Chapter 4: The Will to Fight
Jean sat looking defeated; his body slumped over with his hand covering half of his face as he thought about the futility of it all "We do nothing" he said "they've rung the bell to signal the withdraw, finally... But we're out of gas and can't climb the wall." He paused for a second before finishing, letting the hopelessness and dread of the situation fully sink in "We're all gonna die here." The supply squad had abandoned them and barricaded themselves in the HQ "Those cowards, leaving out us here to dry and we can't even replenish our gas stocks with the Titans swarming the HQ, the situation is fucked."
"We can't just stand around here! We have to fight tooth and nail against the tide as they come!" Declared Connie "if we try and scurry away like a mouse we'll waste what little gas we have and once that happens we lose our mobility." He banged his fist on the gas tank to bring home his point.
Before Jean could respond to Connie's call to lift the Titan siege on the HQ a voice from behind them stopped him "Hey, sorry if I'm interrupting" The both of them turned their heads to face him; it was Edward. Ed studied Jean appearance; he looked to be maybe a few inches taller than him, had small brown eyes, spiky hair with an undercut and a long face.
"I couldn't help but listen in on you guys, Connie and, Jean right?" he asked pointing at Jean, he nodded his head.
"How'd you know my name?" Jean asked.
"Mina, one of your comrades, told my brother Alphonse and I to come find you." Edward explained "We're trying to come up with a plan to get out of here, said to find either you guys or a bunch of other people; Reiner, Sasha or Marco I think who could help."
"You have a plan to get out of here?" Jean asked perplexed by the confidence of this person in this moment.
"Yeah, from my understanding your ODM gear is powered through gas, right? And you guys don't seem to have enough to make an escape, but maybe enough to head to that large building there?" Edward pointed towards the HQ which was crawling with Titans.
"Yeah" replied Jean.
"This is gonna depend on one other factor though" said Edward, he then scanned the length of road and turned his eyes towards the HQ again "how far does this road go to the HQ?" He asked.
"About half ways then it cuts off into different roads and streets, why? You planning on using the roads? You do know we're on these rooftops to avoid Titans?" questioned Jean almost mockingly as if someone suggested something so utterly foolish to him.
"Wow thanks for telling me, who would have known?" Edward replied with an annoyed look on his face and an equally sarcastic tone. "What I was about to suggest is that my brother and I could quickly make a wall on the road for you guys to run across, that way you use whatever gas you have for the other half of the stretch and hopefully still have enough to take out the Titans swarming the building."
Jean looked at Edward puzzlingly "you're telling me you and your brother can make a wall along this long stretch of road?"
Connie enthusiastically turned back to Jean "They can do it" his voice filled with fierce determination "Mina said they saved her life using their abilities and I've seen the aftermath of it, Jean; there were walls, pillars and spikes all over the place, there was even a large crossbow!"
Jean sat up and began to contemplate the idea if what he says is true, then that could work. "Maybe…" Jean muttered. "We have more than enough gas to get through there; this road is just a straight shot to the HQ." He stood up as the three of them huddled around.
"Only problem I see is the titans along the way, you'd need a group to clear a path for the others." Ed added. "If we could somehow rally everyone then we'd have a good shot at it."
Jean then looked around at the dozens of other trainees and garrison survivors around them; all of them seemed paralyzed with fear, no one was instilled with any kind of fighting spirit to take on a Titan, let alone groups of them.
Jean's body once again fell into a slump with a hand holding his head. "It's probably the best option we got, but look around, we're all just terrified cadets; most of us haven't seen a Titan before this battle and on top of that the vast majority of the vanguard has been slaughtered and I don't think any of us trainees could lead such a suicide mission" said Jean solemnly.
"Why don't you do it?" Asked Edward to Jean "You've seem to have a handle on the situation I'm sure someone like you could lead them or you Connie, you've got a fighting spirit or what about her?" He said pointing towards Sasha who was trying desperately to convince a bunch of other cadets to fight.
Both of them were taken a back from the suggestion "we're not cut out for leadership positions, Connie and Sasha especially." said Jean.
