"Let us sacrifice our today so that our children can have a better tomorrow" – A.P.J. Abdul Kalam
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Standing atop the battlements of the Armoury, a female Garrison soldier with deep brown hair looked out with a spyglass scanning the district of Trost for white smoke signals, these were indicators for soldiers that needed a resupply of gas and/or blades.
As she began to feel easy a flare was sent up, she immediately snapped her head towards it and pointed her spyglass towards the base of the smoke to find who send it, "White smoke, left flank, squad seventeen!" she rattled off.
Behind her a male Garrison soldier looked down to the courtyard and echoed her order down to the waiting cadets, three nodded and immediately turned and used their ODM gear to fire up the courtyard, on two of their backs covered in green cloth were spare cannisters to be swapped out with the unit's depleted ones and on the third cadet was a backpack of blades, all were securely fastened and fit horizontally on to their backs where they used two loops to hold them there, almost like a backpack, sure this made them slower and less manoeuvrable but that's why their only duty was resupply.
The three cadets disappeared over the battlements leaving one female cadet standing in the centre, this was Ruth D Kline, she was a small girl with a blonde medium length hair tied loosely back and innocent face, she was among those randomly chosen to be in the supply unit, her current duty was to organise the supply packs of gas and blades for those who went out to resupply.
Looking over her shoulder to the current stash, she saw they were getting low, and more packs needed to be made.
She'd noted that the calls for resupply had been getting more and more as the battle went on, which could mean one of two things, they were winning and needed to use more supplies to finish the Titans off or too many Titans were swarming in and overwhelming her comrades.
Quickly shaking her head of these thoughts, she knew she had to believe in her fellow cadets, after all they had trained for this moment and were even serving with experienced Garrison units who were sure to look after them all, there really was nothing to worry about.
She looked over to the small number of soldiers who remained to guard the Armoury, there wasn't many but that was mostly due to many being on re-supply, many who hadn't returned yet.
There had been no information on how things had been progressing, within the enclosed walls of the Armoury you would not even realise Trost was being attacked and she couldn't lie that it made her feel nice, like she was safe from whatever was going on out there.
Walking over to a dumped pile of empty gas canisters, she picked as many up as she could and bundled them into her arms, she'd taken her ODM gear off as it made her more agile and quicker and around here that could be needed especially if multiple calls for supplies went out; it was also a good idea to avoid damaging the equipment, with all she had been carrying stuff could easily fall and damage the very sensitive parts of the equipment which would be a nightmare to get fixed.
She turned with the bundle to face the large doorway that went down into the cellar, it was only now that she noted the lack of others like her, the ones tasked with supplying the resupply units, there were a few of them but none were currently in the courtyard.
Shrugging Ruth assumed they were all in the cellar, there wasn't exactly many of them in the first place so it wouldn't be surprising for them all to be down there at one point.
Humming as she began walking down the stairs, she took no notice of the lack of noise coming from the cellar, instead she focused on re-adjusting her empty cannisters so they wouldn't fall, having got them sorted she looked ahead and just saw darkness, she wanted to curse whoever made these stairs so creepy, would it have killed them to put a few more torches here and there to brighten the hall up.
Rolling her neck, she saw the slightly better lit Cellar casting a small glow at the bottom of the stone stairs, still the only noise was the sound of her boots in the stone with the occasional drip of water hitting the floor.
She entered the dimly lit cellar lined with shiny gas drums, looking around she saw a few shadows dancing around, none were particularly clear, but it just meant that her comrades were down here, but whatever was taking them so long was not obvious to her.
She placed her cannisters down near a half full gas drum before catching light in the left corner of her eye, turning fully she saw the large wooden doors to the street had been opened wide, she cocked an eyebrow to this and made her way over, there was no sign of a cart having entered but maybe it had left.
As she stood in front of it she noticed that the outside had become dark, grey clouds were passing over and there was smoke in the air from both the cannons and flare guns, she looked outside but couldn't see a reason why the door was opened, shrugging she stepped back in and pushed the left door shut, "I'm gonna close this up, unless there's a reason for this to be open?" she called out to the shadows but got no response.
Shrugging again she grabbed the other door and closed it before pushing down the heavy bolts to lock them shut, turning she spotted a hunched over figure in front of a gas drum who seemed to be occupied with something in front of them, she decided to let them be assuming they were struggling with the gas nozzle.
She went back to her hum as she walked past the wooden lift that went to and from the centre of the Armoury along with a small wooden staircase that came down beside it, these were just secondary smaller or emergency entrances and exits in case you were stuck within the Armoury itself.
Looking back to her drum she saw the cannisters she had brought down were still there awaiting refilling, she picked the first one up from her pile and began to fill it in a relative silence, the only noise being that of the hiss of gas coming out.
As it finished she put it too her right and catching a glimpse of movement from the corner of her eye, snapping her head to look she realised it had passed, trying to squint yielded no results, "Gah, why can't they light it up more here" she grumbled again, in truth she knew why there was the most minimal of torches, fire and gas didn't exactly make the best mix, but since it was their only way of seeing it was best to stick to the minimum amount possible, but it did still annoy her.
