I hope ya'll don't mind emotional Mikazuki

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"The Female Titan is dead."

Those words were said with quite a bit of guilt, but even so, Erwin couldn't help but wonder if the aforementioned guilt was a result of him failing to capture the Titan in question, or borne from something else. Regardless, he found himself nodding a little at Mikazuki's words as he closed his eyes and sighed deeply to himself.

Hours prior, the Survey Corps had returned to Karanes, and upon entering the district, they were quick to return to base, with all of them ignoring the questions the gathered crowd had thrown at them all the while. Barbatos remained outside the gates of the district, waiting for its next deployment, whilst its pilot, alongside Eren who was in its cockpit along with Mika, was escorted into Erwin's office for debriefing, and the moment he had entered the room, Erwin was quick to ask about the Titan Shifter that they were meant to capture.

To say that he, alongside Levi, Hanji, Mike and Moblit, all of which were present for this debriefing, were surprised at the fact that Mikazuki had killed the Female Titan was… well, it wasn't surprising, really. In an all out brawl, even something as dangerous as a Titan Shifter would inevitably lose to the Gundam, but even so, it was unfortunate that they were unable to capture a live specimen. Hanji in particular voiced her dismay over this, albeit a bit more subdued than usual as she was still in a somber mood over how many soldiers have fallen during the expedition.

"I see… though unfortunate, I suppose that it was inevitable," lamented Erwin with a frown as he shook his head sadly. "Even if we were unable to capture the Female Titan, I suppose that eliminating it outright is the second best option."

"Hm," hummed Mike in agreement while Levi remained as silent as he usually was. Hanji was silently pouting over the fact that they were unable to capture the beast, but even so her mild vocalisations went largely ignored as Erwin leaned forwards to continue speaking.

"However, I do wish to ask you something, Mikazuki Augus," continued Erwin, with him narrowing his eyes a little as his tone of voice darkened a fair bit. The room temperature seemed to plummet briefly as even Levi flinched at this, though the Cadet in question remained steadfast as he listened to Smith speak. "Why were you unable to restrain the Female Titan earlier?"

That… was a good question, really. For as fast and strong as it was, Barbatos was still incapable of catching up to and subduing the Female Titan in an orderly manner. Many soldiers within the Survey Corps, and even some of them from the other brigades, were rightfully taken aback by this, especially after they learnt of how effective the Gundam was in combat… and it did make some of them wonder if the unit and its pilot were in cahoots with the Female Titan by deliberately allowing it to advance forwards.

Fortunately for them, however, this was not the case, and likewise, Mikazuki had a decent enough reasoning for this, as he exhaled softly and explained himself.

"When the Female Titan was first spotted, it was at the Rear Guard. After I saved what was left of them, they told me that there were Titans chasing it, so I began following the trail. The Titans eventually gave up chasing, and they began attacking random soldiers that they came across. I didn't want to let them die," explained Mikazuki, with him frowning a little as he remembered just how many soldiers he had inadvertently doomed by slowing down to save another. In the grand scheme of things, it would've been more efficient, if he had ignored them in favour of advancing onwards… but even so, he couldn't just let them die!

For their part, Levi, Hanji, Moblit and Erwin seemed… surprised to hear that Mikazuki was as soft hearted as he currently was, but even so, Mike couldn't help but smile a little when he heard this. For all his faults, Mika, deep down, cared for others quite intensely, more so his own friends than anything, but even so, when forced to choose between the mission and the life of another, he'd almost always choose the latter.

"I see… we'll have to interview a few of the soldiers to confirm your words, but even so it should prove to be a half-way decent defense for your failings in court," commented Erwin as he sighed a bit and wrote something down. Mikazuki appeared a little confused by this as he tilted his head to one side, prompting Moblit to explain things for him as he scratched the back of his neck.

"We didn't mention it expressly, but this expedition of ours was meant to prove your capabilities alongside Eren's. We had hoped that, by possibly returning with minimal casualties, we could prove to the Military Tribunal, and more importantly to Zachary, that you two are valuable assets, but now that so many have died… it's doubtful that they'll see it that way, even with your killing of the Female Titan," explained Moblit bleakly as he sighed to himself, eliciting a nod from Mikazuki as he slid his hands into his Tekkadan jacket pockets.

"Ah. For all it's worth, I guess I'm sorry about not being able to do more," apologised Mikazuki flatly as he eyed Erwin in silence, eliciting a surprised raise of the aforementioned Commander's brow as he glanced right back at Augus. For the briefest of moments, the Commander thought that he could see some small hint of regret shimmering in the pilot's eyes as he said this… though it left as soon as it came, prompting a tiny smile to form on his face as he shook his head.

"There is no need for apologies, Mikazuki Augus. What's done is done, and you did all that you could to keep as many soldiers as you could alive. Many may have died, but many more no doubt owe their lives to your actions during the Expedition," assured Erwin, with him making an attempt to cheer Augus up a little with his words. The guy deserved that much, at least, though evidently enough, it didn't do much as the pilot shook his head and exhaled sharply in disagreement.