"Then… would it help if my brother Alphonse and I was the one leading the charge then?" Ed suggested.
Both Connie and Jean fell silent as if contemplating the offer, Jean continued to look around at the other cadets and garrison survivors around. "I'm going to be honest; if you're offering a way out then yeah I can guarantee that a good chunk of cadets will follow you." he stated "Problem is others won't follow you right away and by the time they do titans will have come down on them and possibly us if we wait."
"So if this is gonna work… then a lot of them might die?" Connie asked, Jean nodded, looking off to the side in slight disgust at the idea.
"Look, I'm not leaving anyone here to get eaten, we've seen too much of that already." Ed argued resolutely "If we're doing this then we're doing this my way; and that means not one person getting left for dead, even if I have to drag some with us."
For just a split second, Jean thought he heard his voice, he thought he was once again being lectured by Eren with his suicidal noble ideas, Jean turned his head back to see only Ed looking at both him and Connie.
"If I can't convince them then you guys are going to have to lead them, I'll be there." Ed told them "Find your other friends and tell everyone to get off their asses and get ready to move, if not then I'll do it and trust me I won't be nice about it."
Edward sat down next to Alphonse, who was sitting adjacent to Armin, with back against a watchtower wall, and Mina on his opposite side facing the brothers. Edward then looked over to Mina who was trying to comfort a traumatized Armin; holding one of his hands with both of hers tightly as she looked at him with caring concern.
Edward turned to look at Al and then Armin. Poor guy, he's seen his friends die in front of him, probably eaten right in front of him, no one should have to see something so messed up Ed thought What kind of bastard sends kids in to fight monsters?
"How did it go, brother?" asked Alphonse turning his head to Edward.
Ed let out a sigh and lowered his head "They like the plan; problem is not everyone might follow, some of them looked to have just given up." Ed explained "I told them we're not leaving anyone behind so they'll have to convince the others to join, though to be honest I don't know how successful they'll be." Ed then felt a twinge of guilt surface, thinking about the burden of responsibility he'd place on those two.
"If Eren were here, he would have jumped at your idea and rallied everyone around it." Said Mina remorsefully as she thought back to Eren's speech during the night of graduation, she remembered the fire that was lit up from within her about Humanity having a future in this world... how quickly things have change "Edward, how do you and Alphonse intend to get to HQ without ODM gear? Do you need someone to carry you guys again?" She asked realizing a possible fatal flaw in the plan involving their own escape.
"Don't worry about us by the look of these buildings we could probably jump our way there, you guys need to focus on getting to your base and taking out those Titans." Mina nodded her head.
Alphonse turned his head to Mina "Mina, I have to ask, about the Titans, they're able to regenerate damaged body parts, but do they have a weak spot?" Asked Alphonse "or is that in order to kill them you have to continually inflict damage on them, I ask because my brother and I have faced enemies with regenerative abilities and the only way we defeated them was to continually damage them faster than they could regenerate." Al looked back on his first encounter with them and the shocks of watching them survive being impaled, he wonders if they were perhaps some lesser form of homunculi without the other abilities which made them formidable enemies.
"Their napes, it's their only known weakness; inflicting a deep enough wound on their nape is fatal to them." Replied Mina, followed by a question of her own "what do you mean you've faced enemies with those abilities? There are people who have Titan regenerative powers? Where are you guys from?"
"As we said, we're not from here" Said Edward "we don't even know what city this is or what's going on around here, all we know so far is that you guys are fighting these giant monsters which seem hell bent on eating everyone they can get their hands on, I didn't even know why you guys had a huge wall around the city until we had an encounter with them."
"You're in Trost district, it's one of cities connected to Wall Rose." She answered, surprised by their ignorance of the situation. How do they not know? That Humanity has been at war against the Titans for over a century now or the purpose of these walls? And who or what are these enemies who they fought with regenerative powers? How did they get those abilities, no human has even been caught doing such a thing and how did they not know they were in the Trost district? The only way they could be this clueless about all this is if they- Then it hit her and the realization sent a shiver down her spine.
