3rd POV
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Squad 34 was currently positioned on a roof, monitoring the area in search of titans. It was originally composed of Eren Jaeger, Armin Arlert, Thomas Wagner, Mina Carolina, Milieus Zeremski, and Nack Tierce but a sudden guest voluntarily added themself to it, Colith Tobe. The members of the squad, with the exception of Eren and Armin, were shocked that the strongest cadet in history had chosen to be in their Squad and it greatly reassured them.
The tall woman was currently doing some stretches, resulting in the three boys and girl gaining red cheeks. Even when she wasn't trying she was still a stunning beauty. Eren and Armin were talking, one encouraging the other while Colith turned toward of the four teenagers who were looking at her. They quickly looked away with pink cheeks as she approached.
"All right, guys! I hope y'all are ready and that those 3 years of training won't fail you today." She put her hands on her hips. "you'll nail it!" she gave them a thumbs up.
The four teenagers immediately perked up, happy to have been noticed by the woman. This gave Thomas an idea.
"Listen up! Whoever kills the most titans gets bragging rights.", He said with a smug smile. This caught both Eren and Armin's attention.
"Oh yeah, is that a challenge?"
"Yeah! Just because we're not in the Top 10 doesn't mean we did nothing these 3 years!" Mina puffed her cheeks, making everyone chuckle except the sole black who knew what would happen if she was to let things go their way.
"SQUAD 34! MOVE OUT! THE VANGUARD NEEDS SUPPORT!", a soldier ordered them from afar prompting the teens into focus.
"Alright! LET'S GO!!" Eren yelled making all the teens shout confidently. Colith looked at her two beans in sorrow.
'ight this is where everything goes south...let's gooo'
They all rapidly ran and thanks to their ODM gears, were now going from roof to roof, grappling hooks and gas sound resonating in the area. With dynamic and fluid movements, the cadets were all confident in their skills as some of them even boasted about it -Eren *cough*. However, only Colith saw the titan who was about to destroy this amazing dynamic from one moment to another, in the distance. The others had their eyes on the titans at the entrance, too focused to see the one who was about to-
"WATCH OUT! AN ABNORMAL! BE CAREFUL!" Eren shouts, dodging the thing almost immediately. Thomas who was right on the beast's trajectory widened his eyes in terror.
'Eh...?'
Thankfully, before the poor guy could meet his tragic destiny, someone pushed him out of the creature's way, taking his place. Thomas' eyes widened in cold fear when he briefly saw who just saved his life before they were inevitably caught in the monster's mouth, who stopped its course on the wall of a tower resulting in a huge boom which made the vicinity shake due to the beast's weight. The cadets didn't get to see the scene unfold in their panics and failed to notice that someone was missing. However, they saw Thomas on a nearby roof, trembling like a leaf during a storm as his mouth opened and closed.
"Thomas! Thank god you're okay!" Nack exclaimed which caught the other's attention "I thought you were a goner since you were in...its path..." His voice faltered when he saw Thomas shakingly point at the titan who almost ended him.
"What is he pointing at..?" Eren's eyebrows furrowed as he looked in the direction his friend was pointing at. The others copied him in curiosity, before all of their breaths caught. In the beast mouth was someone they didn't think would be in there-
"COLITH!!!!"
Eren and Armin immediately screamed in horror. She was positioned so only the top of her body was visible, the other half being in the titan's mouth. Armin shakingly put his hand on his mouth, breathing quickly as tears threatened to fall from his baby blue eyes.
"G..Guys..!", the woman, although being trapped by the titan, yelled. "Don't Worry about me..! I got this!!", she made a 'painful' smile before being inevitably swallowed by the monster. The cadets stood in shock while the thing casually continued on his way like he didn't just end someone's life. The silence after that scene was abruptly interrupted by a cry of rage.
"YOU BASTARD!!!"
Eren angrily shot off his spot after the titan, "GIVE HER BACK!!!!"
"E-EREN!!" the blond cried out in fear.
