Chapter 6: More Questions than Answers
Huddled together in one of the lower levels of the building the trainees began to bombard the Elric brothers with a barrage of questions, the mass of people surrounding the brothers who were backed into a literal corner.
"Are you here to help us against the titans?"
"How do you make things out of nothing?"
"Have you come from outside the walls?"
"Are there more people from outside the walls?"
"Are you human?"
"Are you angels?"
"Are you from the heavens?"
"Have you come to save us from the Titans?"
They stood facing a crowd of people as they were quickly being backed into a corner, small beads of sweat on their foreheads as a feeling of anxiety run through them
"Woah! Woah!" yelled Edward "Firstly yes we're here to help you fight the titans, now one at a time; Al and I would be happy to answer them." Edward announced; he hoped that by doing this he could ease any anxiety the trainees had about them and get them off their backs though he had no intention of telling a large room full of people he didn't know everything about them.
"Also no, we're not angels from heaven, we're human, just like you." Alphonse added.
The floor was almost silent save for a few mummers and whispers, a hand was raised, they turned to get a better look at the person, and it was Mina.
"Are you from beyond the walls?" She wanted to know, she never got her answer back at the rooftops; she was ready to join the Scout Regiment after Eren speech to keep fighting against the titans and save humanity from extinction but she needed to know, was there more people outside the walls? Was humanity not on the verge of extinction as she thought and was there an entire civilization full of people just outside these walls living normal lives?
Edward looked at the crowd of people, the anxious faces waiting in anticipation for their answer. That's when he felt it; that same weird feeling of someone or maybe a group of people waiting and watching his every move, more so than the others, like wolves hiding among the flock and stalking its prey.
"Yes and no." Alphonse responded "We're not from here, this world, we're from a different world and we've never been outside the walls." Some of the trainees slumped their bodies in disappointment over Alphonse's answer and others began to whisper to each other. "Why? What's wrong?" asked Alphonse.
Armin then spoke up "If you guys aren't from beyond the walls, then we truly are what's left of humanity on this world."
At first both Edward and Alphonse were confused by what Armin meant but it didn't take longer than a second or two for that statement to sink into their minds. Both of them fell quickly into shock as their mouths dropped as they were left speechless for a second. "You're saying that everyone, every human, is inside those large walls? Edward asked. And then a horrifying realization dawned on him "How many people is that?
Armin nodded his head solemnly at the first answer "less than one million people left; a fifth of the population was killed in an effort to retake Wall Maria which the Titans breached four years ago and now the rest of the human population lives inside either Wall Rose or Wall Sina." That was a lie of course, Armin was fully aware that the reason those people were sent out into Wall Maria's interior was because the Central government couldn't feed them, they sent them out to die.
Both Edward and Alphonse stared at Armin, horrified by what he was saying; humanity in this world was on the verge of extinction. Their eyes widen and their already lowered jaws now locked in place as they began to process this terrible information; there were cities, hell maybe some rural areas back at Amestris with more people than there were on this planet and the fact that an army of, what they estimated to be close to, two hundred and fifty thousand men and women couldn't stop the Titans in their tracks spoke to just how unstoppable a force the Titan's were.
On another world there's are a group of people who are a fighting a war for their survival, I've watched as they've courageously struggle against a powerful force they do not yet fully understand but who seek to annihilate them.
Those were the Truth's words; they had thought it was just a group of people, not the entirety of humanity. They felt as though they were tricked by the Truth into being a part of a fight far bigger than what they had anticipated. This group of people was humanity itself fighting for its survival and now their mission went from extremely difficult to near impossible, how could they hope to take on a mass horde of giants?
Edward pushed that grim idea at the back of his mind, he was determined to find a way; he had to if he and Al were going to bring everyone back and return home. He looked back at the crowd of people again "Anything else?"
"Are you here to stay, forever?" asked a trainee in the back.
Ed and Al shuddered at the thought being here forever? We can't, we have to go back home, back to Resembool and bring all our loved ones we've lost back home. "No" said Edward "We're here to help you defeat the Titans and once that's done then we head back to our world."
