Chapter 8: The Ackerman's

Jason felt his energy depleting. Without this new found strength, there was no way he would be able to traverse this forest safely. So he landed on a big enough branch and rested. What am I doing?

Jason had never run away from something before. He was always the strongest, the fastest, the most dependable in any group he was in, and yet a speech about sacrifices and a couple of ugly monsters spooked him. The logical thing to do would have been to stay with Armin and Jean.

And yet…

He looked at his golden coin. This weapon wouldn't even be able to kill these monsters, much less fight them.

Jason raised the coin to his eye. Wait, why do I have this?

Ilvius, his trusty coin made out of imperial gold, was one of his first weapons as a demi-god. Flip it to heads and you get a double bladed sword. Tails gets you a golden javelin that even olympic athletes would be jealous of. Ilvius was destroyed on his first quest as the son of Zues. The giant Enceladus had done the deed after their battle on Mount Diablo. Juno had given him another blade as a gift for saving her at the end of that same quest.

So how do I still have it?

His thoughts went to the last thing he heard before he died. HELP ME! JASON! A girl's voice crying out to save her. He hadn't recognized who the voice was, but she knew his name. Who was she, and why did she need his help?

The girl's voice. The coin. His death. This peculiar world. How were they all connected? Why was this happening?

The trees swayed in the sunset colored light. He ruffled his hair in frustration. Nothing was coming to him. Being smart was his weakest attribute, and he didn't like being weak. He didn't know what to do.

A person who cannot give up anything can change nothing. The words hit him like a ton of bricks. Unlike Jason, Armin was strong. And smart. Maybe he could have figured out why Jason was here. But then that's the reason why Jason left them. I'm tired of giving up things.

The sun neared the horizon when Jason heard the yelling. Then large booms echoed through the forest. The ground began to shake, the same way it did when he met the female titan. Only this time, there were less shakes. They were uneven, as if two giants were battling. Two?

Didn't the commander sacrifice hundreds of his people to catch the female titan. The same titan that was after Armins friend, who could also turn into one of those creatures. If she had escaped, the only person that would be able to catch her is… Eren!

He checked his energy supply, there wasn't enough for him to jump to the action. He flipped his coin regardless. Landing on tails, he got his javelin. He pulled his hood up and crouched. Jason waited on his branch.

The shaking stopped. Then started again. This time more even, more akin to when the female titan approached him earlier that day. Had she won? Where was she headed? Jason didn't have time to think of the answers, as he finally saw his target approach.

As he had thought, the one making the more even thumps was the Female Titan. She had her right hand covering her weak spot, and the other swatting away at something. He heard the annoyance before seeing it.

"GIVE HIM BACK!" A girl's voice yelled. Pressurized air whizzed around the creature. A mixture of grappling hooks and blades surrounded her as she chased the titan. Whoever this girl was, she was the best at using the ODM gear, at least compared to the people Jason had met so far. Her speed was the only reason she had not been swatted by the titan. She went for the kill, trying to cut her nape. All Jason heard was metal hitting glass. What the..?

The girl cursed. And tried the maneuver again. Another failure. She shouted in frustration. "GIVE HIM BACK!" The Female titan ignored her assailant.

The two passed Jason, and then suddenly a third. Jason didn't even hear the air come out of the third person's gear. Jason couldn't get a good look at them. Their speed exceeded that of the girl. Once again, Jason was baffled by how easily someone could use this complicated equipment. Whoever this person was, they were even better than the girl from earlier.

"Hey you!" Yelled the second person. "Is Eren still alive?" It was a man's voice. He couldn't hear her answer as all three were getting farther away from his tree. Even if Jason could, his brain was somewhere else.

Time began to slow. All Jason could hear in his head was Is Eren still alive? It looks like Armin's friend lost his bout. Just like… Leo.

"Why do people like you take everything away?" He mumbled to himself.

"WHY!?"

Energy surged within him. He jumped off the branch at lightning speed passing the two humans and hitting the Female titans back. His javelin pierced her spinal cord. Electricity coerced through her entire body. The titan yelled in pain.

He lost the energy he had in an instant. The titan grabbed him with her other hand and threw him at a tree. His breath was knocked out of him, but luckily he was thrown to the top of a tree and not the bottom.

"NOW!"

Jason saw both ODM gear users get to work. The man cut off the ankle tendons, while the girl cut off the muscles behind her knees. They kept cutting and slashing ligaments around the giant so that she wouldn't move. The titan knew that her neck was next and proceeded to protect that part by putting her back against a large tree.

The girl accidentally struck one of her grappling hooks into Jason's thigh. "AHHHH!" He cried out in pain. Instead of cutting the ligaments of the left arm on the titan, the female ODM user went for the nape of the monster. Her pressurized gas wasn't responding to the speed she required, and the female titan took the opportunity to try and get rid of her. Two things stopped this from happening. The male ODM user pushed the girl out of the way, and Jason pulled on the grappling hook currently in his thigh.

The action hadn't stopped yet however. Jason saw the female titan attempt to squash the other annoyance attacking her. That was a huge mistake. The male ODM user became a tornado of blades, not only cutting up her left arm, but using it to climb to her mouth. He cut both her jaw muscles and out came her tongue and teeth. But also a body.

"Let's go!" the man commanded, grabbing the body and leaving the titan.

"But…!" Jason hadn't realized the girl he saved was swaying next to him. One of her grappling hooks above her in the tree while the other was still in his thigh.

"Grab him and go!" He ordered.

The girl clicked her teeth, giving the female titan a dirty look. She ripped the grappling hook out of Jasons thigh (which resulted in another screech of pain from our protagonist). Following her orders, she grabbed Jason and followed the male ODM user, leaving the Titan behind.

The last thing Jason saw before he passed out was the Female Titans tears. Darkness took hold of him as he thought the following.

Monsters can cry?