"Doesn't change the fact that they still died," scoffed Mikazuki, with him avoiding direct eye contact with everyone else in the room as he said that. Once more, the room was surprised by the young soldier's words as he kept his gaze down on the ground, with his words being said with such finality that Erwin doubted that he could change his mind on that without some serious effort.

Deciding to at least let Mikazuki spend some time on his own, or with his friends, perhaps, Erwin found himself nodding a little as he glanced over at Mike, who caught his wordless message and moved to Augus' side. As he did so, the blonde spoke.

"... perhaps it would be best for you to spend some time resting now, Mikazuki Augus. Mike and his team will update you on any new developments regarding your inevitable trial, should they come to their attention," commented Erwin gently as he motioned for Mikazuki to take his leave, eliciting a nod from the pilot in question as he allowed Mike to lead him out. The door shut rather gently as the pilot closed it, and thereafter, things remained awkwardly silent as the Survey Corp Commander stared at the door in subdued silence.

Off to the side, Hanji sighed and adjusted her glasses in a surprisingly subdued manner, with that sound catching the attention of her fellow soldiers all the while. It felt odd, seeing Zoe in such a state, though they said nothing of it as she spoke.

"That poor kid…" muttered Hanji with a frown, with her resting her elbows on her thighs as she spoke. "I know we went over this already, but it still feels wrong, to put this much responsibility on someone as green as he is."

"Hmph. He's not as green as you think he is, Four Eyes," argued Levi, with him having found Augus' mannerisms to be too… eccentric for someone who was allegedly a freshly graduated soldier. He'd have to look more into Mika's personal life to confirm this, however.

"Even so, I still think you should've cut him a bit more slack during the planning phase of the expedition, Erwin. Maybe put some responsibility on Eren and not Mika," commented Hanji, with her holding a finger up as she spoke. For his part, her Commander simply nodded as she acknowledged the mild blunder he had made by putting so much, too much, faith in the Gundam despite it being just as fallible as any of them, but even so, what's done was done, and he didn't wish to dwell on it for much longer.

He would learn from this mistake, but he would not let himself be consumed by them.

"I understand, Hanji, but even so, what's done is done, and there's no point in bringing it up any more than necessary," muttered Erwin, mildly embarrassed at Hanji essentially scolding him, as he shook his head in fond annoyance. "For now, let's get back to the topic at hand."

"The inevitable court summons?" inquired Moblit, to which Erwin nodded.

Though the report regarding the 57th Expedition was still being written out by Erwin, the Commander already knew of what his response would be from the tribunal. Eren had performed as necessary whilst out on the field, save for that one instance of him attacking Barbatos, but as for the Gundam, it had performed below what everyone, even Erwin himself, had expected, and as such, it would more than likely be reduced to scrap because of this.

Likewise, it was very likely that Mikazuki would be sentenced to execution, just to assure the people who knew of his connection to Barbatos that he would not be able to cause any more 'damage' in the future. Eren was likely to receive a similar fate, as, even with some elaborate changes in details, the report would likely come across as stating that he underperformed as well, thus meaning that Jaeger was not worth keeping around either.

All in all… this was an incredibly stressful situation for Erwin. Those damn innerwall soldiers were too paranoid to see the big picture in all of this, and they were willing to destroy and kill two of humanity's greatest assets based on just one report of them underperforming, regardless of how much good they were able to accomplish in the past.

"If Zachary's got a brain, he'll give those brats some leeway. They're valuable, after all," piped up Levi as he leaned against the side of Erwin's office wall, to which he chuckled humorlessly before nodding in agreement.

"Indeed, but even so, the public and Nile's opinions can very well sway his judgement. Zachary is a man for the people, after all, and if enough civilians consider Barbatos or Mikazuki to be too dangerous or ineffective to be kept operational and alive, then he will no doubt call for their destruction and execution," rebutted Erwin sadly, eliciting a grimace from Levi as he rolled his eyes. He didn't argue back, however, as he knew that Smith's words rang true.

"Hrg… so what? We're gonna let fate decide if they'll live or die now? That fucking sucks!" protested Hanji, with her throwing her arms up to visualise her anger. Erwin couldn't blame her, he was just as frustrated over all this as she was, though he simply nodded as he exhaled sharply.

"Yes… we can only pray for the best to happen for both Mikazuki and Eren," lamented Erwin, eliciting another roll of Levi's eyes all the while.

"Hmph. humor me a little, Eyebrows. What's the best case scenario in all this, huh?" asked Levi, with him apparently trying to lighten the mood with his words as he spoke. In response to this, Erwin simply huffed as he rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

"At best, we will be allowed to keep Mikazuki and Eren, and custody of Barbatos will be handed over to the Military Police Brigade for study and subsequent destruction," responded Erwin, prompting Levi to nod. That… wasn't too bad, at least they had a chance to keep Mikazuki's skills on their side, but with that being said…

"And the worst?"

"You already know the answer to that."

"This isn't the refueling station."

"No. It isn't. I just assumed that you'd rather spend some time with your friends. Nanaba will be here to pick you up at sunset. Until then."

With that exchange of words, Mike gave Mikazuki's shoulder a gentle pat before he went on his way, with Augus glancing at his retreating form all the while. Zacharius didn't turn around as he left one of the many military bases within Wall Rose, and as soon as he was gone, the pilot found himself sighing a little as he walked deeper into the base's courtyard.

