Chapter Text
The rhythmic, deafening toll of the Garrison retreat bell began to echo across the district, but to my ears, the sound was completely warped. Every noise was almost deafening since the punch, the heavy iron tolling vibrated violently inside my skull, sending a nauseating heat rushing to my face as my vision swam.
Almost on queue, the clear skies tore open, turning into a mushy, grey gust of light rain that slicked the tiles beneath our boots. We all grouped together, landing spaced out onto two tiled rooftops next to each other. Every single person wanted to withdraw, but more than half of us were completely out of gas, and the rest didn't even have enough pressure to get over the main wall.
Jean just sat down heavily on the wet tiles, clutching at his hair and murmuring something panicked to Connie.
Connie’s face was pale, his voice rising as he responded about the supply depot. "They should've brought us gas and new blades by now!"
Every eye on the roof instinctively drifted over to the massive silhouette of the headquarters. The building was completely swarming with Titans. Even if there was anyone left of the supply squad, they definitely weren't leaving that fortress.
Connie completely lost it. "Why are we just waiting around?! If they aren't going to come, we need to save ourselves! Sitting on this roof is pointless—soon enough, the Titans will come to eat us!"
I watched everyone and everything from afar, my hands trembling as a profound disbelief washed over me. About three or four hours ago, everything was completely fine. How could the world splinter into pieces this fast?
Through the haze, I could hear Sasha trying to hype up her team, spitting out frantic words about working together to make it through—it sounded like something straight out of a textbook, completely detached from the horror around us. Even Marco looked entirely lost, talking in low whispers to Annie and Reiner. Who would have thought his eyes could look so helpless and empty? It all was making the whole entirety of the rooftop feel suffocating.
Just then, a subtly loud thud hit the tiles behind us, followed by voices yelling Mikasa’s name and demanding to know why she wasn’t with her assigned rear-guard group.
I pushed myself up almost excitedly, my heart hammering against my ribs as I immediately walked over to where she was talking to Reiner. Reiner didn't answer her; instead, he just pointed a grim finger over toward the corner of the roof. My eyes followed his hand, and my breath caught in my throat.
Armin.
I couldn't hear their exact conversation over the ringing in my ears, but the second Mikasa took off sprinting toward him, I followed right behind her. Mikasa dropped to her knees next to him as I caught up, her voice dropping into a gentle, desperate register. "Are you okay? You're not hurt, are you?"
Armin didn't look up at first. He just put his head down, his entire body trembling under the weight of an invisible horror.
Mikasa looked up at me, a sharp, subtle ping of panic trying not to escape her pupils as her eyes darted around the crowded roof in total confusion. "Where is Eren?" she asked, her voice cracking with a sudden, urgent dread.
At the mere mention of the name made a steady, unstoppable flow of tears that spilled from Armin's eyes. He finally looked up—first at Mikasa, and then his vacant, shattered gaze landed directly on me.
And somehow, from that exact look in his eyes, I knew.
My knees gave out. I dropped heavily onto the wet shingles, staring blankly at the floor in absolute disbelief. *No way. This can't be real.* Eren? Out of everyone in the world, him. My head practically blocked out the physical sound of whatever words were leaving Armin's mouth, but the truth sat heavily in my gut. Especially by the way everyone’s faces around us twisted into light hurt and pure disbelief as he continued to speak. My head was just ringing, a high-pitched, agonizing whistle. Even Jean had that exact same hollow, horrified look plastered across his face.
I watched through a soight blurred lens as Mikasa stepped closer, placing a steady hand over his trembling ones in his lap. "Calm yourself. There's no time for this," she said, her voice dropping into something flat and brutal. "We need to keep moving."
I looked up in pure shock, the coldness of her reaction cutting deep, but it hurt even more when I saw the empty, dead look in Mikasa’s eyes. She had completely shut down. She forcefully helped Armin onto his feet before turning her back on us, walking straight toward the edge of the roof facing HQ.
Stopping by Marco, she told him flatly that we just needed to kill the Titans surrounding headquarters so we could refill our tanks, and then we'd be good, then we can get back.
Marco stuttered in sheer shock at the suicidal proposal. "W-we can't do it! Even with you here, we're all almost out of gas, and only half of us still have blades left!"
Mikasa cut him off instantly, her voice echoing across the quiet rooftops. "I am strong. Stronger than all of you. I can kill all the Titans by myself if I have to... while you lay around like a bunch of worthless, cowardly worms."