Filling her next one up she heads more noise around her, that of shuffling feet, though she didn't spare it a second thought, it was just the other suppliers taking their cannisters back up to the courtyard though there was a distinct lack of metal clanging.
She put anther filled cannister down and picked up a third to repeat the process, but she was interrupted by an unusual sound, that of a snapping sound, it echoed around the room as she froze in place, it wasn't the snapping of a twig or anything like that no, it was a heavy and thick snap, the sound of snapping bone.
"H-Hello…" Ruth muttered into the darkness keeping her fingers clutched to the cylinder, there was no response but the sound of dragging but then it stopped then continued again, then stopped and continued, something was dragging itself towards her.
She squinted to try and see better into the darkness, but nothing changed around her as the noise got closer and closer until she could make out a small figure on the ground, she peered to make it out as it come closer and into the light.
She saw the arms first covered in the leather jacket all soldiers wore but this one was tattered and stained with red flecks, the hand reached and grabbed one of the floor bricks to pull the rest forward, but now heavy steps were following the dragging sounds.
"Help…" a weak gargle came out, Ruth couldn't move as she watched the figure dragged itself closer soon bringing the head into the light, she recognised the head as one of the other cadets who's been with her on organising the supply packs.
She was about to run to go help him but as he pulled himself closer his back legs came into view, or rather what was left of them.
Behind him was a trail of blood sourcing from the stumps where his legs used to be, looking to them she saw they were tattered, the jeans were ripped or rather torn and the red flesh as the same, they legs had been roughly removed, as if they were bitten off.
Ruth froze in fear as realisation hit her, the open door, the lack people and this, it all resulted in one possible solution.
The boy looked up to her with fear in his eyes as blood trailed down his mouth, he extended a hand towards Ruth in desperation, "P-Please, help" he wimped out "Ti…" but he didn't get to let out he last words as a large hand stretched from the darkness and grabbed his upper body pulling his upwards.
His screams of terror echoed out as he was pulled up and a large set of jaws appeared from the shadows and stuck his head between the teeth before biting down with a disturbing crunching and squelch making the cellar fall silent again, the only noises that echoed around was the sound of bone being snapped and flesh squelching while Ruth let out a whimper facing the shadows.
She slowly walked back and stepped onto one of the cylinders slipping over it and falling onto her rear sending the one she was clutching bouncing off the ground and at the sound of a swallow, the monster emerged from the shadow, it had small beady black eyes and dark hair and a large, bloodied mouth that seemed to be smiling.
It reached down for Ruth, but she regained her senses just in time and dove out of the way and quickly scrambled to her feet and bolted towards the door, but as she did another one jumped from the shadow on her right and grabbed a hold of the sleeve on her jacket, but she didn't try and stop to break free instead she pulled against it before she ripped free leaving her sleeve in its arm.
She heard noise all around her, but she didn't look back, she sprinted for the stone stairs, she remembered who was atop of them and let out a scream "HELP TITANS" she continued to scream hoping the soldiers with the equipment to handle them would hear her.
She stumbled as she got close to the stairs but swiftly reached out and grabbed a hold of the stairs to help her haul herself up, as she tried to move, she felt sharp pain go over her right ankle, she must have twisted it upon falling, she looked back to see if she could haul herself up, but what she saw scared her unbelievably.
Six Titans loomed over her each with its bloodied mouth agape, bits of flesh and clothes still clung to each tooth, Ruth screamed as she desperately crawled up the stairs as fast as she could, but the Titans were quicker.
Swiftly one grabbed onto her injured foot making her cry out in pain, she glanced back and kicked it with her other foot, digging her heel into its eye making it yell out in pain as it stumbled back clutching at it and even blocking the other Titans, this allowed the girl to get to her feet and hobble up the stairs driven only by adrenaline.
She didn't dare look back, she knew the others were scrambling for her so she just kept moving, she knew she couldn't go faster but it was better than just sitting there.
She could see the light at the top of the stairs getting closer so she screamed out again hoping the soldiers would hear to come help her, but she didn't see any movement, she wished, no she begged that she would just be helped already.
She screamed again but there was no response, she didn't understand why they couldn't hear her, she wasn't far now surely, they must have heard her, in the pit of her stomach Ruth felt something was wrong but she couldn't worry about that now, she kept pushing getting closer and closer to the light feeling the Titan's right behind her.
Swiftly she leapt out of the doorway and fell face first into the ground, she spun and pointed tot eh darkness, "TITAN'S THEY'RE IN THE CELLAR!" She screamed for them all to hear but there was no response.
She looked around and saw just why none had responded to her calls, the courtyard was a horror show.
Blood was splattered across the walls and floor along with the body parts they had come from; ahead of her a young cadet who'd seemingly returned from a resupply was scrambling backwards, his backpack was still on, but he was oblivious to this as his eyes were focused on the threat in front of him.