This base in particular seemed to hold some of the younger soldiers, as evident by how the pilot could recognise quite a few of the soldiers present, if not by name then most certainly by face. Over by the corner of his eye, he spotted Connie being consoled by a 104th graduate that had joined the Garrison, and off to the side, he took note of Mikasa patting Sasha's back in a bid to calm her vomiting. It seemed as though the stress of the expedition had taken its toll on Braus, though she wasn't who he was looking for at the moment, prompting him to ignore the scene for now.

"Mikazuki…?"

Blinking a little when he heard that voice, Mikazuki raised a brow and glanced down a fair bit before making direct eye contact with Armin Arlert. The short blonde was staring up at him in surprise, with him clearly not expecting to meet him here as he observed him with an apprehensive gaze. Vice versa, however, Augus simply nodded in his direction.

"Armin," greeted Mikazuki flatly, with his voice making Armin flinch a fair bit as he scratched the back of his neck awkwardly. That gesture reminded the pilot a fair bit of Nac whenever he was flustered, though he didn't vocalise that thought as he watched the blonde put his thoughts into words.

"Uh… what are you doing here, exactly? I thought you were with Squad Mike," inquired Armin meekly, with him shifting from one foot to the other in an incredibly awkward manner as he asked his question. In response to this, Mikazuki simply shrugged as he jerked his thumb towards the entrance to the base.

"Mike brought me here. Said he assumed that I wanted to spend time with my… friends," responded Mikazuki flatly, to which Armin perked up a little. It was no secret that his friends, his only true friends, were Mina and Nac, and if he were completely honest, Arlert still felt surprised at just how dedicated the pilot was to them. He didn't vocalise this, however, as he offered his acquaintance a lopsided smile whilst nodding in acknowledgement of his words.

"I see… if you want, I can bring you to them," offered Armin as he tugged on the edges of his Survey Corp jacket. Mikazuki was momentarily surprised by the blonde soldier's offer, though he saw no reason to decline as he nodded in appreciation and motioned for him to lead the way.

For the most part, their walk was made entirely in silence, with Armin leading whilst Mikazuki followed. They bumped into the occasional soldier along the way, both physically and metaphorically as Armin quite literally walked into a tanned soldier, Mikazuki remembered him as someone from Levi's Squad (Gunther, was it?), though outside of the apologies that Arlert had given the Elite, things weren't too eventful overall. As they walked, however, Armin did steal a handful of awkward glances in Mika's direction, all of which were met with the pilot staring right back at him, something that was creepy in a strange way.

"Are they alright?" asked Mikazuki flatly after a few moments of awkward silence, though his voice wasn't completely devoid of emotion as he walked onwards, leaning to one side to avoid a Garrison hauling a handful of boxes off to parts unknown. In response to this, Armin, who was briefly confused by the pilot's question, took a moment to realize who he was talking about, and when he did, he flashed Augus a faint smile as he nodded reassuringly.

"Y-Yeah. From what I've heard, Mina and Nac, alongside most of their team, suffered only minor injuries. They should be getting discharged from the medical ward soon. At worst, they'll have to stay the night," responded Armin reassuringly as he stared over at Mikazuki. The relief was very much visible as he nodded in response to Arlert's assurance, and if he were honest, the blonde found himself surprised once more at just how… worried the pilot seemed to be.

His interactions with Augus were very much limited, with him only really doing so whenever he was paired up with him during Close Quarters Combat training back in their trainee days. The pilot always did prefer to be in his own social circle, after all, and said circle did not encompass Armin despite him being on good terms with Mina, Nac and, to a lesser extent, Annie. Mikazuki was simply too… different for Armin to really be comfortable being with for extended periods of time, with neither of their personality traits really meshing well enough to warrant them being friends with one another.

Because of this, Armin felt himself being caught off guard by Mikazuki's genuinely caring tone of voice, though he didn't vocalise this as he smiled gently at the pilot and nudged his elbow ever so slightly. Mika perked up a little at that as he raised a brow at the blonde, who chuckled meekly as he spoke.

"They're lucky to have a friend like you, Mikazuki," said Armin with a smile as the pilot scoffed in response to his words. He wouldn't exactly call it luck, but he wasn't willing to argue against it as he looked away in a surprisingly awkward manner.

"I usually feel more lucky to have them as friends," admitted Mikazuki, with his voice just barely a whisper as he spoke. Armin caught wind of his words, however, as he nodded in acknowledgement of this, though before he could say anything else, he realized that they had already reached the medical ward, and with that, he stopped walking and moved to let Mika enter the place.

"We all tend to feel lucky when we find a good friend, Mikazuki. I guess you're no different from the rest of us in that department," observed Armin with a smile as he waved goodbye to the pilot, who nodded in response to both his gesture and his words. "Say hi to them for me, will ya?"

"Ah. Thanks, Armin."

"Any time, Mikazuki."

The medical ward wasn't anything too spectacular, really.

The place was very much bustling with activity, to say the least, as the excess amount of wounded warranted it. So many Survey Corps had been injured during the 57th Expedition, with many more having lost their lives because of it, and in spite of Erwin's assurances to him, Mikazuki couldn't help but feel a small pang of guilt building up at the base of his stomach as he walked deeper into the building.

