Chapter 11: Our First Victory
"Alright people!" yelled Ian "This is it, we're here! Eren, Mikasa you two are carrying Edward and Alphonse, Eren as soon as the Elrics split the boulder into two you transform, got it?"
"Yes sir!" responded Eren, Ed grabbed onto Eren and Alphonse onto Mikasa and the squad leapt off the wall. Rico stayed behind; she raised her pistol upwards and fired a signal flare to commence the mission. The small squad soared through the air; approaching closer and closer to their objective as they were thrown through the sky at speeds which the Elrics be possible for ordinary people. They were maybe a few streets away from the large rock, it was large, dauntingly so; it was possibly the size of a Titan and no doubt heavier than one, Ed wondered how Eren was even going to manage carrying half of this let alone the whole thing.
"Eren!" shouted Ed "land on the boulder"
"Ok!" responded Eren, he fired the cables onto nearby buildings, propelling himself through the sky one last time, they landed on top of the large rock and everyone else landed onto the nearby buildings, Ed dismounted from Eren's back and lowered himself to the street below, making sure to be clear of everyone when he transformed into his Titan. Ed clapped his hands together and placed them on the boulder, sparks flying between his fingers, the boulder split cleanly into two pieces. Ed slides down the smooth edge of the split boulder to the floor; he then transmuted the half boulder into large stone ball, a last minute adjustment to the original plan.
"This should make it easier to carry!" stated Ed.
"Eren!" yelled Ian "You're up!"
Eren raised his hand to his mouth and bit down, a bolt of lightning then strikes Eren from above, there was a bright light which blinded everyone close by followed by an intense heat which invaded the space around Eren, the group watch through squinted eyes as a large fifteen meter muscular Titan with oily black hair and intense bright green eyes formed in front of them, it let out a deafening roar which shook the earth.
Mikasa observed the large square shaped rock even when a part of it has been taken off and transformed into something more manageable, carrying it still seems like a daunting task, Eren's Titan may not have the strength, but he has the willpower.
The Titan approached the large ball rock and stopped; it turned its body and looked downwards to face Ed who was standing off to its side, the Titan raised its foot and attempted to stomp of Ed. Reacting quickly to the incoming threat, Ed leapt to the side and avoided certain death as the foot of the Titan crushed the ground beneath it,
"Brother!" yelled Alphonse
"Eren!" yelled Mikasa
The Titan raised it foot again ready to deliver another stomp, clambering to his feet Ed quickly avoided the second attack, the Garrison soldiers could only watch in stunned at the scene, landing roughly on the ground Ed looked up to face Eren's Titan, his heart and stomach sank as the large Titan stared down at him with its piercing green eyes, he realized now why Alphonse stood still when he came face to face with the Titan back in the supply room; when you're this close to one of them and see no way out it's difficult to stop the sheer terror and panic overwhelm you, every opponent he faced back home was at least person sized but being stared down but these monsters made him truly feel like a bug about to be squished.
Mikasa swung herself onto Eren's Titan and landed on his face, her foot on its large nose and her hand holding onto its hair "Damn it Eren!" she yelled "snap out of it, we have a breach to seal! Don't you recognize us?"
"Ackerman!" yelled Ian "Get away from him, he's dangerous!"
"The mission is a failure" Rico muttered to herself as she loaded a red flare into the pistol and pointed it to the sky "We never should our pinned our hopes on something so unknown." She fired the red flare into the sky, Ed and Alphonse watched as the red stream of smoke was shot upwards into the sky
Mission failed? Have we failed? Alphonse thought. Eren's Titan stared at Mikasa; it raised its fist and was about to swing when suddenly a large spike struck its chest and protruded from its back, Mikasa quickly jumped in reaction to the sudden attack on Eren and landed on the nearby rooftop, the Titan struggled for awhile, it clawed at the spike sticking out of its chest as it let out a loud cry. The Garrison soldiers and Mikasa looked down to see Ed; standing behind large spike which impaled Eren's Titan, with his hands on the ground. The Titan's clawing at the spike became less and less frantic until it's body fell limp on the spike, stuck in a standing on its feet as smoke escaped its wounds.
