(10) Final struggle
"Fuck! How many of these bastards are there?". Eren stood defensively in front of Armin and Mina, both of which were at the brink of exhaustion. He himself wasn't faring too bad, but the endurance of his squad matee wasn't quite up to par with his own.
They started out great, but soon after the first four kills, another abnormal appeared. And while they managed to take it out, it wasn't without sacrifice. Nac and Milieus were now dead. Fallen at the hands of that abnormal titan.
"We've gotta run away somehow Eren!", Armin shouted at his friend in between his heavy pants.
"I may not be as smart as you but even I can figure that out! I don't need you stating the obvious right now.", Eren snapped back irritatedly. "We've waited here too long, and now we're surrounded! Besides Mina looks like she might die if she takes another step. So instead of telling me what to do, how about you use that mind of yours to tell me how to make it happen?".
Mina suddenly dropped to her knees as tears filled her eyes. "I... I don't want to die... I-I want to see my parents one more time". All traces of her fighting spirit, disappeared, leaving a feeble and weak girl, crying at the thought of her death.
"Hey, hey, hey, you can't just suddenly drop and give up now Mina! Get up and fight!", Eren couldn't believe his eyes, the situation seemed to only get worse. They were struggling as is with all three of their efforts combined. If she suddenly stopped fighting then their fates were practically sealed.
Armin knelt down to Mina's level, as he attempted to comfort her in his own way. "Mina, listen we're gong to survive and you'll be able to go home to your parents, but we need you to fight! So stand up and-". Armin's eyes widened though as he took a closer look at his fellow soldiers face. Her stare was blank, and she was sweating profusely as her breathing rate increased at an alarming rate. "Shit! Eren, she's hyper ventilating!"
"What?", Eren turned his head back to see Mina breathing at a rapid rate and shuddering. 'No, no, no. This can't be happening!', Eren was doumbfounded at his rotten luck. The grip on his blades loosened as the world seemed to fade away and the last three years of his life flashed before his eyes. 'What was it all for? All this time's passed and I still can't save anyone... I wonder, if Strauss were here, what would he do?'.
"He'd fight till his last breath goddamn it!", Eren shouted as instinct took over his body, he jumped off of the roof and bit cleanly through the flesh of his hand. Blood spurt forwards from the bite wound, but it soon evaporated as a yellow light flashed, accompanied by a thunderous noise.
Armin watched on in awe and fear, as the body of a titan manifested around Eren's body. It stood at 15 meters tall, and instead of the usual out of proportion body parts, the titan seemed to have muscles covering him from head to toe, as if they were sculpted from marble. A sudden thunderous roar from the titan made Armin's heart thump.
Mina, hearing the titan's battle cry seemed to awake from her daze as she too witnessed the awe inspiring fury of the titan.
Eren wasted no time, stepping forward and sending a crushing blow to the closest titan next to him, punching it's entire head off of it's neck.
Eren's titan form seemed to rampage as he ran through the entire district of trost, going from one titan to another, slaughtering them mercilessly.
Armin and Mina, snapped out of their daze when they heard multiple zips closing in on their location. They looked up and saw their comrades closing in and landing next to them. Jean and Marco landed first, followed by Ymir, Christa, Connie, and Sasha. Reiner, Bertolt Annie followed closely and one final zip came in as they all turned to see Mikasa.
"What happened to the rest of your squad? Where's Strauss and Eren?", she immediately bombared Armin with questions. The other cadets also looked to him for answers.
"Our squad died, I have no clue about Strauss, and as for-", the blond boy was interrupted as a pair of hooks set in to the rooftop they were on. The cadets turned and took in a cold breath as they saw one of the people in question approach them.
Strauss landed next to his fellow soldiers, his once clean attire now stained and dirtied. Blood covered him, from head to toe, barely revealing his once pale skin. His face was blank and his black eyes stood out, as they seemed to glare into their very souls. His glance lingered for a few seconds at the pretend soldiers as he reeled in his bloodlust and anger as much as he could.
A single thought resonated through the group. 'How many titans did he have to kill to end up like that?'.
"Strauss, are you okay?", Mikasa asked with worry as she stepped forwards.
"I'm fine", he said simply before turning to Armin. "Where is Eren?".
"I- uhm, was just getting to that-", Armin started once again.
A sudden roar however gained everyone's attention. They looked to see what seemed to be two 15 meter class abnormal titans face each other. One of them had messy black hair, and was covered in muscle charge while the other one had distinctive dirty blond hair.
