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Chapter Five
The Fall of Shiganshina – Part 2

Year 844
Within Wall Rose

Lunch was often brought to the cadets when they trained in the forest, simple meals of bread and cheese, sometimes even meat. The cadets would get nearly an hour of downtime, stretching out in the shade of the trees while a gentle breeze cooled their overworked bodies.

Hanna had already fallen asleep, eating her entire meal before most of the others even sat down, while Jonas was staring off into space. Klara thought he might sleep with his eyes open, but every now and again, she'd hear him sigh in reaction to a nearby conversation.

Luka was lying in the grass beside her, blinking lazily at the sky above. He looked like she felt: a moment away from drifting off to sleep. There was something so calming about being out in the open, beneath the sky. It was why she had always fallen asleep on the roof of her home; it always put her at peace.

Klara finally let her eyes drift shut, sighing deeply as she nestled into the grass. Sometimes Nelek let them sleep later, if he was feeling charitable. She hoped this was one of those days.

"Do you miss home?"

She opened a single eye, finding Luka's gaze suddenly intense, focused, staring at something above them.

"Sometimes," Klara replied, getting comfortable again. "It's not as bad as it used to be, but I miss seeing my grandfather. Miss the cooking too."

"Wasn't it your cooking?"

"Not to brag, but yes."

He laughed precisely once, his heart not entirely in it. It was so unlike him, but Klara was barely conscious, and hardly noticed.

"I don't miss home."

That got her attention.

Fully awake, Klara rolled over and looked at Luka, head propped up on her arm. "What do you mean?"

He shrugged. "I never really fit in. Didn't take to the family lifestyle. I wasn't joking when I said I was dead weight."

"I just thought you were lazy."

His smile had no mirth. "Sometimes, I wish I was."

They were silent after that. Klara watched him, unable to move until she was certain everything was alright. She suspected he had more to say, but had no idea how to approach him about it. Part of her wondered if his happiness was a front, and that far beneath the smiles and easygoing nature, there was a sad young man hoping for someone to get close enough to find him.

"There's no need to worry about it, Klara. It doesn't really matter anymore anyway," he said after a while.

"Why is that?"

Luka turned to her then, and a genuine smile spread across his face.

"Because I've found where I belong."

Present Day
Shiganshina District

Klara had painfully unearthed his body, brick by brick, until every part of Luka had been uncovered. Aside from a tear in his jacket and the dust covering his body, he was perfectly intact, not a hair out of place, and yet, he wasn't breathing.

"Luka! Luka, look at me, please!" Klara pleaded, grabbing his face between her hands. She shook him, pressed her fingers across his eyelids, checked his pulse, but there was nothing. No breath passed through his lips, and no sounds came from his chest. "Please, don't do this to me. Please. Not you. Not you."

I was supposed to save you. I didn't even get the chance…

She took him up in her arms and held him, his head lying limply across her shoulder. He felt so light in her grasp, like a strong wind would take him away from her. So, her grip tightened, her hands burrowing into his jacket. They couldn't take him away from her. She wouldn't allow it.

"Please," she sobbed into his collar. "Please come back."

Someone was tugging on her sleeve. It had to be the boy, but she wouldn't look at him. She wouldn't budge. She just held Luka closer.

"Please."

He had to laugh again, tell her it was all some horrible joke, look at her with those shining eyes and say everything would be alright. They'd see Hanna and Jonas again soon, take their vows together, and be scouts. They were going to see the world outside the walls together. She'd save him, and he'd save her.

"Please."

A shadow passed overhead. Klara didn't even flinch. It could have been a bird; it could have been a titan. She didn't care, so long as it left them be.

"Hey," someone called above her. They were shaking her shoulder. "We need to go."

She shook her head, clinging to Luka. "He needs me."

"He's gone. He doesn't need anyone."

Klara looked up at the sympathetic eyes of Isak. Karter was just behind him, holding the boy.