Alphonse climbed down from the rooftop to Ed "Brother, are you ok?" he asked a look of concern on his face.
"I'm fine, Al" he replied with a smile, he placed his hand on Alphonse's shoulder, his expression then became more stern "we're not running away from this, Al" they looked up to see Titan Eren's limp body and a faint red smoke line in the sky "We're sealing the gap"
"So the kid was just another mindless Titan?" asked Mitabi as they observed Eren's Titan's seemingly lifeless body.
"Sir!" shouted a soldier nearby "we've got two Titans heading for our position, a ten meter class and a six meter class!"
"Twelve meter approaching from the rear!" shouted another.
"Ian we have to withdraw, the mission a bust" said Mitabi
"Agreed we'll get the Elrics and fall back" added Rico, they turned their heads to face them, expecting them to be near the large spike, instead they gasped to see they had suddenly vanished.
"Where the hell did they run off to?" yelled Rico
On top of Wall Rose the Cadets and Garrison soldiers watched in great disappointment and gut-wrenching sadness at the red smoke line in the sky; Armin stood next to Marco and Mina next to Annie as they observed the red column "It's over, the mission was a failure" said Marco
"My friends" cried one of the Cadets "they were killed like animals and it was for nothing."
"How…" muttered Armin what went wrong? Has something happened to them? Eren, Mikasa… he placed down the bundle of canisters and ran off, following in the direction which the garrison elite squad, his friends and the Elrics went off to
"Armin!" yelled Marco "Where are you going?"
"Armin!" yelled Mina as she watched, she hesitated in staying put or running off after one of her squad mates, she started to run; following Armin "Armin, wait up!"
Back on the rooftops, Ian, Rico and Mitabi argued over whether they should retreat
"In case you two have forgotten, I'm in command and I'm saying the mission continues!" yelled Ian " We're not about to abandon Cadet Yeager or the Elrics, we'll have to keep them off of him and hope that the Elrics use that flare gun to signal their location; like it or not they're maybe the best chance we have."
"This is insane!" retorted Rico, frustrated by Ian's stubbornness "just look at him, he's a failure and for all we know the Elrics could have abandoned us and headed back to where they came from! Face it the three of them cost the lives of hundreds of good soldiers!"
"With all due respect, squad leader, those two seemed dead set in wanting to seal the breach; no doubt they'd left complete the mission." Responded Mikasa, she didn't know whether they truly meant it but she hoped that if they could be convinced to stay that then they wouldn't abandon Eren.
"We're replaceable; there will be hundreds of soldiers ready to take our place, ready to take the place of our fallen, but those three they're not; no one can do what they can, they're the best bet we have, so if it means fighting to the last man, then fight to the last man!"
Rico and Mitabi gasped "Are you insane?" questioned Rico
"Tell me then!" yelled Ian "Tell me how the hell we retake Trost? How do we retake Wall Maria and how the hell can we beat the Titans? If anyone of you has a better plan then I'm all ears, if not then tell me; how the hell do we win without those three?"
"If you're asking me how we can defeat the Titans, then obviously I don't have an answer." Said Rico passive aggressively
"Exactly, that's why we can't afford to retreat just now, the situation looks like a complete mess up, but I have one thing, hope; hope in Eren Yeager to pull himself together and stick to his part of the plan and hope that somewhere in this warzone the Elrics are trying to find their own way in sealing that breach and making sure that the brave deaths of our comrades weren't in vain."
Ed and Alphonse hid with their backs against the wall in an alleyway as they waited for a the twelve meter tall Titan to pass; they'd been constantly running and ducking for cover every so often now but were able to get close to the breach, they quietly passed behind the Titan and into one of the destroyed buildings by taking cover in the rubble, for some reason the Titans seemed to be heading along the path they came from but not the at them specifically.
