Chapter 12 The Rouge Titan

The Titan stared down at its kill. The corpse of its 'brethren' was already beginning to evaporate away, and the damage to its foot was nearing fully healed. Steam wafted into the air, but it paid it no mind. Instead, fixing its stare over the rooftops to locate its next victim.

Armin soared through the air as fast as he could, using just enough of his precious remaining gas to stay at top speed.

"Please be alright. I'm coming for you."

He spotted her sat down in the middle of a street, unmoving as she stared off into the distance.

"There she is!"

He swung down directly towards her, slamming into her gracelessly, and pulling her upwards where they both crashed onto a rooftop.

"Mikasa! Are you okay?"

Connie landed with a slight slide next to them, steadying himself with one hand before voicing his own concern.

"Are you guys alright?"

"Yeah."

"Then we better get out of here-"

A set of thundering footsteps cut him off, and around the corner at the end of the street came a Titan. Stepping into view before it, the Titan from earlier levelled its gaze on the new arrival.

"Crap, two 15 metre Titans!"

"No…that one's different."

Armin looked at her in confusion, before openly gawking at the evaporating body in the street below them.

'How?'

The strange Titan opened its maw, and released its thunderous challenge. Its kin did not back down, and roared back in kind. The challenge accepted, the strange one placed a step back, and raised two fists in front of it.

The human audience gasped in recognition of the fighting stance, not unlike the ones they had been trained to use. Its opponent gave another war cry, and charged widly towards it. The rogue Titan's fist came swinging from its right side, and the side hook punch ripped the head clean off. It sailed gruesomely through the air, smashing into a church tower and embedding itself in place.

The now headless body collapsed to the ground, and the rogue Titan gazed at its teaming hand in satisfaction. Already, it was on its way to being restored, as lights shot through the air towards the skeletal hand, and flesh spread rapidly across the bones.

On the floor, the defeated Titan made a move to stand and restart the fight. Before an immense foot stomped it back to the ground.

"It…it just finished it off. It knew exactly where the weak spot was!"

As Armin spoke, the abnormal set its eyes across the city once more, and walked steadily away with clear intent.

"C'mon guys, time to split. Last thing we need is him coming our way."

"No, he has no reaction to us. Any other Titan would have been on top of us now."

"…it seemed to understand the skill of hand to hand combat. What is that thing?"

"Just chalk it up as another abnormal. Hell they're always an unpleasant surprise right? Forget about it, let's just get out of here."

"Wait a minute hold on! Mikasa's tanks are empty."

"Huh!? What are we gonna do!? We can't clear HQ without your help!"

Mikasa stayed quiet, biting back a response about how they still had Gohan. Still, they all knew that she would help their chances immensely. And so, Armin stepped forward.

"There's only one thing to do. I know there isn't very much left in them, but it's better than your empty ones."

"Armin!"

He didn't stop, forcefully twisting his canisters nozzle and filling up her tanks.

"This is our only choice. It'd be a complete waste if I kept them. But…use this gas more sparingly, everyone's lives are riding on you and Gohan. And there's only so much he can do."

She stared down at him in horror as he began to fill the next tank.

'What have I done? I led the attack without any regard for their lives at all! …I was even reckless with my own life. I lost track of what you taught me. Oh Eren, I'm so ashamed. Eren…'

Mikasa gave her triggers a tenuous squeeze, and only a slight burst of gas was released.

"There. Got it. Your ODM gear's functional, and I've restocked your blades."

He reached to the side and picked up a shattered sword that lay on the shingles.

"Just…just leave me this one okay?"

He stared down at the shiny metal, his wide terrified eye staring back at him in its reflection.

"It's just that…I would rather this be my end, not being eaten alive."

Mikasa yanked it from his fingers and threw it deliberately off the roof, several clangs echoing back up towards them as it hit the ground.

"Bu…why'd you…?"

Her hand clasped onto his as he sat stunned in disbelief.

