Attack on Titan: Reluctant Hero's

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Tessa half smiled at Gale's confusion at the items they were supposed to get (she assumed the look on his face was one of confusion, but she didn't want to say anything out loud and offend him). Quietly moving to the side, dragging Zack with her, she began to pick up one item after another and gather it on one of the counters. While she knew where the basic stuff was, Zack was the one who knew where everything was. She glanced at Gale, sizing him up in her mind. He was quieter then Hunter, and not as commanding as Drake (but who was?) but he had an aura of confidence about him. It seemed like most of the older scouts did. Did the scouts that die also have confidence? She shuddered, then quickly covered it up as a shiver from the cold, rubbing her arms in a pretend attempt to get warm before stepping back to watch Zack gather the supplies. What if she was next on the list of people to die, and she just didn't know it?

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Zack frowned slightly when Tessa stepped back, but kept on gathering the supplies. He wasn't going with, so the least he could do was make sure they would have everything they needed. Knowing Tessa, she was agonizing about whether or not she would be coming back. And if he was honest, he was too. She was smart, quick, and strong. She had all the tools she needed to survive. But so had the people who had left this morning. They had been good, some of them great, and one little mistake had cost them everything. It was only human to make mistakes, and death was inevitable. Still, he couldn't help but feel his heart twist at the thought of Tessa meeting her end.

She will be fine. He told himself as he slipped another can into the mounting pile of foodstuffs. She will come She promised she would.

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Veera kept her eyes shut and focused on trying to breathe as little as possible, to keep the blade away from her neck. All she could do at this point was hope that Drake didn't do something stupid, and that he wasn't lying, and that someone else knew he wasn't lying. She would take every second of life she could get right now.

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Kala bowed as Flame left the room, a smile slipping onto her face at the girl's decision. "I will be ready in a heartbeat." She promised the princess. The girl is doing something. Perfect. Quick as a snake that her creator so fiercely despises, Kala reached out the window and grabbed the bird, pressing her fingers to the small pulse on its neck and shutting her eyes. Within seconds, the bird was dead, and she felt...refreshed. Her body was still weakened, and her mind wasn't as sharp, but what else could be expected of such a small meal? She would have to keep an eye out for something more...substantial. Pulling up the loose floorboard in the room, she grabbed her small dagger, and her longer sword. Both were suited well for the tasks she would be pursuing.

"May the gods watch over us." She whispered, grabbing the bird's body and tossing it out the window. She didn't stay to watch it fall to the ground, instead entering the ante room where Flame waited. "I am at your command, my lady."

 

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Chrono was surprised when Adelina mentioned the names of his parents. Since he didn't know the names of them, this was actually a step in the right direction. Zekiel and Mari. Chrono made sure that he memorized those two names. "A lot of things really, but I guess I should start with what they were like. I've been told stories, but what I to make sure that those stories are accurate." Granted those stories were more about them spending time with him and less about what they did, hence why learning his mom was in the Scouting Corps was a surprise to him.

 

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Kala followed Flame with little difficulty, other then a warning in the back of her mind that at this pace, she would have to make a diligent effort to conserve what energy she could. She had taken life from plants before, and could do so again if she needed, but it tasted...gross. Like eating dirt, she supposed. Well, Flame seemed preoccupied, and wasn't looking back. She let her fingers pass over the bark of the tree before digging her nails into the lined grooves as her face twisted in disgust. She had forgotten how gross it really was. Once they arrived at the city, she remained at Flame's side, sated for now, strength coursing through her veins. I suppose it was worth it. She grimaced, digging slivers of wood out of her nails as Flame warned her about the Titans. She didn't stop to correct the girl, it was only for concern for her safety after all, and followed as the girl sprinted away.

While she couldn't hope to keep up with the fae, she would do her best.

 

Karen's pov:



She stood by the king waiting for what he had to say. The king then went on about most people being on a mission. The king then asked her go on a mission. That the mission was dangerous. That was when the king gave her bad news. Drake and Veera have been captured and are in the walled city. What? The king wanted her help getting them back. The king wanted her healing powers. "What" She was in shock. "I should have been there. I should have been here. I was sopost go with them. I could have saved them. I could have prevented all of this from happening. It is my fault they they got captured. If I would have came back sooner then they would be safe. I will do what ever I have to get them back. What is it that I have to do? I am sorry that I was not here for them or you."