"Looks as though most of them are still at that corner" said Ed, peering over a broken bit of wall to see if the anymore had wondered past the street
"Still, we'll have to get past the ones who are still coming through the breach." Said Alphonse
They sprinted to another building close by; transmuting a door they entered the building and made their way to one of the windows, they peered through the window and saw another building, some open space between them and the moving heads of four Titans who were maybe eight to ten meters tall, this must mean that they were close to the breach by now.
"Wait for them to pass, then we make a run for the building ahead" no doubt if they ran for it now they would be spotted instantly by them; they didn't want to go up against a small group entirely on their own, it was likely they could stand their ground but it would be a time consuming slog. When the small group of Titans had passed they climbed out of the window and made a run for the building ahead. They quickly placed their backs against the wall and shuffled to the side of the building, when they reached edge Ed peered out again his eyes widen when he saw it.
"The breach" he whispered "it's right there, there's some open space between the breach and the buildings so we're going to have to make a run for it", looking at the massive hole it looked as though it'll take a bit of time to seal the breach We'll have to avoid a fight with any Titans and focus solely on closing it. just as they began to move, a familiar roar stop them in their tracks.
"That must be Eren" said Alphonse
"C'mon Al" said Ed, ignoring Alphonse's observation "we've still got a hole to plug, they ran into the open space, they came to a instant halt when they saw a group of three more Titans enter through the hole; the monsters quickly took notice of them and began heading towards them. Both Edward and Alphonse clapped their hands ready to transmute and dispatch the small group, suddenly their attention was diverted to the right of them when the four Titans who passed them on the main road were now spilling out of the mouth of the road and trodding slowly towards them.
"Damn it!" yelled Ed, realizing that they were about to be overwhelmed he reached into his right pocket and griped the pistol, he aimed it into the sky and pulled the trigger sending a long purple column of smoke into the clouds.
When Armin and Mina arrived at the boulder Mikasa had to explain the situation to the two quickly; Eren had attacked Ed, Ed then managed to incapacitate Eren's Titan by impaling it, Ed and Al had run off somewhere, no doubt they were heading to the breach and now the Garrison squads were trying to hold off the Titans from Eren while also staying alert for the purple flare to signal the Elrics position, but the continual pressure being placed on them was becoming too much to handle and the possibility of being overrun was becoming more and more inescapable by the minute.
"I'm pulling Eren out!" yelled Armin "You two, just hold off the incoming Titans!" he climbed up the slanted spike and fired his grappling hooks into the Titan's shoulders and aimed his blade.
"Armin, don't!" yelled Mina
"No!" yelled Mikasa
Mikasa and Mina watched as Armin plunged his blade into the Titan's neck, the seemingly lifeless body now jolted back to life as it let out a loud roar and began thrashing at the spike sticking out of its chest once more, Armin tried to keep his feet planted onto the stone spike and held onto his blade, very quickly the Titan fell limp again.
"You two, Just hold off the Titans" yelled Armin "There are others who need hel-" he was interrupted by the distance sound of a pistol being fired, the three of the looked up to see a purple line of smoke stretch upwards into the sky, near the breach that's Edward and Alphonse
"I'm going in to help them" said Mina as she fired the cables of her onto nearby buildings, Armin nodded at her; they weren't the only ones to notice, the garrison soldiers who were currently occupied with protection of Eren spotted the flare and now had to move to protect the Elrics who were right at the breach.
"Rico!" yelled Ian "take your team and go in to support the Elrics!"
Rico nodded at Ian "Team, head for the breach!"