"Are you guys... from outside the walls?" Asked Mina hesitantly, her eyes wide and focused in anticipation of their answer.
Edward noticed that Armin's eyes had shifted towards him and his brother the moment those words left her mouth, breaking his traumatized state for second and he could of sworn that there were now others listening in on their conversation, it felt as if multiple pairs of eyes from an entire group of people were burning at the back of his head, waiting for him to answer and contemplating their move on how'd he'd answer.
However before he could open his mouth the sound of footsteps from one of the other cadets running urgently towards them caught their attention. She was about the same height as Ed and Al, had short black hair and features similar to those in Xing and wore a blood red scarf with her uniform.
"Armin!" yelled the cadet, who sprinted towards them.
"Mikasa" whispered Mina, with that Armin lifted his head from Mina shoulder and began to tense up with, the feeling of dread and guilt consuming his entire being There's no way I can look her in the eyes he thought What am I going to tell her, If I had known it would come to this, then I would have rather died with him he thought back to when Eren was being eaten by the Titan.
Mikasa approached them and knelt in front of them, unlike most people, she had completely ignored the brothers who were only just a foot away from her "Armin, are you ok?" She asked concerned "Is he ok, is he injured?" she asked Mina; but neither of them answer instead Armin could only just stare blankly at the ground and Mina just stared at the ground, an overwhelming feeling of guilt compelled her to look away.
"Where's Eren?" asked Mikasa, looking around
That was the question, the one question the two of them dreaded they had to answer, Armin lifted his head revealing the tears that flowed down his face to Mikasa, her eyes began to widen, she stood up, took a step backwards and blankly stared at the two of them.
"Trainee squad thirty four, our squad; Tomas Wagner, Nic Teaz, Mylius Zermusky and... Eren Yeager" Armin said, almost choking on every word. "They bravely fell in the line of duty" Mina closed her eyes tightly at Armin's words, her arm pressed against her eyes soaking away the tears.
Edward and Alphonse sat with their heads lowered out of respect for those two's fallen comrades, a part of them couldn't help but feel responsible for their deaths; had they of not hesitated, had they of acted faster and saved them.
"I'm sorry Mikasa, Eren had sacrificed himself for me and I couldn't do anything." People began to gather around them listening on the emotional conversation, they muttered to themselves.
"They've been almost wiped out?"
"Is this what happens when we face the Titans head on?"
Mikasa stood there in silence for a while as she stared off into the distance; both Armin and Mina expected her to start yelling at them, telling them how it should have been them that died in Eren's place and how she hated them for not being able to save him. Armin lowered his head again having said his piece. Mikasa gently placed her hand on Armin's arm.
"Armin" she said softly, Armin's head moved upwards to meet hers, a calm and stony expression greeted him "Calm down, this isn't the time or place to be emotional." she gently grabbed his hand and pulled him up, she turned her head toward Mina "Both of you stand up." She knelt down slightly and softly grabbed her's lifting Mina up. Mikasa then turned around and proceeded to walk off "Marco" she called out "correct me if I'm wrong, but if we eliminate the Titans swarming the building then everyone can replenish their gas supplies and climb the wall, correct?" her voice emanating with authority.
"Well yeah" replied Marco, both Edward and Alphonse looked at him, he was a fairly tall guy with short hair, a broad face, and similar to Ymir, had freckles on his cheeks "but there's too many of them, you can't take them on."
"I can" she declared raising her blade in the air, she never once raised her voice to shout but she had the attention of every trainee "I'm strong, stronger than all of you, extremely strong, I can kill all the Titans there, even if I have to do it by myself" she declared with stony confidence. "You're all either incompetent or just spineless cowards, how pathetic." She pointed her blade at them "You can all sit here and twiddle your thumbs and watch how it's done."
"Mikasa, that crazy!" pleaded one trainee.
"You want to fight all those Titans!" questioned another.
"That impossible, even for you" stated a third voice "you can't win."
"If I lose then I will die" she stated coldly "but if I win then I survive, but if I don't fight then I can't win" her words lingered in the air and afterwards a sad silence settled in around everyone.