 

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"Don't worry about, that's more than what I know." Chrono said reassuringly. By hearing some of his parents traits, he could see why A) his foster father wanted to keep this a secret from him, though it didn't really help much given his information seeking. And B) what traits of his parents that he had inherited for himself. They were mostly his mothers, but a little bit of his fathers were in there. "Do you know anyone else who could have some information on them?

Meanwhile back in the kitchen Gale and co. had been gathering the apples mentioned by Adelina when the squirrels and birds hand come to bring them berries and nuts. Seeing as they weren't going to be able to hold all of that, Gale found a container (let's go with a clean bucket) for them to place the nuts and berries in and another one for the apples.

 

Henry's pov:

The king still didn't tell him exactly what he wanted him to do nevertheless he was ready to go. "I am ready". He said preparimg for what lied ahead.

 

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Tessa glanced over at Zack as she grabbed the various things the animals were bringing, with the intent of washing them free of grime and dirt. Wouldn't it be just typical of her luck if she were to get sick from eating bad fruit, and die from dysentery before even seeing a Titan? As she worked, using a spare bucket and some clean water that appeared from the apparatus rigged in the kitchen for such purposes, she nudged Zack with her elbow. "Go talk to her. We got this." She didn't look at Gale as she spoke, feeling more then a little intimidated at the thought of having to do so. "It's okay." She said for what felt like the millionth time that day, giving her older friend a reassuring smile before turning her attention back to the task at hand.

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Zack followed his friend's advice, albeit a bit grudgingly, before sticking his hands in his pockets and strolling over to Adelina. She was talking to someone who looked vaguely familiar, but with the whirlwind that had been this day Zack couldn't place him. He waited patiently, hands a little sweaty inside his pockets, for her to be done and notice him. While he waited, he felt another twinge of guilt as he thought back to Tessa. She was nervous, but she was in good hands. Or so he hoped. Dammit nothing would happen to her. They would get in, get Drake and Veera, and get out. With the king at her side, and Gale and Karen, she would be okay. She would have to be.

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Kala crept along next to the princess, bringing to mind that of a panther stalking the shadows. She grinned at the thought, perhaps she and the princess were meant to be friends for a reason. "It looks like the coast is clear. The struggle is trying to find them." She could probably sense their life force, but trying to keep them apart from the rest of the fo-humans in this place would be a bit more of a challenge. Flame was different. She was like a sun of life next to the itty bitty stars that were the rest of the human race. Adelina....Adelina was like an entire galaxy. Damn fairies. She cursed to herself as her mouth watered at the thought. Get out of my head.

"It may be prudent to try and question someone where the hostages were taken. Tell them we're reinforcements." She whispered. If they resisted..well....she was thirsty, and if Flame was ever going to find out about her issue, it would be better if it was after she saved the princess's life, or that of her friend's.

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Of course it had been Griffin he'd been assigned to go find. That guy was super antisocial, always hiding his face and stuff, how was he meant to convince him to come along? Sure he had been instructed to tell him they didn't need Karen, but every great battle required a few meat shields. Then again, nobody said he had to come along willingly. He found Griffin rather quickly, being the ace detective that he was and all. "Karen was found, so if you were looking then don't. But do come along, we're about to go slaughter some titans and rescue some captives, should be interesting. Oh, and i'm not asking" he stated.