Alphonse rolled to the side, avoiding the large hand which swooped down to grab him; he then slammed his hands down on the ground transmuting a long spike which stuck the Titan's neck, Ed slid underneath the legs of a five meter tall Titan, narrowly avoiding it's grasp, he skidded his hands across the ground transmuting a trident spear and throwing it and striking the nape of the neck. So far they had managed to kill three of the Titans swarming them while trying to avoid being snatched by the others. Two more Titans, with heights ranging from four to seven meters entered through the breach; the fight was now shifting from a manageable skirmish to a tense battle for their lives, they had to now hold out long enough for the Garrison soldiers to aid them.
Ed and Alphonse were now standing back to back as the Titans began to encircle them, the situation was now dyer and they had to act fast else they'll end up as Titan food.
"We not dying here!" yelled Ed "Not after everything we've been through!"
They both clapped their hands together, Edward transmuting a halberd from the ground and Alphonse slamming his hand onto the ground; a cluster of spikes, pillars and jagged rocks formed around them causing the Titans to either stumble back or fall over, Ed was lifted from the ground by one of the pillars emerging from the ground, he leapt off the pillar and plunged the end of his halberd into both eyes of a seven meter all Titan, the Titan let out a loud cry as Ed lifted the spear from its eye and quickly climbed to the top of its head, the Titan bowed it's head slightly, leaving it's nape vulnerable to Ed who quickly plunged his halberd into its nape, holding onto it as the Titan collapsed onto the ground. Alphonse skid his hands across the ground transmuting a partisan spear, charging at one of the fallen Titans, he plunged it into its throat and with all the strength that he could muster forced it through; trying to reach the nape, the Titan squirmed for bit before falling still.
They had now taken out five Titans so far, with only four left. Ed and Al regrouped; putting distance between them and the remaining Titans, both Ed and Al were panting heavily as they tried to regain their composure; they took up defensive stances ready for another attack. They watched as the Titans who ranged from twelve meters tall and five meters came at them in a disorganized fashion.
Suddenly the sound of cables zipping towards them caught their attention; they saw a blurry figure fly towards the largest Titan striking its nape, a streak of blood flying off to the side as the largest Titan collapsed to its knees and on its face. The blurry figure landed on the side of the wall, the cables of their ODM gear holding them in place, their eyes widen when they saw who it was.
"Mina?" they said in unison
Mina looked down at her blades; Titan blood evaporating into the air and the noises around her sounded were muffled as she was overwhelmed by the loud thumps of her fast beating heart, for just a few seconds she had blocked out the world to fully take in what she'd done.
"I… I did it." She said softly, amazed by just saying those words "I killed a Titan!" she then came back to her sense as she saw the Titans continue to approach the Elrics, she pointed the handles of her blades at them, the adrenaline still flowing through her body and drunk on the adrenaline. But the sound of more cables zipping forward stopped her, Rico's squad had arrived at the scene leaping from the buildings they ambushed the remaining Titans and made quick work out of them; slicing their napes as blood and thick chunks of skin fell to the ground. Mina fired her cables to towards the Elrics, landing next to them but before they could utter a word to each other Ed and Alphonse were called out.
"Elrics!" said Rico in an authoritative tone "just what the hell were you thinking when you ran off like that?" they turned to face her, Ed crossing his arms, Alphonse counted the number of people who came with Rico; three in total weren't there more of them? He thought while Mina greeted the squad leader with a salute.
"Sealing the hole in the wall" responded Ed "we were gonna use our Alchemy to stretch the wall and seal the breach, when Eren lost control we didn't see any other option so we made a break for the hole."
"And you didn't think to tell us?" Rico replied "you two thought that during a military operation you could just go and carry out the objective by yourself and break the chain of command?"
"We saw you fire that red flare into the sky, meaning the mission was a failure, I couldn't accept that so Al and I left to finish the job." Ed argued
"You disobeyed a direct order" replied Rico "had you two been soldiers you'd be charged with desertion, but if you can seal the hole then do it" Don't know why we couldn't of done that in the first place she thought, Rico then turned to her squad members "Isabel climb the top of the wall, I want to know if and when more Titans enter though the breach, Isaac head for that building there; I want to know if more Titans already in the city are heading our way and Alice head for the top of the breach; you'll have to ambush any Titans that come though" she then turned to Mina "Cadet Carolina, follow Alphonse to the left side of the breach and cover him, I'll follow Edward.