"We have to take him with us then, please," she begged. "Please. I can't leave him here."

"I only have enough gas to get us to the top. I can't make two trips."

"Then take him."

"No."

Klara took a deep breath, looking away. "Please leave."

Isak sighed above her, and briefly his shadow disappeared. She thought he might actually listen to her, and she was grateful. It was quiet here. She liked that.

"Caleb died," Isak said somewhere behind her. "Had his head smashed against a building when that titan broke the gate. Never had a chance. I leave you, and there will be more like him."

She let the words wash over her, clung to the syllables and slowly processed them. This was what she was meant to do, save people, no matter the cost, and there were still civilians in need of help. But her body felt so heavy, her arms and legs refused to work. It was so much easier to just sit and let the world pass her by.

For so long, she wanted this responsibility, but she hadn't realized that it would cost her heart.

How foolish she'd always been.

Klara closed her eyes, and took a breath.

She left Luka on the pile of rubble, his eyes closed but facing the sky. He almost looked at peace, sleeping under the warmth of the sun like they had under those trees. One day, she told herself. One day she would come back for him. For all of them.

Isak hadn't been lying to her. They barely made it to the top of the wall, Klara desperately grasping the edge as they made a last swing to the top. Other soldiers helped them up, pulling on their jackets as they crawled forward.

Klara took deep breaths, fingers scratching the surface of the wall. Her gaze briefly turned to the city, to the titans still swarming the streets and the smoke pouring into the sky until it turned hazy.

Was Matteo still down there? Was he buried under a building too or had he managed to escape?

I need to find him. I need to-

"What do we do now?"

It was only when the silence stretched on for too long that Klara realized the soldier had been addressing her. She looked up, still on her hands and knees, and saw a dozen Garrison soldiers looking back at her. Some were frightened, others morose, most just looked confused, lost, in need of someone to lead them.

She supposed the only leadership they had were at the gate, and she doubted any of them survived that attack.

Klara looked back down, staring at the top of the wall. Closing her eyes just gave her visions of green.

Why me?

Taking a breath, she stood, leveling a gaze at the remaining guardians of Shiganshina.

I'm sorry, Matteo.

"We need to contain this. Give the civilians in the area a chance to evacuate," Klara said, looking down below. The titan that had destroyed the gate was long gone, just like its counterpart. Other titans had yet to breach the gateway, but that wouldn't take long. With all the ferries gone, the people were left on foot, and that would not get them far, not in this open space. "Keep using the buildings of Shiganshina. Take out the titans before they get through, but choose your targets carefully. We can't afford to be reckless now."

"I can't go down there again," one soldier murmured. He was shaking, eyes wide and brimming with tears. "I can't. They'll eat me. I don't want to die."

"None of us wants to die," she said quietly, thinking of a boy who would never smile again. "But we have an obligation. Only we have the tools to save those people down below. Only we have the training."

He looked at her, but shook his head, succumbing to his fear.

Klara sighed. She couldn't blame him, but she did not have to like it either. Reaching out, she began to loosen his gas cylinders.

"Wha-what are you doing?! I need those!" he shouted, attempting to fight back. Isak suddenly appeared behind him, holding him in place.

"You don't need these if you aren't going to help. Sit here, on the wall, and stay out of our way," Klara said, taking the rest of his gear. "You're probably the safest person in all of Maria right now. Focus on that and keep quiet."

The rest nodded to her, ready to do their part. She sent half the soldiers down to pick through the remains of the gate, looking for the entrance to the winch room so they could secure more gas for their cannisters. Others took up positions in the buildings near the collapsed gate, although many of the structures were unstable at best, but they were the only options they had. The other side of the wall had perhaps two buildings they could utilize.

They stuck as close to the gate as they could. Klara didn't want anyone getting separated, and she wanted the wall well within their reach at all times.

Perhaps another hour passed. They killed countless titans in their efforts to evacuate the population. Shiganshina had fallen completely silent. There were no more screams or cries. All that remained was a smoking city with titans wandering the streets.