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Drake remained where he was, in shackles and very well contained. Truth be told, he could probably use these shackles against the guard and strangle the life out of him with them, but that would only put him, and more importantly Veera, in more danger. He glanced at his friend, hoping that if this plan failed she had a backup plan, because he sure as hell didn't. All he could do was wait and hope to god he had grown up looking even slightly like his father. As a child there had been a strong resemblance, but now? He wasn't entirely sure.​

 

Karen's pov:



The king called her an important member of our society. "I am no more important then anyone else. Everyone has a job to do." It was as simple as that. There was no one person that was more important. There was just people. "I will do what is asked and get them out. I will do what is necessary." She stood by the king. The king said that other were coming to help. "Others? Who else is coming?" Oh no the more people coming the more dangerous it would be. "Please tell me that Hunter is not coming." her voice was of concern more then anything. He was a bit of a lose canon. This job would be hard enough without having to watch there backs. "Hunter can be helpful, but I do not see this job as one for him." Looking around the training ground it was empty. "So what else been going on sense I have been gone?" She was hoping for some good news. With two people being captured she did not know what else could have happened in her time that she was gone. "I did not find anything out on my trip by the way. All there was, was endless forest and trees."


Griffin's pov:



He stood by the tree to the café thinking. Adelina told him that Karen went to go look for the king. Well the most like place she would have gone is the kings house. He should go there and check it out. That was when a strange man came up to him telling him Karen was found. He wanted him to go with him. That there was titans to slaughter. There was something that was not quite right with this whole thing. "The king said nothing about there being any titans." What kind of game was this man playing. What ever it was it was not very well thought out. He was not going with this man. He had trouble on his forehead as clear as day. "I am going to see the king." he told the strange man before heading back to the training ground. It did not take that long to get there. He spotted the king and a women that he could only guess was Karen. "I see Karen is here. So what is this thing about titans being in the walled off city? I thought that the Drake and Veera were captured by people."

 

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Tessa waited until Zack left her side before she let her hands shake. She stopped what she was doing and rubbed the knuckles, trying to give herself some sort of sense of ease. She was nervous. She was afraid. But she couldn't let her best friend see. Biting her lip, hard, to keep her emotions in check, she ignored the continued shaking of her hands and grabbed the basket and whatever else she could hold before going back to the king. She would do this and she would see it through.

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Zack rubbed his hands through his hair, trying to remember. "Name sounds familiar....I think your dad helped me, once or twice. I was kind of..." Zack blushed as he rubbed his neck, embarrassed. "Wild. He was a good person. Your mom kind of scared me, but my mom loved her. My mom used to talk about you, and taking you in, but then my dad died, and well, she had her hands full with me." He shrugged. "I remember your mom had really pretty hair. My mom was always talking about it, and how jealous she was."

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Veera let out an accidental yelp when the commander threw her to the ground, rotating his shoulder with a grimace. She lay where she had fallen, trying to breath through what could only be described as a great amount of pain. Just breathe through it. Just let it go. And she tried, she really did.

"Take her to another room. I want to talk to this kid alone, while we have a few minutes. Keep her undamaged though. I want the rest of her, if he's lying." The smile he gave was neither pleasant, or promising of anything good in her future. As she was dragged away, she struggled to meet Drake's eyes one time, just in case it was the last. Because she had no intention of going down without a fight.

"I'm sorry." she silently apologized, mouthing the words before letting the two scouts take her from the room. Her vision blurred, and she wasn't entirely sure of where they were going, but it was outside. She could hear voices, overhead. Now. Her gut told her. Do it now. And she did, surging upward in a wave of pain and adrenaline to knock one scout off her feet. She grabbed the sword with her arm, forgetting that it was useless and swearing to all the gods as she dropped it to the ground before following it down as the other scout grabbed for her hair. "That's not nice." She gritted her teeth and punched him in the throat, letting him drop to eye level with her. As they both struggled to breathe, and stared at one another, she felt sweat drip down her forehead. Not at all how she had planned on escaping.

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Kala shushed at Flame's order, and quietly followed the princess through the streets. It wouldn't do to let the girl die here, after all. She had to uphold her promise, and keep her safe. She waited at Flame's back, for the command to move forward.

 

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Fortunately the king was someone that Gale had considered asking on the subject of his parents, so hearing Adelina mention him as well served to further support his idea. That was when someone else had walked up. Aside from recently learning that his name was Zack, there wasn't much that Gale knew about him, but if he knew something about his parents then Chrono would gladly listen. From what Chrono could gather from what Zack was telling him, his parents helped out when they could and were pretty liked. While this was good to know, this still didn't explain why this was kept from him as a kid. Maybe the king would be able to shed some light on that. "Thanks for the info, I'm going to see if the King knows anything else." Excusing himself from the table, he left to make his way to where the king was.