I pushed myself up onto my feet, a flare of pure anger surging through me, ready to argue and snap back at her—but a sharp, blinding pain exploded behind my eyes. My head still throbbed violently from where Ymir had punched me earlier, the nausea rising in my throat, so I just shut my mouth and bit my tongue. Mikasa wasn't really wrong anyway; we were just waiting to die.
"Are you crazy?! You're just going to get yourself eaten!" a female soldier cried out from the back.
Mikasa paused at the ledge, taking a long, chilling second before she looked back. "If we win, we live. If we lose, we die. We either fight or we die."
Without waiting for another single word, she launched herself off the roof, her wires hissing loudly into the fog.
We all looked around at one another, completely helpless.
"I was hoping for something at least a little more motivational," Jean joked dryly, his mouth thinning into a bitter line. But the dark humor didn't even have time to land before his face hardened, his voice exploding into a commanding yell that cut through the panic. "Well, she's right! We can't just sit around and expect to be saved! We're trained soldiers! *Fight!*"
He yelled the word with everything he had left before taking off after her, his blades drawing a sharp arc through the grey rain.
Even after all the horror of this day, I was surprised my heart still had any strings attached to pull on—yet watching him sprint and launch himself after her so fast hurt on an entirely different, sickening level. A cold knot twisted in my chest as I watched his silhouette disappear into the black smoke right behind her.
Then, one by one, the rest of our fellow soldiers followed. Some gave out a desperate battle cry, throwing themselves into the air, while others just moved out of sheer, terrified instinct. I waited for most of the line to push out before I finally fired my anchors, launching myself into the chaotic slipstream.
"Follow Mikasa! Get to HQ before your gas runs out!" Jean’s voice exclaimed from up ahead, loud enough for the entire vanguard to hear.
I followed the line, weaving around the other flying soldiers to get closer to Armin. But within seconds, a collective wave of realization hit the group, and we all looked up in horror. Mikasa was going way too fast. She was completely burning through her remaining gas, her movements a reckless, beautiful blur as she swung around buildings and sliced through the Titans flawlessly in her path—way ahead of all of us.
Just then, Mikasa hit a sharp corner around a stone building. We all watched in absolute terror as her wires suddenly sputtered. Her momentum snapped mid-air, and her body dropped heavily onto a lower rooftop before rolling completely off the edge, disappearing down into the crowded streets below.
"Mikasa!" Armin screamed, immediately diving after her. Connie didn't hesitate, veering off his line to follow.
Almost at the exact same time, Jean and I swung inward to drop down after them, but Connie’s voice shouted back up through the smoke, cutting us short. "You two lead the rest of everyone to HQ! I'm going to help Armin!"
"Connie, wait!" Jean and I both shouted out in fierce protest, our voices tangling in the wind. But as I turned my head, the sight of Jean’s face made my stomach turn and my jaw lock tight. He was completely sick with worry—his amber eyes wide, his teeth clenched in a raw, frantic panic for *her*.
Ignoring the sharp, heavy hurt splintering in my chest, I focused on the retreating silhouettes below. "Connie! Armin! Please, just keep Mikasa safe!" I begged, my voice cracking before I pulled my weight forward, continuing through the air.
As the massive stone facade of headquarters finally loomed closer, Jean’s voice barked through the line. "Halt! Land here!"
We all slammed heavily onto a flat rooftop, our boots skidding against the wet clay. I looked down into the narrow alley immediately below us and froze. A stranded soldier was sprint-running on the cobblestones, his triggers clicking uselessly—completely out of gas.
Jean looked around at the surrounding streets, horror bleeding into his features as his shoulders slumped. "There's no use. Look... just look around us. We're dead meat even if we make it to HQ," he sighed, the defensive mask completely shattering.
He moved toward the ledge, preparing to jump down to help the stranded soldier on the floor, but right as he went to flex his knees, five Titans swarmed into the alley at the exact same time from the shadows. From behind us on the roof, two other cadets snapped into action, firing their anchors to save him—but we just watched in paralyzed horror as the monsters turned, their massive hands instantly snatching the two soldiers clean out of the air. The sickening crunch of bone echoed up the brick walls.
I snapped my head over to look at Jean. His face was painted with an unfamiliar, completely unreadable expression—a violent, suffocating mix of anger, sadness, and pure, unadulterated fear. He was trembling, very quietly mumbling incoherent words to himself as he stared at the blood on the cobblestones.