Not many of them knew that he was the pilot of the Gundam, but even so, the few that knew of this fact had turned their attention towards him, seemingly confused as to why he was here. Amongst this aforementioned group were Jean Kirstein, who was getting his forehead bandaged, Lauda, who needed a collarbone splint to help her fractured shoulder heal faster and, surprisingly enough, Gelgar was here as well, with a medic giving him sutures for a part of his forearm that had been ripped open at an uncertain point in time.

To his credit, the pompadour haired man was powering through the stitching process like a champ, with him biting down onto a clump of his shirt as his skin was being sewn shut, and because of this, he didn't seem to notice Augus as he walked past him.

After a few moments of walking, Mikazuki found himself stopping briefly when he finally caught sight of his targets, and without a second thought, he began jogging towards them rather quickly. As he drew closer and closer, Nac, who was sitting atop his issued bed, conversing with Mylius who was sitting on the one beside him, perked up a fair bit and smiled at Mika as he drew closer, confusing Zeramuski all the while, though he was quick to get over it as he turned around and saw the pilot jogging up to them.

"Mika!" greeted Nac as he stood up from his bed, only to wince a little and sit back down, with him holding a hand up to his abdomen all the while. Taking stock of this, Mikazuki jogged up to his side and held a hand up to him in a somewhat worried manner, probably as worried as he'd ever get at this point, prompting Tias to chuckle meekly as he waved him off. "Don't worry about it, Mika, it's just a mild sore, I was told it'll go away eventually."

"Ah," responded Mikazuki flatly as he watched his friend lift his shirt up to reveal a handful of bandages wrapped around his abdomen. The sight of this made Augus flinch a fair bit as he silently berated himself for not being there to help him, though apparently, Nac was able to catch onto this as he smiled reassuringly and lowered his shirt.

"Don't worry about this. The medics told me that it's just a surface injury. They felt around and didn't find anything broken inside," assured Tias, something that, honestly, didn't do much to put Mikazuki at ease as the 'feeling for broken bones' technique wasn't exactly a reliable one, but even so, he tried not to let that thought overwhelm him as he nodded and moved to stand between Nac and Mylius.

As he did so, however, the pilot glanced at the bed beside Nac's and saw Mina laying atop it, asleep on her side without a care in the world. She seemed so peaceful, Augus thought, though not long after, his taller friend noticed his gaze and glanced back at Carolina's sleeping form, with him sighing all the while.

"Don't worry about Mina, she just passed out from all the stress after we got back. I'm honestly surprised that she managed to stay awake through the debriefing," admitted Nac with a humorless chuckle as Mikazuki winced at his words. It was a mild motion that didn't really catch Mylius' eye, though as for Nac, who's known the pilot for the better part of half a decade, he took note of it with relative ease, prompting him to frown and bite his lower lip awkwardly. "Mika…?"

"I'm sorry. I… didn't do enough to keep you two safe," apologised Mikazuki wholeheartedly as he turned towards Nac and bowed his head down as an added apology. The taller young man was rightfully taken aback by this at first, with Mylius requiring a double take at what he had just heard before believing it for himself, though after a few short moments of silence, he offered his friend a soft smile as he shook his head at him, with finding his best friend's apology to be unnecessary as he waved Augus off.

"Hey, just because you've got the big awesome machine Titan doesn't mean that we need you to save us all the time. You had orders to protect the entire back of the formation, didn't you?" a quick nod from Mikazuki, prompting Nac to continue. "See? You had your responsibilities, and you did them as best you could. You don't have to worry yourself over our wellbeing 24/7, you know? We can fend for ourselves just fine enough, though your worry is appreciated nonetheless…"

Nac's words did, admittedly, make Mikazuki feel a tiny bit better about himself as he offered his tall friend the faintest of smiles, with him almost chuckling a little as he allowed his shoulders to relax, if only by a tiny bit, as he crossed his arms in a casual manner. Tias found the sight to be rather novel, as Mika was rarely ever situated in such a casual manner, and in an attempt to perhaps steer the conversation away from Augus' apparent shortcomings, Nac decided to perhaps… gloat about one of his Team's achievements for a change as he grinned and held his index finger up in the air.

And the words that left his mouth shortly thereafter… broke Mikazuki in a way that not even Orga Itsuka expected.

"Besides, I'd say that we handled that female looking Titan pretty well…"

The moment those words left Nac Tias' lips… Mikazuki froze.

His joints locked up and his face fell to the point where his mouth dropped a quarter of the way down to being fully agape, and his usually uncaring blue eyes widened to the point where it was noticeable as Mikazuki did his best to process what he had just heard. Apparently, his shocked state had lasted a lot longer than he had expected, as Nac found himself raising a brow at his sudden bout of inactivity.

"Mika…? M-M-Mikazuki?" muttered Nac, with his voice doing very little to snap the pilot out of his trance like state as his gaze fell to the ground, distant and lifeless. What's more, Augus' breathing suddenly began to intensify, with it seeming as though he was starting to hyperventilate as the seconds ticked by, and after a few moments of uneasy silence, Mikazuki abruptly turned on a dime and began to leave the medical ward. "M-Mika?!"

