"Guren no Yumiya"

Theme

Prologue - The Battle of Trost

Nicole looks up from her desk and notes to the garrison soldier at the front of the class. The rest of her class look about at the noise and slight rumble that rolls across town. When suddenly the momentary silence that hung over Trost is shattered with a mighty crash and screams echoing up the streets to the Garrison HQ. Everyone in the room is on their feet right away, looking out the windows towards the gate seeing a large column of what looks like steam rising over the gate when another garrison soldier bursts in.

"The wall has been breached! The plan to evacuate Trost is now in effect!"

Nicole looks at the other cadets with the sudden fear that comes over them before the garrison soldiers motion them out of the room and to the armoury to gear up. Nicole glances over to Malcolm, one of her friends in the class with her, the two of them sharing a scared look while they strap on their ODM gear. Once they all had their ODM gear on a couple of the instructors who also had the ODM gear on came around, checking them all before one of the instructors gets their attention.

"Right then, Cadets! The day we feared is here, the Titans have broken the wall and are attacking Trost. But we have a plan to get the people out and to protect the rest of the wall. The main force of the Garrison regiment is going to hold the breach while their elite soldiers cover the evacuation as a reserve force. And that leaves us and the 104th, you are going to be put into squads and deployed throughout Trost, to provide support and communication. Your instructors are about to squad you off, make sure you stick with your squad and follow your training! 105th, Dedicate your hearts!"

The cadets all salute, with their fist over their heart before the instructors start grouping them in squads of five and moving them out of the armoury to get their assignment from the garrison regiment. Nicole looks at her squad made up of Malcolm, Evie, Christina and Alex. Malcolm nods to her as he leads them out to stand before the garrison soldiers, Malcolm lightly pats Alex on the back as he was looking nervously towards the wall.

"Alright Cadets, you are being assigned to this section here. You are being designated as Cadet Squad 27. The vanguard should deal with the majority of the titans so only a few will get through if any. But stay alert for any communications coming your way."

Nicole and the rest of the newly named Cadet Squad 27, salute before Malcolm leads them to the side so the next squad can get their orders while they clip blades into their hand controllers. Once all five of them had drawn their blades, Malcolm grins at them before he sets off at a run towards the edge of the wall around the HQ and leaps off it, with the rest of the squad close behind, before they fire their hooks at the building in front of them. Once they had all landed, they set off towards the section they had been assigned too, none of them wanting to talk as the sounds of battle can already be heard coming from the breach.

After zipping over the roofs and through the streets, the squad comes to a stop on a rooftop while they look at the rest of the town and watch the movement of the other squads setting up.

"Right then, people, keep your eyes peeled. As they said, only a few may get through but stay alert."

"Aye, Malcolm."

Nicole nods while she moves to the other edge of the roof to the one they landed on so that she can look along the street, Christina moves over with her. As they look over the edge, they are greeted by the sight of an open maw and a hand reaching for them. Nicole's instincts take over as she turns and fires a cable to the roof on the other side of the street, using the gas to push her away from the Titan while she swings around it. Christina is not so lucky as she tries to dodge its hand, the roof tiles under feet break free causing her to slip and start sliding down the roof while she tries to get a hold on something. The rest of the squad is still in shock just starting to move into action when the Titan grabs hold of Christina's leg and pulls her off the roof, holding her by her leg over its mouth. Malcolm reaches out in vain to try and grab her, while Nicole having landed roughly on the other roof looks on in shock as the Titan lets go and Christina falls into the Titans mouth with a snap before it swallows. The squad is overcome with fear and horror, as Christina is just gone like that, it was over in a moment. With a roar of anger, Malcolm fires his hooks at the Titan while he uses his gas to spin around it before he fires them again to reposition himself with an angle on its neck. He reals them in with a burst of gas before he slices his swords along the nape of the Titans neck, killing it. He swings himself around and lands on the roof next to Nicole while she is getting back on her feet.

"I...I can't believe she is gone..."

"I know...but the mission continues. If there are Titans already here, the vanguard is in trouble. We need to move and look for any more Titans that have gotten past."

"Yeah...yeah, we do..."

