Carrie Parks stood on the grounds of the fort, trying her damndest not to show signs of weakness as her shaking hand clutched a syringe full of titan serum as though trying to wreck the glass container.
Carrie had been chosen to inherit the Jaw Titan, after a brief selection process to find who was most qualified, and she was absolutely feeling regret that she'd chosen to bite the bullet.
Thirteen years was nothing, a laughable breeze when compared to the decades she could live if she chose not to curse herself like this. Assuming she wasn't captured and fed to an enemy so that Marley could get the Jaw Titan back.
Still though, her leader had given them all a very fair and brutally honest warning. He told them how they'd be limiting their life, how they'd need to kill countless innocent people, and how they would be targeted by Marley for inheriting a Titan. Carrie wanted to blame someone else, but she could only really blame herself.
The needle pressed against Carrie's skin, the sharpness making her reflexively want to pull it away, and she momentarily obeyed them as she brought the syringe away from her arm and looked upwards.
Carrie was left alone on the fort's base, with her many comrades looking down to watch her, and their expectant eyes did little to subtract from the nerves she was getting. The peer pressure was palpable in the air, and her fear never felt so heavy until this moment of truth.
Carrie tore her eyes away from them, instead choosing to look at the girl she was going to devour as a Pure Titan. And suddenly, she couldn't pull her eyes away from the woman-no, the child she was going to kill.
She expected Sybil Cobalt, the current Jaw Titan, to be someone older. Someone more wrathful even, but that simply wasn't the case. She looked peaceful when she slept, despite the steaming stumps where her arms used to be, and it was probably something the girl needed. She looked tired, as though she hadn't slept a wink the night before, with tossed hair and ragged clothes, greasy and dirt stained skin hidden underneath her torso. Weren't Marley's Warriors supposed to be well taken care of? She certainly didn't look it. She looked like she hadn't had a bath in weeks.
Carrie wondered for a moment if, had their situations had been different, would she end up being the one getting devoured? Would she have been loyal to Marley if she hadn't been saved? Would she have fought their wars, taken their jeers, and indulged their conquest without batting an eye?
Carrie's grip finally lessened, though no less firm, and she allowed herself to shed tears as she tried to reignite her resolve, remembering the ones who ruined her life as she tried to see the girl in front of her as nothing more than their dog. A weapon for them to sic on those who disobey them.
Carrie allowed the memory of that day to flash through her mind, the moment her parents were killed, her sister whipped until her back was a mess of blood, and the faces those savages made as she was brought away in bonds.
Carrie's face became full of anger as her heartbeat picked up. She remembered all of that, everything Marley had done to her, and pointed the syringe in her arm... only for a muffled groan to get her attention.
Sybil had woken up terrified, even letting out a scream when she noticed the Titan injection Carrie was holding, and her grey eyes became full of tears as she silently begged her captor not to devour her.
Carrie let out a sigh, her expression becoming blank for a moment before settling on a singular emotion. Resignation.
Marley needed to be stopped, and only a monster could truly beat another monster. Humans were helpless against monsters, but devils weren't. She'd seen him, what Jayce could do because he'd resolved himself. She needed to do the same.
"I'm sorry, Sybil." Carrie muttered, but it didn't mean anything to a person you were about to kill.
Carrie plunged the ultra-sharp needle into her arm and, without hesitation, pressed down and let the Titan serum flow through her veins.
Joseph held the man who he'd claim the Armoured Titan from, William Brent if he remembered correctly, by the collar of his shirt as he stared on at what transforming into a Pure Titan was like.
Joseph wasn't sure what had overtaken him, perhaps sadism or a sense of morbid curiosity, but he wanted to see what inheriting a Titan truly looked like. He knew how it worked on paper, he'd need to eat William alive as a Titan to gain the power of the Armoured, but that wasn't enough for him.
He'd never been the most social so he hadn't spoken with Carrie Parks besides on maybe a few occasions, but he'd heard only good things about her. Besides, if she was truly willing to shorten her life down to the age of thirty-three, then she was respectable in his eyes.
