Grisha Jeager
"That's a crowd..."
"Quite." He replied simply.
"I can't imagine what it was like when humanity fled to the Walls."
The doctor had nothing against the unnamed scout trying to hold a conversation, but he was really not in the frame of mind for having a chat. Rita and Miche decided to have the refugees split into battalions and units. All the better for survival. They'd go as a single mass and if the Titans showed up split.
Unknown to Rita, Miche and Grisha instead prioritized keeping them together. There were too few scouts, even in the present company, aware of his abilities for him to run around in titan form. And worse, there were scouts on the Wall. That vantage point would keep him firmly in their sights for the next hour or two.
Grisha cursed openly and the scout beside him jolted.
"Sir?"
"It's nothing."
Nothing to you anyway. How many lives am I risking this time?
"Doctor!"
The shout came from his left and he craned his neck to see Rita and her sour-faced lemon of an assistant, Amanda trotting towards him. He kicked off away from the scout and cantered closer.
"Ma'am."
"Our royalist friends are almost ready to return to their glorious homeland."
"As you say."
"A beautiful occasion, isn't it?"
"Was there something you wanted to ask?" He blandly replied her
"Something I wanted to know." She snapped at him. Taken off-guard by the sudden hostility, he paused a moment to gather his bearings around him and look her in the face.
"Doctor Jaeger. Are you sacrificing my citizens or is there a secret army out there I should know about?"
"I believe we finalized all the details yesterday, why is this an issue now?" After a thought he added, "Ma'am?"
"Her mother up and joined the pilgrims to the Holy Rose lands." Amanda helpfully added.
"Amanda!" Rita's haughty assistant blew off the rebuke with a loud scoff.
"Please. Just yesterday, they were the royalists who loved the crown more than common sense, now your mother is in the crowd and it suddenly occurs to you that their best interests are not served by your brilliant plans? Call for me when you realize soldiers have a duty to every human. Not every kin. Tsk!"
Amanda spurred her horse on and rode off leaving a dejected Rita behind. While it was interesting to see how quickly her flame had gone out, she was still an ally. And that meant;
"Even though I don't agree with your disregard for your citizens, I understand your willingness to protect your family. I'll ask Miche to select a good space for her. Your assistance means that much at the least."
"Thank you..." She whispered and she shamefully turned away.
"I... wish you all the best. Doctor."
Grisha raised his right hand and struck it against his chest.
-O-
The setting sun was its own comfort. Casting a mellow light over the rabble and promising security from Titans. If only titans had the good grace to operate only during the night. Instead one of the most beautiful things in nature brought fear to the hearts of the inhabitants of this unfortunate island.
Grisha could almost close his eyes and ignore the noise of the hundreds following him. Their first twilight some hours away from Quinta and they'd been blessed with no single Titan encounter. At their crawling pace (breakneck Miche insisted for a crowd their size) it would probably be a full week before they reached Krolva District. And that was on the level fields and dust roads of the West.
Behind him children sat in the carriages of their parents, bright-eyed and completely oblivious to the rampaging titans that could end their lives in less than a minute. Their parents, most on foot were the other side of the corn. Most had ignored the order to rest during the daytime back in Quinta in hopes of getting the best positions, thanks to their insolence, the expedition had started off early. For that much he'd thank them.
But their glassy eyes and furtive glances as they labored their way to blisters was their just reward. The night marches would be dangerous enough without the lack of focus.
A scout galloped up.
"Section Commander Miche says we have to pull over and camp."
"The people are tired aren't they?"
"Yeah. I'd say they disobeyed orders but... "
The implied statement hung between them and Grisha smiled lightly.
"Well, speaking for the civilians. We don't have your discipline but we live by life experiences. Tell Miche to keep marching until 1 hour past midnight."
"We'll have stragglers. They'd attract titans"
"Tighten the back line. There's nothing to be done for it. In any case, we already have a planned stop. Encourage them with that."
"Understood!"
How dull.
The soldier rode off and left Grisha to his own thoughts as the Sun dipped further blanketing the land in darkness and safety. He was still mindlessly riding on when the sound flare-gun shattered the night's quiet.
"Camp!"
He announced to forestall the growing murmurs.
Look at their faces, so frightened. How long must Titans live on this planet?
They set up camp, wheeling their wagons and wheelhouses into a circular perimeter. He and Miche never saw each other that night or that morning. Throughout the day, the adults slept and the children played.
By dusk with no titans encounters, they packed up and the children slept.
And the second day was like the first, and the third, and the fourth.
The fifth day brought the excitement.
Merely an hour after setting up camp, the red flare shot up from the direction of Wall Rose.
"Look! The titans are coming!"
The screams started and they all started rushing towards the center of the encampment. Some clever scout or the other fired another red flare to alert everyone else on patrol duty. The red flare so near sent them into an even worse frenzy
Kicking, stampeding, screaming.
The worst of it was they had nowhere to run. Grisha had to ride his horse out of the encampment or be dragged down, the scouts made it plainly obvious they were not trained to handle riots, hightailing their horses away from the humans and to the titans.
It makes sense in a funny way, why die from what you never learnt to fight?
For almost an hour, the people screamed, shouted and prayed to the Walls to save them. By the time the scouts returned, he pried the whole "fight" from them and apparently, all the excitement was over a single 4-meter Titan.
Kill me now...
That dubious honor was almost claimed on the sixth day when Miche finally deployed him to thin out the titans between them and Wall Rose.
Grisha and Gelgar rode head-on against almost a dozen titans. And as he was thrown into the air, nicking his hand on the borrowed knife, the doctor had to admit to himself.
He was starting to enjoy this kind of killing.
His 13-meter form rippled out from his hands, sinew, bone and blood from the paths masterfully carved into a mockery of man that barrelled head-first into a slightly larger 14-meter.
He raised his fist, pausing to allow it harden and crashed it down into the meaty target beneath him. The blood flicked off his misshapen wrist as his hand wobbled into the eyes of a lumbering 10-meter. He knocked it down without killing the titan going for the exposed napes of two smaller titans that had passed him in favor of Gelgar. Their loss. Both hands thumped into their napes with the most satisfying crush he had heard for a long while.
His wife was murdered by a monster like this
His wife was a murdering monster like this.
He didn't notice the titan to his left that lunged at him, as Gelgar glided in and sliced out the nape, killing the imprisoned human with easy precision. Grisha slammed his hand into the face of the next titan. His arm was a lever and Gelgar, the action. He froze to allow Gelgar hook and loop from his arm around the broken-in face of the Eldian. The minute he safely cleared he turned on the next titan and dived at it with his weight.
This duty would save lives.
That was his comfort.
It was a doctor's duty to save lives.
That was his excuse.
A/N: The entire chapter is focused on Grisha's escort of the refugess and puts a wrap to Quinta. Next chapter, the scouts go on an emergency ranging.
Don't forget to review and note any complaints/ observations!
Apologies for the late timing I thought I had uploaded this chapter...
Looking Forward to That Bright Dawn!