A/N: Hello, readers! Another chapter is here! Enjoy!

edited on august 29th, 2021 @ 2:25pm

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𝓒𝙷𝙰𝙿𝚃𝙴𝚁 𝙵𝙾𝚄𝚁,
𝓗𝙴𝙰𝚁𝚃𝙱𝙴𝙰𝚃, 𝙱𝙰𝚃𝚃𝙻𝙴 𝙵𝙾𝚁 𝚃𝚁𝙾𝚂𝚃, 𝙿𝙰𝚁𝚃 𝚃𝚆𝙾.

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JOSIAH STOPPED ON A ROOF with Jean right next to him. "We can't get close to HQ unless we want to risk having any casualties. Damn it." He thought.

He looked over to see a cadet holding out his blades, looking terrified. Josiah saw that he was out of fuel.

"He's out of gas!" He thought.

Josiah then saw two Titans running over towards the terrified cadet.

"Tom, I'm coming for you!"

"Don't... it's too late!" Jean warned as other cadets followed to save the one who was in trouble.

Josiah could only watch as the cadets were being devoured.

He looked over to see Jean battling with himself as well. He can still hear the screams of his fellow cadets, them begging, pleading for their life not to be taken.

Broken ODM gear and torn limbs were scattered along with blood splatters. Josiah could hear his own heart beating rapidly against his chest.

"Now!" Jean's voice interrupted Josiah's thoughts as he looked over to him. Marco, Sasha, Reiner, Bertholdt and Annie did the same.

"We run into HQ right now!" Jean exclaimed as he took off. Josiah clenched his jaw before following with Marco and Sasha right behind him along with Reiner, Bertholdt, and Annie.

"Full speed ahead!" Jean shouted. They were bypassing Titans until one of them grabbed Jean's leg. He managed to cut himself free and continued on.

Jean landed on the roof followed by Josiah and Jean, both on either side of him.

"Jean!" Marco said, getting his attention. "Thank you. Thanks to you, we made it out safety."

"Huh?" Jean questioned.

"It's thanks to you. I told you you're cut out for leadership!" Marco informed.

"I don't know about that!" Jean countered.

They continued flying past Titans, avoiding them at all costs. Jean broke through a building window with Josiah right behind him.

The other cadets broke through the glass windows, joining them.

"Jean really is a natural born leader. Sucks he's joining the Military Police." Josiah thinks to himself.

"Aren't you guys with the supply team?" Jean asked, grabbing Josiah's attention.

"Yeah..." A male replied from under the desk.

As soon as he replied, Jean grabs the male and pulled him out. Josiah could only watch as Jean punched the male and he falls to the ground.

"Stop it, Jean!" Marco rushed over and held him back.

"They are the ones who abandoned us!" Jean exclaimed. "Because of you, more died than was necessary!"

The female ran towards her friend. "Titans came into the supply area... We couldn't do anything!" She yelled.

Josiah walked over to get in between Jean as Marco was still holding him, stopping him from doing anything rash. His eyes glanced over to the supply team.

"You see a Titan and you automatically give up fighting? Useless imbeciles. I watched people who I trained with die because of your actions. I hope you're proud of it." Josiah told them as the girl gulped under his gaze.

He heard a sound come from outside. "Get down!" Reiner ordered. The wall is hit and a Titan face appears in the hole that was created.

"Damn it! Too many people are in one place!" Jean coughed from the debris that had appeared.

"Hurry, get inside!" Cadets began to panic and tried to hurry out of the room. Josiah stayed with Jean and Marco while the others pushed through the small doors.

"We can't all fit!"

"Where's Mikasa?!"

"She must've ran out of gas, and got eaten long ago!"

"Jean." Josiah said. "Come on."

The brunette looked up just in time to see another Titan collide his fist with the other Titan's face, pushing them out of the way.

"What the hell?" Josiah muttered, blinking as if he was seeing things.

He saw a male Titan with long brown hair and pointy ears as it roared loudly.

"W-What is that?" Jean mumbled.

The window breaks near them as Mikasa came in with Connie and Armin not too far behind her.

"Mikasa?" Jean shouted as Josiah ran towards them.

"That was close... I'm all out." Connie laughed. "But we did it! We just barely made it!"

"Thank god for that." Josiah said, sighing in relief as he hugged the trio. "Glad you three are safe."

Jean walked towards them. "Y-You're alive!" He exclaimed.