Nicole is still shaken at Christina's death and how close she came to that fate as well. She shakes her head clear, trying to focus on the mission before her while the squad sets off, she ends up behind the squad slightly as she took a moment to set off. While they are moving over the rooftops, Malcolm spots a couple Titans walking down the road across from the one they are moving along. He redirects over towards to them, with Alex and Evie right behind him. When suddenly an Abnormal Titan leaps up at him, biting down around his waist before gravity returns it to the ground with Malcolm, screaming in agony in its mouth. Alex and Evie dodge, but their eyes are focused on Malcolm, so they don't notice the Titan that was standing behind the tower the swipes its hand outwards, grabbing Alex's cables and yank him towards it. Evie disconnects her hooks to avoid the same fate and slides along the rooftop, coming to a stop at the end of it. Evie takes a quick breath before she is about to turn to try and help when a Titans head rises over the side of the roof to look at her as she freezes in its gaze. The Titan proceeds to pick up Evie and drop her into her mouth, while at the same time Malcolms screams have fallen silent as he is swallowed and the Titan holding Alex holds him over its mouth and bites off his head.

Nicole looks on in her horror as the rest of her squad is killed, she slowly steadies her shaking hands before she looks at the abnormal that killed Malcolm. Taking a deep breath, she leaps off the side of the tower she was anchored on and zips down, and around the roof towards the abnormal, it leaps at her along the street. Seeing the open maw, Nicole disconnects her left grapple, swinging onto the righthand side wall which she runs along with the abnormal leaps past her. It bites down on empty air before Nicole fires her other anchor again across the back of the abnormal, disconnecting her right and she uses her gas to push off the wall, slicing across the neck of the Titan while she does so. With the abnormal killed, she pulls herself up to the roofs again before she goes after the other two. Her anchors bite into the shoulders of the one that killed Alex as she swings around the tower, pulling her in before she slices along its neck, killing it before she pushes off and zips off towards the one that killed Evie. Her anchors bite into the wall behind it as she zips past it, its eyes following her while it turns to try and track her. Landing on the wall behind it, she fires an anchor into its shoulder and pushes off the wall before she fires her other anchor into the wall to the side of it. This pulls her away from the Titan slightly while she is approaching it. Once Nicole is almost in line with its shoulder, she disconnects the one from the wall. She starts to swing around the back of it before she fires it again past it's back so that it pulls her across it's back while she slices the nape of its neck, making it her third kill. Nicole pulls her self up and onto a roof while she attaches fresh blades as her current ones were getting close to being done.

With those Titans killed she looks over back towards the rear gate as she hears the signal to withdraw before she looks up to the sun to see that a decent portion of time had already passed that she had lost track off due to the adrenaline. Getting herself together, she quickly turns and starts to zip over the roofs towards the closest section of the wall as she knows she has enough gas still left to scale the walls but not much more than that.

Nicole leans her head against the wall she has sunk down next to, her ODM gear lying next to her after it was checked over and restocked. She rubs the bandage on her arm slightly, from where she landed hard on the roof the first time. Her arms are wrapped around her knees while she pulls them towards her slightly. The base behind the walls is a flurry of activity, with Garrison troops running here and there, after the brief commotion that was heard inside Trost followed by the sound of a cannon blast. Nicole opens her eyes as she hears people moving towards the wall, she looks at one of the cadets from her class while she stands.

"What's going on?"

"Commander Pyxis of the Garrison Regiment is about to address everyone apparently."

Nicole looks at them while they keep moving before Nicole turns and grabs her ODM gear and straps it on. Once she has completed her checks, she joins in with the people walking forward towards the wall. The crowd is milling about with mumbles of dissent and talk of people refusing to go back into Trost. Nicole agrees with the people that she hears, she saw what happened to her classmates and how they got slaughtered, she wants no part of that again. Just as she was thinking about just leaving now, Commander Pyxis and someone she thinks she recognises from the 104th Cadet Corps stand atop the wall looking at the group below them.

"Attention!"

Commander Pyxis's shout rings forth as it quiets the crowd before he continues talking.