"Armin."

He turned to her, her eyes boring into his with determination, and just the slightest shimmer of unshed tears.

"I will not leave you behind."

She meant it. She would do whatever it took to keep him safe.

He really had a true friend.

"But-…I mean, Titans are everywhere. You can't jump and carry me on your back-"

"C'mon let's move."

The increasingly agitated Connie had chosen then to interrupt them, grabbing a hold of Armin's hand, and dragging him along as they ran to the edge of the roof. The world began to grey and lose focus, as he saw what would await them. How they would fail…

'Please…don't do this…it's not going to work! Enough people have died on my account'

The strange Titans roar filled the air behind him, its deep call for battle clear for all to hear. He turned his head back and saw it, his eyes transfixed on its tilted back head, mouth open to the sky. He truly saw it. He saw their chance.

"NO!"

He dug his feet in in protest, and ripped his arm out of Connie's grip.

"Hold on, I've got an idea."

"What is it then?"

"Only you two are capable of pulling this off, so it's really your choice. This may sound crazy, but I think he might be useful."

"Woah you mean the Titan?"

"He only attacks his own kind, he seems to have no interest in us. What if we can somehow steer him to HQ and let him loose on the other Titans? Look, we know he's taken at least one out already, we can use him as a weapon."

"You've got be kidding, how the hell you think we're supposed to steer that thing?"

"Something tells me he's fighting on instinct, I'm almost sure if you take down the pair he's tangling with now he'll go look for others. That'd lead him straight to HQ. We're not steering him so much as luring him. I think it'll work, I really do."

"Think?! You're asking us to risk our necks on a stupid gut feeling?"

"If I'm right about this we can put down the siege on Headquarters in one fell-swoop!"

Connie's eyes went wide and terrified as he pictured all the Titan surrounding HQ. Crawling all over it. Trying to squeeze their way in and eat anyone there.

"It's worth a shot."

"Huh!? Seriously!?"

"Better to take a gamble on Armin's gut feeling than wait around to be slaughtered. If there's a decent shot why not take it?"

Armin couldn't help the slight lean forwards, nor could he stop the slight smile that graced his face.

'She believes in me. She really does.'

"So basically we're gonna recruit a Titan!"

"Yes, exactly."

"Ugh…uh…we'll look like morons if we screw this up."

"Heh heh, yeah but if we don't look how many lives we stand to save."

"Where there's a will there's a way."

Mikasa didn't stick around for any further discussion. Instead, she sprinted past Armin and towards the Titan. Armin hesitated for barely a moment before running after her, leaving Connie by himself.

"It's still nuts, but what the hell!"

Gohan flew around the street as Titans swung at him relentlessly. Tom was straddled on his back, his hands locked in a death grip around his potential saviour. The other female cadet who'd stepped in to try and save Tom was likewise flying around. Three Titans watching her with hunger as they tried to snatch her out of the air.

Up on the rooftop overlooking them, the surviving trainees watched on, frozen as their hearts demanded they leap in and help, and their brains screamed for them to run. They did neither. They needed someone to focus them, to get them moving, and so Jean opened his mouth.

"Let's go! Make a break for HQ while they're distracted!"

He didn't wait for any protest, instead twisting on the spot, and bolting towards the Garrison headquarters. Behind him, several cadets followed him quickly. Others found their feet shuffling after him, before building momentum and morphing into a run.

'We can do this. Hey, if we run out of gas we're dead anyway.'

"Give it everything you've got!"

Jean leapt as far as he could, safely clearing the narrow gap between the houses that formed an alleyway. Behind him, he heard the others all leap across as well, each of them using pure muscle and speed to get across.

Mikasa soared straight towards her target, the 15-metre Titan leering down at her with its unnatural fixed expression. She gave a tug of her cables, and only the slightest squeeze of gas, and dodged nimbly to the side before swinging back and slashing the back of its neck open.