Everyone ran towards their position, as Ed and Al crossed the bridge over the trenches both stared at the breach in awe at the size, it must have been about over fifteen meters tall, taller than some of the Titans they're seen during their time here. They wondered about the strength and size of the Titan which could make such a breach.
Rico and Mina fired their cables above the boys and hung right above them, Ed and Alphonse climbed over some of the rubble to reach the base of the wall, and they were now standing right next to the breach.
They clapped their hands together.
"On the count of three, Al!" yelled Ed "one! Two! Three!
They slammed their hands on the wall.
Nothing.
Their eyes widen "Again, Al!" yelled Ed and they clapped their hands and slammed them onto the wall expecting the wall to stretch out and cover the breach. Instead nothing happened.
"What the…" Ed muttered
"Hey, what the hell is going on?" yelled Rico "I thought you said you two can seal the breach!"
"This doesn't make sense" Ed responded "This wall should just be made of bricks and cement!"
"What the hell does that have to do with anything!" replied Rico impatiently
"In order to perform Alchemy we need an understanding of the atomic structure of an object" he explained "What the hell is this wall made out of?"
"Squad Leader!" said the Garrison soldier coming down from atop the wall "five Titans, around seven and thirteen class meter classes approaching the breach!"
We won't be able to hold this position thought Rico we'll have to fallback
"Sir!" said the other soldier coming from the buildings, he stood on the wooden bridge over the trenches "Its Cadet Yeager's Titan, it's got the boulder, he's coming from the left road and he's heading for our position!
THUD! THUD! THUD! They turned to face the direction of heavy footsteps coming from their left.
Because… THIS WAS THE WORLD I WAS BORN INTO! IT'S MY WORLD NOT THEIRS!
A mass cloud of smoke emanated from the chest as the Titan erupted back to life; it began clawing at the spike in its chest again, it held the spike sticking out of its chest and with all of its strength broke the end off; freeing itself from its impalement. Armin stared through the hole in its body and watched as it repaired itself.
The Titan turned and faced the large stone ball; it grabbed at the large rock and lifted it onto its shoulders and made its way towards the breach.
Everyone's eyes widen when they saw Eren carrying the large ball shaped rock on his shoulders as his hands held it in place, Rico gritted her teeth "Everyone hold this position!" she commanded "I don't want to see another Titan step foot in Trost!"
Ed ran into the centre of the breach, he saw the five Titans begin to enter through the massive tunnel forming a single file through the tunnel; Ed walked into the tunnel, clapped his hands and slammed them on the ground transmuting a large spike which impaled the line of Titans through their stomachs holding them in place, they began thrashing at the spike in pain
"That should hold them for now!" yelled Ed to the Garrison soldiers "Now hurry!"
Both Mitabi and Ian squad arrived to secure the area around the breach, the area was absent of Titans in their way, evidenced by the skeletons of the dead Titans who were despatched by the Elrics and Rico's squad.
"All squads form a perimeter around the breach; make sure any Titan already within Trost doesn't make it to Eren and the Elrics!" The Garrison soldiers grappled onto the buildings, watching the different roads and streets for any incoming Titans.
Under the weight of the large rock, Eren made his continual advance towards the breach. This thing is heavy; it's putting strain on me… This would have been impossible with the boulder at full weight… I would have been walking at crawling speed.