"WAIT!! STAY WITH THE GROUP!!" Nack shouted but with the blond jumping after his friend, they had no other choice but to follow. Thomas who was now crying, gaze still stuck on the tower was met by a frantic Mina.
"THOMAS!" This made the teen jump out of his skin before he shakingly looked at the girl.
"She... She took my place..."
"NOW IS NOT THE TIME FOR THIS!!" She snapped, she too was crying. " W-WE NEED TO GO!!", and pulled his arm which snapped him out of his shock. He weakly nodded before following the girl and the others.
"YOU FUCKING BASTARD !!" The enraged brunette ran and jumped wildly after the titan while shouting curses. "YOU'RE GONNA PAY..." The wind from his speed made his tears fly out of his wild teal eyes, "..FOR KILLING MY SISTER!!!", he declared as he tightly held the handle of his poor gear to the point of his fingers turning white. "You're not getting away...YOU'RE NOT GETTING AWAY!!!"
The livid boy was quickly nearing the titan and was ready to harshly cut its nape...until another one jumped from below, violently biting off his leg.
"??!" He was violently thrown against the roofs as fast as a bullet before finally stopping his course on one of them, body entirely bloodied and feeling disoriented.
"EREN!!" Armin shouted in panic as he stopped pursuing the titan and turned to look at the others, unfortunately witnessing Nack and Milieus' demise, both meeting their ends by the hands of monsters. Frozen by all the sudden trauma, the blond fell on his knees having lost his will to fight.
'Colith is...', more tears came from his eyes, 'Colith is dead...' Still shocked by the sudden loss, the boy failed to notice the titan on his left.
After finishing her task, Mikasa was hurriedly heading to her friend's because she had a bad feeling, as rain poured on the gloomy district. She however noticed a few cadets, still on the roofs.
'Why isn't anyone going over the wall? They must've heard the withdrawal signal...'
She quietly gasped when she saw the reason why nobody was moving yet, the HQ was being surrounded by titans. Her brows furrowed in concern. 'That must be why..' and took off while praying that her family wad safe. She could already see Eren complaining about her abandoning her duties for him as Colith laughed at their antics, arms wrapped around poor Armin who could only sigh in defeat. A small smile appeared on her lips, eager to find her family before it was too late.
'I'm coming, Eren, Armin, Colith, wait for me!'
At the same time on a roof situated in the vanguard :
"Hey, Jean ! What are we gonna do?!" Connie asked his friend, completely lost.
"We can't do shit, they finally gave us an order to withdraw, and we were all out of gas of course.." he put his hand on his forehead sighing in defeat.
'Just hope Colith is alright...', a slight blush made its place on his cheeks at the thought of the girl. He finally had the courage to show her how much she meant to him, only for this to happen, shattering his chances to confess. His mood soured gravely.
"I can't believe this is how it's gonna end because of these damn cowards..."
"You mean the supply depot? What is going on, Where are they?" Connie shrieked.
"They all lost their will to fight." Jean lowly started. "I can understand why. But they abandoned their duty to supply us, barricading themselves inside HQ. Of course, titans have swarmed the place which means we can't get the gas ourselves." Connie was outraged.
"THEN WHY ARE WE WAITING?! We gotta go! Start thinning their numbers so we have a chance! Sitting here on this roof is totally pointless! ", Jean looked at the bald boy in irritation, questioning the boy's stupidity as the latter continues his rent, "Eventually, the titans are gonna come for us. Though some of them aren't even trying to eat us! We don't have much gas left..", he faltered, "We'll just waste what little we've got if we try to run... AND without our mobility, we're completely SCREWED."
The horse face merely looked at him, "You're using your head for once Connie. Good job. But I'm just not sure if we've got the numbers needed to pull this thing off...", he signed dejected, "Let's assume half of our force even survives the initial assault. Then what? The supply room is probably crawling with titans in the three or four range. I don't see us accomplishing much in there..."
Connie's shoulders slumped in defeat.