Blood spurted through the air even as it fell to the ground dead. From behind it, Connie flew through the air with Armin in his arms. He was going almost monumentally fast considering how difficult perilous the situation would be if they had to dodge. But it was needed, and soon they landed on a rooftop only a buildings over from where the Rogue Titan was fighting.

Its hands were gripped in another Titans, both pushing against each other fiercely. With a surge of strength, the Rogue Titan pushed its victim against the building behind it, and began swinging its fists into its head. A cloud of dust and debris billowed up from the house as it was wrecked, covering up any visible signs of damage.

Still, after several powerful blows, the Titan slumped to the ground in defeat, and the Rogue Titan set its eyes on the horizon, his gaze resting squarely on the Garrison headquarters, and the numerous waiting victims that covered it.

Jean was in line with the others as they began the final leg towards their destination. Everyone was ready, and they were almost there. He pushed ahead of the others with a burst of his entirely depleted gas, and eyed the three Titans meandering down the road towards them.

He had three others in the particular group that surrounded him. The others were either still heading over the rooftops, or were taking a different street. It was good that they were split up. A small group could outmanoeuvre the lumbering idiots, but all of them together would have been slaughtered.

As it was, it was still ludicrously dangerous to be flying as close as they were, something Jean was terrifyingly reminded of when a giant hand wrapped around his leg. He didn't waste time cursing, instead he growled a war cry and swung his sword down, hacking deep into the flesh of the hand, and severing one of its fingers.

He felt himself break free, and he burst away, a strong trail of gas behind him. Saving on gas wouldn't do him any good if he was dead. He cleared the group of Titan first, the others catching up quickly, and somehow with no sign of casualties. He dropped down onto a rooftop to sprint instead of fly, he couldn't check, but he had an ominous feeling that his tanks were going to give out on him any moment.

Landing next to him, Marco was quick to match pace with him, turning to slightly face him to talk a little easier.

"Jean! Hey, you really came through for us there man, we owe you big time."

Jeans jaw definitely did not drop at that compliment, and he'd damn anyone to hell who said so. But whatever, it was Marco, he was always dreaming.

"Don't shrug it off I'm serious. We're alive because of you. Like I said you make a great leader."

Jean allowed himself to smirk with pride. So what if he had been below Jaeger, the scores had clearly been wrong. Just look at where the two of them were now. He wiped away his smirk and looked in front of them, there were several little groups of Titans already moving towards them.

"Easy with that crap, we're not out of it yet."

He leapt off the rooftop as several 10-15 metre's came closer, blocking their path. And without the gas to go around them, they had to go through them. A Titan swung at him, but it was wide and low, allowing Jean to pull himself through the air and over it. He felt before he saw the Titans hand moving for him from behind. He was fast though, and its fingertips passed by inches behind him where he had just been.

The group moved quickly, dodging and weaving between the monstrosities that surrounded them. They were almost there. The windows to the HQ were in sight! All they had to do was crash through them and- An open palm reached into the air, and snatched a hold of one of the recruits. He screamed as his friends all zipped by him, all sense of comradery gone as they fought to keep themselves alive.

Jean stared back in horror. He was going to be eaten any moment. He was practically dead already.

"Damn it!"

He turned ahead once more, and locked eyes with the closest window.

"Jean! Lead them towards HQ while you can! Please! Keep them safe!"

'…damn you Gohan. DAMN YOU!'

He pivoted in the air, and shot out one of his cables into a nearby chimney, relying solely on his almost ludicrous momentum to swing himself around. The man who was trapped, although boy was perhaps closer, was already being lifted towards the Titans open jaws. Jean soared straight towards its neck, the familiar bulge that sat at the nape presenting a clear target. One that he'd practiced a thousand times before.

He cut. He flew past. And he overbalanced, coming down to a halt as a heap on the rooftop behind it. He caught something out of the corner of his eye. It was a body, falling to the ground like dead weight. A grapple was loosed from the body's waist, and the trainee flew through the air once more.