A large 10 metre Titan stumbled towards him; its hand stretched out towards the boy trying to grab him, but he was just barely keeping out of it's grasp but he was so panicked he didn't notice the other Titan's coming from around him.
Ruth tried to shout out a warning, but it was too late, he backed right into the leg of another, he looked up in horror as the Titan smiled a large toothy grin at him seemingly being oblivious to what it was going to do.
He tried to scramble away but before he got far it had bent down and grabbed him by the head with his teeth, the boy let out screams of terror as he was pulled up, he tried desperately to pull his head free, but it was no use.
The Titan he was originally scrambling from quickly grabbed a hold of the boys waist and pulled his lower half into its mouth, he tired desperately to kick it away, but it was far stronger than him forcing his struggling legs inside before biting down.
Ruth watched in shock as the boy was ripped in half, the Titan's splitting him in half between them, his blood splattering at their feet.
She covered her mouth to silence her whimper, but it would be no use as a large shadow overcast her.
She looked back to see the Titan's from the basement had come up and were now standing around her, she felt the tears streak down her cheeks as the pain in her ankle intensified but she tried to run away regardless, she wanted to live.
She didn't get far through, swiftly one of the Titan's leapt forward and sunk it's teeth into her shoulder as the others swarmed around her, another bit swiftly and deep into her injured leg and took it off leaving blood to gush to the floor as they began to fight for her.
She screamed in terror as they all sunk their teeth into her pulling in different directions until the one who bit her shoulder decided to take a bigger bite, it pulled off allow a screaming and teary eyed Ruth to look it in the eyes before it opened it's mouth wide and took her whole head and shoulders in one go.
With a hair raising tear of flesh and snapping of bones, the courtyard went silent as Ruth could no longer scream, her body being torn asunder by the Titan's.
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On the East side of Trost, over the river that came through the district connecting it to the others, a single 10 metre titan was marching through the streets, its mouth was partly agape with bits of flesh and clothes dangling from between its teeth.
Its head was tilted back slightly, swaying side to side with each large step that was taken over the bloodied streets where the remains of corpses were still littered.
It seemed to be a common occurrence with the Titan's that they'd not eat the whole body of their victims, instead they'd usually take one large bite out of a person and forget about the remainder of the body, discarding what was left of the floor as they walked on to find another meal.
This Titan was no different, far behind it but on the same street was the remains of a cadet, the left half of his upper body was missing, the remaining part of his face was streaked with terror almost like a frozen image of the moment he died thought it was hard to tell with the blood covering him.
The Titan had moved on, not paying a second thought to the remains of an innocent boy it left behind, instead it looked to another cadet standing on a roof ahead, he was a tall boy with short black hair and freckles across his face, this was Marco.
He stood his ground facing the Titan down as it bumbled its way towards him, occasionally bumping into buildings and taking chucks of rood off littering the ground with tiles but this didn't faze the monster as it headed straight for Marco who shuffled his feet uncomfortably but stayed where he was.
Soon the Titan was looming over his with it's large smile opening slightly ready to eat him as it stared down at the smaller boy, it raised a hand to grab at Marco but as its hand came down, Marco depressed his gas triggers that pulled him towards his hooks that he'd pre-fired to a nearby roof pulling his safely out of the way, "Reiner, Bertholdt, now!" he exclaimed.
Behind two buildings the two other boys swing around the sides and hook into the ankles of the Titan and depressing their gas triggers partly to fire them towards to target before using their blades to slice a clean chuck out of both ankles making the Titan stumble backwards and grab onto the nearby roofs to keep it upright.
Swiftly however, Marco comes back around and sliced though the right shoulder, deep enough to cut nerves and severing the use of the right arm while Jean comes out from behind the roofs and does the same to the right arm.
Now the Titan, without its left arm holding it up, fell into the building allowing the final soldier, Annie to come in from behind, zipping over the carnage and getting a bit of height before firing her hooks into the exposed nape and firing herself towards it, slicing downwards to cut a large chunk out killing it instantly.
Annie landed on an intact roof as the rest of the unit arrive around her, "Good work guys, that's number four down" Marco praised patting Reiner on the shoulder who was the nearest to him.
"It's good progress but I do wonder how the other units are doing…" Reiner muttered turning around to look over Trost where the heads of Titan's bobbed up and down over the roofs as smoke rose from across the north of town where units were calling for resupply or Titan bodies were evaporating, "…So many calls for resupply, so soon…"
"It's worrying, how many Titans must there be in Trost for people to be going through their supplies that quickly" Bertholdt muttered adjusting his footing.
"It's not our problem in the end" Jean scoffed tuning his back on the other areas, "All the Titan's are swarming over the west side and the centre, they're barely coming over here, the way I see it we should enjoy our quiet time" he said deliberately avoiding looking to the streets below.
Marco looked round to Jean, "How could you say that; those are out friends out there, our comrades!" he snapped glaring at Jean who didn't turn around.