"I… I-I have to go," stuttered Mikazuki, with that unexpected verbal tick being more than enough to catch Nac off guard, so much so that he inadvertently allowed him to leave the medical ward without resistance. In his five years of knowing the pilot, Tias has never remembered him stuttering, not even once, so for him to do so now…

… to say that it worried him would be one helluva understatement.

On instinct, Nac made an attempt to get up and pursue Mikazuki, only to pause as he felt a sharp pain go through his sides. Wincing at that, Tias fell back down onto his bed, with Mylius gasping as he moved to check on his friend, though after he assured the blonde that he was alright, he turned his attention back towards Augus' fleeing form… only to realize that he was already gone.

'Mikazuki…'

Everything around her felt so dark…

So… bleak… so hopeless.

So dead.

No matter where she turned, she found herself unable to see anything but total darkness, something that… unnerved her, to say the least, as she held her arms up to hug herself subconsciously. She didn't like this… she didn't like how dreary her surroundings were.

It made her feel unsafe… it made the world around her feel like it was dead.

It made it feel as though life was not worth living…

Squeezing her eyes shut tightly, she made an attempt to block out the darkness with her eyelids as she grit her teeth with determination… and after a few seconds of this… the girl felt her ears popping a little. At first, she took it as a good sign, anything would've been a good sign to her at that point… but after she opened her eyes once more, she realized that she was oh so wrong about that…

Rather than a darkened landscape, she now stood on a war torn battlefield, one that was littered with hundreds, nay… thousands of corpses, strewn around the land as far as the eye could see. The sight of this was more than enough to make her pale in horror as she took a step back in fear… only to trip on something that was behind her.

Gasping in shock, the young woman turned towards what she had tripped on and widened her eyes in terror when she saw that it was the body of Nac Tias. The young man's eyes were colourless and devoid of life, staring skywards as his body laid there, motionless. The girl would've cried out if she could, though she was too taken aback by the sight of her best friend's corpse to even make a sound.

Rather, she scampered backwards, with her only stopping when she realized that a titanic shadow had been casted upon her body not long after. Widening her eyes in shock at this, the young woman turned around, expecting there to be a Titan waiting behind her, one of the many that would have been responsible for this massacre… but despite her being wrong on that front, the girl still felt herself horrified when she realized what had casted that shadow in the first place…

"B-Barbatos…" muttered the girl in terror as she stared up at the destroyed form of the once powerful, practically nigh unstoppable Gundam. Its armour was shattered at various locations, with its mouthplate completely gone at that point and its entire left arm missing whilst its right arm was severed at the elbow. A massive portion of its head had been blown clean off, revealing circuitry too advanced for the girl to recognise beneath, and most of its chest had been ripped straight off, revealing the inner frame beneath it.

Currently, the Gundam was forced down into a kneeling position, with one of its legs severed at the knee while the other was damaged to the point of it being incapable of movement. Its optics were dark as its head unit remained bowed, and just the mere sight of the most powerful weapon mankind had in its possession being reduced to such a state… made the girl's heart plummet to the very depths of Hell as she held her hands up to her mouth to cover up her horrified gasp.

Said gasp eventually left her lips, however, when she took note of the lifeless bodies that surrounded the remains of Barbatos' chassis. Christa Lenz was impaled through the chest, with her body hanging limply on what remained of the Gundam's leg unit, Mylius Zeramuski's body hung limply atop what remained of the unit's V-Fin, Ymir Fritz had lost her jaw and was sliced in half at the waist, causing her insides to spill onto the ground as she laid on her front, not too far from Christa, with her hand positioned in a way that told the girl that she had been attempting to reach for Lenz's hand mere seconds before her death.

A choked gasp rang through the air, snapping the girl out of her thoughts as she jumped backwards and turned towards the source… only to widen her eyes when she saw that it belonged to…

"M-Mikazuki!"

Upon hearing his name being called, the aforementioned pilot groaned in pain as he stared up at the girl who was now running towards him. The injured young man was directly below the destroyed Mobile Suit's chest, with a combination of blood and Alaya-Vijnana data fluid staining his body. The girl ran towards him, only to instinctually come to a halt when she saw that his right arm had been brutally severed from his body, with it still squirting out blood as he clung desperately onto what remained of his life.

"M-Mikazuki!" proclaimed the girl as she came to a halt beside him. Reaching out to him, she clasped onto his one remaining hand tightly as she held him upright, only for him to wince as pain began to flare up all around his body. Tears began to instinctively pour from her eyes as she watched this happen. Who could've done this to her friends… who could've done this to Barbatos…?

Who could've brought her… best friend to such a state…?

Despite him choking on his own blood, Mikazuki, seemingly reading her mind, released the girl's hand and weakly pointed towards… something, or rather someone, in the distance, and shortly thereafter, his arm went limp and his head turned to one side, just as lifeless as the rest of the others present in this dreary landscape. Widening her eyes at this, the young woman squeezed her tear-filled eyes shut and shook her head violently, only to turn towards where her now deceased friend was pointing towards to have a look at what he was once pointing at.