The rest of the trainees tore through the air behind him, until the last one left was Jean, and four Titans.

'Last time I EVER save someone's life!' He swore as he scrambled to his feet and began to sprint back towards the HQ he had been so near to before. 'This is all your fault Gohan. I was MUCH better off just being a coward.'

A hand slapped onto the tiles behind him, and Jean let out a slight cry of terror. He heard the hand begin moving, roof tiles and pieces of wood being ripped into the air as it tore through the building towards him. He leapt into the air, strangled the triggers in his hand, and began to launch away from the Titans. Fingertips cracked against his back, sending painful, terrifying tingles up his spine. He lurched forward as the blow sped him up and he lost control.

The wild hook he had shot saved his life, as he was suddenly jerked out the way of a Titans waiting teeth, and pulled back towards HQ. He gave it everything he had left as he made his final swing into the air. Halfway through the swing, his gas sputtered and died, and he began to fall. He screamed as the broken windows of HQ began to rise past his eyes, and he made a final, desperate attempt to pull himself in as he loosed his hooks into the air.

One of them missed, and sailed off into nothingness, the other connected, and promptly pulled him directly into the wall. He hit it with his side, and he heard before he felt the loud snap of his arm breaking. He hung there, in agony but still desperate to move as shadows closed in around him. There was a lurch, and he was pulled up into the air as eager fingers slapped against the wall where he had been. He almost flew into HQ as the other cadets pulled him in, before collapsing with exhaustion all around him. Jean lay paralysed on his back, frozen with exhaustion and relief, as he stared at the hook which had embedded itself just inside the rooms ceiling.

'Never…again.'

Gohan flung himself to the side as soon as the shadow loomed overhead of him. A mighty stomp tore up the street where he had been only moments ago, the very ground being scarred with the imprint of the Titans foot. The shockwave jolted him off balance, and he hobbled on his right leg to steady himself, before diving away again as the same Titan slapped at him.

Shards of concrete and stone flew towards him, and Gohan flung his arms up to protect himself, falling flat on his back as Tom's weight became suddenly noticeable. There was a whoosh in the air, and the woman whose name he'd never caught landed next to him. She grabbed his arm in a monkey grip and hauled him to his feet. In front of them, five Titans closed off the street, three more behind them boxed them in.

"What do we do!?"

Asked the female cadet, Tom responding only with a few whimpers as he left the planning up to Gohan, and focused on keeping his arms wrapped around him. Gohan looked around for an escape. They could try to get back up to the rooftops now that the others had left, but unless their comrade had enough gas to fully fly, they could very possibly be caught. Which meant they had to stick to the street, but how could they-

"There! Between the legs!"

"Are-…are you sure?"

Was he? Well…no but…

"Yes! Let's go!"

He let his left hook fly, and wasted no time in retracting it as soon as it latched onto the ground behind the Titans. He gave himself a tiny burst of gas, which felt scarily smaller than he'd planned. The girl was barely a metre behind him as they zipped between the Titan's legs, the crowded beasts shuffling and bumping into each other as they stared down at their prey. Gohan cleared first, turning his head behind him to check on the other cadet, just in time to witness the hand slam her from the side, and crush her against the wall.

Blood sprayed from her body beneath the Titans palm. Crimson rain arced through the air, splashing against Gohan's horrified face. He fell hard to the ground, pinning Tom between him and the floor. Tom let out a sharp yelp, but Gohan didn't move, frozen as he felt part of what had once been part of a person drip down his cheeks.

"Aghh! Gohan!

Tom was yelling now, trying to throw his traumatized rescuer off of him to no avail. Gohan snapped out of it briefly to roll to the side, before fixing his gaze back on the corpse that was lying crushed against the wall. Blood marred her body, and her head listed backwards lifelessly. She had trusted him. She had stayed because she believed in him. And under his deliberate instruction, she had been killed.