"Of course she is, Jean. Did you really doubt her that much?" Josiah questioned as he smiled.

"You did it, Armin!" Connie hits Armin on the back as he winced at the impact. "Your plan worked!"

"Everyone! That Titan is an Abnormal that kills other Titans!"

They glanced over at the Abnormal Titan from before.

"And it isn't even interested in us... if we can use it, we can escape!" Connie pointed at the Titan.

"Use the Titan?"

"A Titan helping us?" Jean questioned. "That sounds like a dream—"

"It isn't a dream." Josiah's voice interrupted Jean's sentence. "For whatever reason, he is fighting his own kind. Connie makes a valid point."

They watched as the Titan punched his way through the smaller Titans. He tilted his head back and roared loudly.

Jean looked at Josiah and sighed in defeat. Josiah goes back to observing the fight.

"The Abnormal seems to be focused on the other Titans. He doesn't give a damn about us." Josiah noted.

"D-Don't worry." Connie stuttered.  "It's stronger than an average Titan."

The Abnormal continued to punch and kick the normal ones.

"With him keeping the Titans occupied, we'll have time to refuel." Josiah joined Reiner, Connie, and Annie.

"How much do you know about that Titan?" Reiner asked.

"We can worry about that once we get out." Connie replied.

"Though, my gut feeling tells me we have nothing to worry about." Josiah added.

"You're right. We'll get out of here first." Reiner agreed.

Josiah walked away just as he heard Jean's voice interrupt the chatter.

"We found it!" Jean came in with a few others, holding wooden boxes. "This is Military Police stuff... it was covered in dust."

"Are scatter shots really enough? Will these rifles actually be of any use against the Titans?" Jean asked himself.

Josiah was in a circle with a few other cadets as they looked over the guns. Jean took his position as leader again.

"I think they're a lot better than nothing." Armin looks at the HQ map. "If there are still only seven 3- to 4-meter class Titans in the supply room, even this may be enough firepower to blind them all at once."

Everyone was dead silent. Armin had a very detailed yet risky plan. Which consisted of three steps.

Lower the recruits down into the basement which seven Titans roamed around in.

All but seven cadets had to shoot Titans in the face on Marco's order and making them blind from the attack above.

The remaining seven would have to quickly swoop down and slice the Titans on the first attempt.

Those seven cadets included: Mikasa, Josiah, Reiner, Annie, Sasha, Bertholdt, and Jean.

"The seven will be those of us whose skills give us the best chance, but... I'm sorry to make them bear the weight of everyone's lives..." Armin finished.

"It's all right." Reiner reassured him.

"Regardless of who goes, everyone dies if we fail." Annie added. "The risk is the same."

"Though, we should have someone go with them, just in case something goes wrong." Josiah suggested with Armin nodding in agreement at his statement.

"But is the plan I conceived... really the best one?" Armin still had his doubts.

"It's the only option.... There's no time, and this is the best plan we'll have. We just have to give all we've got!" Marco said.

"It's fine. Have confidence in yourself." Mikasa told him. "You have the ability to find the right solution. That ability has saved both Eren and me."

"When was this?" Armin questioned.

"The lift's ready! The guns, too! They're all loaded!" A cadet informed.

"You just don't realize it. We'll talk later." Mikasa said to Armin.

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As they were walking down the steps, Flynn overheard Connie, who came as backup, talking to Reiner. "But can we kill Titans without Maneuver Gear?" He asked.

"Sure, we can. They're 3- to 4-meter class Titans." Reiner replied. "The target will be easy to hit."

"Yeah, no matter what the size, the target is always that one spot on the neck..." Jean spoke up.

"One meter long, ten centimeters wide!" Sasha said.

"You're right. Quick in and out." Josiah agreed, his arm leaning on one of her shoulders.

"Or we can shove this up their ass. These are their only two weak spots." Reiner laughed and held his blade straight up.

"I didn't know about that!" Connie widened his eyes at Reiner. "We can do that?"

"I'm just finding out now, too." Sasha mumbled more to herself, thinking about what he said.

"Reiner..." Jean sighed. "Those may well end up being your last words."

"You guys are a bunch of idiots." Josiah stated as he laughed a little.

Once down in the basement that had piles of tanks and extra blades scattered on the wooden floor, each of the skilled seven cadets hoisted themselves to the roof planks.

After that, it wasn't long before the other cadets lowered themselves into the basement from the wooden, shaft box.

