Chapter 11: Little Details
The horse-drawn wagon bounced uncomfortably along the dirt road. The two guards in the driving seat were paying little mind to the seven titan shifters sitting irritably in the wagon. Violet thought it best if they took a nondescript, open-aired wagon instead of the usual lavish carriages. Every shifter had a dark cloak of rough fabric draped around the shoulders and long enough to hiding their ODM gear. They kept their hoods down for the time being, but when they entered Trost they would pull them up and hide their faces from any onlooking humans. Hopefully, they would be mistaken for Garrison troops if someone did manage to spot them.
Eren stared ahead, watching as they drew closer to Wall Rose and noting the mass number of people evacuating through the gate. They would steer clear of them and scale the wall at a deserted section to get into the city, but Eren was still concerned about being seen. It had been nearly an hour since he'd been told the Colossal Titan had appeared and destroyed Trost's outer gate. From what he could tell on this side of the wall, the situation was not hopeful, and he flashed back to five years ago, when he lost almost everything to that massive bastard.
His fists clenched, but he kept his face neutral in case the others caught onto his anger, but despite his precautions, he could still feel them tense up instinctually at his hostile mood. They knew this situation hit their leader hard, so they refrained from talking to him about it. Truthfully the shifters were all excited to finally be let out of the facility, even if it was for a dangerous mission. They had confidence in themselves and Eren to get the job done without too much injury. This left them all giddy and nervous at the same time.
As they pulled up along the section of wall a good mile or two away from the overflowing gate, Eren finally spoke.
"Everyone remember their jobs?"
They all nodded and hopped out of the wagon. They had gone over their positions at the beginning of the journey. Eren, Gabriel, and Hannah would head towards a large boulder their guard had suggested might be a good way to block up the hole in the wall. They hoped to God, Eren would be strong enough to lift it while the other two took out the titans blocking his path. Meanwhile, Gwen, Lily, Dove, and Sophia were given the task of clean up, so their objective was to roam Trost and take out the titan's in the city once the gate had been closed. Until then they had to lay low on the city roofs until Eren and the others finished their job and made it safely out. If all went well, they would be out by sundown and the citizens of Trost would be safe again.
"Remember everyone, if the Armored Titan shows up, we'll focus on taking him down first and then we'll plug up the hole. We won't have any way of blocking a second hole if he succeeds in getting through the inner gate," Eren explained looking over his team. They all nodded in understanding. Behind them the guards still sat in their seats, waiting for them to scale the wall before following at a distance. "Right then, let's get moving!"
Eren turned and shot his wires towards the top of the wall before propelling himself up, the others followed after him. He waited at the top for everyone to successfully climb up, before saying, "Gwen I wanna talk to you quickly before we head off. The rest of you go on ahead, we'll catch up."
"Eren, we kind of need you when we get into Trost," Gabriel said nervously.
"I know, and I'll be there when we start the mission. I just need a quick word is all, won't take more than a minute or two," Eren insisted. "Just wait on the edge of the wall for us, alright?"
"Fuck, just let him talk to his girlfriend, Gabey," Hannah snickered, pulling her hood up and taking off across the wall. She called over her shoulder to Eren,"Just don't start making out while we're trying to save the world, got it!"
Eren rolled his eyes and sent them off. Gabriel sighed but pulled his hood up and followed Hannah, the rest right behind him.
"Bet he's giving her a snappy little speech about staying safe while she's out there," Hannah giggled as they ran.
"They aren't even together, you halfwit," Lily sneered, blond hair pulled up and tucked carefully under her hood. "He's probably just talking to her about what to do if one of us gets injured. She is our medic, you know."
"Then why keep the conversation private?" Sophia asked in her soft high-pitched voice, holding hands with Dove to keep from tripping or falling off the wall.
"Who gives a shit? Just shut up and do as you're told," Lily snapped.
They slowed down as they neared the corner of Trost, and had to stop completely to wait for Eren and Gwen, who showed up a second later with their hoods up. Behind them, they could see the guards waiting where they had first climbed up.
"Alright, I think the boulders in that direction," Eren said, pointing off in the distance to an open section of town. "Come on, you two. And good luck to the rest of you. Remember, hide yourselves until the holes plugged. We can't take any risks with this."
They all nodded and muttered good lucks before Eren, Gabriel, and Hannah took off across the wall and leaped off towards the roofs below. Gwen, Lily, Dove, and Sophia leaped off the wall as well and agilely shot out their wires to land on the roofs below, before taking off further into town. Sophia didn't have ODM because of her obvious disability, so she piggybacked on Lily, and then hopped off when they landed safely on their desired house somewhere in the center of town.
"Alright, we'll stay here until we hear the signal to start ripping up the titans," Lily instructed, taking point in their little group. She took a set on the slanting rooftop and pulled her cloak tighter around herself. Dove and Sophia joined her, making sure their hoods covered most of their face. Gwen stood at the top, watching the horrid scene around her with a nervous look. "Oi, might as well sit, Angel. It's gonna be a long wait from what I can tell."
"All those soldiers," Gwen whispered, eyebrows pulled together in distress. "There's so much death here."
