ᵒᵖʰᵉˡⁱᵃ AOT

fight *chapter thirteen*

Trost had become a complete warzone in a matter of hours. The occasional screams from a cadet being attacked by Titans always grabbing Cerah's attention and she would fight them off. Some would survive, but others..would be too late.

"Are there any Cadets left?" Armin asked almost as a whimper, Cerah and the four cadets hearing another scream. Cerah wasn't sure where it was coming from and, unfortunately, had to let it go, knowing it was too late. "No..there's gonna to be others left.." Cerah mumbled upon hearing Armin's statement. Her eyes landed on a group of cadets sitting on roofs ahead and her eyebrows furrowed. What the hell were they just sitting there for?

"Hey, it's Jean and the others!" Connie exclaimed fron behind them, pointing out the Cadets Cerah spotted. They soon landed on a rooftop near them and Cerah was the first to approach one, who was sitting down, looking to the ground meaninglessly.

"Are you Jean Kirstein?" Cerah asked, the boy turning his head upward slowly, seeing Cerah staring him down, making him gasp slightly and he scrambled up to his feet immediately. "Uh..er, Lieutenant.."

"No need for the formality. Why are you just sitting here?" She asked, Jean looking away and down to his feet, his fists unclenching and lying flat against his sides. "What's the use? We're gonna die anyway. Why not just wait and die here?"

Cerah shook her head, she wasn't sure if in disappointment or in pity. She could understand why they wouldn't want to fight anymore, but they trained for this moment God knows how long. Then again, this was the real deal. No wooden dummies, it was the real thing.

"I get it, you're scared. But now's the time to suck it up. We have Titans arriving by the hour and before long, this city will be overran. The same will happen here as it did in Shiganshina. And then it will happen again at Wall Sina. We can't let this continue." Cerah said, Jean scoffing softly. "I've heard this speech before. From that idiot, Eren. Always looking for some death wish. He's insane to think we can actually win this-"

"He's dead." Cerah simply stated, Jean's head perking up at this. "W-What?"

"He's dead. He may have had a death wish, but he died fighting. He wasn't a coward." Cerah stated, her eyes glaring up at Jean, terrifying him to the bone. "I don't care that you didn't like Eren, I don't care what quarrel you two had, but he would want you to keep fighting. He would want everyone to keep fighting."

"Well, I'm not a suicidal maniac. I'm not going to throw my life away for a meaningless cause."

"But you enrolled into the Cadet Corps..so obviously, you signed up FOR a meaningless cause." Cerah retorted back, her arms raising to fold over her chest. "You can give an excuse after excuse, but think about your damn family. You want Titans going after them? Or do you want those monsters to end here and now?"

Jean was silent for a moment and other Cadets had overheard the conversation, one of them approaching them both soon after.

"I..I have a family. My parents and my little sisters, they're probably worried sick about me. I..don't want to go down without a fight. I'm just..really scared." The cadet said, Cerah looking over to her, a sympathetic expression structured on her face. "If I die fighting today, at least..at least it will be to save my family."

"ARMIN!" All of them heard, Cerah turning her head around and seeing a dark headed girl approach Armin near a chimney he leaned against. Cerah recognized her to be Mikasa Ackerman, a cadet she ran into earlier before the mission. "Hey, are you okay? Where's Eren?"

Armin didn't respond, just sat against the wall, once again, trembling at the mention of Eren. Cerah went to approach, but stopped in her tracks when Armin began speaking again.

"HE'S GONE!" Armin cried out, his hands balling into fists. "THEY'RE ALL GONE! I'M THE ONLY ONE LEFT! EREN, MINA, THOMAS, EVERYONE! THEY'RE GONE AND ALL I COULD DO WAS WATCH!"

Cerah looked away, tears slowly creeping to the surface of her eyes as she listened. She knew that feeling all too well. Like she should have done more to help fallen comrades and her friends. But she can't bring them back. The only thing she could do, what they all can do, is move forward and fight so their names don't die in vain.

"Those of you who want to follow and fight, follow me. We're heading for the headquarters. Most of us are running low on gas and we need to resupply. But those who wish to stay, I won't force you to fight. Just..good luck." Cerah stated to everyone around her. The same cadet from earlier came up beside Cerah, a few others joining. Among them were cadets that graduated top 10.

"H-Headquarters? B-But, it's overran by Titans!" One cadet exclaimed, Cerah turning back to the majority still behind. "I know. Cadets will most likely use the headquarters as a last resort, meaning they will go straight there when they start to run low on gas. We have to clear it out before that happens."

"It's no use.." Cerah heard, this time, it came from Mikasa. Cerah looked at her, seeing the girl look to the ground sorrowfully. Though no one else noticed it, Cerah saw it all to clearly. Mikasa walked away from the crowd, unveiling a fresh set of blades, turning back to the others. "You can all sulk here like babies for all I care. You're weak anyway, and will only get in the way."

And with that, Mikasa took off, Cerah furrowing her eyebrows at her comment. She knew Mikasa was in her own thoughts at the moment, but there was no reason for her to be cruel.

"Alright, all of you follow me. We have to hurry."