Only one soldier had fallen thus far, but his death had left the others unnerved. Klara knew they couldn't keep it up much longer, even with their supplies replenished. At some point, she had to consider calling it. Night would fall soon, and they wouldn't even be able to see their hands before their faces, much less the titans.

Klara stood on the body of her last kill, sweating as the steam pooled around her, watching another five titans approach the gateway. They were an endless swarm. What could their small group possibly hope to accomplish other than losing their lives?

She sighed. "Everyone up the wall!"

It wasn't an order she needed to give twice. Garrison soldiers flung themselves at the behemoth, climbing to safety with haste. Klara joined them, finding the young boy by her side in an instant.

"Now what?" she heard Isak ask as he stared over the edge. Giant faces stared up at them, clawing at a wall they could never hope to climb. "We can't defeat them all."

"No," Klara admitted. "But we can distract them a little longer. The more titans we distract, the less there are to go after the civilians."

"Is that the best we can do now? Be bait?"

She didn't want to answer that.

Time passed. Darkness settled around them. They managed to build a small fire at the top of the wall and pass around some rations that they'd salvaged. Klara had given the boy her jacket, and he'd curled up and fallen asleep in her lap.

"We'll have to leave soon," Karter said, staring into the flames.

Isak nodded. "I say we move down the wall at dawn. Head toward the closest village and evacuate there."

"What if it's gone? And the next village? And the one after that?" a soldier mumbled beside them. "What if the titans are everywhere?"

"They don't move that fast," Klara disagreed. "With our presence here, fewer than ten have gotten through, I'd say."

She wondered where those titans were. Had they found others to eat, or were they blindly roaming the wilderness?

It was a dangerous train of thought.

"How did this happen?" someone else asked.

No one answered. Every soldier took a long, slow look at one another, and hung their heads in shame. They had all done their part, and yet, it felt like they had nothing to show for it. All they had done was delay the inevitable. What good was that?

Klara ran a hand through the boy's hair, watching his nose scrunch up in his sleep. "Does anyone know his name?"

"I haven't even heard him speak," Isak admitted, looking to them.

"Wouldn't speak again if I were him," another soldier said, crossing his legs. "Can't imagine what he saw."

She remembered the children who would run up and down her street. They'd broken her grandfather's window once, and he'd ran after them with a speed she didn't think he still possessed. She wondered if any of them had made it out alive. Perhaps this boy had known them. Maybe he was one of their younger siblings.

"Klara," a soldier called out. "You should see this."

Curious eyes all looked to the man at the edge of the wall. He'd been there since the sun had set, watching the titans, his legs dangling over the side.

Slowly, Klara eased herself up, making certain to keep the boy stable. Karter offered up his jacket to use as a pillow.

"What is it?" she asked, standing at the edge.

"The titans. They're no longer moving."

Squinting, Klara glanced down into the darkness. She didn't know how he could tell, given it was a moonless night, but she had to admit, something did seem different. It had certainly grown quieter.

She sighed, backing up to the fire and grabbing a piece of wood. "I'm about to do something stupid."

Without waiting for a reply, Klara dropped off the wall, hooking her grapples into the surface and slowly lowering herself down. Several voices were raised in protest, far too late, and she glanced up to see concerned faces watching her lower herself to what they assumed was her death.

There wasn't much she could see beyond the light of her makeshift torch, so when the titans finally came into view, no more than a meter beyond her feet, Klara had to bite her tongue to keep from shouting in surprise. Her heart thumped against her chest as she watched them, waiting for one to launch forward and bite her, but nothing happened.

All the titans had sat down or fallen, their eyes closed and their breathing evened out. Were they sleeping?

She swung away from the group, landing gently on the ground beside them, but neither the light nor the sound of her feet elicited a reaction.

It was eerie.

Returning to the top of the wall, Klara was met with curious gazes and far too many questions.