The crowd began to mutter to each other again "Is there anything else?" asked Alphonse.
Multiple hands were raised, Edward pointed to a random individual, it was a girl, she had light blond hair tied back, blue eyes and a large nose on a emotionless face.
"Your powers, what are they and how did you get them?" asked the Trainee who was sitting next to Mina; her voice was almost monotone, but a little bit frustrated.
Ed hesitated in answering for a second, given the time period these people were living in it was likely that any explanation of alchemy would fly over their head, he thought of a way to simplify it. But there was something about her he couldn't escape; while the other trainees were pretty amazed and curious about him and Al, she had an almost apathetic look on her face and there was something about the way she stared at them, like a predator sizing their prey. Her eyes were intensely focused on them, this may have just been his suspicion but he decided to play it safe.
"It's called alchemy; to put it simply we can mold objects into different shapes or different objects, its science, something we've learnt in our world." He answered only parts of her question, careful not to tell her just how they were able to do it.
"How powerf-" her follow up question was interpreted by the sound large doors opening.
"Hey guys!" Jean yelled, snatching the attention of everyone in the space, he and some others following him were carrying long wooden crates "we found some weapons that belonged to the military police, it's covered in dust though."
They opened the crates and found guns inside; Edward took one of the rifles from the crate and, along with Alphonse, began to inspect it.
It was an old fashion musket with one shot, wooden stock and required a manual insertion of gunpowder to fire. Weird again Ed thought how can they still use simple muskets but yet still able to create something as complex as the ODM gear, something didn't feel right; it was clear they were able to develop an advanced weapon for fighting against the Titans but why haven't they developed weapons more effective than ODM gear?.
As the musket were being handed out to the trainees, Armin began to explain his plan to retake the supplied room from the seven 3-4 meter class titans, using a map of the HQ's layout.
"We can use the guns to blindside them all at once." he proposed "First we lower the lift with several people, if the titans are normal ones then they'll be drawn to a high concentration of people." Armin paused to allow the information to sink in.
"The next part will be the decisive moment." He turned his head to face the Edward and Alphonse who were listening intently to Armin's plan "This is where you two come in, you'll enter in from the stairway entrance here, if you can try an sneak into the room, it will make your part easier" Armin pointed on the building map at a staircase to the supplies room "wait for the gun fire and use your abilities to quickly take out the seven titans while they're blinded." Ed and Al both nodded their heads in agreement.
"However we can't let you guys go on your own, we should have seven people placed to launch an ambush from above to back you up and finish off any stragglers, to increase the success rate of our back up plan and our overall survival these seven should be our most skilled."
Armin paused to allow the plan he proposed to be digested by everyone in the room "I'm sorry for placing both you in danger and the burden of our survival." Said Armin solemnly, for the plan to be a success the brothers would have to completely take out the seven titans in the supply room or further incapacitate them for the ambush to be launched at any remaining titan they could have missed, should they fail then they'd have to rely on the seven most skilled to take out the titans and it's likely that by then their chances of success would have dropped dramatically, on top of this if the plans fail then Armin may be responsible not just for the death of the cadets, but the two brothers who could potentially be the best hope for humanity.
Alphonse placed his hand on Armin shoulder to reassure him "Don't be sorry, it's a great plan and like my brother said, we're here to help in any way we can."
"I agree" added Marco "we at least have a back-up plan, so we're not putting everything into one offensive; it's probably the safest plan we have."
"I'm willing to be talked out of it if anyone has a better plan" said Armin, in a slightly desperate tone.
Mikasa placed her hand on Armin's and gave it him a reassuring squeeze "Have confidence in yourself Armin, your plan will work, if anyone can find solutions to problems it's you."
The trainees began to flood into the lift and take up firing positions forming two firing rows, Mina was positioned at the front row of the north face of the lift with Armin and Marco stood standing behind her, she watched as the seven other cadets prepared to go down the stairs "Hey Annie!" yelled Mina catching her attention "good luck!" waving at her with her free hand.