"Oh Kami…oh Kami…"

The Titan that had claimed her life peeled her body off of the walls, lazily lifting her into the air above its open and waiting mouth. She fell without resistance and disappeared from sight, sliding all the way down the Titans gullet. It didn't belch with satisfaction, or sigh in content, it showed no reaction whatsoever to the life it had just taken. Instead, its eyes wandered, and fixed on Gohan and Tom.

"…I'm sorry."

The other Titans bumped into one another as they tried to surge forwards for their own meal. Scrambling to his feet, Gohan yanked Tom up and began to sprint down the street. They had moved from their original street when they were fighting off the Titans. They were closer to the HQ, but they had taken a different route to keep the other trainees safe.

"There's HQ!"

Tom pointed straight ahead of them, the familiar Garrison crest edging into sight below a set of windows. He was right, they were almost there. They just had to- Gohan skidded to a stop, a Titan emerged from around the corner in front of them, and blocked off their passage. Thundering footsteps approached from behind them as the others drew closer.

Gohan pivoted on his heels, whirling around to take a different street. The three Titans that had caught up to them made it impossible though, and soon, Gohan found himself looking back and forth between the two ends of the street, even as 10-metre tall monsters began to close in.

He needed a way out, some sort of way! He turned to the roof nearby and fired his hook up towards it. It bounced off as the weakened concrete fell away, and Gohan slowly pulled it back in to him. His Ki senses screamed a warning at him as the Titan between him and the HQ raised a fist above him, and began to bring it down. It was too fast. He wasn't quick enough to dodge it, and when it hit the ground, Gohans leg hadn't quite made it out of range. The lunge that Gohan had done to try and escape was quickly halted, as he found himself trapped with his leg still pinned in place. Tom had awkwardly fallen off Gohans back, and was scrambling away towards the nearby houses as Titans began to eye him up.

As he stared up at the Titan which held him pinned to the ground, and felt the crashing footsteps of the encroaching Titans, Gohan knew he was going to die. He saw no way out, no way to save Tom. There was nothing he could do except stare, until he noticed a Titan sized arm appear overhead.

In the Garrison Headquarters only a short distance away, the trainees were in a mixed state of relief and confusion. So many were too shocked at what had happened to really act on the opportunity they had to prepare, instead they all took their precious break to pant and collapse from the fatigue of it all.

Jean was still laying on the floor, his broken arm still taking the chance to scream at him with pain whenever it moved even slightly. And yet, he almost didn't care. He had made it. Made it to HQ. And not just him, his eyes swept around the room at the many cadets who had made the building seem small with just how cramped in they were. So many had made it, so many had survived. So many more than he had-…expected.

His thought slowed to a halt as he spotted another set of eyes peeking out towards him. These weren't the eyes of his comrades who had raced across the town with him. These eyes were still wide with blind terror, not weariness or relief.

He did his best to ignore the horrible sounds that emanated from his side as he stood up, to ignore the way the agony seemed to flood through his body. A path towards those sets of eyes seemed to form as people noticed him moving, some calling for him to stop and take it easy, but most silent as they simply watched and waited to see what was happening.

"Hold on a sec…you guys were the supply team?"

His voice felt like little more than a mutter, but the soldiers cowering under the tables heard it like a clap of thunder. One of them had barely muttered a 'yes' before Jeans remaining good arm reached out, and snatched him up from the ground. He tried to slam him against the desk he had hid beneath, but the pain and weariness turned it into barely more than an un-resisted push. His body was weak, but his growing rage fuelled his lungs plenty.

"You cowards! You left us out there on our own! People are dead because you didn't have the guts to do your jobs!"

Marco gripped him from behind, yelling at him to stop as he pulled Jean off of the man. Jeans primal roar was a mix of hatred and pain as Marco accidentally wrapped himself around the broken arm. The man's female comrade through herself over him in defence, tears streaming as she pleaded with him, and every other cadet whose eyes were firmly trained on them.