"I will now explain to you the details of the Trost Recovery Operation! The objective of this operation is to seal the hole in the demolished gate!"

Nicole looks at those around her as they all look confused at how they are going to do it.

"I will now explain how we intend to seal the hole! Belonging to the Training Corps, this is Eren Jager."

As he is introduced, Eren steps forward and salutes.

"He is the product of successful top-secret Titan transformation research! He is capable of generating a Titan's body and moving it according to his will! In Titan form, he will lift that giant boulder in the vicinity of the front gate, carry it to the destroyed gate, and seal the hole! Your duty, to protect him from the other Titans until he has moved the boulder!"

With that, a commotion starts to ripple through the ranks with people starting to turn and leave not being willing to throw their lives away for some fools dream. Nicole is one of them, she has turned and taken a few steps when the shout echoes from the front of the soldiers.

"I hope you have said your prayers, traitors! I will hack you down where you stand!"

Nicole hears the distinctive sound of a blade being drawn while she keeps walking before Commander Pyxis shouts again.

"Heed my command! Those who desert us now will all be pardoned! Once a man surrenders to their fear of Titans, they are no longer fit for battle! Those who have experienced that fear are free to leave! Furthermore, those of you who want your parents, siblings and loved ones to experience that fear for themselves may also leave!"

Nicole suddenly stops in her tracks, her hands balling into fists while the image of her younger sisters being hunted by Titans flashes through her mind before she turns back around.

"I can't let that happen...not to them..."

While she turns around the majority if not everyone else turns back around, they all have a reason for continuing to fight, they all have something to protect from the Titans. With them coming back, Commander Pyxis continues speaking.

"Let us think back to four years ago. Recall the plan to recapture Wall Maria. Though I presume you all know this without me having to say, the plan itself sounded glorious, but in essence, it was a way to rid ourselves of the unemployed that the government was unable to support! The only reason why everyone maintained their silence was because we managed to survive within these confined walls thanks to their sacrifices! All of mankind bears that sin, including myself! Because the inhabitants of Wall Maria were few in number, the conflict did not escalate. But what about now? If Wall Rose is breached, reducing the mouths by a fifth won't suffice! Not even half of the remaining population can be supported within only Wall Sina! Should mankind cease to exist, it would not be because we were all devoured by Titans! We humans would be our own end! We mustn't die within narrower walls. I implore you, Die where you stand!"

The commander looks down at the soldiers at the base of the wall and the moment of silence that has descended on them.

"Ever since the Titans appeared, mankind has not once claimed victory over them! For every inch the Titans advance, we retreated in kind, continually giving up territory! However, when this plan succeeds, mankind will recapture territory from the Titans for the first time in history! That moment will mark the first time mankind has triumphed over the Titans!"

With that final shout, Commander Pyxis finishes his speech and the Garrison Regiment officer starts giving out assignments, with a small elite squad going with Eren while the rest will act as decoys and draw the Titans towards the wall.

Nicole is stood atop the wall with the squad she has been assigned to, and the other squads on either side of them. When suddenly a bright yellow flash and beam rise from close to where the boulder should be. Slowly lowering her hand from in front of her face as she raised it on instinct to shield her eyes from the flash, she looks at the other cadets all with determined looks on their faces. With a small shake of her head, while she tries to get focused, she clips new blades into her controllers before she draws them while stepping up to be on the edge of the wall with everyone else.

For Nicole, the world seems to stand still for a moment before her squad is leaping off the side of the wall as the next group to help with the decoy mission while Eren transports the boulder to the breach. They quickly join the soldiers already down in Trost, zipping about to draw the Titans to the walls where the Garrison troops still atop the wall are ready with the cannons. While she is moving over the rooftops, she watches a couple of Garrison and Cadet troops getting grabbed by the Titans, but she never sees their fate even the times when she hears their screams suddenly stop.