"Not surprised," Lily replied with a wistful look. "For as long as human's have been fighting titans, they've never once had a successful encounter with them, and they've all ended in an unbelievable number of deaths. Isn't that why we're here? To help the humans actually win for once?"
"I suppose, but we should have come sooner," said Gwen, staring at seven-meter titan with its face covered in gore and an arm hanging from its mouth. "We could have saved so many…"
Gwen's eyes suddenly widened as she scanned over the houses several meters away. Standing and sitting on these rooftops was a large group of soldiers, covered in blood and many of their heads bowed in defeat. She was too far away to see any of their faces, but she could tell by their posture, they were injured and traumatized.
The girl shifted where she stood, fighting the urge to jump across and help those poor souls, but she wasn't allowed to show her face or reveal any of them to the humans. They were to wait until the signal, then fulfil their goal, but still…
"Don't even think about it, Gwen," Lily scolded, cold eyes watching her closely. Dove and Sophia finally turned their attention to the other two, after pulling themselves out of their riveting conversation about the cloudy sky.
"What's Gwen not supposed to think about?" Sophia asked.
"She wants to help out those human soldiers on the other roofs," explained the blonde.
"Why shouldn't I go help? I can heal them quickly. I could save so many lives!" Gwen insisted, never taking her eyes of the other group. She frowned. "Why aren't any of them retreating over the wall? If so many of them are hurt, why don't they get to safety?"
Lily sighed and rubbed her forehead irritably. "Listen, Gwen, those few humans aren't our responsibility. As sad and frustrating as it is not being able to help, saving a few individuals isn't our mission. You gotta think about the big picture, not the little details."
"So we just let the soldiers die then? We let them sit there, injured and dying, while we wait here for a signal that could take hours to come?" Gwen asked, turning on Lily with fire in her eyes.
The blonde stared at her, astonished by the furious look on her friend's face. She was certain she'd never seen mousy little Guinevere like this before and it left her speechless.
"Human lives aren't little details, and if they were, then what the hell are we fighting for?" she said, strongly. She stepped forward and pulled out her swords. "Look, I'm not asking you to follow me, in fact, it might be better if you stayed here and waited for Eren and the others. At least then, only one of us would be in trouble."
Lily stood up and grabbed Gwen's arm. "Don't be stupid, Gwen. If all goes right, then those soldiers will be fine. Why are you in such a rush to screw up everything?"
"Please, Big Sis, just stay here like Eren said," Sophia begged, attempting to stand up only to have Dove steady here back down.
"I'm sorry, guys," Gwen replied, sounding tired. She stared at the soldiers in front of her before jerking Lily's hand away and leaping into the air. "This is something I have to do!"
Just as Gwen started swinging between rooftops, a loud thunderous clap and a streak of blinding lightning struck the city to the east, nearly sending the girl tumbling to the ground in shock. Behind her, she could hear Lily and Sophia crying out to her, telling her to come back, but they wouldn't follow. She knew they would never disobey the Alpha's Orders.
Regaining her balance, Gwen took off again, her eyes roving toward the incredible sight. In the far distance, standing at a whooping fifteen meters tall and wrapped in bulging muscle was Eren's intimidating titan, Rogue. No matter how many time's she'd seen him, it still sent shivers down her spine every time he appeared. Rogue truly was terrifying, but with his sudden appearance, a jolt of determination and purpose shot through Gwen and she turn back to her mission, hand reaching up to adjust her hood, mind focused on the dozens of men and women only a few houses away and ignoring the loud, ground-shaking footfalls. Ahead of her, every human was staring in the direction of the blast, looks of terror and confusion on their faces. From their angle, it was probably impossible to see much of Eren over the tall buildings, even Gwen was having trouble seeing more than the top of his torso and she was soaring high in the air, but that explosion definitely got their attention. None of them noticed when Gwen landed gracefully on the one of the rooftops and rushed to the nearest wounded soldiers, a young man with a gash across his stomach and a missing leg.
She fell to her knees next to him and without giving him a single word started pulling out a jar of cherry red liquid and several bandage wraps. The poor boy was barely conscious and his fellow soldiers no doubt thought he was a lost caused, but Gwen had more hope. Her elixir was a mix of her own blood, which held strange healing properties, and her saliva, which acted as a numbing agent (not that she would tell the soldiers that). As far as she knew, none of the others had the same abilities, so it must just be special to her. The second she dabbed the liquid on the stomach wound, the soldiers began to relax. That's when the other humans noticed her.
"H-hey! What are you doing?! W-Who the hell are you?!" snapped one of soldiers, rushing to her and the unconscious young man.
"Who I am isn't important right now. All I can say is I'm actually here to help," Gwen replied calmly. Many of the others men and women appeared around her, watching what she was doing. "This medicine will heal wounds quickly and numb any pain. If you would like to help me, I'd appreciate it if you gather up the severely injured and bring them to this roof so I can treat them."
Many of the stunned soldiers had no idea how to respond to this strange girl that had appeared out of nowhere to assist them. A few tried to ask her more questions, growing irritated when she didn't respond, while the rest just did as she asked, finally glad to have something productive to do. One of them, a young man with a sandy blond undercut and a long face, knelt next to Gwen, suspicious expression on his face.