Many of the cadets were shaking with fear. Josiah had himself hoisted up, ready to attack and waiting for Marco's signal.

Titans of all sizes started to make their way to the box, and when they did, Josiah clenched the handles of the blades.

"Ready..." Marco mumbled. "Fire!" He exclaimed.

Once all the guns went off, each cadet above jumped down. Josiah sliced the nape of a Titan, watching it fall to the ground as he landed safety.

"Got mine!" Josiah thought. "What about the others?"

He looked over to see all of the Titans beginning to fall, except for one that Sasha missed. Josiah watched as one of her blades snapped at the handle, then seen that the other was doing the same.

"Sasha! Run!" Josiah shouted. Once she did, Josiah quickly sliced the Titan's nape, sending it to the ground.

"Josiah! You saved me!" Sasha yelled as she was bowing at him.

"Don't mention it, Sasha." Josiah told her before ruffling her hair.

"We got them all! Begin the resupply." Jean informed.

Josiah looked up at the cadets in the lift to see them all smiling.

They all began to fill up their gas tanks, getting extra in case they needed it. Josiah looked over to see Sasha crying.

"I accepted defeat before the Titans... I'm so ashamed!"

"I'll despise you all you want later!" Connie yelled. "Let's get out of here!"

Josiah just shook his head and continued filling up his tank. Jean and Marco were right next to him as they began talking.

"I don't think I'm cut out to be a leader.." Jean mumbled. "Don't say things like that again."

Marco stared at him as Josiah did too. Marco sets one of his canisters down and grabbed a new one.

"I hope you won't get mad when I say this..." Marco began. "But you aren't a strong person. So you can relate to how the weak feel. In addition, you excel in sizing up any situation. Isn't that why you immediately know what should be done?"

Jean lets out a surprised breath and the two of them stop filling their tanks.

"You gave the right orders." Marco smiled. "That's why I could jump, and it's why I'm alive."

Josiah packed up his canisters and stood up. "You ready? Let's get out of here!"

They all regrouped and headed towards the exit. "We'll all head out together!" Josiah then told the group.

Everyone shoots off, using their ODM gear. Josiah landed on a roof next to Jean when something caught his line of sight.

The Titan from earlier that helped them was being eaten by five Titans.

"Cannibalism?" Josiah blinked in confusion.

The Titan tilted its head back as it groaned. "Can he not regenerate like the others?" Armin asked out loud.

"I thought that if we could solve the mystery of that Titan, it may give us a way to overcome our bleak predicament..." Mikasa said.

Josiah looked over to find Reiner, Annie, and Bertholdt.

"I agree." Reiner agreed. "If it gets eaten, we won't learn anything. Let's try to keep it alive by killing the ones clinging to it."

"Are you insane, Reiner?!" Jean exclaimed. "We can finally get out of here!"

"What if it might be able to help us?" Annie looked at him. "Might it not prove a greater weapon than any cannon?"

"Help us? Are you serious?" Jean looks at her with shock.

Armin turns to look over at a Titan approaching the Abnormal.

"That's..." He mumbled. "The Abnormal that ate Thomas..."

Josiah watched as the Abnormal shakes off the others that were eating away at his body and charged at the Titan that was approaching.

The Titan bites down on the back of the Titan's neck and lifts it into the air with its mouth.

Another Titan was approaching, trying to get at the Abnormal. Josiah watched as he flings the Titan at the other, causing both of them to fly into a building across from them.

The Abnormal screams into the air as steam comes out of its body.

"Come on..." Jean mumbled. "It doesn't need help."

Josiah heard Jean speaking, but something caught his eyes as they widened, also catching the sight of the others.

"A Titan is still a Titan." Jean stopped talking when he sees what the others do.

When the steam cleared, Josiah let out a gasp. Eren had come out of the Titan's nape. Mikasa was a crying mess as she hugged him.

They were on a roof of the building. Mikasa continued to cry as she didn't let Eren go.

Armin placed Eren's hand in his as tears formed in his eyes. The others looked at the two with pity.

"Does this mean that Eren did all this?" Jean mumbled. He wasn't the only one staring at the scattered Titan parts. Reiner, Bertholdt, and Annie were shocked by Eren's actions.

Josiah, however, could only watch Armin and Mikasa hug Eren. For some reason, he had a really bad feeling.

A really, really bad feeling.

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A/N: Another chapter is done! Hope you enjoyed!

Word Count: 2502 words.