Mikasa and Armin were with Eren every step of the way as they crossed the wooden bridge over the trenches, towards the breach, the impaled Titans gashing their teeth and trying to reach out to him; more Titans were now trying to enter and were pushing the others further into the spike in an effort to enter Trost, Ed, Alphonse, Rico and Mina watched as Eren's Titan tower over them as he reached the breach
"Everyone, stand clear!" yelled Rico, they moved further to the side of the wall
Eren lifted the large rock above his head and slammed it into the breach covering most of the hole; a powerful gust of air almost blew those those nearby off their feet; they all raising their hands to cover their faces. Eren's Titan then took a few steps back, turned around to face the city; he was watched by the Garrison soldiers, Ian, Mitabi and his friends from the rooftops of nearby houses and stone pillars scattered around. Erendug deep inside himself and let out a deep deafening roar.
We're all born free…
His Titan collapsed; its body landing on the wooden bridge while its head hit the hard stone ground, Mikasa and Armin rushed towards its nape to free Eren from the Titan's carcass.
Seeing their opportunity Ed and Al rushed towards the large stone ball, clapping their hands together and slammed their palms onto the large rock; transmuting it into the exact shape of the breach, Alphonse then fused the newly formed rock into the ground while Ed transferred mass from the ground to the rock to strengthen it; sealing the hole.
"It's done!" yelled Ed as loud as he could to convey the message not just to Ian, Mitabi and Rico but to all the Garrison soldiers around them. A loud cheer rang across the area as Rico placed a yellow flare into her pistol with a smile on her face and a single tear in her eye. Ed and Alphonse watched as all around them people celebrated the hard fought victory. A feeling of pride washed over them as they achieved their first accomplishment for the people here, their first victory in this world and their first tangible step closer to achieving their goal.
Mina watched, still hanging off the wall, as everyone cheered; she held back the tears which threaten to escape her eyes only this time she was overcome with a sense of great joy instead of anguish, she zipped over the Elrics.
"Mina" said Alphonse cheerfully "thanks for-"
"Thank you" she said and hugged them both "I don't know if we could have done this without you"
"Don't mention it." said Ed while Alphonse patted her on the back.
"Thanks for taking out that big Titan before" said Alphonse "That was really brave of you."
"We've done it" whispered Ian as he and Mitabi watched the yellow flare fly upwards into the sky form the stone ground "Humanity's first victory!" he proclaimed.
"Hey." Came a voice from their side, Ian and Mitabi turned to face him, their eyes widen when they saw who it was
"Captain!" exclaimed Ian as he, Mitabi and Rico saluted him
Eren emerged from the neck of the fallen Titan in a cloud of steam, Armin tugged on his body with all the strength he could muster in an effort to free him but Eren's arms had become fused to what looked to be nerves within the neck. Ed, Alphonse and Mina ran up tothem; seeing Armin struggle Ed grabbed Eren by one arm while Armin grabbed him by the other, Eren was hot, burning, Ed almost reflexively moved away when he felt the heat emanating from Eren. They both pulled at Eren until the nerves which engulfed his hands had been ripped from him. Mikasa rushed over to Eren's freed body
"Eren, are you alright?" she asked, her hand cupping his cheek.
Eren grumbled in response, his eyes slightly opened; his vision was extremely blurry but slowly, as it cleared, he was able to make out the people around him. Armin and Ed lifted his arms onto their shoulders; they turned around to see Ian, Rico and Mitabi talking to someone in front of them, the three of the, looked tense. The guy had his back was facing the Elrics and the Cadets, he was shorter than them, he had short straight black hair with an undercut, he was wearing what looked to be the same uniform as them but wore a green hooded cape with a different insignia to the crossed swords of the Cadets and the roses of the Garrison; the design looked to be two wings one blue and the other white.
"The wings of freedom…" muttered Eren, still in a daze
The guy then turned his head to face the group behind him, he had narrow grey eyes on an expressionless face like Annie and wore a cravat with his uniform. He scanned the open space littered with stone pillars and spikes around them along with the large evaporating Titan carcass behind them.
"So, kiddos" he said in a tone of voice which was both calm and intimidating "Mind telling me exactly what the hell just happened here?"