"The titans were coming at us from every angle. They overrun the supply room ok!"

"It's your job to deal with it and back us up anyway!"

Whatever else Jean might have said was quickly silenced as everyone heard a strange whistling through the air. The sound grew and grew, until there was a mighty crash as one of the far walls exploded inwards, bricks and debris flying throughout the room. Jean raised his arm to cover his face from the dust, Marco having released him in stunned surprise at the Titans face now staring at the cadets inside.

"Son of a… There's too many people. They can smell us."

Panic abruptly erupted throughout the cadets, their brief respite and glimmers of hope having been smashed into nothingness. Everyone began to run around screaming, calling for others to run but nobody knew to where. There was a panicked question about where Gohan or Mikasa were, but it went unanswered as terror gripped those who had previously considered themselves survivors. For Jean however, the panic meant little as he stood still in disbelief at the monsters which stared back at him.

And then, in disbelief at the giant fist which appeared against their cheeks.

"What the fu-"

A load crash cut Jean off as the titans which had seemed so terrifying a moment ago, were flung away like ragdolls from the might of the Titans punch. As they crashed against the nearby buildings, the Titan which had thrown the punch stepped forwards, tilted its head back and let out a piercing roar into the air. The other titans in the area began to move towards it, and for a brief moment the only sound was of the shuffling giants, before the smashing of glass broke the silence behind Jean.

"Hahaha, holy crap was that close. I think I'm all tapped out."

Connie's nervous laughter brought a strange kind of relief to the survivors as they took in the sight of the short bald boy letting Armin down off of his back, swiftly followed by Mikasa pulling herself through the window, and-

"Gohan?!"

Jean's relief and surprise turned quickly into concern as his comrade pulled himself inside. Tom climbed off the boys back and began to caress the wooden floor of the supply buildings, beyond thankful to be safe and secure again. Yet despite the happy moment, Gohan looked distantly at it all, and Jean figured out why quickly. The clean white bandanna that Gohan has started the day off with had been stained red in places, and more blood dotted the rest of his face.

Silently walking over, Jean laid a reassuring hand on the unresponsive boys shoulder, before reaching out and pulling the bandanna off his head. That at least earned him a look of confusion from the boy, even if it wasn't any words yet.

"It's best if the others don't see you like this." Jean answered, as he balled up the bandanna and quickly began to wipe off the blood from his face. The others had all been distracted long enough for Jean to make Gohan look presentable, either surrounding Tom and listening as he told the story of Gohan saving his life, or staring at the Titan outside which had turned on its own kind. Speaking of which…

"Guys! That Titan's an abnormal! It's killin' the all the other Titans! And it has no interest in us! We can use it to our advantage to escape from here!"

At Connie's gleeful ramblings Jean finished and stomped over to him, the bloodied rag being gripped tightly in Jean's fist.

"Use a Titan!? A Titan helping us? What kind of nonsensical dream-"

"It's no dream." Mikasa interrupted, locking eyes with Jean before turning back to the view outside of the open hole in the wall. Mikasa or not, Jean wasn't quite ready to take that kind of leap of faith on words alone.

"Whether its abnormal or not, I don't care."

"We're going to let it rampage here for as long as possible. Because realistically, that's our best strategy for survival now." Jean glanced outside at the outnumbered rogue Titan, now having claimed several more foes, yet even more outnumbered as it continued to draw the attention of other titans in the city. "It's okay. That Titan's tougher than the ordinary ones. I doubt they'll take down this building while that one's rampaging like crazy."

"How much do you know about that Titan?" To Jeans surprise it was Reiner who had asked, an unusual amount of interest in his voice. He dismissed the oddity, today had been stranger than anything he could have imagined. With a glance at the bandanna, he raised his hand to toss away the useless rag before a hand caught his wrist. He paused mid-throw as Gohan gently took the rag from his hand.

"We can worry about that after we're safe." Gohan looked solemnly at the crimson cloth in his grip. "Let's survive first."

