Three years. It had been three years since he had joined the Cadet Corps so he could fulfill the promise he made to Frieda. That humanity would be free from these walls, just like she wanted before she inherited the will of King Fritz. Three years since he had made his first official friend, Annie Leonhart. Two years since he had felt the power surging through his veins for the second time when he saved Historia from those kidnappers in the woods.
Two years since he told Historia that he saw through her fake personality and offered his support to her by helping her to make the top ten. Two years since Mikasa found out that they were related and accepted him into her inner circle with Eren and Armin.
And now after their training had officially ended they had been stationed with the Garrison for a week before they chose which regiment to join. Most of the recruits like Eren were watching the departure of the Scouts on the 56th Expedition. However Sasha and her food stealing buddy Nick were sneaking about the officers quarters in search of some meat.
"Sasha" he whispered, "Do you realise you could be arrested for this?" Quite dumbfounded at the girls stupidity when it came to food.
"What do you mean me?, you're helping me." She stated.
"Yes, but unlike me, you're not from a noble family. Even if they did arrest me the Interior MP would release me." He told her, explaining the situation better to her.
"Aha!, we're here!" She exclaimed, some drool coming from her mouth as they reached the food store.
"Okay then, give me your hairpin"
She handed him her hairpin as he removed a knife from his left boot and began to pick the lock of the food store. "Sasha at least keep a look out instead of drooling on my shoulder." He told her, the drool slowly dripping onto his right shoulder.
"Sorry!" She exclaimed, wiping her chin with her sleeve.
After about ninety seconds of Sasha complaining about him being too slow at picking the lock, it finally clicked, he slid the lock off and Sasha was inside the store within seconds, seeking the meat she craved.
"Sasha, be quiet" He hissed, she was making too much noise inside the food store now, someone was bound to hear.
"Eeek!" Came a sound from inside the room, "I found it!" She exclaimed as she burst back through the door, drool now clearly coming down from her mouth.
"What was that noise?" A voice came from down the corridor.
"Shit, we need to hide" Nick thought as he quickly pulled Sasha out ofthe doorway, he quickly closed the door and slid the lock back on the door. He quickly scanned the room for a way out. There was none.
Sasha was shaking in fear of getting caught, they had never been caught before and she was naive to think they would never be caught.
She was pulled from her thoughts as Nick grabbed her arm and yanked her under the desk in the room, his palm dragging over the meat in the process. Once they were under the table he put his hand over Sasha's mouth to keep her from making noise.
The door creaked open and a pair of boots could be heard rapping against the wooden floor until they reached the carpet.
"Captain Weilmann, you're needed down at the supply depot." A female voice called out. "Sir?" The voice called again.
"Yes I heard you Rico, I thought I heard some noise in here." Captain Weilmann replied.
"You think someone was in here?" She asked.
"Nothing seems out of place, and the lock is still on the food store. Perhaps it was my imagination."
Under the table Nick was having a very hard time not shouting at Sasha for what she was doing. He deduced that since his hand brushed over the meat it would taste like it, he didn't expect that Sasha would start licking his hand just to taste the meat. Especially since Captain Weilmann was about three feet away from them.
"Let's go Rico" He said as the sounds of footsteps got further away until the door shut.
"What the fuck Sasha!" He whisper shouted, "Why the fuck did you lick my hand!?"
"It tasted like meat" she protested. "It would be a shame for that to go to waste.
He purposefully wiped his hand on her hair as he handed back her hairclip so she could tie her hair up into her ponytail again.
"If you lick me again without my expressed permission, you will taste my boot down your throat. Understand" he said while glaring at her.
She quickly nodded, not wanting to anger him anymore.
"Expressed Permision" Frieda echoed his words, "What does that mean?" She asked.
"Not here Frieda, at least wait until we have escaped the vicinity of this hangable offence we have just committed."
They managed to sneak out quite easily as they then made their way to the top of the gate where Sasha was assigned. Nick was assigned to cannon duty a couple hundred mertes away, but the Officer in charge didn't seem to care when he snuck off with Sasha.
"Guys look what I got." She said as she approached them, the meat in her hand on show for everyone to see.
"Sasha, you could be hanged for that!" Eren exclaimed, shocked by her sheer stupidity.
"It's alright, I'll just get my food stealing buddy here to get me out." She told them as she slumg an arm over Nick's shoulder.
"Really?" Mina said, "I thought you were supposedly smart Nick."
"We've never been caught" he replied with.
"Wait, how long have you two been doing this." Thomas asked.
"About two years" Sasha proudly told the rest of them.
"But... how have you never been caught, when Sasha asked me we got caught the first time." Connie told them.
