The Birth of Freedom

Battle Angel

AURORA

The water in the basin turned red as I soaked the cloth again before gently rubbing around the freshly stitched wound. Angling my head towards the mirror, I got a good look at my newest addition to the collection of scars I was quickly acquiring over the years and frowned at the small red puckered line cut into the tail of my left eyebrow, breaking the red hair slightly apart. 

It had not been particularly deep and thanks to Hange's steady hand the stitches were neat and straight, so at least it would be a clean scar. Giving it one last look, I heaved a deep sigh before I returned to wiping the blood and dirt from the rest of my face wincing at the skin around my left eye that was beginning to turn into a nasty dark bruise, making my one grey eye stand out even more against the swollen flesh.

Brilliant.

Reclaiming Trost had been hell on earth. Riding with all haste as one scouting unit instead of using the long-range formation, we had arrived at the demolished gate of Trost being swarmed by Titans, our hearts in our throats. The commander had ordered us to abandon our horses and mount the Wall to assess the situation before deciding if we should engage in combat and climbing to the top of the walls, we had witnessed a sight straight from our worst nightmares as smoke polluted the air from the burning city of Trost with the screams of our people being devoured echoed through the early evening as Titans roamed unchecked, killing at will.

All hope had appeared to be lost for the district when suddenly, a primal roar had sounded through the air as a sizeable 15-meter titan emerged from the streets carrying an enormous boulder on his shoulders. The entire Scout regiment had watched in awe as soldiers below defended him with everything they had as he used the boulder to plug the breach in the Wall before collapsing to his knees with a scream. My heart had twisted in a fear when I had seen him fall, of course at the time I had no idea why I had felt that way for a Titan, but knowing what I know now it made perfect sense, somehow I must have instinctually knew who that Titan was.

The commander had snapped to action and ordered the Levi Squad to secure the Titan who had plugged the breach and Rian was given the order to join the command squad, no doubt to make use of his tactical mind. He had begun to refuse on the grounds of staying by my side, when I cut him off and told him to do as he was ordered. He had given me a strange look before leaving with the commander and his squad, almost like disbelief and I did not see him for the rest of the battle as the rest of the Scouts were ordered to fan out across the city and save who we could while killing any Titan in our way, and that's precisely what I had done while scanning the town for any sign of Eren, Mikasa and Armin. I had prayed to any god that was listening that they would be safe and seems that at least one had finally answered my prayers.

Carving my way through the southern section of Trost, I had come across numerous soldiers in desperate need of assistance and had tried to help where I could, but I hadn't been able to save everyone and because of that failure, the screams of those dying soldiers would be forever seared into my brain.

That didn't stop me from pushing and somewhere along the line, I had amassed a small number of cadets who followed my lead and helped deliver mankind's retribution to the Titans trapped within the city, unleashing our vengeance and mopping up the south with surprising speed, we moved through the streets towards the south-east quadrant of the city where we had come across a small group of soldiers, civilians and to my horror children that had been stranded on a church roof. Their numbers had attracted a herd of Titans that had surrounded the church reaching upwards for the terrified souls that were just out of their reach and my ragtag thrown together unit and I had descended upon the monsters slaughtering them mercilessly when one of the larger Titan's that the big blonde cadet, Reiner, had killed fell forwards and collapsed part of the church rooftop.