Mikasa sat sobbing, clutching Eren's body close, ignoring the crowd staring down at her from the roof of the citadel. Eventually, she gained enough sense to bring him up, getting him and herself out of harm's way. The remainder of the humans stared on in shock, while Luke grit his teeth.
"The implications," Jane whispered, in the Old Tongue, so that the human's around her wouldn't understand her. Luke nodded.
"I think that most of us know the implications of this," Luke's voice was low, almost feral in it's tone.
"That fucking ape bastard," Lilith snarled, "He really fucking did it. Doesn't he get that messing with nature is the reason humans are nearly dead in the first place, and now he fucking creates a shifter! Is he mad?" Ian shrugged, the dome over his head opening, before pulling back to reveal his head.
"Maybe," He said, head fully exposed for the first time today, "but it doesn't matter know. We need to pull back." One of the soldier's, Jean, turned around, looking over the carnage.
"Then Eren, did all this?" his voice was low and almost fearful. However, the name caused both Luke and Lilith's eyes to go wide.
"Eren, as in Eren Jaeger?" Lilith could not stop herself from asking, earning her several confused looks.
"Yeah, why?" Caira asked, mostly distracted by trying to find Alexander's wounds. However, the male only looked like he was sleeping, not like had been in a warzone, and certainly was not the titan sized spider thing that these strangers called a Gorgon. Luke pinched the bridge of his nose.
"Then I guess that makes those two, Mikasa Ackerman and Armin Arlert," Luke got several confused, probably about how an outsider knew their names.
"They've met our mother," Lilith sighed, "You know, the thing that most of your reports would describe as a pillar of blue flame, running around killing any titan that got in her path," the admission was met with multiple mouth drops, in shock. It was either that or the fact that number of differences between the two made it a shock that they were siblings.
"I know that you would all love to stay and chat," Jane said, body growing tense, "but we need to leave. Now!" She had caught the scent of multiple incoming titans, her body already beginning to shift into her Kraken form. Luke nodded.
"All of us have to get over the wall now, or we will get pinned down again!" Luke shouted, "You Five," pointing to Caira, Mikasa, Armin, and the unconscious bodies of Alexander and Eren, "are coming with us. It's going to be safer for those two to be with us. The rest of you should be able to make it the wall without issue." Mikasa seemed to reluctantly agree, before her and Armin pick up Eren's unconscious form. Lilith quickly picked up Alexander, before pulling up Caira onto Jane's back, despite the protests.
Behind wall Rose, Jane touched down, not to far into the wall, panic talking and screaming already audible. Once everyone had gotten off her back, her body condensed, reverting into her human body.
"Ian and Jane," Luke said, voice serous, "Get Ren away now. I don't want her involved and I know that this is going to get worse before it get's better." The two nodded quickly, with Jane picking up Ren before retreating into the shadows. The noise of 3D Maneuvering Gear was heard, already responding to the titan sized creature that had flown over the wall.
"If you want to leave, it's too late now," he said nobody in particular, as the first Garrison Soldier's touched down in front of them, blades drawn.
The group had found themselves surrounded, with Armin keeping ahold of Eren while Caira kept an eye on Alexander. Luke, Lilith, and Mikasa, formed a semicircle around them. Mikasa had drawn her own sword's, being a soldier be damned, more than willing to fight for Eren's life. Lilith was emitting a light orange glow, encasing her fists in rock and stone, her low pitched snarling clearly addible. Luke himself had begun to admit a red glow, the gill like structures on his neck showing, and his fingernails hardening into claws.
"Brother," Lilith snarled, "I don't think any of them are going to listen to reason. They're too scared and the commander smells like he about to shit himself." The commander, to his credit, didn't wince under the harsh words, but Luke knew that she was right. His quacking was barely noticeable, but once Alexander and Eren returned to consciousness, their first seconds back would almost be like they were drunk. Luke really didn't want to fight them, but it was becoming clear that combat might be the most likely outcome.