"We found some!" Several wooden crates were dropped on the ground in front of the remaining cadets. The tops were loose and quickly pried off, revealing a row of muskets that were pulled out and passed around. "They belong to the Military Police. Damn things are all covered in dust, are you sure buckshot is what we want to use? I mean, will guns even work against Titans?" Jean asked Armin, inspecting the neglected rifle as his trust in the plan began to wane.

"If there are still seven Titans in the supply room that are three or four metres tall, this much firepower should be capable of blinding them all simultaneously." Armin assured, taking one of the rifles plungers and making a square outline in the dust on the floor.

"First, we'll use the lift to lower to lower a group of people from the centre ceiling. They'll then simultaneously fire at the faces of each of the seven Titans, thereby blinding them." He marked seven x's around the square.

"Then comes the moment of truth, seven people hiding up top will strike the Titans' vitals just after the guns fire." He marked seven arrows pointing at the crosses from behind.

"In other words, this plan will put everything on the line, everyone's lives on the line for a single attack. Seven people will have to slay seven titans at the same time in a single blow." He paused to look at each of the cadets around him.

"It'll be up to the seven most physically fit and adept soldiers we have here. So umm, I'm sorry for placing everyone's lives on your shoulders."

"It's no problem. If we fail, we die. The risk is the same regardless of who goes." Mikasa stepped forwards, her determination unwavering, though her own confidence wasn't enough to shake Armin's doubts.

"Still, is this shabby idea of mine really our best strategy?"

"We've got no other choice. We're out of time and options, all we can do now is give it our all! It'll be fine." Connie said, his joy at still being alive giving him something of a sense of excitement at the thrill of it all.

"Be confident, you have a knack for figuring out the correct solutions."

"Huh?"

"The lift is ready!" Whatever question Armin had would have had to wait as the lift rose into view. "The guns too!" A dozen cadets stood ready with their rifles. There were actually a few too many cadets to fit on the lift all at once, and so a few of the more fortunate survivors were going to be waiting upstairs out of harm's way.

For the team meant to kill the titans however, it was time to begin moving. Mikasa, Reiner, Annie, Bertholdt, Jean, Sasha, and Gohan had all been chosen to launch the attack. Connie and Sasha had spoken back and forth about which of the two would go, with the latter eventually winning out as she pointed out how much more tired Connie was after his detour to rescue Mikasa and recruit the rogue titan.

As the team moved down the stairs to make their way to their positions, a kind of nervous small talk began to develop between the group.

"Do you think we can still take out Titans without our ODM gear?" Asked Sasha, inspecting the blades in her hands.

"Of course we can, these Titans are only three or four metres tall. Targeting their vitals will be a cinch." Jean was unwilling to even consider the possibility that they might fail, if he got onto that track of mind then he would only ensure he hesitated when the time came.

"Regardless of their size, their vitals go from their head to the nape of the neck, one metre high and 10 centimetres across." Gohan reminded, his mind focused on the science of the act. Analyse the problem, prepare a solution, enact.

"You can also shove one of these up their asses. Those are the only two weak spots." Of course Reiner was still as confident as ever, his immature humour helping to set some of the others at ease. Jean was unimpressed however.

"Those could end up being your last words you know?"

Gohan tuned out the conversation as they neared the entrance to the rafters. Could he actually do it? Or were things about to go wrong again? Was he going to help lead even more to their deaths as they relied on him? He thought back to the girl who had died trying to help save Tom, who'd died under his instruction.

As he crawled along the wooden beams over the supply room, the four metre monsters beginning to appear below him, he gripped his blades tighter and tighter. No more would die for as long as he drew breath. He was the son of Goku, he'd fought Saiyans, Frieza, Androids, and Cell. No matter what had happened to him to rob him of his powers, he would not fail against these abominations.

'Never again.'

