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lostinthewiind · 3 years

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Brave Heart: Chapter Five

Attack on Titan

Rating: Mature

Warnings: sexual themes, death, gore, mature themes, extreme violence, body horror, blood, weapons, major character death, age-gap relationship

"I want everyone split into four squadrons, as practised," Garrison Regiment's Captain Kitz Woermann addressed the plethora of scared-shitless cadets standing at attention before him. "All squadrons are responsible for supply-running, message relay, and enemy combat under the command of the Garrison Regiment. The intercept squadron will be taking the vanguard. Cadets will be taking the middle guard, led by the support squad. Rear guard will go to the elites. I expect you all to man your posts knowing the Advance Team had been wiped out."

Gasps echoed through the ranks.

"That's right," Kitz continued. "The outer gate is history. The Titans are in. This means the Armoured Titan is likely to reappear. If and when he does, the inner gate will also be history."

Vera swallowed hard. She had never seen the Armoured Titan with her own two eyes like she had the Colossal one, but from all accounts of those who had, it was just as terrifying and just as ruthless.

"Quiet!" Kitz silenced the murmuring. "Right. Those in the vanguard, be ready. The whole area is saturated. Your mission is a very simple one: defend the wall until the evacuation's done. Now, be aware, all of you, that desertion is punishable by execution. If it comes to it, lay down your lives! Dismissed!"

"Sir!" The cadets saluted.

At once, chaos broke out. Everyone ran, their bodies moving on autopilot, trying to find their squadrons, while their minds no doubt pondered if the risk of execution was worth fleeing and getting to live another day.

"Why did this have to happen now?" Jean buried his head in his hands, despair taking over. "Just one more day and I'd have been heading for the Interior."

As Vera marched through the courtyard, she passed by multiple cadets crumpled on the pavement. Some were praying, some were puking their guts out from the overwhelming fear, and others were simply staring wide-eyed into nothingness. Many of them seemed to be giving up before the real fight had even begun.

As Jean collected his thoughts and started walking toward his post, he bumped into Eren, of all people. Vera slowed, already knowing that with the history those two had, combined with the current high tensions, they were bound to blow up at one another.

"Move it!" Jean ordered.

Eren watched as Jean pushed past him. "What the hell, man? What's wrong with you?"

"What kind of question is that?" Jean sneered, grabbing Eren by the jacket. "We're all about to be Titan chow. You expect me to sing you a happy little song? You're loving this, aren't you, you little psycho? Of course, you are! Your whole life's aspiration is to be eaten! I was one day shy of shipping off to the MP!"

"Jean, get ahold-"

"No!" Jean screamed in Eren's face. "Not all of us are suicidal!"

"Damnit! Shut up for a second!" Eren slammed Jean into the pillar behind him. "We're trained for this! What do you think the last three years were about? We survived. We stared death in the face and we lived. Not everyone can say that, can they? Some people couldn't take it and either ran or were thrown out. Hell, some people actually died, but not us! Am I right? We powered through for three years! What's one more day? You can do this, Jean. All right? The MP will still be waiting for you tomorrow."

With that, Eren backed off and let Jean go. Head hung low, Jean muttered something under his breath as he walked off in the opposite direction. Vera could tell that, as much as he hated to admit it, he knew that what Eren had said was true.

Seconds later, one of the Elite Officers came to collect Mikasa for the rear guard. After she was whisked away, Eren took off on his own. Vera, who knew she was in the same squad as Eren, fell into pace beside him.

"Eren, can I ask you something?" Vera inquired when Eren made no move to acknowledge her presence.

Eren, who seemed to have been lost in thought, blinked in response at first. He was probably a little taken aback that Vera had chosen to speak to him first, if at all, which was an incredibly rare occurrence. "Yeah." He kept his eyes forward.

"Do you actually think humanity has a chance against the Titans? Or is it all a facade you put on because you're too afraid to admit that, without a thirst for revenge, you wouldn't know what to do with yourself?" Vera noticed Eren's shocked expression and promptly elaborated. "Blunt question, I know, and probably not worded as nicely as you might like. But someone recently pointed out to me that we have similar mindsets when it comes to the Titans. I'm just curious, is all. You don't have to answer."

Eren was silent for a minute or so as the two of them continued in the direction of where their squadron was due to meet. Then, out of nowhere, he spoke. "If humanity ever has a hope of turning the tides against the Titans, we need some serious drive and determination, and we need it now. Someone has to do it, so why not me?"

"I see." Vera nodded.

"Does that answer satisfy you?"

"I was neither looking for satisfaction nor dissatisfaction in your response. Like I said . . . just curious."

"What about you?" Eren turned the question back on her. "Do you think humanity has a chance?"