With the assistance of the animals, Gale had gathered a fair amount fruits and nuts. He figured that he had a fair amount of rations, he looked to see how Tessa was doing. He took noticed that he hands were shaking as she held onto the basket. Gale then walked up to her and asked "Are you feeling okay?"

 

Karen's pov:



The king went and told her who was coming with them. Tessa, who was a newer recruit just out of training recently. Then There was Gale, who was with the group that got captured is coming along. Then the king told her that Henry, and Griffin will be coming too. Akari will her with her knowledge of out equipment might save us if anything goes wrong with it while out there. Then the king said that Hunter was coming along. She let out a sigh. "If you think that is the best then I guess that is who is coming." That was when a man covered from head to toe showed up saying something about Titans in the walled of city. "What about Amber?" She remembered that the king had a daughter, but had said nothing about her. "Is she safe?" She hopped so, because with the king coming with them then there needed to be someone to take over if something were to happen to him. "I am ready to go when you are."



Griffin's pov:



He stood there waiting for the king to answer him. The king was telling Karen who was going on this mission. At the mention of Hunter coming, he let out a sigh. He was not sure what the king was thinking. The king then said that the last group met a large group of titans along the way, and the outer wall has been compromised, so there is a chance that there are titans beyond it. How did these people get captured in a city full of titans if indeed titans were in the city. There would be cross fighting between three groups and in that way he guessed that was how they got captured. The king then said that they would be going as soon as everyone got there. "Ok I am ready to head out."

 

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Tessa glanced up in surprise as Gale spoke to her. "Um...I'm okay. Just nervous." Every new scout had to be nervous when they first went out in the field, right? "I think we should probably go join everyone else, if we don't hurry, then the others.." She bit her lip. We have to make it in time.

"Coming?" She asked quietly as she grabbed the basket and hauled it towards the small group.

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Veera struggled to breathe. It was something she had taken for granted, but now, every time she inhaled it was an uncertain struggle, and every exhale was a sigh of relief, only for the cycle to begin again. Her solace, small though it was, was that the scout sitting opposite her, kneeling rather, was having the same difficulty. Veera might have felt bad, if they hadn't been in the middle of dragging her off to a fate worse then death. In. Out. She really wanted to pass out, just let the black void take her and her struggles, but she wasn't so sure she'd like what would happen when she woke up. If she woke up.
In. She grabbed for the sword. Out. The scout tried to stop her, fumbling blindly for the same weapon.
Veera cheered silently, her vision blackening as she felt her stiff fingers wrap around the hilt. Every movement was one of pain, but she just focused on breathing. In and Out. The sword felt heavy, but she knew it wasn't; told herself it wasn't. It was a lie, but a nice one. And then the blood was running down her arm as it ran through, and the scout's eyes widened as they looked down. She felt her arm shake as she looked down, to see the hilt of a second sword protruding from her own body. The second scout. Her vision wavered, but not before she grasped scout in front of her and yanked the body onto the same blade that had skewered her. It's two for one day, I guess.

 

"Those nerves should hopefully pass soon." Gale said, though it wasn't like he didn't understand the feeling of being nervous in a situation like this. There were various times in the past where he'd been nervous being something was. Fortunately those times he had a friend to help in out. Now it was his turn. Gale nodded when Tessa said that they should get going and followed behind her with the rations in tow.

Chrono also headed towards where the king was, just in case that wasn't clear in my last post.

 

The second Veera had tried to escape, Drake had moved into action trying to get the damn chains around his hands off. The sooner he could manage that, the better for both of them. He had a small dagger concealed in his socks that they somehow hadn't managed to find, maybe he could pick the lock with that. After a few moments of attempting to move the blade, it became evident it was going to work. It was then he saw Veera stabbed with the sword of one of the scouts. Immediately, fury welled up inside of the scout leader. He was not going to lose another one, not if he could help it.