"I request that bring our superior officer," Luke shouted. Normally, he would have outright demanded, and would add a menacing 'or else' but he had to remind himself that this was, first and foremost, a diplomatic mission.
"And why would I let monsters like you talk with any commanding officer?!" The commander shouted back. Lilith bit back a savage snarl.
"My fellows and I are not here on a mission of war, we are here on a diplomatic mission," Luke snapped, natural aggression showing, "We are not your enemy, we were sent to protect you. Even if we have to protect you from your own fear and stupidity." The last part came out as a spat. The soldier's clutched their weapons even tighter as Alexander let out a groan.
"My head," the boy almost complained, trying to pull himself up, only to be caught by Caira, "What happened?" He asked, looking around at the multiple soldier's around them. Lilith smirked slightly.
"Welcome back to the world of the living, little Gorgon," Alexander looked at her like she had lost her mind.
"My name is Alexander. What the hell is a," he paused, pinching the bridge of his nose, "Oh. I did all of that?" he asked himself, attempting to pull himself up again.
"He's trying to do something!" one of the soldiers shouted in panic, 3D Maneuvering Gear firing up, attempting to himself in attack his unarmed fellow soldier.
"What the!" Alexander shouted, full noticing the hostile soldiers surrounding them. However, before the flying soldier was halfway to his target, Lilith intercepted, her earthen fist's blocking the twin blades, shattering them to pieces. She grit her teeth in annoyance, knocking the soldier back to his group with a powerful push kick. One of the few soldiers without their blades caught the man as he staggered back from the blow.
"Like my brother said, we are here to protect you, even if we have to protect from your own stupidity," Lilith snarled in annoyance. Alexander was almost in shock.
"Caira, what the hell is going on?" He asked in a panic. Caira herself was just as panicked.
"I don't know," Caira's fear was clear. She didn't think that fellow soldiers would attack them like this.
"You have a strength. A mighty strength. One that could easily give pause to this world's so called conquers," Luke started, clearly having enough, "you are an Evolved. A Gorgon. And a soldier of these lands. And because of that. Because you are not human, they want you dead. Despite the fact that being an Evolved makes you one the best at killing titans." His attention turned to the commander, voice thick with primal rage.
"So explain to me, commander? Explain to me why you want to kill the two best chances of you actual being able to beat the titan's?" Luke's voice was clear, almost hostile in its intent, signalling him having enough of this man's bullshit. He couldn't even keep his own soldiers in line. His outburst had thankfully cover whatever Eren had said, if the look on Armin's face was any indication. Eren himself looked like he was pretty far out of it.
"Eren?" Armin practically shouted, slightly shaking the boy, "are you ok?" The troops shift, any bravado they had turned tail and ran as the Titan Shifter finally awakened. His glazed over eyes came to full alert has Eren finally noticed the armed soldiers surrounding him and the others.
"Cadet's Eren Jaeger! Mikasa Ackerman! Armin Arlert! Caira Baker! Alexander! Your current behavior is high treason!" Katts shouted, earning a scoff of annoyance from Lilith that didn't reach his ears, "What do you have to say in your defense?" Even Caira looked like she was in shock. Eren himself was also confused. He couldn't remember anything about what had happened, and why fellow soldiers were looking at them like they were monsters. Furthermore, who were the two others that had formed a semicircle around them with Mikasa? The one to his left, closer to him and Armin, was letting out a crimson glow out of his body, fingernails long and sharp, not belonging to Titan or human alike. He was a boy, as far as Eren could tell, slightly taller than he was, with short brown hair, on his head. The one on the left, covering Alexander and Caira, had almost silvery hair color, ending at around the shoulder, and was the same size as the other. However, unlike Luke, she was in a fighting stance, her fist's covered in what appeared to be solid rock. Eren blinked one. Rocks? He didn't have time to contemplate further as Katts shouted again.
"Damn monsters! We'll blow you to bits in an instant!" He bellowed, the panic and fear clear in his voice, "We will not give you the time to show your true faces!" Eren grew even more confused. What were they talking about? Alexander gritted his teeth in annoyance at the commander. They could barely move, and yet he wanted to kill them like they were some type of threat?