Vera forced a smile as the two of them used their ODM gear to propel themselves up onto the rooftop where Armin, Thomas, Mina, and the others of the squad were already waiting. "Ask me again after today," she told him. "That is, if there is anything left of me to ask."

Eren nodded before turning to Armin, who was staring out at the rooftops in the distance and, more importantly, the Titan heads that were bobbing between said rooftops.

"Look at it this way, Armin." Eren's voice pulled Armin back into reality. "It's a golden opportunity. I mean, if we prove our worth as soldiers, we'll rise up right through the ranks. Before long, we could even be leading our own regiment. We can bypass rookie status altogether!"

Armin, like most subjected to Eren's uncanny ability to face death with a smile, was left speechless at first. Then, as a smile that matched Eren's spread across his own face, he nodded. "Sounds good. I'm with you all the way."

Eren then turned to look at Vera. "You with us?"

Adjusting the ODM belt around her waist to ensure it was tight enough, Vera just tutted her tongue and shook her head. "Why don't we worry about one thing at a time?" She lifted her head to observe the Titans in the distance. "If I manage to make it to the end of today still able to draw breath, I'll call it a success."

"Now, now." Mina placed her hands on her hips. "You guys aren't the only ones in your class. Save some of the glory for the rest of us."

"Good luck beating us to the punch a second time," Thomas said, referring to the incident on the wall with the Colossal Titan. "No head starts for you guys this round."

Eren scoffed. "Is that a challenge?"

"Listen up. Whoever kills the most Titans gets bragging rights."

"Better not fudge your scores."

"Squadron 34, move out!" one of the Officers shouted at Vera and the others. "The vanguard needs support!"

Stepping toward the edge of the rooftop, Vera tightened her grip on the handles of her blades and got ready to leap. "Well, see you guys on the other side." She tipped over the edge before securing an anchor into the side of the next closet building. "I hope!"

Gliding through the air with her squadmates around her, Vera's eyes widened when she saw just how many Titans and just how much destruction was waiting for her and her fellow cadets closer to wall Rose. None of the Titans were anywhere near as huge as the Colossal Titan, but each one was still more than able to snatch her out of the air and swallow her whole.

The worst part about it, though, was that the Titans didn't even hunt humans for survival. As they had been taught in training, Titans killed purely for the sport of it, and Vera thought that that fact was very much visible in their cold, emotionless eyes.

The fight against the Titans was much more complicated than predator versus prey. The relationship between Titans and humans would be much better described as a sick game of cat and mouse; a sick game that humanity was always two steps behind in.

"There's so many of them!" Mina exclaimed as they got closer and closer.

"The vanguard's been completely overwhelmed!" Thomas looked around for other soldiers amidst the carnage, but they were almost impossible to locate; either because they were hiding or dead. "I don't believe this. Those guys always talk so big."

Vera opened her mouth to instruct the others to pay attention to themselves, but before she could, Eren was warning everyone about an approaching Abnormal Titan.

Leaping at the squad from the rooftop of one of the buildings, the Abnormal—a Titan that was named after its tendency to stray away from normal Titan behaviour—smashed into one of the city towers, causing the squad to scatter in mid-air.

Adjusting the aim of her anchoring, Vera made a sharp right, her body jolting harshly with the change of direction and just barely avoiding the grasp of the Abnormal.

After maneuvering around the tower that the Abnormal was now clinging to like a giant spider, Vera and the rest of the squad landed harshly on the rooftops on the other side. Eren, who was hanging from the shingles with one hand, was staring back at the Abnormal with his mouth hung open.

Following Eren's gaze, Vera felt her heart plummet to her stomach when she saw the Abnormal staring back at them, the upper half of Thomas' body hanging from its mouth. From where Vera was, she could just barely make out the subtle movements of Thomas' arms and head; he was struggling, but it wasn't anywhere near enough to wiggle his body free of the beast's jaws.

Then, in one fluid motion, the Titan threw its head back and swallowed Thomas with one gulp.

This was not the first time Vera had seen a Titan swallow someone whole, but it might as well have been with how horrified she felt about having to witness it. Not five minutes ago Eren and Thomas had been joking about who could rack up more Titan kills by the end of the day and now, Thomas was probably drowning in an Abnormal's stomach acid.

After climbing down from the tower, the Abnormal turned and sauntered off in the opposite direction, no longer concerned with Vera and the rest of squad 34.

"You bastard!" Eren screamed as he let go of the roof and took off after the Titan.

Armin and the others called after Eren, trying to get him to stop and stay with the group, but it was no use; Eren had his sights set on one thing and one thing only: killing the Titan that had just killed his friend.

