After about thirty seconds of everyone gawking at the giant head, a gale-force wind burst through the streets, deafening everyone around. Desmond shut his eyes tight and covered his ears.
'It's all a dream,' Desmond desperately mumbled to himself. 'This is all just a dream!' When his eyes opened, what faced him was a nightmare. Windows of houses were shattered, roofs swept of, debris everywhere. The man who was standing next to him, was crushed by a boulder, his blood covering the boy, causing him to start to hyperventilate.
"The titans are getting in!" Someone screamed, and everyone went into a frenzy.
"Mum was in the house!" Eren shouted. "We've gotta save her!" Eren ran of down the street towards the hole, followed by Mikasa as the first of the giant humanoids started crawling through the breach in the wall.
"Eren, wait!" Armin went to follow them, but was stopped.
"Armin no! They'll be fine!" Desmond assured him, his father's leadership skills kicking in. "I'll send someone to get them all out of there safely. You go get your grandfather and meet me at my house, hurry!" Armin nodded and went of, pushing through the crowds. Desmond was too short to be noticed, so he cabled up to the nearest rooftop so he could be heard. "Everyone stay calm! We're going to evacuate you all safely! Make it to the Wall Maria gate to the gondolas! You there, soldier!" He pointed to a member of the Stationary Troops who was frantically adjusting his gear. "Name and rank!"
"Just who do you think you are, kid?" The man sneered.
"The son of Commander Pixis, I'm helping the evacuation. Name and rank!"
"Why you… Private Hannes!"
"Hannes, Eren and Mikasa have gone over to their house to get their mother. Their heading straight for the titans! I need you to get them all to my house safely. Got it?" Hannes nodded and launched himself away to his objective. Desmond turned and ran towards the Wall Maria gate, and his house.
'I need to get my family out of there safely.' Was all that buzzed in his head. 'Father has all my blueprints, so I only need to worry about Ma, James, and Mason! Commander and Seamus will be evacuating the citizens, so they'll meet us at the gate later!' As Desmond zoomed towards his house, he couldn't help but notice the hell that was unravelling below. Children were being trampled, people half crushed by boulders, desperately clawing for their freedom. It pained Desmond that he couldn't save them, but his family took priority over everyone else.
"James," Desmond cried, landing nearby and sprinting to his shaken brother. "Where are Ma and Mason?"
"Th-there down the street. Ma won't leave and Mason's trying to get her out of here but she wants to help the other people!"
"Did you see father? Did he have my blueprints?"
"What? I dunno, I haven't seen him since this morning when he left!" Commander Pixis had breakfast with them and left immediately after, not stopping back at home.
"So they're still inside… Damnit, wait here!" Desmond sheathed his blades and kicked open the door, running straight to the cellar downstairs where he liked to work. Of course, all of his work was where he left it. "Oooh, what to take?" There were so many things that he and Seamus had been working on, things to improve farming, medicine, food and water storage, titan combat, the list went on. All of these things wee beneficial to humanity one way or another. Desmond ran to hid father's very extensive collection of wine threw the contents of a couple of crates out, the glass smashing on the floor. Desmond stuffed the two crates with plans and schematics and lugged them upstairs.
"Desmond!" A shrill screech filled the air. "Help! They've got them!" Desmond ran outside, to be met with the sight of Mason and his mother in the clutches of two titans…
Desmond dropped the crates and drew his blades, and raced forward. He had to save them both, or die trying. The blades that Commander Pixis had given Desmond with the special ODM Gear were decorative, not meant for killing titans. A 4 metre and a 6 metre class titan, both holding people dear to him, being help back only by their dumb wit and the fact that Mason and Ma were fighting as hard as they could to resist.
"One metre down, ten centimetres across…" He mumbled, shooting a cable into the wall behind the titan holding his mother. "DON'T YOU TOUCH THEM!" Both of them were screaming and protesting as the beasts looked at them with their beady eyes. His blades dug into the flesh of the back of the neck, and the titan slumped back, dropping Ma. Desmond then kicked of the wall and planted his foot into the 6 metre class' face, making his teeth miss this mark.
"Leave my brother alone!" the boy slashed at the titan's wrists, causing the titan to roar in pain and release his younger brother. Desmond picked his mother of her feet and pushed them back to the house. "Are you two alright?"
"I'm alright," Ma mumbled, looking pale and faint. "I think I broke a rib." Mason was deadly quiet, a distant look on his face. "It's… getting back up…" They turned to see the 4 metre slowly start to stand, steam gushing from his wound.
"Shit, Why's he still alive?" Desmond looked at his two younger brothers, mother, and Armin, who had just turned into the street and ran too the house with his grandfather. "Armin, make sure they get to the gate, I'll hold these guys off!" in truth, if Desmond hadn't gone to the toilet an hour earlier, he'd be shitting himself right now. The two titans were approaching the boy, intent on eating him as vengeance for harming them. The blades trembled in his hands, yet Desmond remained defiant. 6 metre reached out his hand to snatch him up, and was met with a blade cutting at his fingers.
"Desmond!" A voice shouted, and something dropped down beside him.
"Father!" Desmond sighed in relief, seeing the Commander.
"I won't ask you to fight them, but I'd like some help killing the beasts that touched my family!" Commander Pixis then charged at the two titans, followed by his son. Pixis quickly shot around the 6 metre's neck and cut out his nape. His son, on the other hand, was having trouble.
"H-how do I eject the blades?" Desmond shouted, having stabbed them into 4 metre's eyes, whilst kicking away it's bony fingers.
"The guard on the handle!" Desmond ejected the blades and backed away, before drawing another set. This wasn't needed, and Pixis finished him of with ease.
"That was good work son," He panted, patting his son on the head.
"I-I don't understand! I cut the nape like it said in the book!"
"You need to cat the nape out, not just slash it. I didn't expect you to need to that for many years. Come on, let's escape."
Soon, Hannes and Seamus brought Eren and Mikasa to the Pixis' house, and they all escaped to the Wall Maria gate together. The Pixis family were shoved into a carriage and escorted to safety, and Pixis ensured that Eren, Mikasa, Armin, and his grandfather all got spots on the last gondola.
"Everything should be okay now, right?" James asked, looking at his mother, who was staring blankly out at the hundreds of civilians at the docks.
"I'm not sure honey… I'm not sure…" Wall Maria's gate then erupted, debris and rock flying in all directions.
"What was that!?" Desmond asked, opening the door and looking out. "Oh… Sweet Jesus help us…" Wall Maria had been broken, and the titans were inside human territory. "It's the beginning of the end…"
