Chapter 2: First Encounter
Edward slowly opened his eyes; awakening in a thin alleyway between two houses that appear to have been built with stone and wood.
"You alright, Al?" asked Edward, rubbing his eyes.
"Yeah, at least we didn't get a headache this time" said Al as he stood up from the ground and dusted himself off.
They cautiously walked towards the end of the alleyway; following the path into a cobble stone street. As they stepped out onto the street the first thing that struck them was how empty the place was; the street was vacant of people but all around they could hear the sound of distant yelling and above the row of houses Ed could make out what looked to be a tall wall in the distance.
"Where is everyone?" Edward wondered to himself, he walked a few steps along the street as he observed his surroundings while Alphonse peered into the windows of empty buildings that lined the cobblestone road, Ed knocked on one of the doors "Hello, anyone home?"
Suddenly a loud bang above them caught their attention; they quickly looked up to see a small group of people carrying what looked to be large swords landing on the roof of one of the houses before they began to sprint across the rooftops. Edward and Alphonse watched as they fired grappling hooks from large metal containers which looked to be wrapped around their waists on to the nearby houses as a sudden force flung them through the air at an incredible speed.
"Woah" said Alphonse as he watched wide eyed amazed by what he saw.
"C'mon, we gotta try and follow them" yelled Edward, Ed and Alphonse began to run towards the general direction of the gliding people. But as quickly as they came, they quickly vanished from their sight;it was only a matter of seconds before they lost track of them but despite this they still continued to run through the empty street trying to find someone, anyone, around who they could talk to. They ran further south into the city and quickly the yelling they heard when they first arrived began to get louder, only this time it was mixed in with gut-retching screams of pain and desperate pleas for help.
"They're everywhere!" Came one voice.
"They're closing in!" Came another voice.
"Oh God, help me!" Came a third.
The rest was incomprehensible yelling and screaming.
What the hell is going on? Ed thought as they looked around and still were unable to find anyone else.
They were halfway through running along a small street lined with with houses on both sides, which was connected to a wider road, when suddenly a loud crash stopped them in their tracks; it sounded as if a train carriage had been thrown and collided into a building.
"Was that an explosion?" asked Alphonse, they resumed sprinted towards the end of the street to investigate it; they had only just peered from the corner of the street when they caught sight of it.
It was a large naked humanoid with light blond hair, it's looked to be maybe over 10 meters tall and it clung to what looked to be a church watch tower.
Their eyes widen in absolute shock at what they saw, they took a step back at the sight of the monster in front of them.
They watched as the humanoid creature tilted its head upwards as if to swallow something, it then proceeded to climb down from the tower and walk down the road toward them.
"Get back, Al." Whispered Edward, they quickly moved from the road out of sight, back into the small street and quickly placed their backs against the wall of the building at the corner of the road, hoping not to be caught by the large creature. Edward and Alphonse watched the giant creature with a mixture of awe and terror as it passed them, it didn't walk like a regular person even though it walked on two legs; it appeared to be sluggish in its movements and lumbered forwards in the direction of the road and its face looked both human and inhuman; all the feature but not in proportion to what a normal face should look like. Ed and Al slowly pressed their hands together; ready to perform alchemy to kill it should the hideous monster spot them. A bead of sweat ran down their foreheads as their bodies tensed up in anticipation of being caught.
The giant humanoid continued to lumber its way past the small street, not spotting the brothers.
As the giant past them Alphonse kept watch of it, it was no further than maybe six blocks away from them, Edward peered his head over the street corner into the road viewing the direction which the giant came from, that when he saw them; the people with the waist grappling hook devices, two for them looked to be ahead of the others but one of them was soaring in front of the other at an incredible speed. Ed watched as the leading person flew through the air, passing the street they were hiding in, passing under the bridge connecting two buildings and looked to be heading straight for that giant monster, that's when he caught a clear sight of those two large blades which was attached to some wire.
