From Marley, with Love.

Chapter 30: The Beast And It's Puppet

TW/// Blood, death and war, please be cautious.

Rosanna sat on her knees, binding a wounded man's leg, blood smeared across her forehead and cheeks. Ever since the Marleyan army had broken through the fortress there had been a surge of causalities. She ran off when she heard another man scream for help. He had come crawling up a hill, getting stuck in barbed wire. His leg was heavily wounded and he was suffocation from the wire around his neck. Rosanna ran out too the man with a pair of wire clippers. She cut him free and dragged him up the hill and into the tent. "Thank you..." the soldier huffed staring up to the ceiling as he was tucked in on a cot. "No problem." Rosanna replied, she got a pair of tweezers out and gently plucked out the bits of wire that had broken off. She bandaged his leg and gave him some morphine for the pain, she ran off too another soldier that was wailing and calling for help. Rosanna gasped when she heard and felt a loud "BOOM" the beast titan must've tossed a large boulder to squash the enemy. After this impact all the soldiers started screaming in one crescendo of fear and pain, the blinded ripping off their bandages and the deafened grasping at their head. Rosanna breathed deeply, it was a hopeless situation, morphine was running out and so was the water. One of the head nurses walked over to Rosanna, "Go and take a breather." She advised the young woman. Rosanna nodded, running out of the noise and breathing the fresh air. She looked at the horizon, clouds of dust and sounds spurted up into the air from the fort and the soldiers. "When is this ever going to end?" she breathed again, looking up when she heard the radio ring. She ran to her tent to pick it up. "South hospital unit, black bird. Over." She said formally. "Black bird, the southeast unit has run out of water. Please facilitate, over." one of the Generals responded. "Copy." Rosanna responded putting down the phone and running off to one of the water trucks. She checked the contents; the water had been refreshed one week earlier and still smelled fine. She hopped into the truck and turned the key over; it would be a crooked and swinging road to the south east. She drove across the small improvised bridge that crossed a flooded trench, from there she had to drive across a narrow embankment that was made between two deep trenches. She carefully drove across the hardened sand, keeping an eye on the violence in the north, if the bullets kept going towards the Marleyan troops she would be safe. She stepped on the gas when she saw the flags of the south east unit, also one of the titan units. She pulled up into the camp, parched men and women ran towards her with kegs and cups, she hopped out of the truck and immediately onto the roof to use the hoses that distributed the water. The clouds had cleared now and the sun beamed down causing the already humid atmosphere too become something close to a sauna. She wiped the sweat off her brow and filled kegs and cups full of water. Random Gratitude's and other blessings were thrown around. Rosanna filled a cup for herself and drank it down quickly, before spotting Zeke. The two waved at each other and Zeke signed that she had to come over. Rosanna shot off the tank and the hoses and locked her truck. She walked into Zeke's tent, "You haven't been on the field?" she asked, "Last week and yesterday, we broke the wall, Pieck is setting up an explosive trap too blow the rest of the wall up." He explained. Rosanna sighed and nodded, "Many casualties?" Zeke asked, Rosanna nodded. "We're all full up, and more to come I guess." Zeke nodded, "Probably... Tea?" he asked. Rosanna looked outside, "Just one." She said, keeping an eye on the horizon, the southern camp seemed fine, and they could call her via radio if they needed her. Rosanna looked up when Zeke called her a cup of milk tea, "Thanks." She took a big sip and sighed relieved. "Good tea, thanks." She complimented. Zeke sat down on his chair and sipped his tea, the two were quiet for a bit, drinking their tea before Zeke broke the silence. "So... what is your opinion on our founding-mother Ymir?" Rosanna choked on her tea and coughed frantically. "Wha..." was all she could out before a loud explosion was heard. The tent was pulled off of its lines and flew into a trench, Rosanna dropped her tea and watched as hatch opened and a long line of tanks rode out of the city. She dropped herself onto the floor to avoid the automatic fire that opened. When the second salvo of fire opened, another explosion was right behind her and she covered her head with her hands and shivered violently. Two hairy titan hands formed a shield around her and took the fire of bullets. She heard Zeke's titan, "Stay down, Bauer." He ordered before stepping over her and heading to the wall. Rosanna watched as the beast walked into the fire hail and attempted to knock over the tanks. Rosanna lay on her stomach as the chaos went on around her. "Be careful!" she whispered at Zeke before seeking cover behind a collapsed truck. Her own water truck was pushed into a trench and was leaking precious water. She covered her ears when she heard the "RATATATA" of an automatic gun open on the truck. She feverishly looked around her, she had to do something. She kicked open a box out of frustration and fear and a couple of bottles flew out. She looked at one of the bottles and recognized the contents, Flash powder.

