Mutiny (Attack On Titan) (Rewritten version) (ON HOLD)

Chapter 54

She saw them from the corner of her eye.

Four mysterious individuals, who were armed to the teeth, suddenly ambushed their position with their weapons aimed towards the duo. Annie's first instinct was to jump in the line of fire to protect the mortal boy, but before she even reacted; Armin had already jumped towards her and tackled her to the ground

A loud shot split her ear, blood splattered and flesh was torn.

Annie's vision was blurry when she got off the ground. The constant ringing in her ears was torturing her as she looked around, observing her surroundings.

She noticed blood dripping from her face, and confusion settled in her mind. She touched her face and then she looked at her fingers, now covered with crimson red.

She felt no pain, and she didn't feel her body heal itself either. But as soon as realization dawned on her, she felt her heart hammer against her ribcages.

Her eyes widened with a mixture of horror and uncertainty, she turned around slowly, and the moment she registered the horrifying scenery that already unfolded before her, she screamed Armin's name.

(.....)

Traut Caven and her teammates slowly approached the duo, the holder of the Versatile Titan was already frantically trying to stop the bleeding from the gunshot injury, an injury she herself caused no less.

The boy's shoulder was torn, she'd be surprised if the boy survived this gunshot. Even then, even if the gunshot didn't kill him, then the bleeding would in a matter of minutes.

She wondered if she would feel guilty of her responsibility of that boy's imminent death, wondering if she would ever sleep peacefully at night because she caused the death of a young boy.

But she brushed aside these feelings of guilt, that boy was a soldier and regardless of his age; he was an enemy to her.

Liam was correct in predicting all of the possible routes the Survey Corps could be using for any motives. The reason why he deployed massive Military Police units to patrol Wall Rose was to force the Corps to react, so he could easily predict their least expected movements.

Their planning resulted in them predicting two possible pathways, the one at the forest and the other which was just south from their position.

"This is a pathway that leads towards the orientalist village". Stewart noted. "Liam's predictions were right, it seems that the orientalists are cooperating against us".

"So his predictions were really true after all". Lila said as she prepared her weapon. "We should kill these two immediately, these Titan shifters are unpredictable after all".

Before Lila advanced, Stewart began to voice his opposition.

"Wait". He said. "I get killing the Versatile Titan, but why the boy? He's been caught in the line of fire and he doesn't deserve to die". He protested.

"Liam's orders are clear". Lila said with a hint of anger in her tone. "Every Corps member should die, they are all guilty of disturbing the peace within the walls. They hold information about the reality of these walls, should this information go out to the public; what do you think is going to happen?".

"But we could use both of them as bargaining chips". Stewart argued. "Look, I get it. Liam's orders were clear, but we have the tactical advantage here! Should we use the Versatile Titan as a bargaining chip, Erwin Smith's entire effort would be for nothing".

"Are you suggesting that we spare the one who killed all of our teammates?". Lila said with a threatening tone.

"I never said spare". Stewart said. "All what I'm trying to do is avoid more unnecessary bloodshed".

Traut carefully analyzed their argument, taking into consideration everything that Stewart suggested.

It was risky, but Stewart made his point nevertheless. Traut was all in for a compromise that could end this problem quickly, without dipping her hands too deep in blood. It's not that she had a problem with killing if it meant doing her duty, but ending it quickly would be much more efficient than dragging it out unnecessarily. 

"Stewart may be right". Traut said.

Lila widened her eyes in shock. "But....".

"I don't want to prolong this problem and cause more unnecessary bloodshed". Traut said. "Given they are also cooperating with the orientalist village, it seems more likely that if we allow it to escalate, then we could see another civil war that could reach the magnitude of the 15 years civil war".

"I'm not going to play the hero, and I have no right to side with morals, my hands are too dirty for that". Traut said. "But this is about our survival, the survival of humanity within the walls, so we should take whatever chance that would help us quickly end this problem".

Stewart felt relieved that Traut sided with his idea.

Whatever would happen to the Titan shifter didn't really matter to him, but the boy whom Traut shot was a victim in all of this. Stewart felt pity that a boy's life should end like that because of a possible political conflict, so he voiced his thoughts not just for his sake, but for the rest of the young soldiers as well.

Alas, Traut approached the Titan shifter. She observed her for a moment, her hands were filled with blood and her face showed how desperate she was. She looked at the boy before her, it seems that she ripped a huge part of her jacket to somewhat sustain his injury, it bought some time for that boy to live, but it wasn't enough to keep him alive for a long period of time.

In a matter of minutes, the boy was going to die.

Unless Traut had something to do with it.

"Holder of the Versatile Titan". Traut said.

The blonde girl looked up, her face showing a mix of desperation and anger towards her.

"Surrender now, and we may help your friend live".