"What are you talking about?!" Eren shouted. He couldn't remember. Why were they looking at him like he was a monster?
"You emerged from the corpse of a Titan!" Katts screamed, "Mankind has allowed Titan's to infiltrate the walls!" Eren had frozen with shock, mind failing to process the information. He was a Titan? That was impossible.
"The only titan's that have infiltrated your precious walls are the Armored and the Colossal Titan's, not some boy that has spent his enter life here!" Lilith snapped in rage "He met our mother during the first breach in your wall's! He has lived his entire life here, and you think he is an enemy? You're dense and a damn coward! How would superiors act if they knew that you abandoned your post at the first earliest moment! We protected your soldier's on a suicide charge because you couldn't do your job!" The silver haired girl would have likely continued, before her brother interrupted her.
"Enough!" Luke shouted, "Calling him out on his own faults does nothing, Lilith, calm down." Katts had taken a visible step back, partially out of fear that fact that she truly knew happened, along with the fact the glare she sent he told him that if she really would kill him if she could get away with it. Even now some of his own soldiers were sending him dirty looks. He need to gain control, fast.
"We don't time to waste on you!" He shouted again, "The Armored Titan could break through Wall Rose at any moment!"
"And we don't have to waste on you either," Luke snarled, a slight smirk on his face, "After all, there is a place on my mantle with the Armored Titan's name already on it." Katts almost took a step back again. This, this, thing, wanted to fight the Armored Titan? Katts was being thrown off balance by the continuously worsening situation for him.
"I'll blow you peices with the artillery!" He bellowed, the threat being quite clear. Lilith took a step back, snarling.
"Alexander and Caira, get to Eren now!" She ordered, "I'll do what I can to cover you!"
"They are clearly being defiant," the silver haired girl on Katt's right stated, "and clearly they are in league with creature's from beyond the walls."
"It would be easy commander!" Someone shouted, "We use the artillery to blow them away why they are still human!"
"You so sure about that little man?" Lilith snarled, taking a boxing like position, "because between her and I, I'm pretty sure we could take you all on." Her elbow pointed toward Mikasa as her point, and the look on the other girl's face was the look of someone who would kill. A soldier on Katts's left whispered something into his ear. Armin was already trying to talk Mikasa down, as Luke tried to calm his sister.
"We are here for war, but not against them," Luke snarled, voice both low, and had been spoken in the Old Tongue so it couldn't be understood.
"No," Lilith snapped in German, "I will not let anymore people die that I have to power to prevent. Even if I have to rough them up so they will finally learn their place." Her eyes shot right at Katts as she spoke clearly toward all of the soldiers. However, none of them wanted to listen, and even if they did, they would be part of a minority. Suddenly Katts raised his hand, causing Lilith to look up, and Mikasa to gasp. The girl darted toward Eren and Armin, intent on taking them out of range. Caira gasped as the cannon fired.
"Get down!" Lilith bellowed, pulling her body over Caira and Alexander, mist shrouding her form, signalling her transformation into Behemoth. Luke grit his teeth, the red glow of his bio-armor fully encasing his body, locking him down. However he watched as Eren grabbed ahold of Armin, before pulling the blonde and Mikasa against him, before biting his thumb as a crimson bolt of lightning crashed down from the heavens.
For Ren, Jane and Ian, things hadn't been all that much easier. For the most part Ren and Jane could easily pass unnoticed, but Ian's suit of armor made it impossible otherwise. And there was no way Ian could be convinced to ditch the heavy armor. However they had finally settled in, far enough away that they doubt they would be found by anyone looking for runners, but close enough that they could be signaled just in case. Suddenly two sounds happened with seconds of eachother. First, the sound of one of the massive cannons on the wall's, the second, was both a flash of lightning and the resulting crash of thunder.
"I just want today to be over," Ian complained to himself, ducking out of cover as steam and mist rose from where the cannon strike was. Despite the panic, it was a miracle that nobody notice him.