Shackles be damned, he was going to have to act quickly and precisely. The fools hadn't shackles his feet, only his hands. Racing forward, he leaped up and landed a vicious roundhouse kick to the skull of the first scout, knocking him out cold as his body collapsed on the ground. The scout that was attacking Veera wasn't letting up though, he looked as though he had every intent to kill. If that were the case, then Drake would have to do the same or risk losing his friend. Swiftly, he swung his foot down below, sweeping the scout off of his feet and knocking him to the ground. Lifting his hands over the guard's head, the scout leader then spread his hands apart so the chains between them were tight, then pulled back against the guard's neck, making sure to push his body back with the strength in his legs. His foe soon lost the will to fight, and with it his life.

Releasing the scout, he let the body slide to the ground and stood up. He felt a little sick after committing outright murder like that, but he had to make sure that Veera was okay. He rushed over and grabbed the blade awkwardly, but before he ripped it out he had a thought; if he pulled out the sword, would she die? Was this sword preventing the leakage of blood that would kill her? Letting go of it, he decided to let her make the decision. For now, he had to make sure she stayed conscious. "Veera? Are you okay?" he asked. No sooner had he said that then footsteps could be heard coming towards them. At least one other guard, maybe more, were on their way. Things were getting more intense by the second, and he had to get them both out of there quickly. He looked down at the small dagger, still where it had been, and began furiously trying to free himself of the shackles.


Akari finally stumbled back into the clearing. She actually fell forward, sending all the gear she'd gathered straight onto the ground. She'd been gone for a while not because her rper forgot about her(okay that's the entire reason shut up), but because the king had assigned her to bring back all the gear they'd need. Now, how she was going to bring that much gear back had never been mentioned to her, and so she had improvised. While she had fallen forward and dropped much of the gear, it was easy to see the huge cart behind her, filled with all of the gear. Looking up from the ground, she blew a strand of hair that had fallen onto her face away. "Here's your gear" she said.​

 

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Veera cringed, her breathing shallow. What was okay, again? She couldn't seem to remember a world where there wasn't pain, where it was okay. "Go." She whispered, unable to take her eyes off the weapon that still impaled her body. If anyone should get out, he should. He was their hope, like Flame. Their people needed him.

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Tessa bit her lip, sticking somewhat close to Gale as they scaled the wall. The city was huge. Like...huge. Her eyes were wide as she stared at the buildings, even destroyed, and trees, the clearings, the gardens. There was so much, and no one lived in trees. "I couldn't have even imagined something like this." She murmured, gripping her 3D maneuvering gear tightly in her hands. Her toes clenched in her boots, and she took a deep, though shaky breath before following the others.

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Zack rushed down the pathway, skidding to a halt just before Adelina could see him. He tried to brush his hair back, sighed, gave up and decided to just let the mess that was his blonde mop happen, and strode down the path, trying to be cool about it. It wasn't like it was his first date or anything. Or anything. He told himself, waving shyly to Adelina before planting himself in front of her and bowing, his ears turning red with slight embarrassment.

"Hi." Smooth, really smooth. He told himself.

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Kala gripped her dagger, trying to hide the sudden rush of emotion. "Flame, my princess, here is my suggestion. You go ahead. I'll stay behind, and distract your father. Once you have Drake, send me a signal. A pop of smoke, if you can manage. You have the gun, yes?" She glanced towards the princess with a slight smile. "If you don't, here's mine." She offered the suddenly available flare gun; always be prepared. Whoever had taught her that deserved a medal. "I'll keep him busy until you get out, and then I'll rejoin you and we'll get Drake home together."

Not waiting for the princess to respond, she darted off, around the corner, and away. She could sense the king's presence. It wasn't as tasty as Flame's, but it was still pretty in its own right. She pressed herself close to the wall, listening. He wasn't alone, of course he wasn't. But she could fix that. She pursed her lips, and whistled, low and soft. With his enhanced hearing, he should be able to hear it. It was an old lullaby, one that she had heard someone sing to Flame once. He should know it.

Still whistling, she backed up into the dark shadows, towards the nearest house. No one would see her there, except for the king. And it was only him that she needed.