Annie turned to face Mina, the left corner of her mouth slightly ticked up, resembling something close to a smirk, Mina was use to this; Annie wasn't the most expressive person but she was her friend, of that Mina was sure of and now seeing her going through that door Mina couldn't help but worry, Annie was skilled and Mina was proud of Annie when she made it in the top ten but now she feared her achievement might just of sent Annie to an early grave.
Edward, Alphonse and the seven most skilled of the cadets followed them down the stairs to the supply room, as Edward walked down the stairs he examined the seven cadets, he only knew Mikasa, Connie and Jean and if he could remember the girl with the brown eyes and brown hair tied back was Sasha from the rooftop encounter not so long ago who warned them about the Titan coming from behind them, he decided to ask for the names of the other three.
"Hey, you guys, what's your name?" He asked, Alphonse also turned his head to look at them.
"Reiner" answered the tall guy with bulky physic and blond hair in a confident tone of voice, "l gotta say, its brave of you guys to agree to this, you guys must have nerves of steel."
"Thank you" replied Alphonse.
"Nerves aren't the only thing about us that was made of steel" Ed joked, which earned him a slight elbow to the ribs by Alphonse "OW!" from the look on Reiner's face he was no doubt confused by Edward's joke.
"My names Bertholdt" said the freakishly tall medium build guy with brown hair and an uneasy smile. Alphonse mentally took note of the Bertholdt's nervous disposition while Edward was distracted by the guy's towering stature, just looking at him reminded him of the days when he was... less than average height for his age... and how everyone literally looked down on him.
"Hey quick question, how old are you?" asked Ed.
"Uh, sixteen." answered Bertholdt "A year younger than Reiner"
God damn it.
They then turned their attention to the short pony tail blond hair, she still had that same apathetic look on her face and her blue eyes were focused on the steps going down, not bothering to look at the brothers ahead of them.
"Annie" she said dismissively after a few seconds of silence.
"Hey, you two" said Connie "could you make sure to kill those titans, ya know so that we won't have to go down there" joked Connie "not exactly looking to fight a titan without the only advantage ordinary people have against them." He smiled nervously.
"Yeah, please." Added Sasha.
Alphonse smiled "we'll try our best" he replied.
"Don't even worry, we've got it covered, you guys just focus on getting out of here" said Edward.
"Don't worry Connie; just in case you miss you can always stick this up their asses too! That's the second weakness they've got" said Reiner, the brothers gave Reiner a confused looks; trying to figure out whether he was joking or being serious about it.
"No way, I never knew that was an option!" Exclaimed Connie.
"Never heard of that either..." Added Sasha.
"Reiner... You realize that your last words could be an ass joke." said Jean unamused by the joke.
The lift was slowly lowered them into the supply room, about 4-6 meters elevated from the ground, the trainees had taken up their firing positions and were steeling themselves to come face to face with the Titans in the supply room, every last one of them was no doubt terrified out of their minds, the muskets would only provide temporary damage to the Titans but it wouldn't kill them and if the Elric brothers or the seven cadets failed on their end of the plan then they would be sitting ducks. The Titans began to close in on the elevator full of cadets, Mina tried to steady her hand as the Titans approached, that's when she saw it, one of the Titans lumber its way out of the shadows in front of them, in front of her. She began to shake, it was like staring at death itself, those large eyes and large grins on its face, the last time she came this close to a Titan it almost ate her.
"Everyone calm down" ordered Marco "let them come a little bit closer."
"Wait."
The Titans began to close in on the lift full of cadets, like wolves closing in on its weak and cornered flock, their unblinking eyes and wide grins was enough to completely shatter the nerves of most, if not all, of the trainees in that elevator.
"Wait."
The seven trainees took up positions on the steel beams on top of the room, angling themselves to strike should Ed and Alphonse not manage to kill all the Titans, hopefully it wouldn't have to come to that but with their grip of the handles of their blades tighten and their foot stances positioned in a way similar to a predator ready to pounce, they had to be ready for the moment it could happen.