"God, what adult life this turned out to be, I never even got to tell her just how I feel...", he thought about the happy golden-eyed girl who would always greet him with enthusiasm. She was a breath of fresh air to him. A little further on the same roof, Sasha tried to cheer her comrades up, without much success.
"Come on guys we can do it! Let's Go! If we all work together, we can make this happen I know we can.", not receiving any reaction, she tried, "Alright! I'll take the lead!" Only traumatized looks and silence were the response. She faltered a bit before noticing Armin sitting away from everyone, even those left of his squad. She went to Armin first.
"Armin, come on Let's go!...", but the boy did budge, gaze stuck on the ground as he probably thought of what happened and lost. Seeing this, she turned to a grim-looking Mina and a Thomas in the same state as Armin. 'Gosh! but what happened to make them like this?', she was about to speak until:
"Mikasa! Weren't you with the rear guard?", someone exclaimed but was ignored by the Asian who had her gaze directed on—
"Annie!", the little blond perked up, turning to look at a rarely distressed girl, "I know it's selfish putting personal matters in the forefront, but have you seen Eren and Colith's Squad?"
The three boys who were with Annie reacted at the black woman's name, same with most of the cadets who only noticed her absence, too caught up in their distress. Indeed, they haven't heard from Colith for a while. This made dread creep into Bertholdt's back as he feared for the safety of the kind woman he had a crush on from the beginning. wasn't she...?
Annie frowned in confusion, "I thought Colith was assigned to the rear guard with you. How come you're not with her?"
"She went with Eren in the vanguard, they were in the same squad—but now isn't the time for this! Have you seen them or not?" Mikasa inquired again on edge and eager to find her family.
The blonde blinks a few times before pointing toward Armin. " Sorry, but Armin's over here so you can ask him instead.", The Asian nodded thankfully and made a beeline for her friend. Reiner put a hand on Annie's shoulder, prompting her to look up at him in question, her eyebrows still furrowed in concern for Colith. The black woman was the only one she genuinely didn't want to see die in this.
"Do you think...she's alright...?", knowing who he was referring to, she removed his hand from her, brows furrowed in worry.
" I don't know..."
"B-Bertholdt are you okay...?", came in Marco's worried voice. The two shifters looked at the tall boy whose face had paled considerably, hands shaking and breathing erratic. Quickly Reiner neared him, grabbing his arm before dragging him a little away from everyone, in hope of calming him down. Marco looked at them in worry before directing his gaze at Annie who stared back blankly while shrugging her shoulders. Although deep down, she too was scared for the golden-eyed woman who she had a soft spot for...
'I hope you're alright...'
"Armin!"
'Mikasa!... I can't...how do I tell her about the two...I survived...I'm so useless!—" flashback from Eren's death made him feel worse.
Thomas and Mina looked at the Asian in guilt as the blond thought of being the sole responsible for Colith's death while Mina gritted her teeth, ashamed because the titan supposed to eat her preferred targeting Milieus instead of her. She was ashamed because she felt happy that it wasn't her in its grasp and ran away, leaving her comrade to die behind. A true coward...
"Armin, Are you okay? You're not hurt are you..?", head still lowered, the blond stayed silent only nodding slowly. Mikasa sighs in relief before she stood up to look for the two, "Have you seen Eren and Colith? I don't see them..", while in search, her eyes caught Mina and Thomas's miserable figures. Her eyebrows furrowed as she noticed the short-haired blond look down, guilt radiating from his being.
"Armi—", but the coconut-haired boy didn't let her finish as his head suddenly rose, traumatized blue eyes filled with tears and horror met wide anticipating grey hues.
"...ugh...the cadets of squad 34, Nack Tierce, Milieus Zeremski..." his breath shuddered as more tears fell, "...Eren Jaeger and...Colith Tobe...these brave four...upheld their duties...they died...in battle...", Everybody in the vicinity froze in shock. One of the strongest cadets in history aside from Mikasa, was dead..? Is this some joke?
They couldn't believe it. The news made some of them pale furthermore while those close to the golden-eyed girl received a blow to the heart.