And when she did… she found herself widening her eyes to their absolute limits when she saw who the person he was pointing at was.

Pale blonde hair, remorseless blue eyes, brandishing a pair of Anti-Titan blades and with a murderous gaze… there was no doubt about the identity of this person… and as she opened her mouth to vocalise her thoughts, they lunged forwards and swung their blades at her neck…

… and in an instant, Mina Carolina found herself darting upwards in a cold sweat as she let out a decently loud cry of terror… only for it to die down seconds later as she realized that she wasn't where she thought she was.

Breathing in deeply, the pigtailed young woman held one hand up to her heart, only to find it to be racing, as she took in several deep breaths to calm herself down. She needed a few seconds before she could convince herself that she was fine, but even then… it took her a lot longer than she was willing to admit to convince herself that it was just a nightmare.

It was just a nightmare… just a nightmare… it was not real… it was… it was not real.

It was not real.

But even so… why did it feel so real…

Tears stung at the young woman's eyes as she brought her hands up to rub at them uncertainly, and all the while, she sniffled a little as she hugged herself rather tightly, with her subconsciously acknowledging just how shaky her arms were all the while. This… was not good. A soldier shouldn't be shaking like a coward! Survey Corps were hardy pillars of hope for the people behind the walls, weren't they? They were fearless warriors that placed others before themselves, men and women who ventured out into unknown territory to take the world back, one expedition at a time!

But if that were the case… then why did she feel so… scared…? A single expedition had shaken her up this badly? Perhaps she wasn't worthy of being a Survey Corp, she thought… perhaps she should just-

thump… thump… thump…

Perking her ears up a little, Mina found herself raising her brows when she heard something… odd resounding through the halls of the medical ward. It was absurdly soft, so much so that it was practically impossible to hear unless you were focusing incredibly closely, but despite this, Mina's ears, somewhat sharpened by her currently tense nature, were able to pick up on the minute, if not unhearable, noise as she turned towards its source.

Part of her considered ignoring it in favour of going back to sleep, with her feeling somewhat fatigued as she suppressed a yawn… but every other part of her wanted to stay awake. She didn't want another nightmare like that again… and she feared that if she went to sleep, she'd get it once more. As such, with some reluctance, the young woman swung her legs over the edge of her bed and stood herself up.

Her legs required some time to adjust to carrying her weight as they wobbled beneath her awkwardly, though after a few seconds, they steadied themselves, much to her relief, as she began to leave the medical ward. Before departing, however, she spared Nac's sleeping form a quick glance, with her chuckling at how he was positioned atop his bed. And they said Bertholdt was a poser in his sleep!

Regardless, after she left the medical ward, and after she closed the door as softly as she possibly could, Mina turned on her heel and tugged on her Survey Corp uniform rather awkwardly before turning towards the source of the thumping, ignoring how her hair wasn't tied up into pigtails all the while. Her eyes scanned the mostly empty courtyard of the base before landing on the training barracks, which still had its lights on, in the distance, prompting her to raise a brow in confusion. She knew that there were some hard working people in the Survey Corps, but it had to be past midnight at this point!

Who would be training at such an ungodly hour…? She intended to find out, if only to satiate her curiosity to the point where she could get her mind off the issue that has been haunting her soul ever since they returned from the 57th Expedition.

Tiptoeing rather gingerly through the courtyard, Mina held her breath as she did her best not to be spotted. There was a curfew for the soldiers, after all, and being caught out at such an hour would likely result in some punishments on her part. Thankfully enough, however, midnight patrols seemed to have slackened a little a she made it over to the training barracks with very little issue, and with a sigh, she gave a small smile to her success and pressed her hand against the door to the building…

… and not even a second after the flat of her palm touched the door to the training barracks, the door swung inwards, opening itself up to reveal…

"K-Keith Shadis…!" squeaked Mina in terror as she shrunk beneath the balding man's wilted gaze. Of all the people she could've bumped into, her old drill sergeant was certainly not one of them, and the mere sight of him was more than enough to put the fear of God into Carolina's soul as she shrunk several inches out of fear.

Vice versa, however, Keith didn't look too angry to see Mina at the door. Rather, he appeared… tired. Well, that was a given, honestly, considering the hour, but even so, the usually pigtailed girl wasn't used to seeing him not angry, and it had caught her off guard, so much so that she regained the inches she lost from the fear and managed to focus a little as she watched him sigh in a mixture of exasperation and annoyance.

And all the while, the sound of flesh impacting metal could be heard in the room behind him.

"Pigsy," greeted Keith rather sternly, though there wasn't as much steel in his voice as Mina had remembered. If anything, he sounded rather… defeated, so to speak, as he stared down at Carolina in silence, and after acknowledging how his old Cadet had not wilted (too much) under his gaze, he snorted and shook his head. "Good to see that you've grown a spine, Mina Carolina. Why are you here?"