"Wait."
While the Titans began to swarm the elevator, Edward and Alphonse were able to sneak into the supply room; they split up in order to quickly take out as many Titans as possible, Edward took up positions facing the backs of the Titans that surrounded the South and East of the elevator faces while Alphonse took up a position to faced the backs of the Titans surrounding the North and West of the elevator face, they both hid behind some of the boxes scattered around the room. Ed peered from behind his cover to count the Titans, there appeared to be six in the room surrounding the armed trainees.
That's weird he thought Armin said that there were seven in the supply room... maybe there's just six instead.
"Ready..."
Mina's heart was beating out of her chest, Armin did his best to hold his gun steady and hold his nerves together and Marco was trying in best not to faint on the spot. The room was filled with only the sound of the Titans' labored breathing, the shaking of the muskets, despite the best efforts to hold their gun steady, and the whimpers from the petrified trainees as they stared straight into the eyes of those who would devour them on the spot. The seven cadets who stood on the metal beams and the Elric brothers held their breath, not wanting to a single peep before the signal was given; they slowly and carefully pressed their hands together.
"Fire!"
The dimly lit room was quickly set a light with the bright flashes from the rows of muskets, the sound of loud bangs going off in quick succession filled the silence that had previously occupied the air, the Titans stumbled back from the elevator and let out groans of pain from the point blank shots by the cadets.
This was the signal; quickly Ed and Al leapt from their hiding spots and charged at the first two Titans who they hidden behind, they slammed their hand on the ground, transmuting two sharp spikes from the ground which pierced through their necks, the cadets at the front had stumbled back as the saw the sharp point exit through the Titans' throat towards them.
With the first four Titans quickly dispatched, this left the other two still left reeling from the multiple shots to their eyes but were rapidly healing from the damage, with time not on their side the brothers sprinted to quickly kill the other Titans moving behind them, Alphonse clapped his hands and slammed them a nearby stone pillar transmuting a thick pole with a sharp point which pierced through both the necks of the other two Titans, Edward clapped his hands and transmuted two large spikes from behind the two remaining Titans, impaling them through their mouths, everyone watched as the bodies of the Titans began to disintegrate leaving nothing but their skeletons. With the adrenaline wearing off both Ed and Alphonse fell to their knees as they tried to catch their breath, it looked as though they had succeeded in clearing out the supply room...
"Alphonse, behind you!" Screamed Armin from the elevator, he pushed himself to the front firing row and gripped the side of the elevator as he watched the seventh Titan walk up from behind Alphonse
Alphonse shifted his body to face what was behind him; he was maybe just a meter from the Titan which stepped out of the darkness, the peering Titan. The Titan which Al had struck with a spear back in their first encounter, only this time it had the jump on Al. Alphonse stared at those large unblinking eyes, his legs felt as if they had melted into the floor, his body felt too stiff to move; his body was paralyzed by the shock of almost coming face to face with the monster in front of him.
"Al!" Screamed Ed, he quickly got to his feet and sprinted towards his brother.
"Sasha!" Yelled Reiner "You're up!"
Sasha gave a small yelp before she leapt from the metal beam towards the Titan's neck, she angled her blades as she descended down on the last remaining Titan, she slashed at the Titan's neck and the top half of its back before landing roughly onto the floor. However the cut wasn't deep enough to kill the Titan, instead the Titan turned its attention away from Alphonse towards Sasha, it looked down at the girl and began to slowly lumber towards her.
"Ahem... Uh... Sorry I- I jumped you..." Apologized Sasha weakly.
The Titan stared down at Sasha, it looked ready to pounce on her when suddenly it gasped and arched it's back as if something had struck at it from behind, it fell forward down on its face, to reveal Edward who had leapt from behind the monster and buried a halberd he transmuted deep into the nape of the Titan, his feet planted into the back of the Titan as he rode it down. He lifted his head up to face a terrified Sasha who was maybe inches away from the Titan body; he stepped off the body to check on her.