"Good, their numbers haven't increased." Armin stopped poking his head through the small crack between the supply rooms roof and the lift basket. They'd only gone partway down, enough to stay out of sight, but able to see the titan killing team as they moved into position. As he saw the final members get into position, he gave the order.

"Proceeding with operation, stay calm, we need to lure them all the way in." The lift began to descend and guns were raised, followed by a deafening silence only broken by the relaxed stomps of the titans throughout the supply room. And then, the titans stopped.

One titan suddenly span on its heel, turning to lock eyes on the cadets waiting petrified in the lift. There was a sharp intake of breath as everyone's grips tightened.

"Steady! Avoid a disadvantageous fight, if you don't want anyone to die then make this attack count." They had the complete attention of the titans now, and the giants began to slowly close in on them. "Steady… ready… fire!"

A cacophony of bangs exploded against the titans faces, their twisted faces illuminated by the guns before being hidden against by sprays of blood as their eyes were ripped to shreds.

As the sound of gunfire faded away, it was replaced by the quick steps of the titan team running along their rafters towards their targets. Gohan was the first to leap from his perch, landing on the back of one of the tallest titans with his blades embedding deep into the nape of the beast.

It roared again and began to shift backwards, Gohans blades having dug in, but not moved enough to actually kill the creature. The half-saiyan twisted around the hand holds he'd made for himself, shifting his weight and stance against the titans back, before pushing himself off with a spin. The result was a glorious spray of blood and flesh as whole chunks were torn out of the titans neck, followed by the shrapnel of one of Gohans now broken swords.

As Gohan landed on the ground, the titans corpse crashed against the ground, swiftly followed by others. Three, four, five, six… No seventh. A terrified scream ripped Gohans attention over towards Sasha, who backed away in fear from her titan, a vicious but shallow slash across its nape.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

Tears welled in her eyes as it began moving towards her, its hands outstretching.

"SASHA!"

Anger and fear filled Gohans body as he saw the creature reach towards his friend. Acting on instinct, ki shifted from his body into his remaining blade, and he span on the spot, hitting the release on his sword as he completed his twist, letting the blade fly towards his target.

The spinning blade hit the titans open wound and sent crimson rain spraying across the room as its nape was destroyed, and the titan began to fall forwards. Sasha's legs began to move as it came crashing towards her, before she was barrelled off her feet by Gohans body smashing against hers and flinging her backwards out of the way.

The titan crashed dead against the ground, a puff of dust kicking up into the air and making Sasha squeeze her eyes shut. When she opened them, she was wrapped in Gohans arms, a set of concerned eyes staring back at her.

"Gohan! You saved me!"

"Sasha, are you ok?"

The tears which had been welling broke fee, and Sasha found herself sobbing openly against Gohans chest. "Thanks to you!" He patted her back reassuringly as her tears flowed freely, overjoyed at having survived her mistake.

"Operation complete, everyone switch to resupply work!"

Gohan found himself off to one corner as he resupplied, his swords replaced and his gas at full. He dabbed a cloth against his jacket in an attempt to dry away the wet spot left by Sasha. She had calmed down after a few moments, and Gohan didn't blame her in the least for her outburst, even if she herself was quite embarrassed by it.

Gohan paused as he felt what was against the inside of his pocket, the envelopes of the vanguard. Each and every one of them had written one prepared for the day they might day, and each and every one of them had. Except him. He looked inside at the five he'd managed to collect, one from the woman outside the wall he'd been to slow to save, one from the captain he'd been to inexperienced to save, and three that the captain had collected, all from soldiers who had died against monsters Gohan hadn't been fast enough to kill.

The blood red bandanna was in the same pocket, he having stuffed it inside after taking it back from Jean. There was another person he hadn't been able to save, that time because of his incompetence. He pulled it out and began to retie it.

He'd started the day with it being so clean and white, and now it was forever stained with a reminder of his failure. So he would wear it he decided, and never forget what his failure had cost him.

And no-one would ever die on his watch again.