Attack On Titan: Fire Away || Eren Jaegar X OC

Chapter Twenty

3rd person continued

"I'll do it!" Eren says confidently but with a pained voice as he looks up into Commander Pixis' eyes, "I don't know if I can, but I will. I swear."

The air is quiet as Armin and Mikasa stand. Cianna still sits in her comfortable position, with her arms behind her back.

"Excellently said," Pixis says as he grabs Eren shoulders. His face looks pleased as he smiles slightly, "you have the heart of a lion."

Pixis stands, looking over the wall. He lifts his left arm and waves it wildly in the air, as some sort of signal.

"Stop officers, hup!" He yells as he uses both his hands to cover his mouth, making the sound carry, "We have a plan to flush out!"

"Wait," Armin says softy so that the commander won't hear him, "We can't actually be going with this as our best strategy. It was just something I tossed out there."

"I was thinking the same thing," Eren says softly. Cianna slowly gets up and stands next to Mikasa and Armin. Eren looks at the three before him, "Except, he seems like a guy who knows what he's doing. Like he has it all under control, like we can't see the force of the choice, but he's got a birds eye view."

"You think so?" Cianna asks cautiously as she flickers her blur orbs over to Pixis' figure.

"I do," Eren says as he sighs, "Either way though, we have got a whole other problem to address, before we can get your plan off the ground. And my gut tells me that the commander is keenly aware of it."

"Which would be?" Armin asks as Eren looks up at him.

"Titans... Aren't our only foe," Eren says lowly as he drops his head down.

"Look sharp soldiers," Pixis says as he approaches the four once more. Eren pushes his weight off of the ground, standing to his two feet, listening closely to Pixis.

"The fate of mankind rests on your shoulders," He says as two more soldiers join him from behind and the four stand straighter.

-*-

"Take back Trost," a soldier says to his friends from the area below the wall, "Are they kidding?!"

"Someone up there had lost their marbles,"another soldier says, pointing to the top of the wall, "How do they expect up to close the hole?!"

"Is the brass that out of touch?!" Another says as murmurs spread throughout the crowd of soldiers, "It's a damn suicide mission!"

"A lost cause," another says as he looks up, "No doubt."

"Defending wall rose it the only real option here," a soldier says as people agree with him.

"Jack asses," another says threateningly, "they are just some bureaucrats pushing us through for some glory!"

Under an awning, Marco and other soldiers sit at three wooden benches. The one beside Marco starts to whimper as Marco looks over in concern.

"I-I caved. I-I can't go back," He whimpers, then his face hardens. He suddenly grabs his face, screaming, "We're all going to die! I just want to see my family!"

"Come on, Daz," Marco says urgently to the panicking boy, "Calm down!"

"Stop shrieking like a sniveling coward!" A garrison soldier yells as he turns his head to the panicked boy, Daz. He stops his way over to him, "Are you trying to give me the impression that you are a liability?!"

"Sir, please!" Daz screams as he opens his crazed eyes, "Just look at us! We're being matched to a horrible grave like lambs about to be slaughtered!"