"Hey are you Alr-" he was about to ask before Sasha knelt and bowed her head in front of him, her hands gripping his legs.
"Thank you!" cried Sasha "You are truly saviors! Angels from on high! Glory onto you!" Ed looked at Sasha with a look of confused shock, he moved his legs to try and shake her off.
"Sasha" called Mikasa, who had climbed down "Get up and stop grovelling" Sasha stood up, wiped her eyes and walked off to refill empty gas canisters.
"You guys did it!" Celebrated Connie, a loud cheer erupted from the elevator.
Mina raised her fist in the air in celebration, she turned to Armin and hugged him tightly "your plan worked Armin!" With the adrenaline wearing off Marco then fainted, collapsing on the floor of the elevator.
"Marco!" yelled Armin as he and Mina scrambled to pick him up from the floor.
Edward ran to Alphonse and extended his hand out to him, Alphonse looked up at his brother and grips his hand; pulling himself up from the floor "Thank you, brother" said Al pulling Ed in to a hug.
Ed gripped him tightly "I'm not leaving here without you Alphonse, we going back home after all this, together" said Ed.
"They're all down for the count!" announced Jean "now get resupplied before more can get in!"
Sasha sat refilling her canisters with tears in her eyes "A Titan, I caved in front of a Titan" she said choking in tears, and then gripped her head "I can never face anyone again!" Connie was about to respond to Sasha to quit her crying and get a move on but Alphonse who had walked up to them had managed to say the first word.
"Hey, I just want to say thank you" he knelt down to look her in the eyes "if it wasn't for you I would likely have been eaten by that Titan if you hadn't tried to kill it. You were very brave for doing that." he finished with a soft simile on his face which matched perfectly with his soft voice.
An imperfect smile formed on her lips as more tears began to roll down her face, her hands gripped her knees and she lowered her head. "Thank you, that means a lot." She had felt like a coward for apologizing to a Titan, humanity's greatest enemy but to hear that having the guts to try and kill the Titan was bravery within itself gave her a feeling of renewed confidence in herself.
"Hey" said Marco, grabbing Jean's attention "I didn't get to say this back when we were heading to HQ, but thanks, I don't know if you know this but it was your leadership which emboldened us to move forward, you saved our lives."
Jean looked down on the floor "I appreciate the complement Marco, but please don't, it was my fault that some of our comrades are dead because I gave the order to attack, not to just fall back." He said solemnly " if you want to thank the person that saved us, than thank Ed, I'm sure a lot of people wouldn't have made it with the amount of gas they had left." he looked up at the direction of Ed who looked to be undoing all the spikes they created.
"But you gave orders, how many of the people here are alive because you gave us the confidence to push forward and try to recapture the HQ? Don't take this the wrong way but the reason I think of you as a leader is because you're like us, you're not like Eren or Ed who ran headlong into battle and think little about those who don't, they're great motivators but not great leaders; you're scared just like the rest of us, that makes you sympathetic to people, which makes it easier to follow you." Jean stared at Marco for a while taking in what he had said.
As soon as the cadets had refilled their gas canisters they run out into the courtyard of the castle and began to fire the cables from their ODM gear onto the rooftops to make their escape to Wall Rose, Ed and Alphonse followed them out and watched as dozens of the young cadets began to soar through the air, they stood there mesmerized by the sight.
"Hey! Yelled Connie, snapping out it and turning their attention towards him "You two! No time to stand there staring into the sky, we gotta leave while we still have time" he then pointed to his back "just like last time."
Ed nodded and held Connie from behind, Alphonse was then tapped on the shoulder by Mina.
"Like last time" she said.
Al blushed slightly "yeah, right" he replied, he wrapped his arms around her again and as before it felt just as awkward. He wondered in his head what Mai would do if she saw him doing this, the thought was both funny and scary to him.