"They may be yours but they're not mine, I couldn't care what's happening to them over there, all I know is that I'm safe and in a better position this side of the river, why don't you guys count yourselves lucky too, this is the best place to be" he commented staring at the wall.
"The small bridge crossing means the really large Titans do not try and get over here and even then, most of the trade ships weren't here this morning, so the number of people here was far fewer than those over in the residential areas meaning the Titan's don't really care to come over here, in fact by now I'm sure the only ones coming over are due to us being here as all the civilians have evacuated by now" he scoffed shrugging his shoulders.
Jean turned his body so only the wall was in his sight line, "Can we just retreat already?" he questioned not wanting to look around to the streets below feeling sick just thinking about what was below.
As the body of the Titan began to steam up Marco stormed up to Jean and spun him around to look him dead in the eye, "What is your problem Jean, looks down there, people are dying everywhere even here in your safe area!" he snapped pulling his face closer to his, but Jean's eyes were cast downwards towards the bloodied floor.
He couldn't tear his eyes away from the few bodies that littered the street, Marco followed his gaze until he was looking at the bodies himself, "That's what's happening everywhere Jean, we can't just forget about our comrades out- ".
"I know damnit!" He snapped shoving himself away from Marco to turn back to the wall, "You think I don't know that, why the hell do you think I want out of here, I don't want to end up like them, I want to live, I want to see my mother again, I don't want to end up in the belly of some Titan!" he exclaimed venting all his frustrations to no one in particular.
Marco watched Jean feeling sorry for his friend, he understood where he was coming from, if he was honest he felt the same, he didn't want to be here, he wanted to be with his family but in his heart he knew they didn't have a choice so he had to suppress these doubts and worries, they couldn't just let the innocent civilians get hurt, they'd trained for this and Marco knew they had their duty.
"Jean…" Marco said kindly touching his friend's shoulder, "It'll be okay, it's like you said, the civilians are sure to be evacuated by now, I'm sure the order to retreat will come soon then you can go see your mother" he smiled but he gave no response he simply focused on the wall not wanting to face the carnage.
Reiner and Bertholdt watched them, staying in silence before they walked away to look out for more approaching Titans meanwhile Annie was in her own world, she was looking out over the districts with Jean's words hanging in her mind, "All the Titans are swarming over the west side and the centre…".
He was right, those areas held the most people so the Titans would of course head for there, they were always drawn to the biggest human presence, it was the reason there were outcroppings on the walls, to draw the Titans to one location.
"The west side…" she whispered to herself, she'd memorised the squad locations or at least those that were important, mainly where the squad of the two people she cared about where, "Mina… Eren…" she muttered again but the others weren't listening, "They were on the west side…" she muttered in almost disbelief.
If the smoke signals were true, it meant that the other squads must be really struggling, which meant their squad must be too.
As she looked over the field a single flare caught her eye, it wasn't like the other white ones, no it was that of a black signal flare, it had been up a little while, but she had paid it no mind, it didn't concern her, as the Lieutenant said, that was an abnormal and it was for the Elite to deal with.
Only now though did Annie realise that the flare was coming from the far west side near the area when Eren and Mina's squad would be operating.
Her mind was now battling with two sides, on the one hand she knew she had her duty to perform on the East of town, but the other half desperately wanted to go and check out that signal, she needed to know there were okay, that they had retreated and gotten away safely.
"Just trust me okay, I'll see you after" Annie remembered Mina's words so perfectly, the last words she'd heard her say, "Besides how tough can those big lumbering idiots be" she remembered how she had giggled at that, she had such confidence about her, she was ready to go in.
Thinking on this she realised there had been no parting words between her and Eren, she hadn't gotten to say goodbye to him, only Mina, that thought made her clench her fists as she regretted not being able to talk to him one last time before the battle; but she knew Eren, just like Mina he was confident and was ready to do what was necessary.
"They know what they're doing" Annie muttered forcing herself to tear her eyes from the smoke signal and look down to the roof, "They trained for this, this is our duty to perform, this is what will and has to happen" her stomach began to churn as she felt sick, the words almost made her gag.
It wasn't something she wanted to say but she had no choice, she had to force herself away from her attachments towards the two, she had a duty to perform, and nothing could get in the way of that.
She spun around so her back faced the rest of Trost, but her head remained down as she took slow breaths, "This is why you can't make friends Annie, they just get in the way" she cursed herself as two figured approached her.
"Annie…" a warm voice muttered, she immediately looked up to face them, but her breath immediately caught as her eyes went wide in shock, the world around her seemed to fade into white nothingness as she focused on the two figures in front of her.
"Mina… Eren…" she whispered, her conflicted feelings returning in an instant as she looked them up and down but dare not move, just how had these two become so interlinked in her life, no matter what she did she couldn't just forget about them, they were the only ones who stayed with her no matter what, but why, how could she forget about her other comrades but these two would always remain with her.
"Annie…" Mina muttered flashing her warm and happy smile, the one that made everything feel okay.