I took a slow step closer, my heart breaking at the sight of him breaking down. I reached my arm out, trying to put a comforting, grounding hand on his rigid shoulder, but the second my fingers brushed his jacket, he flinched violently away from my touch. He wouldn't even look back at me, his eyes locked dead ahead as I slowly pulled my arm back to my side, the silence between us heavy and bitter.
Just then, a terrifying, unhuman shriek ripped through the entire district.
It was a bone-chilling, guttural roar that vibrated the very tiles beneath our feet. But almost miraculously, as the echo faded, the heavy grey clouds began to clear up above, letting a sharp ray of sunlight break through to warm our cold skin. We all looked around at each other in sheer confusion before we heard it again—that same, primal scream.
A flash of pure nausea hit my stomach as my mind raced back to Mikasa, Armin, and Connie, my chest tightening as I silently prayed that they were still alive.
Jean’s eyes snapped sharp, the adrenaline taking over as he drew his remaining blades. "Let's go! Advance to HQ while they are distracted!" he exclaimed, his words slicing clean through my thoughts.
He hurriedly rushed off, and I followed without even thinking. We all did, launching off the ledge in a frantic line. We flew straight through the chaotic air, soaring right past the distracted Titans, wasting absolutely no gas and no blades on them as we made a desperate run for the building. We landed briefly onto another rooftop, sprinting across the stone to save whatever pressure we had left.
Marco managed to catch up to Jean's pace, his voice breathless. "Jean! Thank you for leading us!"
I watched them in complete silence, pushing my body past its limits as I tried to ignore the sharp, rhythmic throbbing in my head. My pressure gauge was hovering dead-zero. My gas was dangerously low.
Just as we reached the final street across from headquarters, a pair of Titans appeared right in front of the windows. We weaved through their massive, reaching fingers in a chaotic scramble. Jean was the first to burst through a high glass window, his body shattering the pane as he rolled heavily onto the interior floor.
The rest of the vanguard followed in waves. I targeted the exact same window Jean had used since the glass was already broken, but right as I went to clear the frame, a horrifying, empty *hiss* roared from my hips. My gas ran out completely.
My momentum dropped instantly. I threw my upper body forward through the frame, but my footing slipped on the stone lip. A sharp, blistering heat sliced right through my outer thigh as my leg dragged hard against a jagged shard of glass embedded in the window frame.
I tumbled into the room, rolling across the glass-covered wooden floor, and hissed in agonizing pain as I tried to push myself up. A deep, wide gash was split across my thigh, blood instantly starting to flow heavily through the torn fabric, staining the wood beneath me.
Through the pain, I looked up to see Jean already on his feet, storming across the room toward a group of older soldiers who were sitting safely in the corners.
"You're the supply team, right?!" Jean’s voice vibrated with pure rage.
I stared in absolute shock. There were dozens of people in here before us—fully equipped, completely unharmed—just hiding out like absolute cowards while the rest of our class died outside.
Jean didn't wait for an answer. He reached down, grabbing one of the supply soldiers by his collar, lifting him up before throwing a hard, brutal punch straight to his face. The impact landed hard, knocking the poor guy flat to the floor.
Marco rushed forward instantly to stop him, grabbing Jean's arms from behind and pulling him back with everything he had. But Jean was completely unhinged, kicking and stomping wildly at the guy who was curled up in a ball on the floor in front of him.
"People—our comrades are out there getting slaughtered because of you!" Jean screamed, his voice cracking with rage.
A girl with blood smeared all over her face scrambled forward, pulling the crying man away from Jean’s feet. "The Titans were coming at us from every angle! We had no choice!" she sobbed out.
"It's your job to deal with it! To back us up anyways!" Jean cut her off, crying out in pure, unadulterated anger.
Before the fight could escalate, another one of those blood-curdling, primal screams echoed from the lower levels.
"Watch out!" someone yelled from the back.
We all looked over in paralyzed horror as the brick wall at the end of the hall completely shattered outward. A massive, grotesque Titan face broke through the masonry, sticking its giant face into the narrow room.
"They can smell us!"
"They're coming in!"
"Run!"
Different, panicked voices screamed out over the din as the room dissolved into absolute, horrific overstimulation. It was a blind rush—people were tripping over each other in the dark corridors, dropping their gear, while some looked frantically for their friends as those same friends dragged others away, begging them to just let it go and run.
But Jean didn't run. He just sat on his knees in the middle of the chaos, staring blankly up at the two massive Titans now peering into the broken wall, his defenses completely gone. A huge Titan fist swung by the gap, and Jean screamed out, "What the he—"
His words were cut short as a second, Titan arm suddenly materialized from the outside, throwing a tight punch that knocked both of the monsters' heads together with a sickening crash, dragging them away from the building.
