"Kai! Go back for her, please!" Nikolaus was screaming, slamming his fists against my back. My tears fell off my face as I went onto Wall Rose. My landing was sloppy and I dropped Niko while trying to make sure Adal landed on his feet. Then, my knees buckled and I slumped to the floor.
"God Dammit, Asta!" I slammed my fists onto the ground, causing them to bleed a little, and the tears just poured from my eyes.
"Asta!" Niko screamed again, throwing off his broken gear and letting it fall to the ground. Adal rushed to me and tugged on my cloak. I wiped my eyes and looked over at him.
"Why sissy stay? Why not go with us?" I couldn't give him any comforting words, and I just hugged him. My family is breaking again. Not again...
I was snapped out of my misery by a hard punch to my jaw. I rubbed my cheek and looked up at Niko.
"Don't you dare close us out like you did when mom and dad died! Get your ass out there and help Asta!"
"You don't understand, do you? Not even Captain Levi could down twenty 15-meter class Titans. There's nothing I can do!"
"Bullshit!" Niko was angrier than I had ever seen him before. He pulled a Garrison soldier aside and looked him dead in the eyes. "I need new gear, my comrades are out there and need my help." I looked at both of them for a long moment, was there a chance for Asta? With all her skill, was it enough to get out of there alive? The soldier peered over at me as I got up and saw the emblem on my cloak. He unsnapped his own gear and handed it to Nikolaus.
"I have one more request of you, could you take my brother to the pub just down the road from here? A friend of ours lives there and keep him safe for us." The soldier nodded and picked Adal up from the ground.
"Go get 'em" And with that, the soldier was off and down the stairs to safety.
It was a little strange for me to be flying through the air with Niko, but I couldn't focus on that. Asta needed us, and I had to believe that against all odds, she was still alive. Peering down, we could see the scattered dead and severed pieces of the poor Cadets sent to aid Trost. I looked back at Nikolaus and his determined, if not furious expression somehow assured me he would make it through this. We made it to the shattered remains of our house and we saw that the whole area had been decimated.
"Kai, you should look at this." Shit, his voice seemed off and it made me worry. I walked over and he picked up Asta's abandoned gear. All the blades were gone, and the triggers had been cut from the wires. Asta could be alive, somehow. Niko checked the gas containers, and they were depleted. She had fought hard.
"Where do you think she would have gone?" Niko tossed the gear back onto the ground and went up on the roof with me. He thought she had to be alive, too.
"HQ is the only place she could go, to get new gear." I pointed in the direction of the HQ building, and we could see several Titan heads moving just over the rooftops, surrounding it. "Asta will either be there soon or have already been there. But either way, we should help the other Cadets."
"What about Asta then?"
"We need to make sure we help the Cadets, it looks like we're the only ones left and they're probably either low or out of gas by now." I looked sternly at him to ensure he didn't fight me about it again. We had a duty to our fellow soldiers and to humanity, as much as we loved her, Asta was on her own right now.
From there, we made our way towards HQ and stopped not far from it on a random rooftop. In all my life, I could never imagine seeing what was now happening right before my eyes.
"That Titan is only attacking other Titans!" I look on in complete bewilderment, then I noticed there was a training Cadet on the ground, uninjured and seeming to be just as surprised as we were. "That's Mikasa! Weird, I don't see Eren anywhere." Just before either of us could do anything, another Cadet swooped down and picked her up off the ground, bringing her back up to the roof across from us. There was another Cadet there as well. Nikolaus jumped off the roof and swung onto the roof they were on, I quickly followed.
"Connie, Armin, Mikasa!" Nikolaus called out to them as he walked towards them.
"Nikolaus? We all thought you were dead, we couldn't find you anywhere!" Niko seemed pleased that they had worried about him and smiled.
"I was with my sisters, Armin. Guys, this is Major K-"
"Major Grimm? The 'Blade of Fury' from the Scouting Legion?" Armin was all in a fuss, and Nikolaus beamed proudly as he nodded. I felt a little embarrassed, Asta got this kind of thing all the time but I don't see why she doesn't like it, I know I do.
"Nikolaus, you said 'sisters'?" Niko's smiled faded and he nodded grimly.
"Yes, Connie. Our sister, Captain Grimm" A small squeak of excitement came from Armin again and I wanted to laugh despite the seriousness of the issue at hand. "Stayed behind and faced twenty 15-meter class Titans" Armin and Connie gasped as Niko said this, but the girl looked unphased.
"We know she's alive, her gear ran out of gas and she abandoned it, taking the blades and triggers with her."
"That makes it more likely that she is dead." Mikasa had the look of loss on her, and it seemed she blamed herself for it. I sympathized.