"Unless we want to watch him die too, we better go help." Vera took off after Eren, determined to make Thomas the first and last cadet she would watch die that day. This goal was a lofty one, of course, but no one would have been able to predict the true horror that would unfold as the day progressed.

Unfortunately, Thomas was just one of the many brave soldiers that fell that fateful day.

Following closely behind Eren, Vera slowed her pace slightly when she spotted a Five-Meter up ahead. As Eren passed overhead of the smaller Titan, determined to take out the one who had eaten Thomas, the Five-Meter leapt up and snapped at Eren with its white, protruding teeth.

One second, Eren was moving through the air effortlessly and the next, he was sliding along one of the rooves, shingles and blood shooting up around him. When he finally skidded to a stop, Vera noticed that the lower half of his left leg was missing and he was out cold.

"Shit," Vera cursed, coming to a stop three or four buildings away from Eren.

It was then that things really took a turn for the worse.

In the panic of watching Eren go down, one of the other boys from the squad was snatched out of the sky by a Titan who had been lurking between buildings. When Mina turned to try and help the boy, the same Five-Meter that had snapped at Eren grabbed hold of her anchoring line and pulled her down onto the ground.

"Don't!" the boy cried out as the Titan held him firm in its grasp. "Please stop! I don't want to die!"

From across the way, Vera spotted Armin, who had dropped down onto his knees at the sight of his best friend lying bloody and unconscious. In a mere matter of seconds, Vera had become the only member of her squad not taken down by death, injury, or emotional anguish.

As yet another Titan approached Armin, who was still kneeling on the rooftop motionless, Vera found herself with a decision to make. Did she save the boy who she didn't even know the name of, Mina, or Armin? With the time she had left, she knew she could only rescue one of them while the other two were devoured before her very eyes.

The decision, however, was made for Vera when she locked eyes with Armin's wide, terrified trance as the bearded Titan picked him up by the back of his jacket and held him above his open mouth. As soon as Vera saw the look on Armin's face—the look of complete and utter helplessness—her body sprung into action before she knew what was happening.

"Armin!" Vera called out to him as she propelled herself toward the boy. In one quick, well-timed swoop, she snatched Armin out of the air just as the Titan had dropped him and the two of them collided into the adjacent roof together.

Untangling herself from Armin's limp limbs, Vera stared down at him, looking for any sign of injury. "Are you okay?" she asked him. Bright blue eyes as wide as dinner plates, he just nodded.

Having just lost his snack, the Titan had now turned its attention to Eren, who was still lying, seemingly unconscious, on the roof. When Armin noticed this, he made a quick switch from saying nothing at all to blubbering words so quickly it was almost completely incoherent.

"Eren! Oh, my God, Eren!" Armin called out to his best friend. "You have to save him! Please, save Eren!"

Before Vera could jump into action yet again, however, Eren was already halfway inside the Titan's mouth. Miraculously, at the last second, just before he was swallowed, he sprung to life. Using every ounce of energy he had left, Eren held open the Titan's jaws with his arms and remaining leg.

"Eren!" Armin scrambled toward the edge of the rooftop, trembling hand reaching out for his friend.

"I refuse to die like this, understand?" Eren seethed as he outstretched his hand toward Armin's. "Armin, listen. We're still going to the outside world. The things you told me about. I have to see them. I have to!"

"Eren! No!" Armin lunged forward, but before he could grab hold of Eren's hand, the Titan's mouth snapped shut, severing Eren's arm from his body and devouring the boy whole.

Tears streaming down his face, Armin watched in terror as the Titan's throat bobbed, indicating that it had swallowed Eren. Unable to control himself, he began screaming bloody murder at the top of his lungs.

Blood splatter painting her face from the force at which the Titan chomped down on Eren's arm, Vera grabbed hold of Armin and dragged him up the roof before shoving him behind a chimney for cover. She contemplated disposing of the bearded Titan before it could cause any more harm, but she knew that if she left Armin's side, his screaming would only attract more trouble and that he was in no state to defend himself.

"Armin!" Vera grabbed the boy by the shoulders and shook him hard. "Armin, snap out of it!"

Armin, however, kept wailing.

"Armin!" Vera resorted to painful stimulus and smacked him hard across the face.

Cheek red and stinging, Armin's lips quivered as he quieted down and his hand rose to cradle his injured face. "S-sorry," he apologized. "I-I just . . . Eren's dead. I let him die."

"No. We both did." Vera pulled Armin to his feet and held him up while he steadied himself. "Now, can you hold it together long enough so we can get out of here?"

Armin nodded frantically, and with little time to spare before the surrounding Titans were on them, they escaped by the skin of their teeth to a safer area of the city.