"What was that?" Ren whispered, almost appearing to watch the rising smoke, despite her being blind.
"I wouldn't know," Jane said, before being cut off by something akin to a low rumble, followed by the sound of a bellowing Behemoth. The massive roar lasted for nearly a minute shaking many of the human's around them to their cores.
"Well if I had to take a guess now," Ian said calmly, "someone thought it was a good idea to Lilith mad."
The explosive aftermath of the cannonball had already begun to fade as Luke looked up at the partial titan. All that existed of it was it's head, a single arm, and the chest. Luke was beyond impressed. He didn't even remember his power, yet the fact he was capable of exercising enough control to create a partial form was incredible! Lilith also began to move, pulling herself up to her full height, eye's clearly visible through the smokescreen. However, she was clearly pissed off, lumbering off toward the soldier's, stopping right in front of Katts's face, much to his terror. Luke almost wanted to make his sister stop, but then again, she wasn't actually about to kill him.
"Uh," Caira nervously stuttered, "what is she about to do?" Luke just smirked as Katts got a view of Behemoth's mouth before Lilith began to roar in his face. Many of the nearby soldier's clamped their hands over their ears to cancel out the noise. Katts, however, stayed still, paralyzed with fear. Embers flew around his face from the Behemoth's maw, as it continued to roar in his face for nearly a minute. Once she was finished with verbally venting out her frustrations with the man, Lilith's Behemoth form began to fade, before her human form stomped back into the cloud of steam, cursing him with every single word she knew. Caira stared at her awestruck, with Alexander having to bite back laughing at the person that not long ago ordered him into battle.
"I pegged you as the type that doesn't like taking other people's shit," he snickered. Lilith rolled her eyes, before looking toward Eren, Mikasa, and Armin.
"They thinking up a plan?" she asked, clearly already want to call it a day.
"Armin's smart," Alexander said, face going blank, "I'm willing to bet he already as a way out of this. Hopefully peacefully." Caira looked a Luke funny, noticing something sticking out what looked like the side of his head. Lilith bite back a giggle.
"Brother you have something right here," she said, biting back laughter, wiping the side of her face. Luke mimicked the action, removing shrapnel from his bio-armor, allowing the red glow to mostly fade, it's protection no longer need. Any humor that had begun develop vanished as Armin ran out the smokescreen, letting his gear drop to the ground with a crash, getting the soldier's attention.
"You showed your real color's monster!" Katts shouted, desperate for some type of control, "I will signal the artillery! I'll signal it!" he threatened desperately, despite the clear fact the wall mounted did nothing.
"He isn't an enemy of mankind! None of them are!" Armin shouted "We're willing share the information we have gathered!" Luke quickly made a hand sign to his sister as their smokescreen began to fall away. Lilith ran past Eren and Mikasa, positioning herself between the group and the artillery, ready to use her Rock Wall to block the cannonball.
"Begging for you lives is worthless know! They revealed their true selves in front of all of us!" Katts bellowed, trying to obtain the upper hand, "If they aren't threat's then prove it! If you can't, they will be eliminated!"
"You said everybody saw him! Then they must have seen him fight titans too! And they've seen Titan's trying to eat him! The Titans see him as food, just like us!" Armin shouted back, mumbling breaking out again the soldiers. "And the other's have been fighting alongside us sense the gate was destroyed! All of them have been fighting at our side! We both have the same enemy!" Luke blinked. He heard Jane say the kid was smart, but he was already able to infer this much without being told anything. He had to be a genius. Furthermore, Katts was in a panic now as well.
"Prepare to attack!" He shouted frantically, "This is nothing more than a clever trap! We have never been able to understand their actions! If they can take on the body of humans and speak our language, it's just another way of fooling us!" Armin seemed to panic, now noticing that the man was far beyond reason. However, he still went one.