With shaking hands Rosanna poured the flash powder into satchels she made from an old piece of tent. With her knife between her teeth, she cut off bits of the tent and twisted them into rope. She made small bombs, tied together in pairs of 3 by a rope. A Death Bolas. With three of these Bolas, she snuck forward, hiding behind barrels and collapses debris. She could see a tank drive towards her, she hurried herself behind a boulder and grasped for her lighter in her pocket. She breathed deeply, feeling her heart pounding in her chest and her head hurt from the hot sun and the vibrations of the earth. The tank was now 100 meters away. She clicked the lighter, it still worked. 70 meters away. She spotted a small puddle of liquid next to her, benzine. "Bad idea..." she thought. But then, it would light easier. She dipped the twisted fuse in the benzine and listened for the tank. She breathed deeply; he would see her now. She gritted her teeth, and lit the fuse, the driver of the tank locked eyes with her and the large gun on the tank started to turn. Rosanna grunted and confidently threw the bolas to the driver, the ropes tangled themselves around the driver and the man screamed. He tried to wriggle his way out of the Bolas but was cut off by the flash and explosion of the flash powder. Rosanna jumped back as the explosion deafened her for a second, with loud creaking the tank slid into a trench and got stuck. Rosanna grinned, "Good god." She exclaimed. She snuck away from the boulder and ran too another collapsed truck. "What are you doing?" a soldier asked that was also hiding behind the truck, "Here take it, throw it too the driver." She said handing him the Bolas. "What?" he looked at the prehistoric looking device. Rosanna squatted next to him and lit another fuse; she saw three enemy soldiers hiding behind the tank. Rosanna situated herself so she could see and reach the soldiers. She waited until they had to reload and their arms were at their sides, she tossed the Bolas and trapped the three men in a flashing explosion. "That is incredible!" the soldier screamed, he tossed one that wound itself around a tank gun, dislodging it from the hatch and crushing the driver and the gun men. A few other men got caught in the explosion The soldier cursed and grabbed Rosanna as he dragged her away, the soldiers had found their hiding place and chased them with a hail of bullets. Rosanna pushed the soldier into a hiding place, she ran and grabbed a wailing soldier from the ground and hid him. She hid for more gunfire behind some crates. She patched up a soldier who stumbled over to her and dropped exhausted. "I am going to die down here!" Rosanna sobbed, with the last of the flash powder she made one last bomb and threw it, stringing four men together and burning them. She stood alone in the midst of this empty camp when a massive shadow cast over her. "Let me handle this..." Zeke's titan grumbled, carefully picking the woman up and putting him on his shoulder. Rosanna clutched onto the beast's back, feeling his muscles move as he crushed up the boulder she had hid behind. With a large swoop the beast swooped down a unit of soldiers. Rosanna hopped off and grabbed the big bottles of powder that were still on the ground, in the shadow of the titan she was safe and the projectiles gave her time to make 5 lethal glass bombs. She filled these bombs with benzine and flash powder, lighting them and tossing them. The shards got stuck in the faces and eyes of the soldiers, blinding them. The explosion knocked them over and tossed them into a trench. "Well done, Bauer!!" Zeke praised her. Another salvo of rocks, Rosanna climbed back onto the shoulder of the beast and readied her last Death Bottle. "Finish it." Zeke grumbled. Rosanna lit the bottle, setting fire to her hand and a piece of her uniform in the process. She cursed as she threw it. The soldiers tried to run, but got caught in the gasoline and flash powder explosion. They caught on fire and ran around screaming, blind and deaf. Falling into a trench and dying in a flailing mess. Slowly, the screaming slowly wade out and a deaf silence took place. Rosanna panted, her heart still raging in her chest. She heard the sound of breaking flesh and saw Zeke emerge from his titan. He cleaned his glasses and felt his facial scars. "So..." He huffed. Rosanna chuckled, "what?" she asked. She unconsciously looked at his scars, checking if they would heal okay. Zeke noticed and gently pushed her, before resting his hand on her shoulder. He fixed his eyes upon his childhood rival and asked the monotone question.

"What did your parents tell you about our founder Ymir?"