Well, I'm back. I'm honestly not sure how or why but somehow I ended up here again. Anyway, enjoy.
For a moment, the squad had felt almost joyful. Each of them had carried an air of seriousness, yet in the same way they all found something happy in the company of each other, and each trusted each other to do their best and to be safe around each other. Even Mikasa, although she would never admit it, had had a moment where she stopped thinking about finding Eren, and considered what a beautiful day it was, and how nice it felt to be moving through the air in weather like this. It may seem odd how even in the face of death these soldiers looked for beauty in things, but in truth it was necessary. The veterans had learned that lesson long ago, and the recruits didn't even know they were doing it.
It was a lesson which crossed Annie Leonhart's mind as Angel Blase fell to the ground, swatted out of the sky by an attack which had not been seen. She whipped past the the scene, unable to react in time to turn around. Her whole body felt too slow, as if she wasn't in sync with the world. What she wanted to do didn't seem to be the same thing she was doing, no matter how hard she tried she kept moving too slow.
"Angel!"Reiner screamed for everyone, as he went into attack mode. His hooks fired out towards the tower by the Titan's head as he flew past. He jerked to a halt as he connected to the tower, and then spiraled inwards towards the titan. Everything seemed to slow down as he got close. His blades slid out with the metal sound ringing. He was flying too low, but he curved upwards suddenly, moving into a direct flyby on the nape, which he plunged both blades into and ripped apart as he went. Large chunks of flesh exploded into the air alongside the pieces of metal from both of Reiner's shattered blades. The titan stiffened as it happened, and then collapsed onto it's back, luckily away from Angel.
The adults in the front had started to move back to meet up with the younger troops, although none of them were entirely sure what to do in this situation, "On one hand we can't let this boy lose his life. Although we need our full forces, especially with one of us down, in order to break through to the recruits. We can't afford letting someone take him to safety."
"He's pretty valuable though, is it possible that we could carry him with us?" Rudy shook his head.
"I wish. I guess we'll find out. He could be fine for all we know." Even Rudy didn't think that was possible. The group arrived on the rooftop where the young ones were standing. Annie had grabbed Angel and carried him up there. The other three were standing around, not really together, while she was carefully stepping back. None of them had any idea of what to do. Mikasa was slightly annoyed that they had to stop because of Angel's mistake, but even she was a bit thrown off her game by what had just happened.
They all knew that Angel was either dead, or close to it.
It was one thing to be trained to deal with death. It was another to watch it.
"I'm fairly certain he's not alright Rudy." Lenny attempted to joke, but it fell flat.
"Any ideas?" Rudy asked. Somebody suggested they check his breathing, and Rudy quickly did so, confirming that he was indeed alive right now.
"Well we have to try to get him back to safety right? We can't just leave him here." Rosa spoke up. Although she could be extremely annoying, Rosa was fiercely protective of her squad members, no matter if they had just joined.
"Someone will have to carry him back behind our lines, we can't bring him all the way with us to the destination point."
"Well, taking him back should be easy enough, we just send the weakest soldier right? Then we barely jeopardize the mission further."
"Well, we first have to figure out who is the weakest soldier here, although I'll admit that plan could work out."
"Annie was 6th." Mikasa said, matter of fact. Annie glanced at her and shook her head. The others all placed higher than her in the class, which meant that technically she was the weakest of the young troops, but she knew that they weren't sending an older soldier away.
"Fine." She said, "I'll take him."
Rudy nodded, "Well, that was easier than expected. So just to break it down, the seven of us will continue onwards while, uh, Annie here brings Angel back to our lines. Everyone clear on that?" Everybody nodded.
There was a brief moment as Rudy stopped talking, and turned to talk with his peers. Annie quickly headed over towards Reiner, as she needed to talk with him.
"Annie," He said in a hushed tone, making sure that the others didn't overhear them, "Do you think that-"
"Yes." She cut him off, "I'm certain that he's one. Whether or not he's our target is yet to be seen."
"There should only be the one, if he really is one of us then he has to be our target. This is our chance?" But Annie shook her head in a firm no.
"He's not our target, I don't think so at least. I have no idea how he could exist, but trust me. I can feel it."
"Alright." Reiner glanced at the older troops, just quickly seeing if any of them were looking over at him and Annie, "Be careful, can't have you getting killed out here." Annie nodded, and turned away but Reiner stopped her, "And one more thing, this could be a ploy. He might know about us and is luring you away to take you out alone."
"Already considered that, and if that's the truth then my only option is to beat him in a fight." And then Annie stepped away, moving to stand alone. Soon after, Rudy turned around to face the recruits again.
"Let's get moving." He said, "Oh, and Annie, be careful out there." He waved his left arm forward, signalling the takeoff for the troops, and all but Annie and the unconscious Angel took off, leaving the two alone. Although Annie wouldn't admit it, she was a little scared being alone with him, even though he wasn't awake. She was sure that he was a shifter, and she worried she was playing right into his plan. Her worrying only increased as she noticed the steam rising off of Angel. Any doubt left in her mind was instantly gone.
