(Star Wars X Attack on Titan) Attack of the Clones on Titan

Mournful Confidence

246

In the time between their training, and at the request of the local Garrison, the clones patrolled Trost District to regain some sense of normalcy for themselves and what remained of Shinganshina's survivors. On one of those patrols, the Garrison soldiers responding in a rather seedy area of Trost lucked out and received aid from two clone pairs.

"It was just a fish!" one of the perpetrators cried as Chess bound his hands behind his back.

"Yes, but your friend here," Fel slammed the much more aggressive of the bunch against a wall and bound him as well, "stabbed the stand owner and you followed him into the homes he broke into while you were evading the Garrison."

"I'd hardly call it evading," Shutz looked over a frightened child and its family. "But you still caused some major property damage, minor injuries, and gave this little one a scare." He placed a small gauze over a barely-visible nick and sent the child back to their family. "Nothing serious. You can all rest easy now." Reinforcements from the Garrison arrived, most not terribly happy about having to do their job, and dragged away the crooks.

"Stand owner's going to make it," Az dusted off his hands when he rejoined them. "I don't like the odds of his fish, though."

"You haven't been letting him patrol with Ani, have you?" Fel asked Chess.

"That's all him," Chess replied.

"What?" Az seemed hurt. "Am I not allowed to crack a joke every once in a while?"

"I thought it was pretty funny," Hannes cautiously approached, his partner standing at a distance. "Thanks for helping us out, fellas."

"It was nothing," Chess said quickly and motioned for Az to depart with him.

"Now hold on, Chess," Hannes stopped him. The clone sighed and reluctantly turned around.

"I'm surprised you remembered," he said coldly. "What do you want, Hannes?"

"Listen, Chess, I'm sorry about what happened to your friend," he began. "If I didn't run, Eren would still have his mother and you'd still have your friend. I know it doesn't change anything, but I just wanted you to hear me out. I really am sorry." Chess stared at him motionlessly.

"He wasn't my friend," he finally said through grit teeth. "He was my brother. OUR brother. His name was Goll. We almost had Carla out, we would've been able to get her to safety, but then you led that titan right to us. If you had waited for maybe three more seconds before you turned tail and ran, Carla and my brother would still be alive. Now Eren's father is MIA, so he and his friends are effectively orphans, and Goll is gone."

"You've got every right to be angry with me, Chess," Hannes admitted, but his head never hung low. Chess clenched his fists and nearly stepped towards the lush, but stopped and let out a deep sigh before relaxing his hands.

"I'm not... I'm not angry at you, Hannes," he finally confessed.

"You're not?" the Garrison soldier was justifiably surprised.

"I was for a long time," he admitted. "But that was just to keep my anger away from where it should have been. I'm angry at your government for not telling us how to kill those things, I'm angry at myself for not cutting that karking beam sooner. If I had started cutting sooner, maybe they'd still be alive." The other pair had left along with the family, leaving Az and the other Garrison soldier as the only witnesses to the exchange.

Hannes took a deep breath and said, "You know, Chess, it took me a while, but, I've learned to come to terms with what happened that day. It's helped me to learn and strive to be a better man."