"Because unlike you Connie, I have the skills required to seal food effectively."
"Yeah, but at least I made the top ten Nick."
"Yeah but Connie, you said you were joining the Scouts." Eren pointed out. "So it doesn't really matter."
"Really?" Nick asked, "If it makes you feel better, I'm joining the Scouts as well."
"Was it Eren's speech that convinced you?" Mina asked him, trying to keep her surprise down.
"No, because I was already convinced that the only way we can achieve freedom, is by fighting back against the titans." He said before continuing. "Alright, well I better get back before someone who cares if we slack off turns up at my station"
He turned around to walk back to where he was stationed when there was a flash and an explosion originating from outside the wall. He turned around to see the Colossal Titan standing there, about 30 feet away from him. He got over the initial shock quickly to pull a blade from his left blade box and into his right handle before he was blown off the wall by a massive gust of steam.
He saw the others being blown off the wall as he shot off hir right hook to anchor himself into the wall.
"Someone grab Samuel" Eren shouted.
He could see Samuel falling down below, he looked unconscious, in a few seconds he would become paste on the ground unless someone got to him. He then saw Sasha fire her hook into his calf, saving his life in the process.
"Sasha" Nick shouted at her. "Take Samuel to headquarters and inform them of the situation, someone go with her to make sure she gets there. Eren help me with the Colossal Titan. It cannot be allowed to escape." After that Sasha and Thomas went back to HQ with Samuel still unconscious.
Nick then unsheathed a second blade to his left handle and shot is left hook up the wall so he could get up the wall faster than using both hooks for one swing.
Eren followed him up the wall as they both landed gracefully on top of the wall. The Colossal Titan sweeped his arm across the wall, taking out the cannons on the wall.
"It's intelligent, It knew to take out the cannons." Eren called out.
"No shit Eren. I wonder who this is though?" He thought to himself as he shot his hooks into the arm of the Colossal Titan. He managed to get a deep slash on his wrist, making his right hand useless for combat.
"Eren, circle around to the nape while I distract him." He shouted once again.
"Hey ugly, why don't you pick on someone your own size." He called out.
The Colossal Titan moved his gaze to the soldier on the wall, waving at him. The Titan brought his left hand up to squish him before he did any more damage to his form. Nick dodged, flying off to the side, the Titan used this monent to lift it's foot and kick a hole in the gate, now allowing titans to enter the District.
"Shit, my distraction didn't work, whoever it is isn't stupid." He was about to fire his hooks into its face so he could slash its eyes so Eren could take it down, but it released an intense volley of steam, causing him to fall off the wall again. The steam attack was very hot, almost to the point of burns, but he wasn't exposed long enough for it to have an effect on him.
After a few seconds the steam stopped completely as he shot his hooks back up the wall to get back on top. He arrived to see that Eren was standing there and that the Colossal Titan had disappeared, he looked around to see what looked like someone scaling the wall from the outside to get back in. The figure was too far away to tell either who it was or which branch they belonged to.
"That must be him, he's in the military, that's not surprising given how long they've been inactive for."
"Hey did you guys get him" Connie asked, now having scaled the wall with Mina in tow.
"No, it disappeared. Just like five years ago" Eren grimaced. "I'm sorry guys, it's my fault it got away."
"Don't apologise" Connie interjected. "We were too scared to move after all."
"Hey you four!" A garrison officer called out to them. "What happened to the Colossal Titan?"
"It disappeared like it fid five years ago Sir" Eren replied.
"Right then. Return to HQ to refuel. As of now Operation Colossal Titan is in effect."
"Yes Sir" The four cadets replied before speeding off towards HQ to recieve their orders for the evacuation.
(Trost District HQ)
The four of them arrived relatively quickly at the HQ just in time to be able to refuel before they were sent back out there to assist with the evacuation by holding the lines against the titans invading the city.
He was refilling his gas at the supply station when he heard a pair if boots coming his way, he looked up to see Krista marching towards him, surprisingly she looked angry.
Once she reached him she used all her strength to slap him across his face, leaving a small, but bright red hand print across his left cheek. The impact of the slap caused some of the nearby soldiers to turn their heads, only to see the small blonde cadet throw herself at him, hugging him tightly.
"I was so worried when you left with Sasha earlier, and then when the Colossal Titan appeared you hadn't shown up and I assumed the worst."
"Did you really have to slap me?" He asked her while rubbing his cheek, still sore from the impact.
"Sorry" she apologised. "I don't know what came over me."
"It's okay Krista" he then leaned in to her ear to whisper. "I like seeing the real you better anyway."