"Annie…" Eren now said getting her attention, he grinned his stupid confident grin, the one that used to irritate Annie so much but now, she almost found it amusing.
"Why you two, why are you the ones who got to me so much…" she said not thinking about the world around her, just focusing on her two friends in front of her.
Her closets friends, or as Mina had put it, "Best friend…" Annie repeated the words.
"Annie…" a voice shook her from her thoughts, Mina and Eren were gone and now Reiner and Bertolt were stood in front of her with confused expressions, "Are you still with us, it's time to move!" Reiner snapped shaking her shoulders.
Annie looked to the two, her mind still a mess as a million thoughts raced through but neither boy noticed instead Reiner just continued shaking her as Bertolt unsheathed his blades and look over to Jean and Marco who were still distracted, "Hurry up Reiner!" he whispered.
"I'm trying, something is wrong with Annie!" he whispered back with a hint of concern in his voice.
"I'm fine!" Annie snapped pushing Reiner away from her, "Just get the hell off me and stop shaking me!" she continued her look changing one of anger to warn him off.
"Fine, just hurry up!" he hissed as he pulled out his own blades and looked to Annie expectingly, but she didn't do the same, instead the blonde immediately turned her back to him and looked back over to the black flare, "What's wrong with you now!?".
Annie ignored him as her memories of the two she cared about all come back, "Best friends…" she muttered again but this time the two heard her and shared a confused look.
"Damn right, you're stuck with me permanently Annie" she thought on these words, and she grabbed her handles and pulled out her blades, both boys looked back at each other and shook their heads before looking back to Marco and Jean.
"I'm sorry, but they need me!" These were the last word they heard from Annie before the sound of ODM Gear would be heard whizzing away.
Both immediately snapped around seeing the figure of Annie retreat into the distance, "Annie, what the hell are you doing!" Reiner screamed after her, but she was too far away, but this did alert the other two boys to come and look too.
"Guys what's going on?" Marco said looking around as he pulled his blades out and Jean did the same, assuming there was a threat approaching.
Bertholdt looked round, "Annie just ran off, she muttered something about someone needing her" he said truthfully before looking back unable to locate her now as she disappeared into the maze of building the other side of the river
"We have to go after her" Marco immediately said, "All the civilians must be cleared from here by now, we need to go help the other units anyway, for all we know that might be what Annie's doing anyway!" he ordered before jumping off to follow her, swiftly followed by Bertholdt.
Jean scowled and looked away, "Who cares, let her go die, I'm getting out of here" he said walking away before he was grabbed by Reiner who spun him around, "What! Get off me!".
"Don't you even try and run Jean" he hissed glaring him down, "Those are my friends and comrades out there risking their lives, and you're not going to just abandon them" he said throwing Jean towards the roof's edge, "Now come on!" he snapped.
Jean was about to open his mouth to protest but a swift glare from Reiner immediately stopped him, "Tch, fine I'm going" Jean grumbled as he jumped and engaged his equipment, swiftly followed by Reiner muttering obscenities.
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Large men were pushing the cart desperately trying to fit I through the gate as the large crowd began to get more and more irritated but where being kept back by the that these men possessed being far large than any of them, but this didn't stop them yelling obscenities.
"Get out the way already!"
"Come on move!"
"The Titans will be on us soon!"
A very fat man in a rather expensive looking suit stood at the back of the wagon flanked by two bodyguards with an irritated look growing across his face, he looked around to the angry crowd with a furious look, "I don't give a damn what you lot want, that wagon contains all my business and its far more important that any of you!" he snapped, his cheeks puffing out and getting red in anger.
"Who cares about your business!" a voice snapped from the front, a young lad stepped forward to shout in his face, "If we stay here, we'll all be devoured, do you wanna die!" she screamed grabbing the shoulder of the man.
He was immediately shoved off and grabbed by the cuff of his shirt by the fat man who glared down at him, "Do you know who I am! I am Dimo Reeves, owner of the Reeves Company, the man responsible for feeding you and you family, so take my word when I say that cart is worth more than all your lives combined!" he screamed into the mans face casing spit onto him from how close he got.
"If you want to get out of here quicker, I suggest you get up thee and push my cart!" he shouted before throwing the man backwards into the crowd, "That goes for all of you, if you want to live, I suggest you get pushing, none of you are going anywhere until my cart in through that gate!".
A few reluctantly gave into the demands and began to help push but anyone could easily see it was hopeless, even if the cart got into the archway. it would just get stuck within the gate itself so no one could get through, this began the shouting from the crowd anew.
At the back, a small blonde girl's hand was being tightly held onto by her mother, "Mommy, are we going to get out soon?" she asked, not sure what was going on as she couldn't see over the crowd.
Her mother looked down a smiled warmly, "Don't worry Louise, we'll be out soon, you just have to wait a little longer" she answered trying to sound as confident as possible as to not worry her daughter though she couldn't help but look back over her shoulder.
The main road was empty, only littered with discarded items and trampled stalls, she looked all the way down the straight lane until she saw the building at the end which divided the road into two and went further into Trost.