"We can't accept that. We know she's headed for HQ, just as you are, correct?"
Connie and Armin nodded.
"Mikasa ran out of gas already, and Armin and I are both low." Connie looked seriously at me and Niko, "Do you have a plan to get there?"
I looked at Niko and he started to discuss different ideas with Armin and Connie. Mikasa and I exchanged a look, and somehow she seemed very capable. I looked behind her and I could see a group of Cadets trying to run head on through a group of Titans to get to HQ.
"Nikolaus, stay with your friends. I'll see you at HQ." With that, I jumped off the roof and swung around towards the group of Cadets. I managed to down three Titans that were coming towards them on my way to the group, and another to save a Cadet before he got eaten. I determined the one in front was leading them, so I matched my speed to his.
"You guys looked like you needed a little help."
"I've got everything under control." He then glanced over at me and saw the Scouting Legion wings on my cloak, scoffing a little. I frowned.
"I just saved your ass from four Titans heading this way!" I launched forward, cutting down another Titan and crashing through a window and into the HQ building. The Cadet came in just after, and I turned to look at him. "And add another to that. The least you could say is thank you!"
"No one else has bothered to help the Cadets! How about you go back up on the wall and leave us here to die!" Just as he said that, the rest of his group come crashing in, and thanked me by either nodding or walking past and touching my shoulder. I turn my gaze back to the Cadet.
"How about you stop worrying about your damn pride and concern yourself with the safety of your comrades?" Apparently, this shut him up. Another Cadet walks up to him, a little out of breath.
"Thanks to you Jean, I'm still alive." The other Cadet walked up to me and saluted me. "And thanks to you all my comrades are safe."
"Marco, you d-" Jean was interrupted when I clasped a hand on Marco's shoulder and smiled.
"Maybe 'Jean' could learn from you, hm?" Marco seemed a little embarrassed, but returned my smile.
It was another minute or two before Mikasa, Armin, Connie, and Nikolaus came in through another window. Armin tumbled onto the floor by my feet, smiling.
"We made it! That one Titan followed us and is killing the Titans around the building!" I hold out my hand and help Armin to his feet and smile grimly.
"Maybe that will help Asta get somewhere safe, hm?" Armin nodded and I looked out the window to see the odd Titan strike down another."And maybe help us get the hell out of here, too." At that moment, Jean comes back into the room and I started to notice that all the Cadets were looking to me for our next move.
"There are seven Titans down where the supplies are, how are we supposed to get to more gas there?" Jean looked frustrated and leaned against the doorway.
"Seven? There was ten when we had to abandon it." I turned my gaze to young female Cadet.
"There were ten? Are you sure?" She nodded, and I could tell she was by the serious look in her eyes. I relaxed a little. I only know two people who could kill more than one Titan without gear on, and that was Asta and Levi. I turned to pat Niko and Armin on the back. "These guys are the best to figure out these kinds of plans. I'll be back soon, I'm going to check the supply floor since I still have gas."
As I left the room I heard Jean ask "How can we trust that thing out there? A Titan is still a Titan..."
I reached the lift and pushed the lever to go down. As soon as there was room, I went up onto the banisters and looked down into the room. The shelves where extra gear was kept was a wreck and covered in blood. The trail of blood led to on top of a gas tank, where the hose was still sitting. There was a fallen banister near the doorway to outside. I always knew Asta was as tough as it gets, but I could never have imagined that she had such a strong will to live. Would I have lasted as long as she has?
The battle for Trost was a serious blow to humanity, it seemed as if everyone had lost a loved one, a friend, or a comrade. It turned out that the odd Titan that essentially saved our asses at HQ was a young Cadet named Eren Jaeger, a friend and comrade of Nikolaus'. If a human can turn into a Titan and can control it, then I pray that this Eren kid can save us.
Asta was never found during the battle, and when the rest of the Scouting Legion arrived to aid in ridding Trost of Titans after the gates had been sealed by Eren, everyone searched for her. Desperately. In all honesty, I don't think that Commander Erwin has given up yet. As a last resort, Niko and I decided to help clear out the corpses from the streets of Trost, both hoping and dreading we could at least have a body to bury.
"She could just be injured, Kai" Niko was trying to keep faith, but I could see it was failing. "Where would she go, that she knows we would find her?"
I didn't want to get my hopes up, but I started thinking of various places in Trost that she would decide to go, somewhere I would know. There was a wishing well that she loved to take Adal to, but it was in an open area and not realistic for hiding. When our parents died, she used to climb up on the bell tower near the gate to Wall Rose and look out at the horizon as far as she could see... That was it, the bell tower. It wasn't far from HQ, and since she either ran out of gas or her gear was damaged in a fight, she would have gone there to hide from Titans.
