of him, killing the bigger things. He watches as the bigger ones fall, steaming and dissolving. He watches as some of the little things are grabbed, eaten or smacked out of the air in a puff of red mist. That makes him angry.
Right foot.
There's a flash of yellow, as another little thing flies past him, slicing the neck of a creature that had been charging towards him. He doesn't know why, but the yellow thing seems oddly familiar to him.
Left foot.
He feels like he's about to buckle under the weight. The size of the boulder is causing his muscles to tear and his bones to crack and snap under the pressure. But he keeps moving.
Right foot.
He can see the hole; it is right in front of him now. He hears someone yelling but can't make out what's they said. But it doesn't matter; he knows what he has to do.
With one final defiant roar, he lifts the boulder of his back and slams it into the breach with all the strength he can muster. It cracks the surrounding stone, but he pushes harder, determined to wedge it in the hole so it can never be opened again.
When the beams of sunlight passing through the hole can no longer be seen he slumps to his knees; his body a steaming ruin of torn muscle and shredded skin and his vision was starting to spin and fade, but he had done it. He had sealed the hole.
Eren had already passed out when a yellow flare is fired into the sky. The signal that their first-ever victory over the Titans had been achieved, that humanity had reclaimed Trost. The cheering of the jubilant soldiers almost drowned out the booms of the cannons which started to blast the massed Titan horde apart.
Some fell to their knees crying in relief or happiness; some pulled friends, lovers or even complete strangers into bone-crushing hugs, but most just yelled and cheered to the heavens until their throats were dry and raw.
Eren experienced none of that as his semi-comatose body was being pulled out of his ruined titan. The amount of hot steam pouring from the nape should have made it incredibly painful for Armin to pull him out, and as he pulled strips of connector flesh, his unbandaged hand started to blister and burn. But compared to what he went through fighting Bertholdt this wasn't too bad.
Mikasa lands next to them and helps him by careful cutting through the meat encasing Erens arms.
"Get him up the wall Armin. I'll deal with those two." She pointed at the two titans stumbling towards them, hoping to catch them from behind.
Before either of them could move, one of the titans fell down dead. Its nape split open like an overripe orange. The other soon followed, cut down by a flash of green and black. It fell on the body of the other with a sickening crunch.
A man landed on top of the pile, looking over the city. The titan blood on his blades slowly evaporating away, as his green cape, emblazoned with the wings of freedom, fluttered gently in the wind. The man was short, standing only a few inches taller than Armin, but as he stood there on the corpses of two giant titans, he looked like some legendary God of War.
"Alright, you three. This is the part when you explain to me exactly what I am looking at." Demanded Captain Levi; commander of the special operation squad and humanity's strongest soldier.