She couldn't see down these lanes, the buildings got in the way, and this worried her, she wouldn't know of a Titan being there until it was staring her straight down, the crowd ahead was so dense they couldn't push through and the buildings either side were locked, likely by greedy businesspeople who didn't want to be broken into, even if the city had fallen.
This all meant that should a Titan come, it would pick her and her daughter as the first target's.
She let out a held breath in frustration as she looked ahead again hoping for any change but there was none, she was too far away to hear the details of what exactly was happening but from what she could see they were not moving for a while still.
Louise was beginning to get bored; she began to tap her feet to get some amusement, but it didn't last long, eventually she began to let her eyes wonder but there wasn't much to see, the wall of people in front blocked most of her view.
She looked in the shop window on her left and made a funny face at herself which amused her again as the noise of the people began to pick up and more shouting echoed out on the empty street.
Louise looking into the shop to see an array of dark shelves with all sorts of jars lining them, but she couldn't work out what was in them, in the centre of the room was the only other thing she could see, a few small cups placed on a counter side.
She could see they were all filled with water, all at different heights, a single drop came down and landed inside one of the partly filled ones, looking up she saw a wet patch on the roof with small drops of water falling, she briefly ponded where this could have come from, maybe there was a leek from a pipe above or there had been a spill on the upper floor as it was tailing down.
Ultimately, she didn't know why the water dripped but it did occupy her for some time, she looked back around to her mother, "Are we going yet?" she asked in an innocent voice, oblivious to the shouting.
Her mother looking down and shook her head slowly but kept a sweet smile as she gently stroked Louise's hair before looking back ahead.
Louise looked back to the water and let her mind wander with that a while, trying to imagine just how much water was already there and how much would keep dripping.
But as she stared at the cups intently, she noticed the water inside begin to shake. Not violently but it was noticeable, and before it settled it happened again then again and again.
This greatly intrigued Louise who shook her mother's hand, "Mummy look, the water is shaking" her mother looked down and followed her daughters point seeing the cups herself and indeed they were shaking, though wobbling or rippling might have been a better word to use.
She watched them too seeing the water move about in the cups, as if they were reacting to something but there was nothing other than the water droplets.
As she watched, she realised there was a patten to the rippling, it was almost following a beat, she counted in her head as she noticed there was about a two or three second interval between each vibration.
Her heart sank as she watched the water, it wasn't a strange phenomenon that the water was moving, it was reacting to something, reacting to vibrations.
She looked down the road again but now something new was there, a man was stumbling down the street, he seemed dazed as his head waved from side to side but he was too far away for her to really see what was wrong.
Then she heard it, the heavy thump of footsteps, the people immediately silenced and looked back down the road now all seeing the man, again the step echoed out, being amplified by the tall buildings around them.
As the next step rang out, and large hand came out from the right side of the road, grabbing onto the building as another step come out bringing a large body with it at the end of the road, in another large step, the rest of the body came too.
The Titan was fat and stood around 13 metres, it looked down the left road before slowly turning its head to look down the road and the mass crown of civilians still trapped.
It had a large toothy smile across it's bloodied face, with piercing dark eyes and brown hair that was pointed upwards, its large arms dangled by the side of its large belly where more blood was trailing down.
Not one person made a sound, hoping that the Titan somehow didn't seem them, but I most certainly could.
In a flash, its legs turned to face the crowd and the Titan moved in a burst of speed, it began to charge down the road stepping on the dazed man but paying no man as it made a beeline for the large meal.
Louise was frozen in shock as the crowd began to panic, trying to desperately get through the gate but there was no way through and nowhere else to go.
Louise stood still as her mother pulled her into her arms in a vain attempt to keep her safe as the stayed as close to the wall as possible, her mother praying to whatever deities there were to save them in that moment.
The steps were getting heavier and louder by the second as the Titan got closer and closer, many cowered in fear as others tried to fight through the panicking crowd but only manged to fall underfoot and be trampled.
Dimo leaned against his cart in horror as the Titan got larger and its mouth opened ready to bite into the first thing it could, its arms dangled behind it as it now sprinted from the crowd looking like it was simply going to dive into them.
As it was almost on top of them, Louise's mother peaked her eyes open to take one last look at her daughter, gently cupping her face before pulling her close hiding her eyes from seeing the horror that was about to unfold.
Two female figures burst out from around the buildings behind Louise and her mother, blowing their hair around but not stopping, both fired hooks into the Titans leg before propelling themselves in and slicing through the points connecting the feet to the legs, with their blades cutting through and coming out at the ankle.
Immediately the Titan tumbled forwards, its body crashing into the cobbled road, but it didn't stop, its left hand reached out to grab for someone nearby but in a flash its hand was sliced off and before it could move it's other a large bulky man landed on the back of the Titan's neck pushing its head down and making a clean slice down its nape making it go limp and lifeless.
As stream began to rise from the body, the crowd remained frozen in shock staring solely at the Titan in fear that it would rise up and move again.
