Chapiter thres:
My hand was starting to ache from gripping the wall for so long. Had the plan worked or was there simply too many of that had failed to follow me? Maybe the general hadn't believed Mikasa and Armin – after all, who would under the circumstances – and had ordered a retreat. I could be the only human (ish) within ten miles of here by now. All alone, save for the squirming horde below me. They were like a pile of writhing worms, each one climbing on another to reach their prize. And reach me they would, given time. The mound of titans was growing higher as more came from the fields beyond the wall. One of them even tried to shimmy up the rectangular support wall sticking out to the side of the hole.
Amazingly, he actually had some degree of success. His hands were smoking, constantly regenerating from the strain of holding onto the smooth surface. I'd ripped free a canon and thrown it at him the first time I saw it happening, but I only had one left within reach. I really didn't trust my balance yet on such a narrow ledge to try and reach for the ones further away. Unfortunately this meant that I was forced to watch as he slowly progressed upwards towards me, I couldn't afford to throw my last projectile early. I just hoped none of the others picked up on the idea.
I spoke too soon. The climber wouldn't be the first to reach me and pull me into the swarm after all. The titans on the bottom had apparently been pinned down well enough that the ones on top were no longer losing their footing. The 15-meter class reached out, his grip the same as death. I threw the cannon at him, but the wheel hit first. It was just a glancing blow to his head, and he was still standing. Another twenty seconds and he would reach for me again.
No, this wouldn't do. "I refuse to die in a cage." Not caged by walls, the preaching of sheep, or by my own fear. It was almost time, but I wouldn't falter. If I was quick, and rolled well when I landed, I might be able to break free. From there... I'd work out something.
"Eren, are you alright?" My guardian angel, just in time.
"Not if you don't hurry." Though to be honest, with so many, even her aid wouldn't be enough for long.
"This beast is what you brought me here to see? Load the canons, I want it off my wall."
Mikasa's blades sang as she slowly drew them out. "My specialty involves the cutting of flesh. Any who care for a demonstration need merely step closer."
I could only catch a few snatches of the ensuing chatter, but I could tell it was leading nowhere good.
"You bear the same face... you're in collusion with it aren't you. There is only one sentence for a traitor to humanity. Kill her." Muskets clicked as they readied to fire.
"NO!" I roared, wishing I could crush that paranoid fool from existence.
"That's enough, put your arms down."
"Pixis!" It was too soon, I feared, but I felt a flicker of hope. I knew that name, even if I didn't know his face. General of the defenses for the entire southern region, in the case of a breach his authority rivaled that of the king.
"This young man has been filling me in on the situation. It would be poor thanks to kill the trainee that prevented the fall of Wall Rose." He walked to the edge so that I could just see his face as he leaned over the side. "I always thought I wouldn't mind so much being eaten by a titan if it was a breathtaking beauty."
'…Crazy old man.'
"Major, find some ropes and winches big enough to hall her up. Start shooting the others, we can't let them pile up any more than they already have."
"Quickly, please!" I shouted up at them. The titan on top was still a little unsteady so his first two grabs had missed by a fair margin, but it was only a matter of time. "There's still two canons to the left of me." The ones on top of the tower had been destroyed by the colossal titan, but as I recalled there were still a few on the level above me as well, provided they could shoot around me.
A few shouted orders later and a number of guardsmen rappelled down, muskets still in hand. Mikasa touched down lightly on my shoulder. I could tell she was still looking out for some sort of double-cross. It appeared they would be true to their word, however. A flurry of musket balls shot past me, blinding the nearest titan. Provided nothing else went wrong, explosives should be enough to deal with the rest, expensive though it would be. Trost was abandoned, the inner gate presumably blocked off or soon-to-be, so hopefully there were no other humans in range to draw them off. It would be like shooting fish in a barrel.
Armin came down next, landing beside me on the platform. He look up at me, then suddenly backed away and turned to look at something else. Strange. "Thanks for the save, Armin. How did you manage to find Pixis, anyways?"
"I recognized him from one of the textbooks. I'm surprised he believed me though."
"You don't give yourself enough credit."
He stood unnaturally still. "Eren, I'm sorry I froze. You saved me from that titan, I'm the reason this happened to you." He started to tear up.
"I don't regret it Armin. Besides, some good came of it in the end."
There was silence for awhile besides the intermittent firing of the remaining canons. Then Mikasa whispered in my ear, "I think he turned around like that because he saw a little too much. You might want to find a little more to wear once we get back over the wall." The next hour of waiting was a little hazy after that shocking revelation.
Just a short chapter this time. Need to go cook a blueberry pie.
The way I think about it, the titans aren't that different from the AI in World of Warcraft before the bugs got fixed. If you just use the terrain, you should be able to confuse 90% of them quite easily. The problem is that there's hardly anything big enough to count as a significant terrain barrier to a creature 45 feet tall.
Also, that guy who wanted to shoot Eren apparently doesn't have a name in canon despite having 6 lines. I looked. He deserved a name though, that guy was awesome.