"C'mon guys, Sasha waiting for us on the rooftop." They fired their cables and propelled themselves upwards, they expertly landed themselves on the rooftops, Edward turned his head to the side to see a group of people just standing on the far end with their backs turned to them, staring at something, he could just make out the heads of Armin, Mikasa, Reiner and Bertholdt.
What are they looking at? Maybe that Titan killing its own kind he thought, he wanted to ask others to wait here and go check it out but decided against it; their first priority at the moment was to get out of Trost and find someone with a wider grasp of the whole situation and learn more about this place, the more they knew the better they could be in helping these people and that meant they return home and have the Truth make good on its promise.
They held on tight as they were carried across the roofs, through the air and towards the tall wall in front of them; Wall Rose Ed assumed. The climb up the wall was the daunting part for Ed and Al as Connie and Mina had to push off the wall and unhook their grappling hooks which left them suspended in the air for just a second or two. When they finally reached the top they both let go of the cadets and almost fell to their knees, using each other to stand straight.
"You guys alright?" Asked Mina.
"We're fine" replied Alphonse "just not use to this, that's all." He smiled "thanks for doing that again for us, it must not be easy."
"Don't mention it" said Connie "there's a lift there, so we won't have to do that again."
"Thank God" muttered Edward, he was then nudged by Alphonse, he turned his attention from Connie to Alphonse who was staring off from the side of the wall they climbed.
"Brother" Al said "look" he then pointed, Ed turned and was instantly mystified by the view before him; the entire city of Trost as it was called was encased in a half oval shaped wall which was connected to an even longer spanning wall which just seemed to go on and on.
They saw the smoke and ruined buildings in the city, no doubt from the carnage of the Titans. Trust was a city that was burning.
"Hey you two" yelled Sasha who was standing on the elevator to the other side of the wall, snapping them out of their trance "you getting on?"
"Yeah" replied Ed, they were slowly lowered down to the ground, as they got closer to the ground they noticed that the space around the elevator was surrounded by two lines of soldiers all holding either muskets o their blades, with a small group of people standing in the corner of the rows of soldiers.
"What the hell?" whispered Connie.
"Who's the guy in the middle" asked Alphonse.
"That's Captain Weilman" replied Mina "he assigned the cadets to the middle guard during the evacuation of Trost.
"So he's the one who sent you into battle, sent a bunch of kids to fight those monsters" Ed clenched his fist.
The elevator landed onto the ground with a deep boom; as they stepped out of the platform the Garrison soldiers armed with muskets hickory pointed their weapons towards the Cadets and the Elrics; almost instantly they froze in place, not daring to take another step forward, the space became early silent as both side looked at each other with a feeling of terrible unease.
"What the hell is going on" whispered Edward to Connie.
"Beats me" replied Connie "Not exactly the welcoming party I was expecting."
"Cadets!" yelled the man standing in between the two rows; he had sunken in golden eyes, a thick mustache and beard and brown hair, though the most noticeable feature was that he looked extremely tense, like someone constantly on edge "Report to me this instance" he then turned his head and pointed towards Edward and Alphonse "You two stay right there or else I'll have you killed on the spot!"
Their eyes widen and stomachs dropped at the final words announced.
"W-wait! What's going on?" yelled Sasha.
Mina turned her head to face Edward and Alphonse; Al had an expression of worry on his face while Edward had a look of shocked anger at the threat levied towards them.
"I gave you an order cadet!" yelled the Weilman "Are you disobeying a direct order from a superior officer? Are you in league with the enemy; are you all in league with the enemy?"
They flinched at the suggestion, unsure about what to do; they couldn't disobey the captain and they were surrounded by dozens of garrison soldiers all with their weapons drawn, but at the same time they wondered what would happen to Ed and Alphonse, those two had just risked their lives for them and the other cadets, many of them probably wouldn't have made it without them and they were being treated as a threat. Connie turned to the brothers.
"Hey, we'll try and talk to him; maybe we can convince him you guys are good." He said unconvincingly.
Connie, Sasha and Mina ran up to Captain Weilman, moving past the garrison soldiers on the steps, they formed up in a line before the captain and saluted him.