"As a soldier, I swore to devote myself to the rebirth of mankind! There is no greater glory than dying for that belief!" Armin bellowed, bringing himself into what had to be their version of a salute, with his right hand over his heart. "If we add their strength to our force, it might be possible to recapture the town! For the glory of humanity, I beg you! In my final moments before I die, let me explain their strategic importance!" However, despite this Katts began to raise his hand, with Mikasa reaching toward her sword, and Eren preparing to bite his thumb. Lilith herself prepared to bring up a Rock Wall, one eye on the cannon and the other on Katts. As he began to drop it, however, someone stopped him from behind, grabbing his arm.
"Cut it out already," the voice from behind him said, "You haven't changed at all. You still have the guts of scared fawn." He forced Katts hand down as Luke let out a sigh of relief. He was using a normal speaking tone, so they could only pick up snippets of what he was saying. The last part of it was clear to all though.
"I think it will be worthwhile to hear what they have to say," he said, as Armin dropped to his knees. Katts looked shocked, face quite pale.
"But what about them?" he practically shouted. Whoever this man was, not only was clear that he was of high rank, but also very calm.
"I meet someone who explained to me why they are here," he said calmly, getting a look of confusion from both Luke and Lilith. Any confusion they may have had was gone as a crying Ren teleported into Lilith's arms. A few soldiers stepped aside, revealing both Jane and Ian's silver and red armored suit. Lilith tried to calm the sobbing child in her arms, as many of Katts's soldier's mumbled to themselves, watching the thing that had only a few minutes earlier was screaming in the commander's face comfort the small child who couldn't older than eight.
Up on the wall thing's had gone mad. While Commander Pixis really couldn't do anything to them, he still requested their help. Well it was more like an order. An order that Luke made sure everyone else listened to. And Armin's plan was crazy. While he was desperate to save their lives back there, he wanted Eren to close the gate. Something that Eren agreed to do. It was crazy. It was insane. But, it fit perfectly with the conditions of victory. Close the breach, no more titan's come in. No more titan's come in, then mopping things up what remained would be easier. However Pixis turned to them however.
"You are from beyond the Wall's, yes?" He asked, despite the fact he knew the answer already.
"Yessir!" the four of them shouted at the same time, performing their own version of a salute as further proof of the fact.
"Is there anything else you know about Eren's abilities?" He asked, eyes piercing through them.
"Sadly not much Sir!" Ian responded, "all we really know is similar to what you know. Titan's will go after him unless something else crosses their path or is an easier target. Sense his power is new to him he might suffer amnesia what some if not all events that happened while he is transformed. He also might have some control issues, but if his partial transformation down below is any indication, he has likely moved past this." Ian rattled out the few of the things he knew about Titan Shifters. Pixis nodded, motioning for Luke and Eren to follow him. Once they were out of earshot, he began to talk.
"They say that before titan's took over the land, mankind was endlessly fight and killing each other over dividing loyalties and beliefs," he began, "Back then, someone supposedly said: If a powerful enemy threatened mankind, humanity would probably unite and stop fighting amongest themselves." Luke nodded. "What do you two think of this?"
"If my grandparents stories where any indication, that was exactly what it was like before the titans," he added, earning a nod from Pixis.
"Such fairy tales exist?" Eren asked "Sound's pretty optimistic." Luke wanted to agree. It almost seemed like they were still fighting themselves, but this time in a different way. A short conversation later as they ended in front of the gate. The two drew themselves into attention, both going straight as a poll. Pixis cleared his throat for a second.
"Attention!" He bellowed the the next second, Luke resisting the urge to clap his hands over his ears. However, he knew it wasn't meant for him or Eren, but the quivering masses below.
"I will now brief you about the operation for retaking Trost! The goal of this operation is to close off the shattered gate!" Pixis's voice was calm and commanding, easily gaining the attention of all those on the ground, "As for our means of blocking it, I shall now introduce him. Eren Jaeger of the Cadets! He's the product of the military's top secret titan transformation experiments!" Even if Luke didn't know what he did, he still would call bullshit, but it seemed to work.