This was followed by the next person, who stuck to the roof tops, not copying the same manoeuvres as the person leading the charge.
Are they going to attack that thing with just those blades? Ed thought curiously.
Al turned his head from the large monster towards the group of people gliding through the air, they both stepped out into the road to watch in anticipation as one of them looked to strike the giant from behind; they watched in nervous awe as this person twirled through the air , the sun gleaming off his large blades, they watched in shock as another one of those large monsters leap into the air and bit into that person leading the charge and they watched in wide eyed horror as the person skid across the rooftops, no doubts sliding across the tile roofs as bit of broken tiles fell to the ground.
"Eren!" came a yell from in front of them; they looked up to the rooftops on the buildings straight ahead and saw one of them, those people gliding though the air, they could make out the individual's blond hair and the large blades he was carrying like the person who just got a chunk of him bitten off, they seem to be soldiers of some kind from the uniform they were wearing.
"We gotta help hi-" said Ed urgently, but a loud thud from behind them interrupted his sentence.
They quickly looked back to see two others caught in the grips of the giants and then another one person being slammed into a pillar as a giant peered around the corner at the now unconscious person. Before Edward and Alphonse could act to save them they quickly caught sight of more and more of those giant humanoids appearing from the different streets connecting to the road; they turned to face the road they came from to find another one, this time a smaller giant walking down the same street. They came to a horrifying realization.
They were surrounded.
Alphonse and Edward pressed their backs against each other as they quickly tried to think of a strategy to quickly save those caught by the Giants and escape.
"Al!" Yelled Ed " I'll block off the road and street corners in my direction to hold them off, you get to those guys and bring here, we'll escape together."
"What about the guy on the rooftops? He could be still be alive, we have help him too." responded Al.
"We'll just have to hope his buddy over there gets to him, right now those guys won't make it without our help" retorted Ed.
Alphonse ran in the direction of the downed and caught soldiers in a desperate attempt to try an save their lives, while Edward quickly placed his hands together and slammed them on the ground; transmuting a twenty meter stone wall which blocked off the main road and the smaller streets connection and separating themselves from the advancing Giants on the main road. However the giant monsters weren't about to give up as one of them slammed their body against it and broke a large eight meter hole through center of the wall with ease, the large monster observed Edward through the hole with his hideously large eyes and toothy grin. Thinking fast Ed slammed his hand on the ground again this time transmuting a large stone crossbow from the ground firing a sharp projectile and striking the giant humanoid through the eye; the Giant tumbled to the ground.
"How'd like tha-" before he could finish his last word, the giant humanoid slowly began to get up from the ground and pull the arrow from its head; steam appeared to be emanating from the area of injury as it grew back the flesh and skin it had lost.
"H... how the hell is it..." Ed muttered to himself, shocked that he didn't kill the giant. He instinctively took a step back and watched in both shock and curious awe as the monster began to resume its attack and observe Ed with that ugly, undamaged, eye.
Alphonse sprinted towards the unconscious soldier, who was now within the grasp of the the giant that had been observing them in the alleyway with it's large and hungry eyes, the giant began to open its wide mouth and place the head of the captured soldier into it's cavity; ready to bite down on the soldier's head and fill their large stomach.
"No!" Yelled Alphonse, he clapped his hands together and placed his left hand on the ground while he continued to run, the tips of his fingers skidded across the ground as he transmuted a long spear; once it was completed he raised the spear with both hands and charged full speed forward, aiming the sharp tip at the giant humanoid's head.
Alphonse pierced the peering giant's temple with the long spear, he then quickly let go of the spear as the giant urgently got up to its feet in a state of shock, dropping the soldier on the ground and flailed about. Alphonse then quickly slammed his hands on the ground; transmuting a stone spike from the floor which impaled the giant through its body causing the large monster to fall limp as it dangled from the spike.
Al quickly checked on the now saved person; it was a girl who must be maybe about his age or younger, she had black hair which was done up in two pigtails and was wearing what looked to be a small brown coat with an insignia of two swords on it and a small sash with white pants, knee high leather boots and rows of belts strapped to her body.