The blond abnormal and the muscly titan both suddenly ran at each other. The blond one suddenly lunged forward head first, aiming to bite into it's opponents shoulder. It was suddenly stopped though as the muscular titan, picked it up, raising it high in the air and slamming it down with as much force as possible, smashing the blond titan's head into a splatter of blood. The assualt didn't stop there however, as the messy haired titan raised it's foot up into the sky and slammed down repeatedly onto it's opponents nape until there was nothing left.
"That is Eren", Armin finished as he pointed to the winner of the fight they just witnessed.
A collective 'What?' resounded through the group as Armin once again found himself barraged by questions. Strauss stayed silent however and narrowed his eyes at Eren.
[Eren Jaeger (Titan Form)
Condition: Mildly worn out
Power level: 94
Potential: C
..... Due to his inexperience with Titan shifting Eren isn't currently able to control his titan form well, however he is not completely mindless.]
"Listen up!", Strauss started, causing the group to go quiet and finally allowing Armin some slack. "I don't think Eren's like the other titans. He's not completely mindless. Look at the way he fights, he's using the martial arts he's learned and he knows where to strike to kill the titans. Also, even though we've entered his line of sight plenty of time's he hasn't spared us a single look".
"Yeah so what's your point?", Jean asked with a raised eyebrow.
"My point is we can use him to clear the way to HQ for us, since none of us have the gas to do it ourselves", Strauss explained, gaining a look of surprise from everyone.
"What happens if he's not in control though, and charges at us as soon as we get closer to him?", Marco questionned, a bit skeptical.
"That's why I'll approach him first, to see if he'll be hostile or not. If he is, I'll be able to get out of there pretty easily. And if he's not then I'll send a signal letting you know that the plan is a go. When we're trailing behind him, me and Mikasa will be the one's at the forefront, to kill any titan's that manage to slip past Eren. Any questions?", Strauss observed his friends as they all shook their head no. "Alright then", he said as he prepared to take off before someone stopped him.
"Strauss, wait a sec", he turned to see Reiner walk towards him. "Swap blades with me, mine are a lot less damaged compared to yours". Strauss clenched his fists as he tried to supress the mix of emotions that stirred within him as he watched the one of the culprits responsible for this mess fiddle around with his gear, before handing over his blades.
"Thanks.", Strauss nodded as he took the blades, turning around and taking off.
Sending a titan's head clean off with a roundhouse kick, Eren turned his head, a bit of rage rising up in him as he felt something latch into his shoulder. His anger subsided slightly as he watched a familiar figure land on his shoulder.
"Listen big guy, I know you ain't thinking straight so I'll keep it simple". Strauss lifted his arm, pointing to a large grey building in the distance. "Run that way and kill every titan you see if you want to save everyone".
His response was a loud roar, which caused him to jump off of Eren's shoulder and lean against the side of a building. A look of disappointment flashed across his face before Eren suddenly took off right to where he had pointed.
"You guys, let's go! The plan worked!", Strauss shouted at the top of his lungs to his allies, who in response took off immediately.
The cadets soon caught up to their rampaging titan friend and maintained a slight distance, with Strauss and Mikasa in the forefront.
They all watched in awe as Eren shred through titans like paper, turning the district into a splash of red with their blood.
Mikasa suddenly dropped down a bit, slicing right through the eyes, of a smaller titan that managed to slip past Eren. The titan didn't even have a chance to react to his injury as Strauss followed suit, immediately ending its life as he tore straight into it's neck and out through it's nape. The siblings wasted no time shooting straight to the front of the group.
It didn't take the group of newbie soldiers long to reach the HQ. Outside of it were two titan's, similar to Eren in height and two more who were much smaller.
"You guys go on ahead! I'll help Eren out!", Strauss yelled at his friends and they didn't waste another second, boosting straight ahead as they braced themselves, breaking straight through the upper windows.
Eren mustered all his strength, as he landed an overhand to the tallest titan, knocking it back a bit. The force his punch was reduced due to the two small titans jumping and clinging to each of it's legs, allowing it to survive an extra few seconds before Strauss shot forward, ending it's life.
Strauss turned midair, latching his hooks into the other tall titan and ripped through its nape, just as Eren lifted the two titans stuck to his legs and smashed both of their heads against each other, killing them.
Eren's titan suddenly dropped to the ground, as it began disintegrating. Out of the nape, Eren's human form could be seen struggling to lift himself out. His condition didn't look great; his skin looked pale, and sweat poured profusely from his body as he breathed heavily.
He suddenly felt himself ripped out and lifted into the air as he found himself flung over Strauss' shoulder. "Thanks", Eren managed to mutter in between his heavy pants.
"Don't mention it".
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A/N: Annddd from here the story will deviate quite a bit compared to canon aot.