Especially those who had a soft spot for her. The news aggravated the feeling of guilt felt by the three shifters as Historia hid her face in Ymir's jacket, shoulder shaking as she sobbed. Even if she mostly faked her identity in front of others, Colith was the only one, aside Ymir, to which she had given her trust. While tightly holding the smaller blonde in her arms, the freckled woman closed her eyes, fists clenched in anguish.
Ymir had a feeling this happened when she saw Armin's state earlier, but she naively assumed that the woman was hopefully in another squad and was okay...but nothing could be this simple...
Jean was frozen in shock as two words were being repeated in his head, 'She's dead...?', He couldn't believe it, he refused to! They were just talking earlier in HQ! How was this even possible...? The heartbroken boy clenched his chest in sorrow.
Connie looked at the ground, stuck on the information as a dumbfounded expression was plastered on his face. Is this some nightmare...? He would wake up, right? Sasha outright refused to believe it but one look at Armin and the others, made her reluctantly believe it. Wild tears came from her eyes at the thought of her best friend's demise. Marco had a hand plastered on his mouth due to the shock of the information. He was aware that a lot would die today but this was really unexpected.
The place was left silent, silence that was occasionally interrupted by Armin and Krista's sobs since everyone was too shocked to say a thing. However, Thomas not being able to keep it anymore, lost it.
"SHE WASN'T SUPPOSED TO DIE...I..!", he grabbed his head in distress making everyone look at him in surprise while Mina tried to calm him down, "She...she..took my place...she pushed me out of the way...", he crouched down on the roof, bawling his eyes out, "It's my fault...I'm the only one responsible..."
"She sacrificed herself for him..?" a random cadet started looking at the miserable teen in disbelief, "Are you kidding me?"
"I can't believe she's dead..."
"if this happened to someone of Mikasa's caliber, what about us...? If we go we'll.."
Armin was on the ground still crying. "I'm so sorry...It should've been me who died...I'm so sorry Mika—"
"Armin." A Hand grabbed his softly, making him jump in surprise, "Calm down. We don't have time for you to get emotional right now.", The blond gasped in shock when he saw the empty look the Ackerman was giving him.
'Mikasa..?'
"Get up." She stoically whispered, helping him up before turning to walk towards the end of the roof leaving a bewildered Armin behind, "Marco, if we eliminate or bypass the titans at HQ, we can then refuel our gear, allowing us to get back over the wall. Is that assessment correct?"
"Well uh... Yeah I guess, sure. But there's just too many of them out there, even with you on poin-"
"I can do it," she affirmed, unsheathing a blade from her holsters making everyone look at her in concern. They knew she was really close to the two who died and were now looking at her in uncertainty for her next actions.
"w...what..?" Marco weakly said.
"I'm strong, real strong. None of you come close, you hear me? I AM A WARRIOR." raising her sword, successfully intimidating the other cadets on the roof, she continued, "Know this, I have the power to slay all of the titans that block our path, even if I have to do it alone. As far as I'm concerned, I am surrounded by a bunch of unskilled cowardly worms!" She exclaimed while pointing the blade at them, resulting in some of them flinching, "You disappoint me...you can just sit here, twiddling your thumbs and watch how it's done."
"Wait! Mikasa are you out of your mind?! That's crazy !! Even Coli-", a cold glare from the Asian made the girl's mouth shut with an audible click when she was about to say the black woman's name.
"You can't be serious! Trying to take them out by yourself!"
"There's no way you can hope to beat them! The strongest cadet died by their hands, you think you can win?" another one tried to reason her.
"If I can't beat them, then I die.", she turned around, "But if I win, I live. Colith only died because she decided to sacrifice herself for someone," Thomas flinched, " and that won't be my case, since I will fight!" she watched Thomas by the corner of her eye. "And You Thomas, don't go wasting my her efforts by dying like a coward when she died like a hero, you hear me?!", she shouted before taking off, not bothered to look back, leaving gaping and baffled cadets behind.