Vane Kabrino: An Attack on Titan Story (Rewritten)

Taking Back Trost

All the soldiers were left behind the Wall Rose gate to settle down.
Yeah, but settle down for how long? Vane wondered. Despite strongly dislike for most of his still alive Wall Cleaning Squad Vane hung with them because they were the only cadets he knew really well. The others were milling about aimlessly or terrified while they hung together watching everyone. Rick was being Rick and trying to cheer them all up with jokes, a few of which made Vane laugh and smile a little but the rest were downright annoying.
"Rick just stop. This is literally life and death." Vane said.
"You killed my good mood." Rick said.
"You're welcome."
"That wasn't a thank you."
"I know."
"You also killed our good mood." Sam and Jerrica said.
"You're also welcome." He said.
"Still not a thank you."
"And I still know." Some time passes before anything happens. They were just sitting down and then a canon was fired, making their heads turn. There was smoke but they didn't have a good sight of it.
"So where are you planning on joining?" Rick asked drawing our attention back on him. "I'm planning on joining the Garrison. No way in hell am I going outside the Walls to fight those Titans."
"I'll see you in the Garrison then." Sam said. "And I'm pretty sure whatever the canon firing is was for a good reason or possibly an accident."
"Survey Corps." Vane said.
"Survey Corps." Jerrica said. They looked at each other then looked away quickly.
"Well then I'll see you two on your way out of the Walls on your expeditions then. I'll be hanging with Sam and we'll wave or something." Rick said shrugging.
"I don't think we'll see you from atop a fifty meter high Wall very well." He pointed out.
"Squint and see if that works." Rick suggested.
"It won't wo-ork." Vane said in a singsong voice.
"I can't even tell if those are people or something else that I'm looking at from down here." Jerrica said squinting up at the Wall.
"Oh well, we'll still wave, right Sam?" Rick said smiling.
"Right."
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As Sam and Rick were talking, Vane  felt a hand on his shoulder.
It was Jerrica.
She gestured for him to follow her.
They were in a small alley.
"What is it?" He asked.
"The glasses. Spill the story behind them." Jerrica said quietly, pointing at a spot above his heart.
Vane, looking rather reluctant, shifted around and avoided eye contact with her.
"Well..." he said. "I..." he struggled to find the words. "This will be a long story. So get comfortable."
She nodded.
And so he explained, from his adoptive family, the Kabrinos, to parting ways with Li.
Jerrica didn't interrupt, she listened, but her eyes spoke. She pitied him.
He felt rather bitter by the end of his story.
"And so, I don't even know who my actual parents were." He spat and punched the wall.
Blood dripped from his knuckles.
"I'm so sorry," Jerrica said softly, embracing him.
Vane froze.
He slow wrapped his arms around her.
His bitterness gave way to tears.
"Don't worry, I'm here for you." Jerrica said in the same soft tone as Vane trembled.
She pulled away.
"Vane,"
"Yes?" He composed himself, wiping his eyes.
She approached him. He expected another hug.
She didn't hug him.
Jerrica tilted her head upwards and stood on her toes.
He was unsure what she was trying to accomplish.
"Jerrica! Vane!" Sam shouted.
"Over here!" Vane said.
Jerrica quickly backed away as Sam waved them over.
"Come on, guys, I think someone is about to give a speech!" Sam said.
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Dot Pixis, Commander of the Garrison, stood on the Wall while all of the cadets and soldiers stood below him.
"Attention!" He shouted. Their attention was fixed on him. "We have a way of retaking Trost!" A few gasps and murmurs ran through the crowd. Someone was standing next to him. It was hard to tell who but they were saluting as far as Vane could tell. "Due to a secret experiment Eren Jaeger, here, has been given the power to shift into a Titan! We plan to use his power to lift a boulder by Trost's gate to plug it! Meanwhile all of you will lure the Titans away from Eren! He will have an elite squad protect him while you lure the Titans to the edge of the Wall. No combat necessary!" There were more murmurs of which Vane could now hear.
"He wants us to go back there? Never!" A male soldier shouted.
"I don't want to go back!" A female cadet sobbed.
Sobbing and angry murmurs ran through the crowd.
"There's no way I'm going back to that hell!" Someone shouted. People started walking away while others stayed. Pixis stayed silent for a short period allowing them and officers trying to stop them to listen.
"I understand that you will want to return to your families but I ask you not to!" Pixis shouted. "Humanity will not fall deeper inside these Walls! I ask you to die here! Today! For humanity!" All the fleeing soldiers paused.
As scared as they may be, Pixis' words felt encouraging.
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Somehow Pixis convinced them to do it. They were to be hanging from the Wall by one of our 3DMG cables. He was put with Sam, Rick and Jerrica.
At this point he wondered whether it was pure luck he was always with them or if it was on purpose.
"Nice day for it, eh?" Rick called from his far left as they were hanging over the mob of Titans beneath them.
"Sure!" I replied sarcastically.
"Are you being sarcastic-?"
"Of course I'm being sarcastic!"
Little to nothing happened aside from the Titans fruitless attempts to reach them, which didn't work for they were 30 meters above their reaching arms. Vane looked at Sam, who was gripping his cord like a life line looking green in the face. Jerrica, on the other hand, was looking up into the sky. She threw a glance at Vane and then averted her eyes. Then after about 20 minutes some Titans seemed to be losing interest in the dangling humans. Vane then noticed that a few people were falling into the swarm of Titans, which made him grip his cord tightly and his sword in the other.
A familiar voice was torn into a blood curdling scream and Sam, Jerrica and Vane watched helplessly as Rick fell. It was like someone had put a slow on time. He tumbled through the air his eyes wide with shock and screaming at the top of his lungs. Sam made a movement to do something to help Rick. But then a Titan then snapped him up once he reached level with one of them. The three of them were stunned. What had happened? Why?
Sam screamed,
"RICK!" Vane felt nothing working inside himself. His voice, had he tried to use it, would have been broken. His arms and legs were numb. Only one thought crossed his mind:
I won't let myself or Jerrica and Sam meet a fate like that. He promised himself. All feeling came back at once and Vane felt a single tear fall down his face.
"He's gone." He said trying not to sound too emotional. Apparently, it worked, his tone was flat. Sam gave him a death glare.
"How can you say that when a fellow soldier and friend just died?!" He shouted.
"I'm just as affected as you are," Vane said, choosing his words carefully.
"No! No you're not! You hated him and you're probably glad he's dead!" A silence fell between them. His death glare against Vane's astonished look.
"No!" He said and as soon as the words left his mouth he realized he had denied it too quickly. It sounded like he was lying. Then the longest silence passed, it felt like an eternity, but it might have only been five minutes. A red signal flare is then fired in the sky.
"Red? Doesn't that mean the mission has failed?" Jerrica asked quietly.
"I think so." Vane said as he watched the smoke dissipate.
"But the elite squad can't quit yet!" Sam protested.
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The dangling humans lost lull over the Titans for they started to walk away. Some soldiers were pulled up and sent down to keep the Titans away from Eren. Sam, Jerrica and Vane remained on the Wall. They could see the 3DMG clad soldiers running and distracting the Titans.
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There were rumbling footsteps as the people positioned on the Wall and dangling off the side saw a boulder moving.
"It's Eren!" Jerrica said happily.
"He's doing it!" Sam and Vane said in unison. Their eyes meet for a second and then locked on Eren. With a Titan's roar he slammed the rock into the opening, sealing the hole. The soldiers around erupted into a cheer and so did the three of them.