As soon as Vera and Armin had located some of the other cadets and touched down safely on a rooftop that wasn't covered in blood, Armin collapsed to his knees and promptly went into an unresponsive state. He had truly used the last of his wits to get himself out of harm's way before shutting down completely.

"What happened?!" Connie asked when he saw the blood splatter covering Vera and the pale, ghostly expression on Armin's face.

Vera didn't answer right away, however. At that moment, she was more worried about Armin. The boy was losing colour fast and starting to shake and Vera would be damned if she risked her life to save him only for him to die of shock.

"Armin! Can you hear me?" Vera shook him some more, but as beads of sweat began to drip down his face, he didn't seem any closer to being able to respond.

"Vera!" Connie shouted, ripping her hands off of Armin and forcing her to look at him. "I need you to talk to me! What happened?"

"Everyone is dead is what happened!" Vera snapped, her own expression probably one of a crazed lunatic. "Armin and I are all that's left of Squad 34. Thomas is dead . . . Mina is dead . . . Eren is dead. Everyone is dead, Connie! Are you happy now?"

Connie let go of Vera and stumbled back in horror. Vera's outburst seemed to have shut him up, but after the fact that Eren was dead had been mentioned again, Armin began to spiral once more. Hands grabbing at fistfuls of his own hair, Armin shrieked to himself as tears streamed down his cheeks.

"We've got to move on. We can't waste any more time here," Ymir said from her spot at the peak of the roof where she was keeping watch.

"How could you say that?" Connie retorted. "Look at them!"

"Sorry I don't want to end up like the rest of their squad!"

"Both of you stop it right now!" Krista stepped between the two bickering squadmates. "Look, we're all at the end of our tether, okay? We're seeing our friends being killed like animals. It's normal to be upset."

Smiling wide, Ymir threw her arm around Krista's shoulders. "Look at my Krista keeping the peace. You are so gonna have to marry me when all this crap is over."

"Yeah, well, she best get a hold of that mouth," Connie threatened before turning back to Vera and Armin. "Okay, come on, we got to get out of here. Is Armin able to stand?"

Armin's screaming had once again ceased and through sniffles and gasps for air, he stood to his feet, legs shaking all the while. "Sorry to be a nuisance," he apologized once more. "Don't worry about me. I'll rendezvous with the rear guard."

Before anyone had the chance to say a word in protest, Armin was swinging back through the city between buildings, the familiar hydraulic hiss of his ODM gear the only sound Vera could focus on.

"I'll go after him," Vera assured the others.

"Okay." Connie nodded, and before Vera could leave as well, he stopped her. "Hey, be safe."

Vera gave an acknowledging nod. "You too."

By the time Vera was able to catch up with Armin, she spotted him standing in the middle of an empty street, watching from afar as Hannah cried out to Franz, all the while giving him chest compressions with tears welling in her eyes.

"Oh, God, Armin, help me! Please!" Hannah begged when she noticed Armin. "Franz quit breathing and I can't wake him up! He won't respond to CPR!"

As Vera came to a stop on the closest rooftop, she nearly tripped over her own feet. Legs starting to give out, she dropped down onto one knee to steady herself and collect her thoughts.

"Come on, baby!" Hannah cried out as she pressed down on her boyfriend's chest again and again. "You got this! Stay with me! Somebody help us!"

As Hannah scream out, her voice breaking as the desperate pleas ripped through her throat, Armin tried his best to convince her that the ground wasn't safe. Hannah, however, was well past being reasoned with.

"No! I'm not leaving him like this!" Hannah refused.

Unable to watch the hopeless resuscitation attempt any longer, Vera descended from the rooftop and marched over to the trio. Kneeling down on the other side of Franz's lifeless body, she tore Hannah's hands off of his chest and forced the red-head to look up at her.

"Hannah, Franz is dead," Vera told her plainly. "I know that's not what you want to hear right now, but we need to get out of the open and onto the rooftops. So I need you to help me get Franz's body into one of these buildings so he doesn't get stepped on or eaten and then we need to go."

Tears dripped down Hannah's face as Vera spoke, but when all was laid out in front of her, she pulled herself together, grasped the situation, and agreed.

With the help of Hannah and Armin, who were both emotional wrecks after losing the ones closest to them, Vera instructed Hannah to remember what building they had left Franz's body in so it could be retrieved for a proper funeral once the battle had ended.

Then, with nothing left keeping them on the ground, the three of them retreated to the rooftops and searched for any remaining squads to meet up with now that they had been left to their own devices.

For a brief moment, as Vera jumped from rooftop to rooftop, the mental image of Hannah pounding on Franz's chest replayed in her head and made her think of Bertholdt and Reiner. She hadn't seen them since that morning and, as much as she didn't want to, the only thing she could do was worry about if they were dead or not.

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