Chapter 28 - Trost

" Arghh why do we have to do this stupid labor when that suicidal maniac and the rest get to patrol the wall!" cried Jean as he carried boxes from the warehouse to the carts. The warehouse was near the inner wall of Trost District, the cadets were asked to load heavy cargo onto the carts for a wealthy merchant by the superiors. After loading the cargo they would have to escort the cargo towards Wall Sheena.

" What the hell do these boxes even contain!! It's so damn heavy!" (Jean)

" Haha come on Jean, don't tell me a strong man like you is already tired, look at Mikasa and Asriel, they are even carrying multiple boxes." teased Reiner.

" Shut up! Don't compare with those monsters!" (Jean)

" Eh, how could you say that to your comrades in arms, well if we are monsters then you are a horse haha," replied Asriel with a laugh.

" What the hell are you talking about!!?? Do I look like a horse to you!!??" (Jean)

" Yes, yes you do, pfftt" replied Asriel while trying to hold back his laughter. Mikasa who was in the background hearing this also let out a small chuckle while carrying three huge boxes.

" YOU!!" raged Jean while popping a vein on his forehead.

" Alright, guys knock it off, we still have some more boxes to carry." (Reiner)

" Asriel...I need to talk to you for a bit" said Annie while tugging on Asriel's sleeves. Reiner looked at her with some disappointment, ridicule, and contempt but wasn't noticed by anyone except Asriel.

" Sure Annie, let's go. Mikasa, I'll be going with Annie for a bit." Asriel notified Mikasa since she might be worried if he was gone without her knowing.

" Nn" replied Mikasas with a slight nod and a slight tinge of jealousy. After walking for a bit with Annie, they arrived at a place behind the warehouse.

" So, what do you want to talk about?" said Asriel while giving her a warm smile. Annie blushed a bit and almost forgot what she wanted to talk about.

" .......ah....right.....ehem.....I think they will make a move today, I'm not too sure since I didn't talk to them anymore so I'm not certain what their plan is," said Annie while blushing.

" I see....well, we'll deal with it accordingly when the time comes. The people still need a wake-up call after all," said Asriel while petting Annie's head.

" Nn.....you are not going to stop them?" asked Annie while enjoying his affection.

" No, the sooner the people of these walls know how much of a threat the titans are and get used to it, the better they will be when the time comes the invasion of foreign forces. This will be a warning for the future so that they won't grow complacent thinking the walls would save them from whatever that is outside. Since the Marleyans are already making a move since 5 years ago, what is to say that when they find out that the retrieval was a failure they would wage an all-out war on the people here. They have better technology than the Eldians since 5 years ago and now they would've advanced even more. I could stop them or even annihilating them all if I wanted.......but where's the fun in that" said Asriel with a smile but this time it was more of a malicious smile.

Annie was surprised seeing him like this but she didn't care. [As long as you love me, I don't care if you are a demon or if we are starving, homeless and broke, I'll always stay beside you.] thought Annie and hugged him while nuzzling into his chest. Asriel seeing her like this couldn't help but smile genuinely, he was afraid she would leave him after hearing what he said.

*BOOM*

Yellow lightning could be seen crackling near the outer wall's gate and a lot of smoke was rising into the sky. Suddenly as the smoke cleared up the people could see a huge 60 meters tall titan staring at them from the other side of the wall. Asriel and Annie quickly went back to the others to see them frozen stiff on the spot. Mikasa saw Asriel and she immediately dashed towards him and started to drag him towards Wall Rose.

" Eru! We need to get out of here! We have to go! Now!" said Mikasa with some panic in her voice but she didn't show it on her face. Hearing her voice, all the cadets were taken out of their stupor. Some were shouting that they were all gonna die, some were running around trying to look for their superiors and some just broke down on the spot and curled up into a ball of snot and tears.

" We need to get our gears first, we might need them for what's to come!" (Asriel)

*BOOM*

Once again a loud sound was heard and then titans started to rush into the district, the Colossal Titan was nowhere to be seen anymore. Just like it came, it disappeared into thin air. Asriel, Mikasa, Annie, and Jean made their way towards the armory that was located near the wall. The others with more rational minds followed Asriel's group to get the gears first before anything. When they reached the armory they were greeted by the seniors who were running around shouting at the civilians to evacuate while the ones with the gears went towards the breach to alert more civilians on the way and take care of the titans.

" You lot! Come over here and gear up! I want you cadets to spread out and alert the civilians to evacuate! Guide them towards the inner wall and regroup at headquarters! Commander Kitz will brief you on further instructions! Now go! go! go!" (Senior)

The cadets quickly geared up and zipped towards different directions alerting civilians and guiding them back to the wall. It was an easy job for them since almost all the civilians were rushing towards the inner wall, they just have to guide them and maintain order. In 2 hours 90% of the civilians managed to escape towards the other side of Wall Rose. During this time the cadets near the wall were notified about their post from the logistic team that came from the headquarters. Mikasa, Annie, and Asriel were posted near the inner wall to protect the civilians while Jean and the rest were sent to the middle line.

" Why didn't they send us to the front lines? They should know that we can handle the titans more than the others," said Annie with a frown.

" Well, that's because our superiors are lowly cowards who only hide behind others, sacrificing them if need be for their own survival. They know we are strong and can handle titans easily that's why they are keeping us close to them to increase their chance of survival," said Asriel while shaking his head and sighing. Mikasa and Annie didn't reply but Asriel could feel that they were angry. They saw some titans coming their way so as a release of their anger they dismembered the poor bastard before cutting his nape. A few more titans came but they were dealt with quickly. When they landed back on the roofs after a subjugation they heard a ruckus going on in front of the gate.

" Hmm? What is going on at the gate," (Asriel) Mikasa and Annie both looked towards the gate and saw that a huge cart was blocking the gate of the wall and a fat merchant scolding the people around to push the cart harder as he sits on top of the cart. Some of the soldiers were even pushing the cart, although they wanted to remove the cart out of the way but they were afraid to anger the merchant since he was quite influential. Both the girls were dumbfounded before getting extremely angered. Before they could go deal with the problem they heard a series of thumping and the ground shaking with every thump. It was getting closer and faster when they looked for the source of the problem, they saw the Armored Titan making its way towards the gate, running like an Olympic runner. [Oh no] they thought at the same time.

*THUMP* THUMP* *THUMP* *THUMP* *THUMP* THUMP* *THUMP* *THUMP*

" Interesting, so they decided to destroy both the walls huh....." mused Asriel.