"He can summon a titan's body and control it at will!" he continued, ignoring what had to be a shit storm going on below them, "He will transform into a Titan, pick up the giant boulder near the gate, carry it to the breach in the wall, and use it to plug up the hole! Your mission will be to protect him from other titan's while he carries the boulder! Addition support during this operation will be provided by Luke Reid and his group of soldiers, who were sent by a recently discovered population of human's beyond the Wall's! His force's will join you in defending Eren. Luke himself will remain here and engage the Armored Titan when it appears!" Luke stepped forward on cue, performing the salute he was trained to give.
Jane was once again floored by Armin's utter brilliance. Use most of the soldier's to lure the titan's into a kill zone for the cannon's, while sending in an elite team to cover Eren, which at least consisted of her, Lilith, Mikasa, and Alexander. She was unsure about sending Alexander into the fray, Gorgon are not.
"An advice you can give me?" he asked Lilith, as he put on a new set of 3D Maneuvering Gear.
"Honestly, besides killing and eating a Titan right off the bat, I got no real advice," Lilith said, stretching herself, "Just do whatever feels right. Your body knows what to do. You just need to listen to it." Alexander looked at her with a look of slight confusion on his face.
"Why eat a Titan?" He asked, voice clearly confused.
"Because, you're low on energy. You don't have time to rest up and we don't have time to raid a kitchen for food," Jane said, "You're going to need energy to keep your form up, a eating a titan is the fastest way to get some." Alexander let out a sigh of defeat in that regard.
Luke stared down. Despite the overwhelming chance of success, the smell of fear reached his nose almost immediately. People were leaving, running. He had no idea why though. But the fear each human below was powerful, primal, and a punch to the gut. It was something that he had never thought of. These human's ,unlike the one's like Ian, thought they were alone. Weak. That nothing had their back. They didn't feel glee, joy or happiness at the chance to stand against a superior foe. They were the prey, the animal. They didn't know what it was like to have an apex predator at their back. However, Commander Pixis appeared to have everything well in hand.
"Heed my command!" the man bellowed, "Anyone who desert's right now will go unpunished!" Luke even raises his eyebrow. Where was he going with this?
"Once you have given in to your fear of the titan's, you can never fight them again!" he continued, "Anyone who has surrendered to the terror of the titan's should leave! And anyone who wants that same terror to reach the hearts of their loved ones should leave as well!" He continued on with his speech, going over an event that led to the slaughter of a fifth of mankind within the Wall's, simply due to the fact they couldn't maintain the population. Luke almost shuttered. How could someone just make that type of call without even flinching. What he had seen of the military so far was a mess, and a government that simply would just throw it's citizens away without a second thought. This was insane.
The decoy group had already been deployed. Pixis thought it was a good idea send in Alexander, Lilith, and Jane in addition to his forces. Ren would be used to bring in backup if the need was dire, due to her teleportation ability. Ian and Luke however, were told to hold back and wait for the Armored Titan. Thankfully, the titan didn't disappoint, stomping into line of the gate, earning gasps from the soldiers that were acting as decoys. Like with Wall Maria, it took an a sprinting stance, preparing to charge and shatter the gate. Before it could however, the heavily armored titan found itself under siege as Ian's gun opened up on it's target. While the singular shots from the inaccurate artillery would cause it no trouble, the non stop barrage of shells annoyed the creature.
"Go!" Ian shouted, as Luke broke into a run, leaping off the battlements, mist encasing his body as his Goliath form crashed into the ground. It was time to give this son of a bitch hell.
This is going to be the last update before finals, sadly, so I hope you all enjoy. But first off, did you guy's really think I was going to wait until the female titan arc to show how one of my OCs stacks up against one of the bad guy's? I've waited for quite a while for an Armored Titan vs. Goliath showdown. Secondly thank you. To everyone reading this, thank you. Four review's for four chapters, more than four hundred views, three favorite's and seven people getting emails whenever I update. This is already turning into one of my most popular stories yet, and I want to thank all of you for reading and making this happen. Thank you again, and happy hunting.