"No, I don't know what's happening. It just…looks like they're asleep."

"We should kill them now then," a soldier said. "Take them out while we have the chance."

"We don't know if that will wake them," Isak argued. "I don't know about you, but I don't want to be surrounded by ten of them in the dark."

"Maybe we should leave," another suggested. "Take the main road. Maybe we'll meet up with others."

"And what happens when we find one that isn't asleep?"

She let them argue amongst themselves for a while, deep in thought. Her eyes scanned over her home, only making out silhouettes of buildings that were burning in the distance. It may have fallen silent now, but she couldn't help but wonder…

"I'm going to look for survivors," Klara said, silencing the group. "None of you have to come, but this may be the only opportunity we get. Give me an hour, maybe two, and then we can evacuate."

Isak stepped forward. "I'm coming with."

Karter did the same. "Me too."

Three more soldiers joined the effort. They left the others on the top of the wall to keep a lookout, ready to help them if need be, while they dived down into the inky blackness that had enveloped Shiganshina.

They spread out in pairs, covering the left, right, and middle sections of the city. Klara and Karter had taken to covering streets from either side, signaling to the other of they needed assistance. Despite her light, Klara nearly collided into a titan, only missing it at the last second with a squeak.

Bodies and parts of bodies were everywhere. Homes were abandoned with dinner on the table and drying clothes half hung. A toy rested in the middle of the street, lost and forgotten. A dog carried away a piece of ham from someone's meal.

They went from house to house, calling quietly into the windows, sticking their torches through openings as far as they dared. Thus far, they hadn't had any luck, though Klara had heard some shouting from the wall not long ago. It was possible someone had been found.

Klara crawled inside the window of a three-story home, having spotted the silhouette of a body inside. However, it did not take long for her to realize that they were dead. Blood had painted the wall behind the man's head. He'd taken his own life with a rifle. It was only after looking closer that she realized he was Military Police.

He could have escaped, she thought. Why did he do this?

"Klara," Karter called quietly from the window. "Come with me."

The house across the street had a survivor: a young woman who'd remained in her home, huddled in the corner and sobbing. She looked at the two of them climbing through her window and wailed, making herself smaller.

"I tried to get her to come with me, but she just cried. Thought she might wake up every titan in the area," Karter explained. "I thought that maybe you could…"

Klara stepped forward slowly, listening as the girl mumbled to herself.

"It's just a dream. It's just a dream. I'm going to wake up. It's just a dream. Nothing is wrong. Nothing nothing nothing."

She knelt before the girl, her heart tugging. "It's easier to pretend. I know. I just came back this afternoon to see my grandfather and now everything I had is gone. I'd love to just close my eyes and wake up back in my bed, but I can't do that. None of us can."

Brown eyes peered at her from between strands of hair. "I saw them take my mother, and my brother. And then my father when he pushed me back into the house. I'm all alone. Why shouldn't I pretend it isn't real?"

"Because you'll die, and what would your father have sacrificed himself for then?"

Klara held her hand out then, watching as the girl took it in. Finally, a shaking arm extracted itself from her body. Without giving her a chance to change her mind, she took it and lifted the girl to her feet. She looked Hanna's age.

Turning back to Karter, Klara smiled at him, grateful they could have found one more person. But as she did so, she caught movement outside the window.

"Karter, look out!" she cried, just as a titan hand smashed through the window. It grabbed the Garrison soldier, stealing him outside the house almost immediately, his screams echoing in the darkness.

The girl screamed, attempting to run, but Klara kept her arms around her. She wasn't going to lose her after this. There wasn't going to be another death.

Almost immediately, the titan returned, its large eyes staring at them through the hole it had just created. Karter's blood was still on its face. It reached inside again, hand slowly moving across the space where they stood.

The girl squirmed in her grasp, but Klara held tight. She moved her away from the corner, smashing her back into the window that was behind them and dropping them into the night before the titan could reach them. Unable to reach her equipment from that position, Klara was helpless to stop their descent, crashing into a stall just below the house.