The other three soldiers jumped from the roof and landed on the ground with one landing on the back of the Titan corpse with his comrade, "You're safe now, but you need to evacuate now, the Titans are getting closer!" Ian said looking to the scared crowd, but one could move still frozen in fright.
"Damnit, get a move on you then you idiots!" Dimo exclaimed the only one who was able to get to his senses, "Get my damn cart through that gate" he shouted to his subordinates, but they were too stunned to move.
"What the hell are you doing down there!" Ian exclaimed now seeing the cart wedged within the gate and understanding why so many were still around, "Get that cart moving!" he ordered but Dimo didn't listen.
Instead, he snapped around to stare Ian down, "If you have any sense soldier, you'll order these people to help me push my cart through this gate!" he shouted, spit flying from his mouth in frustration, "I feed you sorry excuses for Titan fodder, so you have the duty to get my supplies through those gates!".
This pushed Ian too far, he didn't care who Dimo was or how important he may be, no one trapped innocent civilians or disrespected the lives of his soldiers, the lives they were willing laying down so this asshole to escape.
But instead of getting angry and snapping at him, Ian simply turned his back, "Mitabi… move him…" he whispered.
Mitabi looked to him and nodded in understanding as he sheathed his blades and walked through the crowd.
Dimo has turned back around and was now barking orders for his people to move but not one wanted to, but he swiftly fell silent as he saw a large shadow overcast him, slowly turning around he came face to face with the stomach of the much taller and imposing Mitabi.
He stepped back in shock, pushing his back against his cart as he heard the unsheathing of a blade, looking down he saw Mitabi taking out his left side weapon and begin to visually look it over, "Do you want to know something interesting?" he asked calmly not caring if Dimo answered or not.
"When we kill Titan's we have to be careful how much weight we put behind the blade, as even though they are made of ultra hard steel, Titan skin is so incredibly thick that it can blunt or in some cases break the blade" he said looking to his blade and gently running his hand over it, "Now when it breaks that's easy to tell, a massive crack in the blade or it's simply shattered, but blunted is a different story".
"You see you need a pretty keen eye to spot a blunted blade at just a look, like my comrades over there but you see, my eyes aren't like there's, my eyes are extremely bad in fact, there's only one way I can tell if my blade blunted or not…" He swiftly moved his blade forward crossing it across Dimo's throat as the man yet out a small yelp of fear, "I need to test it on something soft and fleshy, you seem to fit those needs" he grinned seeing the small man squirm.
Dimo was too scared to even swallow the lump in his throat due to the blade being practically on his skin, "Wha-" he tried to ask but incoherent squeaks were all that came out.
Mitabi moved his face in closer until he was only inches from Dimo's plump face, "Move the fucking cart" he hissed in a deadly tone.
Dimo let out a noise of understanding and beckoned his men to pull the cart out which the swiftly did almost happy to be able to escape themselves; once the exit was opened Mitabi pulled his blade back, "Everyone get out now!" he exclaimed and without question every civilian ran for the exit gate including Dimo's own men.
Dimo put his hand to his neck as he fell to his knees breathing heavy sighs of relief, as he did, he felt a warmth passing over his fingers, pulling a hand away he saw it was smeared in blood, Mitabi saw this and looked at his blade seeing a small trail of blood along the blade dribbling down, "Huh, seems it was still sharp, that's good" he commented before sheathing his blade and walking back to his squad.
"You won't get away with this!" Dimo snapped suddenly confident.
Mitabi glanced over his shoulder but didn't stop moving, "Who will believe you, the officer didn't see a thing" he smugly stated leaving Dimo to his own devices.
Mikasa watched this unfold from beside Rico who was watching out for more Titan's coming down the street.
As she watched the civilians evacuate, she couldn't help but notice that there were two who weren't moving, a mother and child who were bundled in the corner, the mothers arm wrapped protectively around her child in an effort to protect her.
Both were staring at Mikasa in amazement likely due to her having helped save their lives, she slowly walked up to them and gave as soft a smile as she could, "You're safe now, you need to get out of here" she said kindly kneeling down to get on their level.
Slowly they stood and smiled back at her, "Thank you…" the mother quietly muttered, "For keeping my child safe…" she added holding her close still.
Mikasa smiled and nodded, as the small girl smiled to her, "What's you name?" she asked rather bluntly but it didn't worry her.
"Mikasa" she answered.
"I'm Louise" she smiled brightly and waved as they said one more thank you and followed the crowd to the exit, Mikasa giving her own small wave back.
"Didn't think you had emotions" Rico remarked standing behind her observing the usually stoic girl, "Looks like I was wrong".
Mikasa turned to her to see Rico's attention was in fact solely on her, "I do, I only show them for important people, those I consider close to my heart" she gently grabbed her scarf and pulled it tighter as it had been blown loose by the wind, "I can't afford to let someone in who I'll just lose" she muttered.