"But seriously I'm fine, I just need to refuel then we can go, alright." He continued with.
"Right, I'll wait for you until then." She offered, still scolding herself for losing control of her emotions and slapping him. She didn't mean for it to go that far, but he was the only person who understood her apart from Ymir. So if he died, she didn't know what she would do.
"Okay, I'm set. Let's go." He told her as they reached the assembly area in the courtyard. Where Daz was throwing up at the mere thought of having to fight the titans. Krista immediately went to his aid, while waiting for someone to issue them orders.
"ATTENTION" Captain Weilmann called out to the recruits. "As you know the Outer gate has been breached by the Colossal Titan. And what's more is that the Advantage Team has been wiped out. Yes that's right, the Outer gate is history. That means that the Armoured Titan will likely show up, and when it does the Inner gate will be history too." This statement caused the crowd of cadets gathered to begin panicking at the thought.
"What kind of speech is this?, he's supposed to motivate us to fight, not to abandon our posts." Nick thought.
"QUIET" He yelled out, silencing the recruits. "You will split up into your squads that were assigned to you. The Garisdon will take up the Vanguard. The cadets will form the Middle-Guard. And the Elites will assist with the evacuation in the Rear-Guard. Any attempts to desert your post will result in your swift execution. Lay down your lives if you must. The citizens must be allowed to escape." He paused for a moment before saluting. "Offer your hearts cadets."
The cadets returned the salute. "Sir yes Sir"
"Dismissed" he yelled out.
Nick left the formation to go find the rest of the five man squad he was assigned to. He managed to spot the four of them gathered around near the entrance to the HQ.
"Hey guys, Im here." He called out.
"All right that's all of us." Sasha said, "Why don't we introduce ourselves. I'm Sasha Blouse, I ranked ninth in training."
"Emily Schön, I ranked sixteenth."
"Franz Kefka, rank twenty two."
"Hannah Diamant, rank twenty eight."
"Nick Meier, rank thirty nine."
"All right, I was made squad leader" Sasha announced, "So lets go and kill some titans to assist with the evacuation okay."
The rest agreed with the plan, they took off towards the rooftops where Nick suggested they run to conserve their gas.
Sasha agreed, knowing how smart he was and they were now coming up with a strategy to take on the titans.
"How should we take them on?" Hannah asked Sasha.
"We should stay here and hold the line" Franz suggested.
"No" Emily disagreed, "We should seek them out so we assist the others as much as possible."
"But we could die easier doing that" Franz protested.
"Better than sitting about doing nothing until they get here." Emily retorted.
"What do you think Nick?" Sasha asked him, wanting his opinion on the matter.
"I think we should have two of us lead titans to this position while the other three strike the napes from the rooftops." He told her.
"You want to use us as bait?" Franz asked.
"I'll be the bait, since I was the lowest ranked." Nick said as he took off, attempting to lead titans to the area.
"I'll go with him" Emily announced as she went to follow him.
"Looks like its us slashing the napes then." Hannah said.
"Okay, lets do it." Sasha said.
(35 minutes later)
The five of them had been taking turns at being bait for the titans, there had been a few close calls such as when Emily got grabbed while trying to lead two titans to the three waiting to strike the napes. This resulted in Nick coming to her rescue as she was about to be munched on by two 15 metre classes. After he had shown the skill that he possessed to save her, she questioned how he wasn't in the top ten as even Mikasa couldn't move that fast with the gear. He waved it off as a rush of adrenaline, but she was skeptical of that response.
It was now Franz and Hannah leading the titans towards Nick, Sasha and Emily. They were leading a five metre and twelve metre when another titan jumped up at Franz, attempting to grab him. He avoided the titan by releasing a burst of gas, but he lost control and went over the roof of the buildings and into the wall of the next street over.
Hannah saw this and went straight after him, completely ignoring the five metre following her.
"Franz" she called out. "Franz get up". She was starting to cry now, as the realisation struck her that he could be dead. She checked for a heartbeat when she landed only to be horrified that there wasn't one. She began to administer CPR, while she cried her eyes out, refusing to give up on him. However she was so focused on trying to resuscitate him that she didnt notice the five metre reaching out for her from behind.
(300 metres away)
It was raining now, the blood in the streets now being washed away by water falling from the sky. His hair was now soaked, but the rain was helping to cool him down after all the work he had been doing.
"They should have been here by now" Sasha said, starting to get worried about Franz and Hannah.
"I'm starting to get worried as well, surely they should have found a titan by now" Emily said to the group. "I'm going to look for them" She announced as she took off in the direction they left in.