The plan seems to be working well with Eren being on the move and almost at the wall by now and the Titans being drawn away from him mostly. A couple of the abnormals aren't being pulled in though and start moving towards Eren and the elite squad. In response, a couple squads, Nicole's included have been sent to engage them before they can attack Eren. Her squad is already down to three people after they got grabbed by Titans, either straying to close or their anchors being caught. But the three of them dive after the abnormals, Nicole is following behind the squad leader when they suddenly start falling towards the ground with the tower they where anchored to collapsing as a Titan crashes through it. Nicole is just able to dodge another Titan, causing her to come down hard on a rooftop and rolling along it. While Nicole is trying to get back onto her feet, her squad leader tries to fires it anchors, but nothing happens, his ODM gear clearly haven been damaged from the impact with the ground, while a Titan lunges forwards with an open maw and swallows him. The other squad member dives on the Titan that just ate him before the Titan that knocked him out of the air sends her flying into a wall with a loud crack. They slowly slide down the wall, motionless with a trail of their blood being left behind her. Nicole looks on in horror as her squad is killed in front of her again causing her to freeze until see sees a Titan looking and reaching for her. She goes to fire her cables, but nothing happens, her ODM gear clearly unhappy with meeting the roof how it did. Despite this, she readies her blades and makes ready to fight for her life.

At the moment there is a blur of green, and a glint of metal before the neck of the Titan reaching for her erupts in a spurt of blood, the other one quickly follows it. Nicole takes a deep breath as the two Titans die before she starts doing quick field repairs to her ODM gear and her saviour lands on the roof. Looking up from her ODM gear, she is greeted by the sight of the Wings of Freedom of the Survey Corps.

Eve Sharpe looks at Nicole for a moment before she looks at the rest of Trost while the vanguard of the Survey Corps reinforcements, the Elite Squads are diving off the walls and into Trost.

"Hey, Cadet. What exactly is going on here?"