"Not that I'm against some extra help, but why the hell are you here? You don't look like a normal medic and I don't see any regiment insignias on you," he said, trying to peak under her hood to see her face.
"I'm Angel if you need a name, and I'm not a part of the military. I'm just here trying to help," she stated, quickly standing and moving on to the next poor soul while the relatively uninjured soldiers watched her in apprehension and suspicion. The sandy haired boy tried his interrogation again.
"Well, Angel, just where did you come from? That ODM gear is only supposed to be used for military purposes and—"
"Please, I would appreciate if you didn't lecture me right now about unimportant business," Gwen replied tiredly. She finally looked up at the boy next to her, not hiding the sadness and remorse she held for these poor injured humans. "I don't mind speaking with you about the situation here and now, but please, I would appreciate it if you let me work to save these people. I need to focus on them, not on answering your questions."
That halted whatever the boy was about to say next and with a clenched jaw, he nodded but didn't leave. Perhaps he didn't fully trust Gwen or her expertise, after all she wasn't any older than the rest of them, but whatever the reason, Gwen didn't care and chose to ignore the stare digging into her side. She was on to helping the next soldier when he finally spoke again.
"Even if you manage to save them now, it won't matter in the long run," he said, looking up to stare at the titans around them. "We've got no way of retreating without gas and none of us have enough to even make it to the base of the wall."
"Why not get more than? Surely there's a supply house close by?" Angel said, frowning.
The boy snorted and pointed toward a large, castle-like building in the distance, which was completely swarming with titans. "We'd love to get more gas, but the supply house is completely overrun and from what we've gathered the supply runners are completely holed up inside, too cowardly to bring us the gas we need."
Well this explained the doomed and hollow expressions on the soldiers faces and while she worked, Gwen desperately tried to think of something that might help the soldiers get gas. She could give her own, after all it was only for convenience, but that would probably only help a couple of them. Truthfully the only way to get everyone safely over the wall was by clearing out the supply depot, but for that she'd either have to transform or ask one of her friends for help…
"Damn, can anyone see what caused that huge explosion?" one of the soldiers whispered.
"Who cares? It was probably just a titan destroying one of the buildings," a young blond woman with a white hoodie responded. She had piecing blue eyes and an uninterested expression that made Gwen feel very uncomfortable around her.
"What about that flash of light?!" exclaimed a short boy with a shaved head. "Jean, what do you think it was?"
The boy that had been talking with Gwen, frowned and replied, "I have no idea, but honestly I don't care enough. We need to come up with a plan to get out of here."
"Oh, so now you actually wanna fight?" snapped the other boy, golden eyes furious.
Jean glared at him. "I'm not saying we're gonna live through this, in fact, chances are we're all going to die here, but I'd rather be actively trying than sitting here on my ass waiting to get swallowed."
"Alright, so how are we going to get rid of those titans around the supply depot?" asked the other boy, staring around. Only Gwen was listening to their conversation, so she was the only one who gave a response.
"I may have a way of clearing out that depot, but it would require me leaving to get my friends," she said, regretting it almost instantly. There was no way she could convince Lily to help the humans before the gate was sealed, and if she refused than the other two would as well. Sophia may have been Gwen's sister but even familial love wasn't enough for her to disobey direct orders.
"You mean there's more of you?!" the short boy asked, surprised.
"Yes, but I don't know if they'll agree to help, they have other missions to fulfill," Gwen replied, sweating to keep the details from these two human soldiers.
"So was helping us your mission?" Jean asked, skeptically.
Gwen paused for a moment, debating on how to answer, before vaguely saying, "Not exactly."
"What does that mean?"
Gwen sighed but kept her head down. "It means I'm technically disobeying orders by being here and helping you. I don't even want to think of the punishment if our mission fails because of my actions." She shuddered at the last part.
"Well, guess I should thank you for going against your orders to help us," the other boy said, kneeling beside her and trying to sneak a look under her hood while he held out his hand. "I'm Connie by the way, Connie Springer. And the asshole over there is Jean Kirstein."
"I'd shake your hand but…" Gwen lifted her hands to show the blood staining them and Connie nodded with a slightly green look on his face.
"How did you learn to do all this medical stuff anyway?" Jean asked.
"It was a part of my training," was all Gwen said, trying to dodge as many specific questions as she could.
"You seem a little young to be a medic though," Connie added, out of more curiosity than suspicion.
"I suppose you could call me a prodigy," she remarked with a hidden grin.
"Oh huh," Connie replied stupidly, head tilted. He tried to take another look under Gwen's hood but failed against when she turned away. "So are you gonna take off that hoo—"
Thankfully Gwen was saved from answering that by the bone-shaking thudding of large, running feet. All the cadets snapped their attention down the street where a massive, dark-haired titan was sprinting toward them, eyes blazing green and teeth exposed. Gwen instantly recognized this creature but was stunned as to why he was so far away from his objective. All around her, the soldiers began to freak out, while she was hastily trying to think of a way to explain herself to her leader. Oh, this was not going to be pleasant.