"Captain, the Elric broth-" said Connie before he was interrupted.
"Did I ask you to speak, Cadet?" Challenged Weilman " I'm placing a gag order on you three, you are to discuss this with no one, not what happened today or who those monsters wearing human skin are, understand?"
"Sir, they not a thr-" Mina tried to interject before the Captain shot her an angered look, she paused and wondered whether she should go on or just stay quiet "with all due respect captain, the Elric brothers saved my life; they're not our enemy their our allies." She said summoning her courage to speak and challenge his assumption.
"Speaking up for the enemy? Are you with the enemy, cadet?" He questioned, staring down at her, Mina gulped down, partly regretting her interjection "well in that case, why don't you go join them!" He grabbed her by the collar of her jacket and white shirt and threw her to the steps where she tumbled to the floor, garrison soldiers moving back from her as she fell.
"Mina!" yelled Ed and Alphonse.
"Hey-" yelled Connie but before he could act maybe a handful of garrison soldiers pointed their blades at him and Sasha, they looked around nervous and afraid to make any kind of movement, they looked down at Mina who was slowly raising her head from the stone floor, Sasha kept looking back at the guards and her fallen comrade, one part of her wanted to just leave this place but another part of her wanted to go help Mina. Connie gritted his teeth and shot Captain Weilman a dirty look "you twitchy bastard" he whispered.
The captain turned to them "You two are dismissed" they both looked back at Ed and Al worried about might happen to them, what might happen to Mina.
"Yes sir." They replied and slowly began to walk to town.
Clap!
Everyone turned their heads towards the brothers, Connie and Sasha turned to see what was going on, they knew that both Ed and Al were able to do their abilities just by clapping, Mina quickly raised her head in their direction, Captain Weilman shifted his head to face their direction and Edward turned his head to face Alphonse. Alphonse extended his left arm out to his side, in the shadow of his hand a blue circular light appeared on the ground with small sparks of lightning and then the hilt of a sword along with the blade had risen from the ground right into his hand. If look could kill then Alphonse wouldn't have needed that sword to kill any of the garrison soldiers or Captain Weilman. Edward quickly followed Alphonse lead as he clapped his hand and extended his right arm out to the side as a Halberd rose from the ground from a blue circle.
I hope you know what you're doing Al thought Edward.
The Garrison soldiers, officers and Captain Weilman were all stunned; he had read the reports, but he had never seen it with his own eyes, they did make something from nothing. Beads of sweat ran down his forehead, they were monsters they had now only confirmed his beliefs, no one can do that and what they did must make them inhuman or maybe possible some kind of unholy sorcery. Either way he had to contain or kill them, he couldn't take any chances and let them leave here to do as please, with powers like that and with the allegiances of these boys unknown they could put humanity at risk and the worse part they'll be able to hid among us.
"First row Advance!" He ordered "encircle the three of them."
Mina got up to her feet, she turned to face the garrison soldiers who were pointing their blades at them and now, in extension, her. She quickly moved backwards putting more and more distance between her and the incoming garrison soldiers, not taking her own blades out in hopes that the situation could be resolved, she stopped and stood in between Ed and Alphonse who had raised their weapons and took up readied themselves for a fight.
The garrison soldiers had almost completely surrounded the three; the tension was thick and both sides were waiting for the other to make a move. The air was quiet save for the shuffling of boots and the heavy breathing of nervous soldiers confronting the boys.
Suddenly the sound of clanking and a metal platform hitting the ground broke the tension, everyone turned their attention towards the elevator full of people; Ed, Al and Mina turned their heads and saw Jean, Annie, Reiner, Bertholdt exiting the elevator, looking around perplexed at the what was going on the brothers saw Mikasa and Armin stepping out of the elevator after everyone else while carrying what looked to be another person with them who had short brown hair and was wearing what looked to be torn up clothes and some kind of harness around his body.
Mina's eyes widen as she recognized the person being carried by Mikasa and Armin.
It can't be she thought.
"Eren?"