Tapping his foot on the rooftop, Joseph looked behind when he heard the distant screams of Marleyan and Eldian soldiers alongside the towering form of the Attack Titan, and visibly grimaced at what his leader was doing.
Jayce was personally slaughtering as many troops as he could whilst in Titan form. This was purely strategical. Marley didn't have endless soldiers positioned in the middle-east, so killing as many men as possible was a smart move.
It still made his stomach sick though, but he tried to welcome the feeling. As a Titan he'd have plenty of blood on his hands soon enough, he needed to close his heart to it.
An explosion of light from behind grabbed his attention, and Joseph peered behind as a cloud of steam appeared and dissolved to reveal the towering form of a Pure Titan.
Joseph swallowed heavily, trying not to panic at the sight of the monster who his comrade had become. He'd never seen a Pure Titan before, with their only source of training being against their leaders Attack Titan form, but the words did no justice to how monstrous they truly were.
Jayce had once said that regular Titan looked similar to the Attack Titan, just less muscular, but Joseph had to disagree with his friend and leader on that. Where the Attack Titan was perfectly crafted, as though made of solid stone, Carrie had been disfigured and twisted upon her transformation and the face of his comrade had been contorted into a nightmarish reflection.
Carrie's Pure Titan was about ten meters tall, but it looked nothing like the comrade he knew. Not in his eyes. It was grotesquely thin to the point where he could count all of it's ribs, it's nose was far more prominently hooked than Carrie's was, and it's cheeks and lip were pulled back to reveal squared teeth that had saliva dripping out from the gaps.
It's expression was frozen in place, with it's empty grey eyes only served to outline how inhuman it truly was, and Joseph felt some fear when the Titan's gaze motioned to him and the other soldiers watching from above. But, luckily for them, the giant opted to target the human closest to it as it reached down and tightly grasped the holder of the Jaw Titan.
Joseph looked away when the Titan opened it's maw for a feast, but couldn't stop a cold shiver from running through his spine when his ears caught the sound of bones breaking and flesh tearing.
Joseph looked down when William shook his limbless stumps wildly, apparently having woken up, and was currently crying and letting out muffled screams into his gag. He tried to ignore the actions of his enemy, knowing he was about to eat William much like Carrie had Sybil.
Carrie's Titan finished it's meal, and for a moment Joseph thought it hadn't worked, only for it's eyes to roll into the back of it's head as it fell to the ground.
He stared in fascination as the Titan faded away to reveal Carrie's form, before he quit his gawking and flew down from the rooftops to collect her.
Carrie lied peacefully unconscious, not a rag of clothing on her, with marking all around her eyes. The tell-tale signs that she'd become the new Jaw Titan.
Joseph felt a bit flustered at the fact a naked woman was lying in front of him, a rather pretty one at that, but shook it off as he placed a sobbing William on the floor and took off his jacket.
Joseph removed a small box from it, then proceeded to place the clothing over Carrie's buck nude form. It wasn't much, but it was better than nothing.
Joseph stared down at the holder of the Armoured Titan as soldiers began landing around him, and he resolved himself as he ordered. "Take Carrie and flee to the rooftops! I don't wanna end up eating any of you instead of this guy, so get her dressed and move it!"
His comrades nodded, making sure to wrap Carrie up before returning to the rooftops and await his transformation. To watch him take the Armoured Titan from the enemy.
Joseph kneeled on the ground to open the tiny box, realising that it was his moment. It was his turn to accept the power of the Titans.
Strangely enough, he didn't feel scared. Maybe he didn't care much for his own life, nor the fact he'd never get to grow old, or even the idea of being used as a weapon to set loose on Eldia's enemies? No. That wasn't the reason. It came down to power, simple as that.
Joseph readied the syringe, his hand steady as he prepared the Titan injection, but paused for a moment to reflect on the irony of his situation. Afterall, Jayce's father had saved him from becoming a mindless Titan years ago, so the fact he was about to turn himself into one was quite fitting.
Even if he died, Jack Flynn had saved so many people with the power of the Attack Titan. Who's to say he couldn't do the same with the Armoured? Maybe he'd be the one breaking chains and yokes of Eldian children, and because of his actions they'd be able to live long lives?