"I… I-I heard a n-noise from here and… wanted to investigate…" answered Mina meekly as she clasped her fingers together awkwardly. Keith, for his part, felt rather surprised that she could hear the thumps from the medical ward, though then again, it was dead silent right now, with the only noticeable noise being another one of his former Cadets 'training' himself past his breaking point. "H-How did you…"

"You looked every which way whilst coming here, worried that you'd be spotted, but you failed to look in front of yourself," cut off Keith as he motioned towards the innermost side of the building. Curiously, Mina risked poking her head into the place and glanced over at where Shadis had motioned towards, and in spite of herself, she couldn't help but blush when she realized that there was a window pointed directly at the medical ward this whole time.

"Ah… whoops…?" laughed Mina meekly as she scratched the back of her neck in embarrassment, eliciting an eye roll from Keith all the while. The report he had read up regarding Mina, courtesy of Luke Sys, had mentioned quite a few good things about Pigsy over here, including how much she had improved since her graduation, but even so, some things never really changed, Shadis supposed. "I… I suppose this is the part w-where you… tell me to go back or… punish me for even being here after dark, right?"

For the briefest of moments, Keith's drill sergeant persona reared its ugly head, with it remaining just long enough to make Mina sweatdrop in worry as she took a step back on instinct, though after some time, the senior soldier closed his eyes, exhaled sharply and shook his head, catching Carolina by surprise as she watched him take a step back and motion for her to enter the building. She did so without question, with her fear (and admitted respect) for her former Trainer overriding her self preservation instincts all the while, and once she was in, Shadis shut the door and motioned for her to follow him into the inner regions of the training barracks.

The training barracks weren't anything interesting, all things considered. A handful of weights, punching bags and suspension cords made to help soldiers train themselves in maintaining their center of gravity whilst aloft. Mina was familiar with all of these, as back in her Trainee days, she tended to visit their old training barracks with Mikazuki to help him keep himself in peak physical condition. She had personal reasons as to why she followed him as well, though she never thought to voice them out to anyone but herself.

Or Annie, but even then, it wasn't common.

Regardless, Keith made his way past all the training equipment and towards a separate room, with him stopping in front of it and turning to look at Mina, who found herself wincing when she heard the thumping noises get louder and louder the closer they got to the separate training room. Shadis regarded her in silence briefly before exhaling sharply and motioning for her to enter the room.

"There's a… problem that I cannot solve, not without external help, anyways. Normally, a Pigsy like yourself wouldn't do much to solve whatever problems I face…" admitted Keith, sounding mildly ashamed at himself as he took a jab at Mina, who flinched at his words. "But even so, he needs you more than anyone."

"He…?" echoed Mina, with her mind getting a somewhat clear thought on who Keith could be referring to, and to that, the senior soldier nodded and motioned for her to enter the room, and though she was somewhat reluctant, she eventually moved to push the door open fully before entering and closing it…

And when she did… the young woman found her eyes widening in shock when she saw the sight before her.

The military brigades were no strangers to providing their troops with training dummies to spar with in place of their fellow soldiers, and as such, they always had some wooden training dummies lying around every major military brigade base to provide for their soldiers. Said training dummies were made with some of the toughest wood known to man, with it requiring several hundred newtons of force to even leave a dent in them.

And as such… one couldn't really blame Mina for being shocked when she saw that there were no less than seventeen wooden training dummies lying strewn about the separate training room, all of which were destroyed in some way. Splinters littered the ground in droves, and if she were any more tired than she already was, Carolina would've thought that she had walked into a murder scene rather than a messy training room.

The one responsible for creating such a mess stood by the very center of the room, with his half naked self grimacing as he pulled his arms back to punch something in front of him. At first, Mina didn't recognise who this person was thanks to the overall darkness of the room, with the only source of light being an overhead oil lamp that barely did its job… but seconds later, the figure, having reared its arm back to ready another punch, moved just barely into the light to allow Carolina to have a good look at him, and when she did… she held her hands up to her mouth and gasped.

Black hair with an ahoge curved like a crescent moon, three spines made to connect him to his Gundam, the baggy set of pants that he always wore, regardless of how it was… there was no doubt about who this young man was.

"M-Mikazuki…"

And mere seconds after she said his name, the pilot launched his punch at the dummy that was in front of him, and on impact, the sound of flesh impacting metal could be heard resounding through the entirety of the room.

Thump!

Mina's already wide eyes widened themselves further as she watched Mikazuki's fist impact the metal surface in front of him. As he did so, the pilot kept his fist against the curved metal surface for a short while, and Carolina felt tears stinging at her eyes when she saw… blood dripping from his knuckles and onto the metal he was punching. Mika himself didn't seem to notice, or at least he didn't care, however, as he breathed in deeply and reared his other arm back to ready another strike.

As he reared his arm back for another punch, however, Mina found her eyes widening further when she saw what exactly the pilot was punching, with the lamp overhead shining just enough light onto it for her to see what it was. It was an oversized metal rod that was about two metres tall and had a diameter of about thirty centimetres. It was a Metal Punch Rod, a piece of special training equipment that was rarely ever used, even by senior soldiers!

Why was Mikazuki even using this damn thing? They were usually off limits to juniors like them!

Thump!

Another strike to the metal rod snapped Carolina out of her thoughts as she turned her attention back towards the pilot, lashing out at the metal rod once more. She winced at the impact as she felt the second hand pain flood her arm within seconds, though the same couldn't really be said for Mikazuki, who simply reared his other hand back to wind up another punch.