"Closed your heart off huh?" Rico muttered turning away to face the titan and seeing its bones were beginning to show, "Isn't the first time I've heard that…" she muttered with the intention to only to herself, but Mikasa did or at least she heard parts, enough to make her curious.
"Sargent? Did you say something?" Rico looked back at her; her usual serious expression had returned.
"It was nothing cadet, you just reminded me of someone is all" she answered, Mikasa did not need to know the workings of Rico's mind, she highly doubted the young girl could understand or comprehend what Rico thought of and dealt with on a daily basis, so it was best to keep her in the dark, it wasn't worth the time of the effort for her, especially when they have more important issues to handle.
Though Rico did know her answer was a bit vague, so thought it may be best to shut down any further questions, "It was just someone I knew, they shut their heart off to all those around them as well, but unlike you, they didn't let anyone in, ever" she couldn't help the sound of bitterness in her words, but with her history she simply couldn't help it, some wounds just couldn't be fixed.
Before Mikasa could open her mouth to speak, she was abruptly cut off by Ian, shouting from the roof, "Rico, Mikasa, form up on me!" he ordered having gone up while the two were talking.
They both nodded and made their way to the roof and were now standing among the other members of the Elite Squad, all having been called in by Ian, "Looks like that's the last of the evacuees" he said looking around the empty streets knowing if no one had made it by now, they wouldn't have made it at all.
"Time to pull out, Mitabi, go and get the gate lowered, we'll stay here until it's closed just in case, we'll pull out once it sealed" Ian ordered and received a nod in response before Mitabi propelled himself over the wall, "Rico, send out the retreat signal for the Cadets and Vanguard".
Rico looked at him hesitantly, "Are you sure sir…" she questioned, a large Titan had just made it all the way through from the entrance to the rear gate, the only other ones had been small and easily missed, but something that large, and covered in all that blood, "That Titan…" she went to question.
"I know Sargent, but there may still be those out there that need to pull out, send the signal" Ian firmly stated not allowing the pessimistic Rico to continue her thoughts.
With a small sigh she pulled out a flair gun and fired a single green signal into the air sending a trail of green smoke with it as the rear gate began to close, she placed her gun away and turned to begin her own retreat.
Mikasa however couldn't turn to leave, she faced out over the smoking remnants of the fallen Trost with a heavy heart, they hadn't heard a word about what was going on at the front for hours now, and earlier she had seen a black flare fire up from the East side of town, but I had faded a while ago, but she couldn't help but be worried.
Where were Eren and Armin, she didn't know if they were in trouble or should the worse of happened, she was sure they knew to retreat back to her, she had insisted after all but if it had happened, where were they now.
"Akerman, come on we're pulling out" Ian said walking up to the girl who had become lost in her own world but quickly snapped back upon Ian addressing her.
"Sorry sir, but what about the others?" she questioned knowing that if she pulled out now, there was no way she could come back to support her friends should it be needed, she'd be turning her back on them to get to safety, "Shouldn't we look for them, they could be trapped somewhere!?".
"We've done all we can, the retreat's been signalled, they have to get out themselves, Trost is in the hands of the Titans now, if we go searching for them, we'd just end up with more casualties, we have to hope they can get out themselves" he sighed while resting a hand on his ODM gear, "Listen, I know those are your friends out there, some of mine are out too, but we don't even know where they are and won't do anything for them if we go running off to our deaths in a hopeless search".
"Their best chance is for us to pull back and rally our forces for a retrieval operation, and we'll need our best with us when we do, you're a good soldier Akerman, you can go places so don't go throwing your life away in a hopeless search" he added before turning to walk away, "Now come on, we should stay too long".
Mikasa began to reluctantly follow but something stopped her, a feeling deep in her gut, that something was very wrong, she couldn't tell what it was or why it was happening to her, but she couldn't drop this feeling.
It made her feel weak and sickly, almost like an invisible force was wrapping around her, a cold shudder went up her spine and she froze in place, something had gone very wrong, she didn't know how her body knew something was wrong, but it did, and she knew she just couldn't leave without knowing her friends were okay.
"I'm sorry sir" she muttered regretfully making the Lieutenant look around at her.
"What are you on about Akerman?" he questioned with a cocked eyebrow.
"I have to know if they're okay, or if…" she trailed off, slowly unsettling her blades and before Ian could get a word out to stop her, she'd turned and jumped from the roof, propelling herself deep into Trost district.
"Damnit Akerman, get back here!" he shouted after her, but it was no use, she was beyond listening to reason, that was if she even could here him by then, "Fucking kid!" he grumbled to himself before pulling out his own blades.
"Rico! Take command and regroup the survivors, I'm going after her!" Ian shouted as he leapt from the roof to pursue to young girl, while Ian knew his duty as the ranking officer, it wasn't in his nature to just let someone run off into immediate danger when he could do something to save them especially someone as young and skilled as Mikasa.
Rico watched the retreating figures with a small scowl on her face, "Damn idiot" she muttered before turning her back on Trost and using her ODM gear to reach the safety of the high wall.
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