Joseph took a deep breath as he turned to William, accepting that this was the last breath he'd take as an uncursed man, before stabbing himself with the syringe and letting the serum flow through his veins.
Joseph flinched, feeling a jolt of pain as he exploded with light, which recklessly flowed in all directions, and when it faded he wasn't a human anymore.
The soldiers above gasped at the sight of their comrade's Pure Titan form, with many reeling back at the giant's appearance.
The Titan who was once Joseph stood seventeen meters tall, limbs stretched out as though spaghetti, with hollow cheeks that pulled back to reveal razor sharp teeth and a head of short curly brown hair. It's black eyes, much like Carrie's, were soulless and hollow with no sign of expression in sight.
However, it's most scary feature was definitely the angry scowl it had etched onto it's face.
The Titan went straight for a helpless William, grabbing him firmly as the Marleyan Warrior flailed and screamed helplessly. It opened it's mouth wide before shoving him in and biting down, crushing him into paste as blood erupted from the corpse.
After a few moments the Titan stilled and proceeded to topple over and, much like Carrie, it's nape started to emit steam as it disappeared.
Joseph slowly emerged from the monster's place, reborn as the new Armoured Titan.
Jayce brought his fist down, killing countless more soldiers of both Eldian and Marleyan descent, and tried not to think about all the people he was crushing like bugs.
As the Attack Titan, Jayce couldn't deny how addictive the power he had in his two hands was. He was a fifteen meter tall monster, and no regular human could hope to give him so much as a scratch.
A brave, or foolish, few turned and began firing on him, but their weapons couldn't even pierce the outer most layer of his skin, and soon they were reduced to bloody paste as he swashed his foor down. Guns and swords weren't even spit-wads and thorns.
All they could do was run- actually no, they couldn't even flee. No human could escape a Titan's chase on foot.
Jayce took no joy in noticing he'd run out of soldiers to kill, having wiped the whole group out, merely a hollow sense of achievement in knowing he'd slaughtered a legion of men.
The Attack Titan turned gaze over the field, filled with the corpses of both men and women alike, and allowed himself to take in the sight. He'd done this after all, and he couldn't exactly say why, but he needed to see what he'd done.
Jayce turned away, choosing to run back towards the fort and see if they'd managed to take the power of the enemy shifters. The power of the Jaw and Armoured Titans were vital for the next stage of their assault on Marley, it was true there was a risk to using their power with the two users being so inexperienced, but it was a gamble they needed to take.
Jayce arrived at the fort and kneeled at the edge to exit his Titan. Fleshy strands pulled off his face like strings as he jumped off, with several of the allied soldiers giving him wary glances.
Jayce ignored them, he chose to prioritise looking for Joseph and Carrie. If all went to plan, they should be the new Armoured and Jaw Titans.
The hissing of gas caught his ear, and he turned just in time to see Isabel land right next to him.
"Jayce, are you okay?" Isabel asked, her charcoal blue eyes bathing in concern.
Jayce hesitated for a moment, knowing but shook his head. "How are Carrie and Joseph? Did they take the power of the Jaw and Armoured Titans."
Isabel frowned as her boyfriend dodged the question, but answered him anyway. "Yeah, it worked. They turned into Titans and... ate those two Warriors."
Jayce did his best not to share her disturbed expression, but shared the sentiment. Maybe they were enemies, killers, and weapons for Marley, but ultimately they were still humans. He didn't regret his actions, but he'd be lying if he said the idea didn't make him feel a bit dirty.
"Good. Now, make sure to take a breather. You'll need it if we want to proceed into the next stage of our attack."
Isabel gave a strong nod before she started to walk their way. Carrie and Joseph hadn't quite woken up, but they'd need to soon enough. The power of the Titans would be their sword in this war they'd began, and their soldiers were ready for it. They had to be if the Eldians could have hope for a better tomorrow.
If you want me to write more, then head on over to my P atreon. Also, what do you think on my decision to give the Eldian resistance two more Titans? It might be a bit soon, but Jayce can't beat seven Titans on his own. They're meant to be underdogs, but having only one Titan gives them no chance at all.