Before we could even process what happened, Mikasa broke through one of the high windows in a shower of glass, followed closely by Connie, who was carrying a shaking Armin.
"Mikasa!" Jean screamed out, pushing himself up.
Hearing the raw, desperate relief in his voice when he called her name hurt worse than the deep, burning gash on my thigh. The way he looked at her—like she was the only savior left in the world—made me pull myself further into the shadows.
Connie rushed over to the broken wall, pointing wildly out into the courtyard at the rogue Titan. "Look! Just look out there! He's fighting the others! He's completely helping us!"
"There's no way... you guys are hallucinating or something!" I cried out from the floor, my voice trembling in disbelief.
But Mikasa interrupted me, her dark eyes focused as she backed Connie up. Outside, the rogue Titan threw a massive, precise punch, knocking another Titan's head clean off its shoulders. We just watched in stunned shock. It didn't feel real. It didn't feel human.
Then, the rogue Titan threw its head back, letting out that exact same blood-curdling shriek we had heard earlier.
"There's no way..." Jean breathed out, his knuckles white against his blades.
"It's insane, but it's honestly the only option we have right now," Mikasa started, turning her back to the window to face the crowded room. "It's the best chance for our survival."
We watched from the shadows as the Titan continued to brutally tear through the other monsters in the courtyard, its movements filled with a terrifying, unhinged intelligence.
Connie wiped the soot from his forehead, nodding quickly. "While it's distracting the other Titans out there, right now is our best chance to get down into the supply room!"
Everyone in the room nodded in frantic agreement. Even though the plan sounded completely crazy, it was our only shot at making it out alive.
The crowd started to move, scrambling toward the interior stairwells. I gritted my teeth, trying to force myself to stand up, but the second I put weight on my injured leg, my muscles completely gave out under me. I stumbled backward, crashing heavily onto the glass-covered floor with a sharp groan.
The noise drew the attention of the the group. Their eyes darted over to me, and then their gazes instantly locked onto the massive, deep gash on my outer thigh. The small pool of dark blood had already spread across the wood planks.
Armin ran over without a second thought, frantically dragging his military jacket off his shoulders and wrapping it tightly around my leg, applying heavy, direct pressure to the wound almost instantly.
Jean followed right behind him, his amber eyes widening in a sudden, dizzying wave of panic as realization hit him. He had been so caught up in the chaos, so focused on everybody and everything else, that he hadn't even noticed I’d been bleeding out this entire time.
"I've got you," Jean muttered, his voice rough and completely strained. He pushed Armin aside gently, reaching down to scoop his arms under my back and knees, picking me up with a frantic, heavy heave.
He carried me quickly out of the shattered main room, moving away from the broken walls and into a smaller, darker interior storage room down the hall. Through the open door, we could hear the distant, echoing chatter of the other soldiers gathering around the central elevator, frantically mapping out the details of the plan to retake the supply room below.
Jean set me down carefully in the far corner of the quiet room, propping my back against the solid stone wall. His hands were shaking slightly as he pulled back, his eyes locked onto the blood-soaked jacket still wrapped around my thigh.
The air in the small room felt instantly tight, thick with a bitter, simmering angst. I looked up at him, my jaw set as I clutched at the makeshift bandage, forcing myself to ignore the memory of how frantically he had just screamed for Mikasa on the roof and in the hall. It sat heavily between us, an unsaid, painful truth that I had no energy left to fight.
"Go," I muttered, my voice quiet, cold, and entirely detached. I looked away from his amber gaze, staring down at my bloody fingers instead. "Leave me here. I'll be fine. You need to go down there and refill your tanks before anything else happens."
Jean opened his mouth to say something, a sharp, defensive flare rising in his expression as he took a step closer, like he wanted to argue or something, anything. But he caught himself. He looked toward the door where the rest of the squad was waiting, then looked back down at my tired face, biting his tongue so hard his jaw went rigid.
Without another word, he swung around, his boots hitting the floor heavily as he took long, hurried strides out of the dark room to join the vanguard.
But right as the heavy wooden door began to swing shut behind him, a quiet, barely audible murmur cut through the drafty silence of the room.
"Please don't die on me," Jean muttered sharply.
The door clicked shut, leaving me completely alone. I curled my body into the dark corner of the stone wall, clenching my teeth against the burning pain as I applied heavy, steady pressure to the wound just like they had said, listening to the distant, terrifying echoes of the war starting downstairs.