"Hey! Are you alright? What's your name?" Asked Al, he reached out his hand and pulled her up to a standing position, she placed her hand on the pillar for balance as her legs wobbled slightly, She was shorter than him and maybe only slightly shorter than Winry and had a slender build.
"M... Mina" responded the girl weakly.
But before Alphonse could respond he was quickly alerted to the giant biting down on the other guy's legs, trying to push him into its mouth as the guy struggled to keep everything above his waist outside of the giant's gnawing teeth "Someone please! Help me!" The soldier screamed "I don't wanna die!" Alphonse quickly slammed his hands against the wall transmuting a white stone pillar on the top half of the building, it struck the chest of the giant with such force that the monster lost balance and crashed into the building on the other side, it spat out the soldier from it's mouth and sent the poor man falling onto the ground from a painful distance. Then slamming both hands on the ground Alphonse transmuted a large hand; it shot upwards from the ground then made a curve down to hold the fallen giant in its place, the large stone hand holding the giants large stomach as it struggled to get back up.
Alphonse ran to the soldier who was currently lying on his back; it was a man, he looked to be his age, had straw colored hair and was wearing the same uniform with the same insignia as Mina.
They must be part of this place's military thought Al.
"Hey! Are you alright? What's your name" asked Al, he then looked down to see the mess of blood and mangled broken legs.
"My legs, help me please!" he pleaded to Al, grabbing at Alphonse' trouser leg.
"I will" responded Al, kneeling down to face him" I just have to get-" before Al could respond the sound of a sickening crunch caught his attention, he turned his head to watch the third soldier crushed within the Giants grasp be devoured from his waist as his blood and guts spill out onto the Giant's face and the ground below.
Al quickly turned away from the horrible sight and looked towards Mina who was standing up straight, her hand still on the pillar, staring at Al with stunned wide eyes and mouth slightly agape at what she just witnessed.
"How did you-" she was cut off by Al who asked her.
"Can you run?" he asked a grave sense of urgency in his voice.
She paused for a few seconds then replied "yes."
"Good, we've gonna have to drag him if we're to get out of here." he said, moving to the injured soldier's left side Al position
He placed his arm underneath the soldier's, Mina quickly picked up the handles to her gear and shoved them into the metal containers, she then ran towards Mylius' right side and placed her arm under his. While she positioned her arm she never took her eyes off Alphonse; she had just watched in awe as this guy somehow made spikes, pillars and hands made out of stones, in seconds, to take out Titans and all by touching the ground and the wall.
"Alright, let's move" commanded Al, with that they began to move as fast as they could while dragging the injured soldier, who was still crying in pain, his crushed legs left a streak of blood on the road following them. "Hey! you hear me? It's gonna be fine" Said Al to the wounded soldier "what's your name?"
"M... M... Mylius" responded the wounded soldier weakly.
"I'm Alphonse Elric" Al replied "we're getting out of here; we just got to get to my brother ahead of us."
The giant humanoids resumed breaking done the stone wall and soon others began to help, Ed quickly snapped out of his shock "I don't think so!" he said, determination dripping from his voice as he clapped his hands together and slammed them on the ground transmuting the same 20 meter wall in front of them, this time making it five meters.
"This should hold them off for now" said Ed a triumphant smirk on his face, and then a small crack appeared on the wall. They were still breaking through.
Hurry up, Al! Thought Ed.
"Brother!" Yelled Alphonse, Ed turned to see his brother and one of those soldiers dragging their wounded comrade towards him, As soon as he turned his head to face Al a large crash occurred behind him, they had broken a small hole in the wall, Ed saw the giant place its head to watch him through the gap in the wall.
"Brother, we've here" yelled Al.
Mina observed the wall in that was blocking the road; she turned her head to she similar wall erected in different streets no doubt holding back the Titans on those streets.