Hours Earlier
Within Wall Maria

They'd managed to secure wagons from local farmers who took pity on them, allowing every scout who no longer had a horse to ride comfortably, but the going was still slow. Their mounts were tired, and the wounded could not be jostled or else they would aggravate their wounds. It was a long, tiring journey back to Trost, where all their failures were laid bare to every man, woman, and child they came across.

Some were still kind. A young woman had handed out bread to those who would take it, and a boy had walked beside them with his dog for some time, regaling them with his adventures of the day and the chores he'd elected to ignore. But for the most part, they were greeted with disgust and mistrust, silent gazes that pierced their souls and left them heavier than before.

Erwin had seen it enough times. For the most part, he could tolerate their looks and their words. They were a scared people, used to comfort, unwilling to test their bounds in order to find the truth, and he accepted that. But when they returned from often failed missions, he was vulnerable. They all were. Comrades had died, their morale suffered, and their uncertainties were at the forefront of their minds. One disappointed look from another, a single word that struck too harshly and they could break.

That was what happened to Keith Shadis.

Every once in a while, Erwin would watch the commander. He had resumed he position at the front of the column, likely so he could be alone with whatever thoughts were plaguing him. After missions, they sometimes wouldn't hear from him for days, especially after their forward operating base had been destroyed by titans. But this was different than the others. He had broken down in front of his men, in front of the civilian population; he had despaired. Something was about to change.

Erwin felt his grip on the reins tighten as his hands began to shake. Why were they shaking? he wondered. Anticipation? Excitement? Guilt?

He chanced a glance behind him at the rest of the column. There were so many forlorn faces, most of which he could not see. Only Levi held his head high, but his eyes were dark, distant.

This was not the time for him to think on the future. His dream had waited this long. It could wait a little longer.

"Commander Shadis!" someone shouted at the rear of the formation. Erwin turned to see a young rider barreling toward them at a reckless pace. His horse seemed on the verge of collapse. "Commander Shadis!"

The rider, a Garrison soldier, stormed right past Erwin, drawing to a halt right in front of their commander.

"The gate at Shiganshina has fallen!" the soldier shouted without pause. "Titans are flooding into the city as we speak! Reinforcements are needed!"

Murmurs ran up and down the column, uncertain voices filled with a fear they'd not had when encountering titans beyond Maria.

"How could that happen?"

"We were just there."

"It has to be a lie. The gates don't fall."

"Have they both fallen?" Levi's voice called out above the others. He rode beside the messenger, looking him up and down. "Is it just the outer gate or has the inner one fallen too?"

"I don't know," the soldier admitted. "Only the outer gate had been destroyed when I left. I don't know anything other than that."

"How was it destroyed?" Erwin asked.

"It was a titan," the soldier replied, looking down at the mane of his horse. "The largest one I'd ever seen. It could look over the wall."

Levi tsked. "There are no titans that size."

"I know what I saw!" the soldier shouted as Erwin looked him over. He was a young boy, barely out of training; he was panicked, scared out of his wits, but he wasn't a liar. "It looked down at us from over the wall. Its head blocked out the sun."

"Erwin," the commander spoke, breaking his silence. He'd turned to them, eyes shadowed and lost. The news had done nothing to incentivize him. If anything, he looked more beaten down. "Take those who can still ride and return to Shiganshina. I will take the wounded back to Trost."

Keith Shadis put his hand on his shoulder. "The command is yours, Erwin Smith."

He hesitated only a moment.

"Scouts!" Erwin shouted, turning his horse about. "Those who are able, return with me to Shiganshina! We go to evacuate the civilian population and determine the threat! Resupply at the wagons and take extra from the wounded! There is no saying when we will return!"

There were shouts of agreement and the Survey Corps sprang to life, those who were able filled with purpose again as they began to prepare.