Another thing that bothered was that even when there were four shifters around, the titans were focusing on Angel. She wasn't entirely sure of how that worked, but she seemed to recall that the stronger a shifter was, the more they came under attack. It also bothered her that no titans had shown up while they were standing around on the roof.
"Calm yourself, Annie. Everything's ok." She went over and knelt down next to Angel, checking his heart to make sure it was still beating and sure enough it was. Annie knew that it was going to be beating anyway, considering the steam rising off him. Perhaps, the best thing to do right now would be to kill him. He's completely defenseless right now, and that would save me the trouble of having to carry him back. However, Annie could not bring herself to murder right now, even though she was used to it by now.
The thud of giant footsteps brought her attention back to the real world instead of her thoughts, and Annie realized that somehow the titans had crept up on her. There were around 4 or 5 closing in on the building, but luckily only one was above 10 meters.
"Crap." She muttered aloud, "I can't fight this many at once with gear. I've made a terrible mistake." She grabbed Angel, who was surprisingly lighter than she expected, and picked him up. Wires shot out and she flew away to one of the taller pillars dotting the city. Her landing was a little off, and her ankle twisted as she stumbled onto the rock, dropping Angel onto it, "Crap. That really hurts." I don't really have time to wait for it to heal. That leaves me with two options, either I try to maneuver without an ankle, or I transform. She looked down at Angel on the ground, and another thought crossed her mind, I could sacrifice him and make a break for it with that distraction.
Or, I could see if he'll wake up, and then get him to transform and fight! A 15 meter titan was slowly walking towards the two, and Annie recognized that she had to act fast. She was running out of time.
She knelt down next to Angel again, and forcefully ejected his name, "Angel!" She said, "Angel! Goddamnit, wake up!" Not really surprisingly, he slowly opened his eyes, taking in the scene around him.
"Annie," He said sleepily, "Did you die too?"
She sighed, "No, you're not dead."
"Oh, then what am I?"
"Currently you're on a pillar surrounded by titans with only me to protect you. And incredibly, I broke my ankle."
"What happened to everybody else then? Where'd they go?"
"They went onward, I was tasked with getting you back to our lines after you were...knocked out by the titan."
"So, I guess this is it then huh?" He said.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"We're dying here, right? I can't fight, I'm...real tired. And you can't fight with a broken ankle, so we're dead." He seemed oddly calm about everything.
"Are you sure you can't fight?" Annie asked.
"Absolutely, if I try to use my gear I'll just end up killing myself as I'm tired."
"There's...nothing else you can do? Like, I don't know, use those hand to hand combat skills?"
He frowned, "Against titans? That's just suicide. Are you sure this isn't a dream as that's a real weird thing to say."
Annie was starting to get suspicious again, although this time she was starting to think that Angel didn't even know about the powers he had. And to think she spent all that time worrying about something that apparently was never going to happen.
My only option left is to transform and kill these titans, although I'll have to kill Angel as well if I do that. He has to be a shifter, I can just feel it, but the way he's talking I feel like he might not know it. He could be playing the long con and forcing me to transform first and expend my energy fighting so he can surprise me. I'm not sure what the best course of action here is.
"Hey Annie." Angel said.
"What?" Annie was slightly annoyed at her thoughts being interrupted, although she had to respond in the hopes that he might drop his game.
"I just want to you know, that you're a real cool gal, and it was a pleasure knowing you." Annie sighed.
"Angel, I want to ask you one favor," She looked right into his eyes, "What's about to happen is probably going to disturb you, but don't panic. Can you promise that? Whatever happens, you won't panic? Please?" I'm going to have to transform now.
"I'm already panicking, just doing it physically really doesn't change anything."
"Ok, but trust me here. Don't panic, alright? Everything will be OK."
He nodded, and closed his eyes, "Yeah sure, I trust you." Angel took one long breath, and then opened his eyes again, "Oh shit, Annie! Behind y-" However, he was too late as the large hand of a titan wrapped around Annie. Time was up.
She activated her knife ring, but no matter how she moved she couldn't manage to stab herself. I messed up big time. To think, I die here to nothing but a simple titan.
"Hey listen, you put her down!" Angel was pulling himself off the floor, "Or at least have the courtesy of killing us both at the same time, like, this is ju-oh crap." It turned out that Angel was very weak, and his knees buckled under his own weight. He collapsed to the floor, sliding right next to the edge, and promptly off it.
Annie wished that she could pretend this wasn't happening, I don't even know how I managed to mess this up so bad. Everything has gone wrong. She closed her eyes, and awaited death.
When she opened them again, it was because all of the sudden she was falling as the head of her capturor melted in a burst of hot steam, pouring out of the hand of a very angry looking titan.