"I think I know where she could be hiding, Niko." I started to run off towards the bell tower, and he followed close behind. He was silent for a minute.
"The bell tower." I nodded, it was also somewhere she had promised me she would never go again, but given the circumstances, it was the best way to survive. I sent a quick prayer to whatever cosmic power was up there, and decided to hope that she was alive still.
It took some time by foot, and when we tried opening the door it was locked. Really Asta? Like Titans can open doors. Niko and I both kicked the door in, knocking it off its hinges. I took a moment to see my brother in a new light. Was he always that strong? He ran into the building and I followed shortly behind.
"Asta! Are you here?!" There was a few moments of silence, and then the slight scuffling of boots from the room above our head. It got darker as we went up the stairs, and when we finally made it up to the next room we couldn't see anything at all. There had to be a window, right? Apparently Niko had been thinking the same thing and started feeling along the wall for a window. When he found it he pushed it open and we both looked to the middle of the room. I nearly screamed. Asta was there, bloody and bruised and breathing.
"I knew you guys would find me sooner or later."
"How is she, Kai?" I turned to see the alarmingly blue eyes of Commander Erwin nearly at my face. I saluted rather half-assed and fortunately it was ignored.
"She's damn lucky to be alive, sir."
"Are her wounds serious?" Levi's head poked out from behind Erwin. If that man could have a worried expression, what I was seeing on his face now would be the closest thing.
"Several broken ribs, looked like she was grabbed by a Titan. There's a deep wound running up her back to the left of her spine. If it had been just a little more over to the right, she would have died. She's got a gash going up her right arm to the nape of her neck and a head injury. The doctor said she should have a full recovery."
"My God, what hell was she put through?" Erwin seemed much more concerned than I would have thought a Commander would be for those under his command, but I felt obliged to answer a senior officer regardless.
"According to several eye witness accounts, sir, I believe I can tell nearly everything that happened to her." Erwin nodded and Levi stood beside him. I sighed, I had gone over these events in my head a million times and still it seemed surreal that she survived all of it. "When Trost's gates were breached, Asta and I had gone to our house near the gate to evacuate our brother Adal who was sick and wouldn't be able to go anywhere on his own. However, the Titans came pouring in, in large numbers. We were surrounded by about twenty 15-meter class Titans and she stayed behind to ensure we got away safely by taking on the entire group of them." Apparently I had captured their attention, and Levi looked pretty surprised for... well, Levi.
"She succeeded in eliminating all the Titans, fortunately none of them were deviants, but not without an injury to her head and running out of gas at the end of it. She took the last two blades and cut the triggers from the wires to ensure she had some sort of weapon, and ditched her empty gear. I assume it would make it difficult to hide in small spaces with her gear on." Both Levi and Erwin nodded. Levi made a quick glance into the room behind me where Asta was, and regard her with what seemed a mix of respect and pride for his former pupil. "From there, she heads towards HQ. I can't imagine it was easy sneaking past all the Titans that were surrounding the building, but she got into the supply floor, grabbed new gear, filled the gas canisters, and killed three Titans. One of the Titans she had downed crashed into a banister, knocking it down. That's when she received the cut from her neck and up her arm, when she tried dodging it." I had to take a moment to calm down, there was no way I was going to cry in front of my Commander. They noticed, but they left it alone. At least they understood how this could be difficult for me.
"From there she helped a few groups of Cadets left in Trost, and while saving one of them she was grabbed and nearly crushed by a Titan. Another Cadet cut the arm off of the Titan and Asta was freed. She's responsible for saving the lives of over twenty Cadets, both training and from the Garrison." I felt proud to say it, she had saved lives even as she was bleeding out. "She covered the rear to ensure that the Cadets got over the wall safely and got smacked into a wall by a deviant type. She sustained another injury to the head, and the gash along her back is from a hook in the wall." I had to stop myself from imagining the amount of pain she had to have gone through, and I look up at Erwin and Levi, they had shivered at the thought.
"Her gear was broken in the fall, and she somehow went on foot to the bell tower, climbed up the stairs, and waited. Miraculously without bleeding to death as she did."
"She just waited, knowing you guys would find her?" I nodded, and realized what Levi was pointing out. Her faith in us was outstanding. The two were quiet for a very long few minutes, before Erwin finally had the stomach to say anything.
"Could I go in and see her?" I nodded, a little bothered by the fact that he had asked me for permission to do something. I watched as he closed the door behind himself, and just before he did, I heard him ask "Asta?"
