Hesitation 18+🔞

Chapter 3: Your first kill

"If I can't beat them, then I die. But if I win, I live. And the only way to win, is to fight." Mikasa said as her gears shot off and thrusted her off the roof.

Everyone stood there shocked.

"DONT JUST STAND THERE, we weren't taught to let our comrades fight alone!" Jean yelled as he took off.

Gwen and I took off behind him.

"Hurry up! Follow Mikasa! Avoid fighting if you can" Jean shouted

I watched Mikasa slice right through the nape of a titan and keep moving forward, noticing her technique as she lets the momentum of her spin carry out before she tries to anchor on to something else. She must plan ahead of time what she will rebound on and this new theory makes you want to try it.
No, now is not the time to be fancy and try new things. Like what Jean said, avoid fighting if you can.
She disappeared into the structures and armin darted after her. You heard Conny telling Jean he'd run after them, and Jean to take the lead to HQ.  A titan appears in your vision as Jean speeds by it, it eyes Gwen and reaches its arm out to grab her. It's time for you to act. You pick out where you'll rebound first, you can't risk slamming into a building after you strike. You shoot your gear and swing over the titans shoulder just as Gwen notices it's arm reaching for her, you slash the titans nape and tighten your body, in this position you should be able to anchor your gear where you planned, even though you're spinning so fast your eyes can't comprehend where you are.
As you're thrusted forward and flying into the streets, you realize that it worked. You allow yourself a brief triumph in your head and your smile stretches across your face. Your first kill was clean but you can't let that distract you now. You're no longer following your friends and you glance to see where they are. Landing on the rooftop next to Gwen, you see her staring in the direction of several titans devouring some of your squad, while the rest stare on helplessly. You, now being several blocks ahead, fumble to get a green flare and shoot it off. Jean gives a hopeless look from where he stands, as now all eyes are on you. It's your turn to motivate, HQ is only several blocks away. The mission will continue, and now you're the one leading it. Maybe it's just the adrenaline from your first kill but you're ready and you're confident. Taking off in the direction of HQ, the rest follow.

You have more gas than the others, although it's not much. You take it upon yourself to act if more titans appear, and since you're in the lead, you're the first to spot them. Without losing your pace, you slash through an unsuspecting 12m in the middle of the street with the same technique as the last. It feels strange to act without seeing, but you have to trust your body instead of your eyes. Approaching HQ, you look behind to see the rest of the squad weaving through titans as Jean cuts the fingers off a titan that grabbed him, gracefully catching his balance and still pushing on.

You land on a roof and begin running to conserve your fuel, when suddenly a cadet drops to your side and runs along with you. It's Marco. He's another boy from Trost and always hangs around Jean, although they're complete opposites. He's a sweetheart and has always been kind to everyone.

"(Y/n), you really came through for us there. We owe you big time" he says smiling at you

You shake your head at him, it's the least you could do. He's always been encouraging in your ODM training, even when you'd constantly ram into people, and oftentimes it was him.

"Don't shrug it off, I'm serious, we're alive because of you" his words sunk into you. You didn't do anything special, and you're certainly not a leader. You both jumped up again to meet Jean on the next roof top

"Jean, I always knew you were capable of so much more than you let yourself believe. Without you we wouldn't be here"

"Easy with that crap, we're not outta this yet!" Jean replied.