"Commander," Keith called behind him, the syllables sending a rush of excitement through Erwin's veins. Or was it fear? "Klara Lange returned from training today. Try to find her if you can."

Those were the words Keith left him with, before he departed with the rest of their unit.

They rode hard and well into the night, lighting torches to guide their way as darkness fell around them. All the while, they ran into pockets of refugees fleeing the area. Several confirmed the soldier's story: a titan the size of the wall had destroyed the gate. Others claimed that the second gate was gone as well, taken down by a monstrous titan with hardened skin.

Erwin silently listened to these testimonies, allowing the gossip to swirl around him, as they matched his thoughts as well. He allowed himself moments to give in to the fear and the uncertainty, before taking a breath and moving along.

Titans who were capable of destroying the walls, larger and with unique builds. These were not abnormals, but rather something else, something greater. Surely these were creatures that their histories would have spoken of, but their books, as with most subjects, were useless.

Another piece of the puzzle, he mused as they rode along. Yet I feel further from the truth than ever before.

"Erwin!"

Knowing that tone in Mike's voice, Erwin held his torch aloft, the signal for the column to stop. Behind him, others would be doing the same motion, echoing the message down the line so none of the troops ran into one another.

"Where are they?" Erwin asked, peering into the darkness and finding nothing.

Mike sniffed. "Straight ahead."

So, the second gate has fallen after all…

Their mounts walked slowly forward, and the group kept their eyes peeled in every direction despite Mike's warning. While Erwin never doubted his friend's senses, he would also never leave anything to chance.

Eventually, the edge of their torchlights unveiled a large form resting in the middle of the road. A titan sat before them, eyes drooped, shoulders hunched, unresponsive to the humans around it.

Hearing the sound of Levi drawing his blades behind him, Erwin held up a hand. "Wait."

Dismounting, Erwin began to approach the titan, to the disagreement of all behind him, save for Hange. She walked beside him, holding her torch forward as they stood beneath the titan. Its eyes gave no reaction to the light being held just below it.

"It seems my theory on their night activity was correct," Hange said quietly, all usual enthusiasm toward the subject missing. Erwin found that more disturbing than the creature before them.

Erwin nodded once, and turned away. "Levi."

A moment later, the titan was felled, and the column moved on. They encountered seven more titans in this manner, each taken down without a fight.

Eventually, they came across the wall and the gate to Shiganshina. A sole light flickering at the top of the wall was the only indication they were anywhere near it.

"Mike, Nanaba, investigate the light," Erwin ordered, listening as they swung away. The rest of the unit continued forward to the gate, or rather, where it would have been. Debris blocked much of the road, tripping up their mounts until they were forced to continue on foot.

Not only was the gate gone, but much of the wall above it had cracked apart and fallen, leaving a gaping hole far larger than the gate ever covered. And just beyond, barely lit in the darkness, were more titans. Half a dozen were visible, and without a doubt there were more just out of sight, all seemingly frozen.

Nanaba returned to the ground, landing beside Erwin. "There are survivors at the top of the wall. Mostly Garrison soldiers. Some civilians."

Erwin nodded. "Levi, Hange, keep an eye on things down here. Don't engage the titans just yet."

Taking what remained of his squad to the top of the wall, Erwin found a dozen soldiers scattered around, all with varying degrees of injury and hysteria. Some just stared blankly at nothing while others were on the verge of losing their minds. Some still had a grasp on their sanity, and watched Erwin with curious gazes. They didn't look relieved at the sight of other soldiers, just tired.

"How many are down there?" Erwin asked Mike as he stared into the darkness on the other side of the wall.

Mike shook his head. "Too many to count. The city was overwhelmed."

Shiganshina had been a vibrant city, filled with life and sound. Now all he heard was the distant rumble of collapsing buildings. The only lights were fires slowly dying out across the streets. There were no people, no animals, only titans that no one could see.

It only took a matter of hours for this place to be destroyed, perhaps even minutes. That is the power of the titans we have been fighting against for so long.