She was about to leap off the ledge when the sound of slow claps breaking the silence stopped her, she turned around to see one of the blond hair individuals who sat near Armin and Mina clapping his hands at her with a smirk on his face, his hair was done up in a pony tail and he wore a white button shirt.
"You know, as far as motivational speeches go, yours is pretty good; got some hard truths in there, but you came off a little bit prideful with the I'm strong part but the whole 'spineless cowards' part, you really don't mince your words I can respect that." he said with an smirk which annoyed her.
"And just who the hell are you?" Mikasa asked, her grip tightening on the handles of her blade, beyond irritated by the smirk on his face.
"Edward Elric" he introduced himself "that guy over there is my brother Alphonse and if you're planning on storming that castle over there." He pointed towards the HQ which was still swarming with titans "My brother and I would be happy to help you."
"How exactly?" questioned Mikasa.
"He said that he and his brother can make a wall for us to run along which gets us halfway to HQ so that we wouldn't use as much gas." Said Connie "They can create things out of nothing; Mina said they saved her life doing it."
Mikasa thought on Connie's words, it seemed impossible what he was saying nobody could do that, but if those two could then she'd take the opportunity, she'd need every edge she could get to eliminate the Titans swarming the HQ and if there are people who can vouch for their abilities.
Mikasa turned back to Edward "is this true?"
Edward nodded as a response.
"Make the road." She ordered, in an authoritative tone.
Edward and Alphonse ran towards the edge of the roof, Edward clapped his hands together and slammed them down, suddenly a slope to the ground emerged from the side of the building.
"What the hell?" said one trainee.
"They just made a slope out of the wall!" Yelled another, Ed and Al then slide down the slope to the ground, the two of them quickly slammed their hands on the ground and a tall thin wall about the same height as the buildings slowly rose up from the middle of the road, the sides of the road were receding into the wall revealing the dirt underneath.
"Titan!" yelled Sasha "coming down the road, get outta there!" Alphonse turned to face the Titan, he ran up to the bottom end of the tall transmuted wall and slammed his hand on the ground; suddenly a large stone cannon appeared from the ground, fired straight at the Titan's neck and had blown apart everything from the shoulders up. The Titan's headless body collapsed onto the ground and began to dissolve in a cloud of smoke.
"Ha!" Yelled Alphonse, triumphantly "Try surviving that!" suddenly more Titans began to walk up the same road, Al clenched his teeth and slammed his hands back on the ground again; this time transmuting ten meter long slanted pikes to hold them at bay and cover the Cadets' retreat.
The trainees could only watch, stunned by what they witnessed; walls, spikes and even cannons erupting from the ground by just clapping their hands.
"They can't be human" said of the trainees.
"They must be from the heavens" whispered another.
Once the wall was finished Edward transmuted a staircase on its side; both he and Alphonse urgently climbed upwards to the top, Ed then yelled at the group of cadets "Hey! Get a move on." Mikasa leaped from the ledge, landed gracefully on the wall and sprinted towards the HQ. She was then followed by Edward and then Alphonse who turned back to face Mina and Armin and signalled them to follow; both of them ran toward the ledge and leaped onto the wall to follow Mikasa and the Elrics.
Jean muttered to himself as he watched the small group run along the wall headlong into battle "Ed must be deaf because your oratory skills are terrible, were those harsh words meant to call us into action?" He paused for a second "Eren, this is entirely your fault."
"Hey!" He yelled from the top of his lungs "I don't know about you, I wasn't taught to let my comrades fight alone! Get a move on! Or are we really the spineless cowards they think we are?!" He quickly leaped onto the wall and started running, followed closely by Connie and Marco.
"Hey you weaklings, cowards, idiots!" yelled Sasha at the other trainees before jumping onto the wall herself.
"Oh what the hell..." said another trainee as he unsheathed his blade. It happened suddenly, a call, a rallying cry to action and soon the paralyzed cadets found their will to fight and charged, leaping onto the wall to lift the siege of the HQ from the Titans.