Without pause, Mikazuki sent blow after blow to the metal rod with no signs of stopping. At first, the strikes from Augus' fists didn't seem to be doing much. After all, he wasn't punching wood this time. He was punching metal…

Thump! Thump! Thump!

But in time… even the strongest of items would bend to such unwavering power…

Thump! Thump! Thump!

And before long, Mina, in spite of her horror at what her best friend was doing… found herself widening her eyes in a mixture of shock and awe when she saw the thirty centimetre thick metal rod begin to… bend backwards, with it slowly but surely caving under Mikazuki's repeated strikes.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

Mikazuki's strikes were… folding the metal…! And seeing as how he kept pulling his arms back to continue striking, it didn't seem as though Augus was ready to let up anytime soon as he continued his assault on the metal rod. Each hit came with its own risks, however, as, every time he pulled his arm back, blood would splatter onto the ground after every strike he landed. By the time he had bent the thing to a ten degree angle, there was already a decently sized pool of blood gathered around the pilot's feet, though he didn't acknowledge it whatsoever as he snarled and lashed out once more.

At one point, Mikazuki, as he reared his arm back rather aggressively to ready another punch, unintentionally sent a few drops of blood flying towards Mina's direction, and not even a second later, the red droplets impacted her cheek, causing her to shudder as she raised a shaky arm up to her cheek and wipe it off. Thereafter, she stared down at the red that now marred her fingers, with her mind still struggling to process what she was seeing all the while…

'W-Why are you doing this, Mikazuki…?

Thump! Thump! Thump!

'Why are you hurting yourself…?'

Thump! Thump! Thump!

'W-Why…?'

THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!

'Why…?!'

THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!

'WHY?!'

THUMP! THUMP!

CRACK!

Mina's train of thought was quickly derailed, however, when she heard a sickening crack reverberate through the air, and upon hearing it, she turned her attention back towards Mikazuki, and as she did so, her shock only increased further when she saw that, not only was the metal rod folding further and further with each punch that was given to it, but the screws that were used to bolt the rod to the ground began to shudder as well, with them seemingly ready to snap off at any given second as the pilot's punches got more ferocious

And likewise, Mina's terror only grew expenantionally when she saw that, as Mikazuki reared his arm back once more to ready another strike, she took note of his fist was dangling loosely by his forearm. It took her mind a second or two to realize why it was positioned in such a way, but when the realization dawned on her, the young woman couldn't stop herself from lunging forwards and stopping her best friend from injuring himself further.

And even if she tried doing so, she doubted that her body would listen to her either way.

Line break

"STOP!"

Mikazuki's bloodied, broken fist did as it was told, with him widening his eyes in shock when he heard that oh so familiar voice ringing through the air. At first, he thought that it was just a hallucination, a product of the blood loss that he had suffered during his 'training'… but even so, that thought was quickly dispelled when he suddenly felt something… someone tackle him from behind with enough force to make him stumble forwards just a little.

He was able to catch himself before he fell against the metal rod he had been punching, however, and seconds later, he felt a pair of delicately small yet strong arms wrap themselves around his waist, securing him in place all the while. Mikazuki raised a brow at this as he wondered who was restraining him… though not long after, he felt… something wet impacting against his back as he turned around to look at who was holding him back.

And when he did… he found himself widening his eyes in genuine shock when he saw…

"Mina…?"

The younger soldier was grasping onto Mikazuki's waist tightly, almost as though he were a lifeline, refusing to let him go as she cried into his back, with most of her tears falling to the ground and mixing in with the pool of his own blood, blood that had been drawn by himself willingly, as he stared back at her in confusion. When had she gotten here? Didn't Keith tell him that he'd keep people out of here while he… trained?

Why was Mina even here in the first place? She was supposed to be resting after all that she's been through… after she and the rest of her team had been forced to deal with an issue that he was too pathetic to solve. The medical report stated that she would've needed a few days to fully recover from her injuries, after all.

And more importantly, why was she crying over a pathetic murderer like himself…?

Emotions are important, don't you forget. They remind you that you're still human, despite everything you've gone through.

ian12091995: again, I'm glad you liked it! And regarding my insomnia, it kinda comes and goes. It's annoying.

BanzEye: indeed, much was avoided thanks to Mikazuki and Barbatos. But even so, would the Tribunal see it that way...? Also the Elites surviving? Hm, they're all fine for now... but it's still rather early on, don't you think? Hehehe...

SkyChaser17: well personally speaking I'm glad you enjoyed reading all this! Fluff is honestly my specialty at this point, and writing Barbatos demolish... everything is very fun, I'll say that much. Barbatos as an Ultraman, though? That's an interesting thought...

Touhoufanatic: indeed they are. I should do more of them.

Batman9117: well, from chapters 40 to 47 (now 48 cos, as of me posting this, chapter 48 is being edited) are all written and ready to go, so that's probably why it's so quick to update atm. Things will slow down a little after the Female Titan arc.

fire assassin: I won't lie, I did consider doing just that, but I scrapped it for the reason you stated :P

Dead344156: patience my friend, Tekkadan will come... and when they do, heads will roll.

Until next time!