Would the government listen to them now? he wondered.

"Who is in charge here?" Erwin asked, turning back to the Garrison soldiers.

A young, blonde man approached him. "Klara Lange is."

Erwin blinked, taken aback. "Klara Lange is a cadet just out of training."

The young man shrugged. "She was the only one who did anything, so we followed her."

"Our captain ran away. He's probably miles from here by now," another soldier spoke, standing.

Erwin exchanged a glance with Mike. "And where is she now?"

The first Garrison soldier pointed toward the darkness of Shiganshina. "When we discovered that the titans weren't moving, Klara led volunteers into the city to search for any survivors. I was one of them. She hasn't returned yet."

"We heard movement earlier," said a soldier by the fire. "It could be that not all the titans are asleep."

Erwin turned back toward the city, thinking. Remaining had been a smart idea, given how low they were on supplies. They at least had the wall as a means of evacuation, but now they had to think in terms of getting the city back. Until more reinforcements came, and they devised a method to seal the wall, there was not much they could do.

With undoubtedly more titans threatening to spill through the opening, remaining in Shiganshina would be difficult. Most of the buildings were structurally unsound, leading to more accidental casualties than he was comfortable with. And with so many titans lined up beside one another, it would be nearly impossible to kill one without becoming a victim to the others beside it.

But waiting for them to filter outside the gate would not work either. They had no high ground advantage.

They would have to pull back, Erwin decided, and wait for the titans to scatter so that their numbers could not be used against them. There were several pockets of forest in the region that they could use to monitor them, but the bulk of their force would go north. As titans were attracted to large concentrations of people, it would make the most sense for them to make their way toward Trost.

And that was where the Survey Corps would lie in wait.

As he mulled over the situation, Erwin heard the telltale sound of a grapple latching onto the wall. Moments later, a body launched onto the top.

Klara suddenly stood before him, holding a young woman in her arms, breathing heavily and bleeding from a gash on her forehead. Her jacket was gone, her clothes were worn and torn and covered in dried blood, and her equipment had seen better days. But it was the look in her eyes that he noticed first. There was an anger and desperation in those amber irises, and behind that, a young life that had seen far too much.

This was no longer the young woman he had met three years ago.

Gently placing the girl down, Klara proceeded to collapse where she stood, resting on her hands and knees as she took deep, shaky breaths. The young Garrison soldier was at her side in an instant, shoving a waterskin into her hand. A little boy ran over to her as well, wearing a coat with the training corps symbol.

"Where is Karter?" the soldier asked.

Klara shook her head. "There was a titan. It ripped him right out of the room."

Heads hung. The girl sobbed.

Erwin walked forward and knelt before Klara. She looked up at him, and sat properly, surprised to see him, or anyone else. They must have felt like the only people left within the walls.

"Klara," he said slowly. "What happened here?"

Her words were slow and meticulous, given greater detail than any of the panicked stories they heard on the road in, but it painted the same picture: titans had destroyed the gates. They were larger, intelligent, and appeared like nothing anyone had ever seen.

Why now? he wondered. And for what purpose?

If it was truly to eat humans, why had they not done so in the past? Something must have changed; something had brought them here, now, and they needed to figure out why.

But they had neither the time nor the manpower. They were on the losing end of a battle for Wall Maria. His questions would have to wait. They had a job to do.

Erwin stood, looking around at the survivors. "Shiganshina may have fallen, but there are more lives outside these gates that depend on our next move. Those of you who cannot fight, evacuate with the civilians, but for those who want to avenge the fallen and strike back at the enemy, consider yourselves members of the Survey Corps and follow me."

.

I always assumed that the Survey Corps wasn't that far from Shiganshina, given they returned the same day it was attacked and couldn't move very fast. So the idea that they were already in Trost when news came that Maria fell just doesn't sit right with me, so I'm adjusting it a little bit. Woohoo creative license.

Anyway, thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed it! Until next time!