Chapter 1 - On that Day

Year 845

"On that day...humanity remembered..." Eve leans heavily onto the horse she is walking along the side off as the remnants of the scout expedition enter Shiganshina. Kiera stumbles slightly, but Eve is able to catch her before she fell. The two of them about as severely injured as each other or any of the other walking scouts. The two of them only surviving members of the cadets from their class in their squad, Eve had graduated 4th and Kiera was right behind in graduation at 5th. But none of their training had prepared them for what it was like beyond the walls, so many of them had died in their initial engagements with the Titans. While they walk along the street through the centre of the town, the locals gather around to watch the battered and broken scouts slowly march back inside the Walls. Murmurs of why the scouts even bother going beyond the Wall move through the crowds, while Eve looks out into it when her eyes land on a smiling child she is forced to look away before her will breaks, and she looses the last of her strength. The column stops moving after a while after a brief moment Eve hears an outburst from up ahead, she recognises the raised voice of Commander Sadies over the quiet. "...never learn a thing! It's my fault...My own incompetence killed out men! And we still don't even know what they are!" Eve looks at Kiera the two of them catching the end of Sadies breakdown while they lean on each other, waiting for them to start moving again. They start moving again and are soon out of Shiganshina heading back to their HQ. While on the road, Eve can't help but think about their disaster of an expedition. It was raining hard as the horses' hoofs splashed through the puddles in between the trees. Eve glanced at the other cadets in the squad with her Kiera, Carl and Frediano, along with the experienced scout that has been put in charge of them, Andreas. All of them nervous as they ride under the shadow of the trees, the sound of hoofbeats of the charging scouts surrounding them when the command is given. "Prepare for combat! We have one target! Defeat it, and make this humanity's first base outside the Wall." Eve looks up from the nape of her horse when she hears another shout. "Target approaching!" The ground shakes from the footsteps of a Titan, as tall as some of the trees. Commander Sadies throws one arm out to the side as they scouts split around a tree. "Split into five groups, just as we practised! We'll be the decoys. Attack teams switch to Three-Dimensional manoeuvre gear!" Eve watches as the scouts in the attack teams stand up in the stirrups of their horses and squeeze the triggers on their hand controllers, firing anchors up into the trees before with another squeeze and a burst of gas they are flying up and swinging between the trees. One of the scouts goes for the nape of the single Titan, but as they are spinning towards it, the Titan suddenly moves and grabs him out of the air killing him. That was only the start of their bad luck, from there more Titans started appearing, and the expedition was attacked from all sides, and before the decoy team even knew it, the Titans were in amongst them. It was luck and the skill of scouts by the name of Erwin and Hange that ended up seeing them through it to limp back to Walls with their wounded. Eve is snapped out of her memories when everyone suddenly stops moving and starts falling out of the column. "What's going on?" "We are stopping for a moment for the seriously wounded. They need more attention before we keep moving." Eve nods slightly while she moves over to the side of the road and collapses to the ground, holding herself as she tries to not dwell on what happened in the forest. She had just been sitting for a moment it felt like while Kiera had moved off when there is a sudden flurry of activity. She looks up to the sound of a horse galloping past to front of the column and the commander. Eve slowly rises to her feet and limps gradually to see what was causing the sudden movement. She nods to Kiera as she approaches her. "You know whats going on?" "Not yet, Eve. All I know is a rider from the Garrison regiment just came from Shiganshina." As Eve was about to say something the Garrison soldier gallops off to the North and towards Trost, while Erwin can be seen organising the Special Operations Squad and Special Reconnaissance Squad. When another Scout rides over to the group of Scouts that were standing near Eve and Kiera. "Anyone who is able! You are to gear up and ride to the villages nearby and start them evacuating, Wall Maria has been breached!" Eve looks at Kiera their wounds forgotten at the threat of the Titans inside the Wall before they both grab their ODM gear, clipping it on as they move to the horses. While they are moving towards the horses, Levi squad and Bishop squad gallop off towards Shiganshina. "All Scouts are to pair off and ride to the local villages. Protect the civilians while they evacuate if any of the Titans have already made it past. The Garrison regiment will be on its way ASAP." Eve nods to Kiera while they swing up into the saddles, extra gas and blades strapped to the back of it as they didn't know how long a fight it would be before they two of them start galloping South-West towards a small village that is close to Shiganshina. The two of them ride hard in silence, focused on the mission at hand and worried about what it means if that Titans are attacking. They have been riding hard for a while by the time they reach the village, not slowing down until they were in the village when they come to a stop in the centre of it. Eve swings herself out of her saddle, using it for support for a moment while pain stabs up her leg, the Wings of Freedom on her cloak flapping slightly in the light breeze before she turns around to look at the few villagers that have gathered. "I'm Eve Sharpe, with the Survey Corps. You need to evacuate, take only what you need and head north...Wall Maria has been breached." The villagers look between each other with a mix of shock and disbelief, before one of the older ones step forward. "Wall Maria has been breached, that is impossible." "I know, for years it has stood, but today it fell. Shiganshina is being evacuated at the moment and as soon as it is the Scouts and Garrison soldiers fighting the Titans will start to fall back. Meaning, the Titans will start to move further into the region if they are not already. Your only hope is to head North as quick as you can and make for Trost." "You expect us to leave our homes on the word of two battered scouts that barely look like they can stand and look like cadets?" Eve rounds on the speaker, one of the people still in the crowd, her eyes flashing in rage. "I expect you to want to god damn survive! I am not in the mood for putting up with people like you today. I do not know how many Scouts died trying to save humanity from the Titans in the last expedition alone, people like you make me wonder why we bother." The villager looks at Eve with a look of rage. "You dare speak to me like that you child! Soldiers like you think you are so high and mighty but without us you..." He suddenly stops mid-sentence as he feels the tip of Kiera's blade hovering close to his neck. "If you do not want our help, I can only wish you the best of luck when the Titans come. Let's go, Kiera." Eve slowly climbs back up onto her horse with Kiera moving next to her and away from the villager that was complaining. "I really do feel sorry for you, none of you has felt the fear of the Titans first hand. But you will force your family too if you don't leave now." Eve and Kiera ride to the edge of the village before they stop and Eve pulls out a map, acting like they are checking where the next village is while they hear raised voices coming from the centre of the town. "We are not actually going to leave them, are we?" "Of course not, we just need to make them think we will then we can get them moving. The special squads will be able to delay it for long enough....hopefully..." While they are talking they hear the roar of a Titan in the forest close to the village. Eve and Kiera look at each other for a moment with fear in their eyes before they both nod, clipping blades into their controllers and drawing them.