"Emily wait!" Sasha cried out, "Come on Nick, after her." She ordered him as she set off as well. He followed shortly after he checked his tanks for his gas usage.
He swung after Sasha, who was frantically looking around for Emily. They were looking around until they heard a scream coming from the adjacent street.
"That was Emily!" Sasha called out, "We need to help her" she shouted as she went over the rooftop to help her.
Nick followed her lead as he went over the rooftop after her. Once he got over the roof he could see three titans, one five metre feasting on the lower half of Hannah, one twelve metre with a pair of legs sticking out from it's mouth, he could guess it was Franz by the size of the legs.
In the mouth of a seven metre was Emily, the titan had her midsection in its teeth as it bit down, her screaming in agony. At the sight of Emily being eaten, he had flashbacks to her sisters death on the evacuation boat on this day five years ago.
"No. Not again" he thought, "I can't lose her, not after what happened to Ella". He shot his hook into the shoulder of the seven metre, he pulled the trigger to reel hinself in as he tore a huge chunk of flesh out of the titans nape. The titan dropped Emily onto the ground after its jaw loosened after it died.
"Sasha, grab her and get to the roof, I'll deal with these two." He called out. Sasha wanted to protest, but she could see the anger radiating off of him, she knew not to mess with him when he was angry. So reluctantly she picked up Emily and took her to the nearest roof and put pressure on her wound to try and stop the bleeding.
He landed on the wall next to the dead titan as he bent his knees and shot another hook into the twelve metre, using his momentum to gain more speed and easliy slash through the nape with great precision. After that he shot his hook into the side of the building to launch himself into the air, he twisted in mid air and fired his hook into the nape of the five metre still eating Hannah's remains, he used a burst of gas to increase his speed in the downward spiral as he sliced through the nape and firing himself onto the roof with Sasha and Emily in the process.
"How is she?" He nervously asked when he put his blades away.
Sasha was crying now. "The bleeding won't stop Nick, I can't do anything." Her blood was spilling onto the roof, but the rainfall was washing it away as more came out of her body.
Nick was now on the verge of tears now, it was happening all over again. He thought that he could make amends for Ella's death when her sister walked into his life over three years ago, but now he could only think of himself as the same weak child that got his friends killed during the fall.
"Nick" Emily croaked out, blood on her lips now.
"I'm sorry Emily, I'm so, so sorry." He apologised.
"Don't apologise" she groaned out. "You might be smart, but I'm surprised you never noticed." She smiled softly as she spoke.
"Noticed what?" He asked, leaning down so he could hear her better.
She didn't say anything she only leaned up to him to plant a short kiss on his lips, smearing blood on his upper lip in the process.
"You... You" was all he could say as he turned a little bit red.
"I like you... a lot" she managed to say while struggling a lot with the pain.
"Frieda, please forgive me for this, I only want to make her last moments better for her."
"What do you mean love, wait what are you-" was all Frieda managed to say as she watched Nick kiss Emily.
After speaking to Frieda with his thoughts he leaned down to kiss Emily on the lips once again, he grabbed the back of her head to press her blood soaked lips against his even harder. After comprehending that her crush for the past three years had kissed her, she started to move her lips against his, she was using all the strength she had left to put into the kiss.
Sasha watched fron the side, still crying over the death of Franz, Hannah and the impending death of Emily.
He pulled away from the kiss, their lips still connected by saliva mixed with blood.
"Thank you Nick." Her voice was getting weaker by the second.
He didn't respond to her thanks, he just stayed like he was, kneeling down with her head in his hands, the tears flowing down his face now as the life slowly faded out of her body. She had closed her eyes and her body went limp, she was unresponsive to his touch, signalling that Emily, much like Ella, had died in his arms.
Slowly he laid her head on the roof, and stood up. "Sasha" he spoke, all the emotion gone from his voice. "We need to regroup with the other squads now. You go on ahead, I'll be right behind you."
With a simple nod of her head she took off, trying to regroup with the nearest squad. But he had just lied to her, he wasn't going to be behind her, because he felt like the same weak child from all those years ago. He felt as if he could have prevented this from happening, if only he hadn't held back when the Instructors were grading him. Maybe he wouldn't have been in this squad, then he wouldn't have come up with this strategy and gotten everyone apart from Sasha killed. Then maybe he wouldn't feel like he was worthless and wouldn't want to give up like he was doing now.
He sat still on the rooftop, next to the soaking body of Emily, waiting for a titan to come along and finish him off before he did it himself. "This way, if I get eaten, then maybe people will think I died a noble death." He bitterly thought to himself as out of the corner of his eye, he could see a fifteen metre class reaching out to grab him.