Those weren't there before Mina thought to herself how the hell did they do that?
She then looked behind them, she watched in horror as the peering titan which was incapacitated was now on the move towards them along with the other Titans.
"Titans!" she yelled "heading straight for us!"
Ed and Alphonse turned to the face the direction of road which Al and the soldier's had retreated from
"Wha... But I impaled her" muttered Al, he watched as the peering Titan headed straight for them, its large unblinking eyes fixated on the group. Mina quickly took the handles to her ODM gear, aimed it at the rooftops and pulled the trigger, but the equipment must have taken damage as the grappling hook didn't fire.
"My ODM gear! It won't work" Mina panicked as she frantically pulled the trigger "I can't get us out of here!"
"Don't worry" replied Edward "everyone just hang on, OK" Alphonse grabbed onto the back of Edward's shirt and Mina's forearm, Mina clutched Alphonse's forearm back and with her free hand she grabbed Mylius by the collar.
Edward quickly clapped his hands, Mina could have swore she saw small bolts of lightning forming between his hands, he then slammed them onto the ground, a large pillar jutted for the ground underneath them at a slanted angle towards the rooftops, just as they left the ground the wall that was holding back the Titans had collapse from the relentless assault by the Titans on the other side of it. The abrupt stop of the fast growing pillar sent the group flying and landing roughly on the rooftops tiles.
"C'mon," yelled Ed, getting himself up "we have to go further in so they can't reach us." the three of them proceeded to pick up Mylius and carry him further inwards, away from the grasp of the Titans, he was now unconscious and his skin had become pale; he had lost too much blood, they had to treat his wounds quickly or else he would die from blood loss. Mina turned her head back and looked towards the ground, and she saw the peering Titan, the one which could have eaten her just a minute ago, stare back at her with its large unblinking eyes.
"Put him here." said Alphonse as he slowly lowered Mylius' head to the roof; he was now deathly pale from the loss of blood, as they lay his body down a small puddle of blood from underneath his destroyed legs. "Take his boots off." Alphonse asked, he wanted to inspect the damage done to his legs. Mina and Edward both grabbed hold of one boot each and pulled it off his legs, they were mortified to discover that when they removed them a small pool of blood had formed in them, spilling onto the ground as they took them off, the Titan had chewed on his legs while trying to push him into its mouth, the three of them looked in horror at the mess of blood and broken legs before them, his long white trousers were now soaked red in his blood.
"Oh god... Mylius" said Mina, her hand was over her mouth and her eyes were on the verge of tears as the realization dawned on her that another one of her comrades, another member of the 104th trainee corp was killed.
"I can stop the bleeding." said Alphonse, he then placed his hand in the pool of blood and began using it to draw a transmutation circle from Alkhestry, he desperately tried to recall one of the lessons on medical alchemy that Mai taught him back in the North and whatever he had researched in order to save this poor soldier's life. He then placed his hands on the ground; a bright light then appeared over the blood marking. Mina watched with tears rolling down her cheek for her dying comrade, but yet she was still in awe by what she was witnessing.
Edward quickly knelt beside his head and placed two fingers on the pulse in his neck.
"Brother, I... Is…Is he alive?" Stuttered Alphonse.
Edward waited for a few seconds, his fingers on the pulse trying to detect a sign of life... but there was nothing; Ed's body then slumped slightly, his hands fell to his sides and he lowered his head. "He's gone, I'm so sorry."
Alphonse who had been kneeling during the process shifted into a sitting position, his head lowered similar to Edward.
"I'm sorry, Mina " Al in a hushed tone "I'm so sorry."
Mina own body slumped; her head lowered into her knees and she began to sob heavily over the loss of another one of her squad members, the people she had trained with, struggled with and grew up with had just been slaughtered in a single day.
Thomas, Nic, Mylius…
Overhead, dark clouds engulfed the bright sun and turned the once bright blue sky into a depressing sea of grey as a gentle shower of rain began to pour over them.