Trost District

The following hours after the sealing of the Trodt breach was spent in somber silence. There was a surprising amount of survivors from the vanguard, most owing their lives to the young marines that gave their lives to keep them safe. The UNSC had earned most of the Garrisons respect, and while they would still be suspicious on principle, they gave their thanks for their sacrifice. For the UNSC, they merely wanted to tend to the wounded and deal with the aftermath.

The surviving marines of Alpha and Bravo began assisting the Garrison in policing the various dead bodies that were scattered all throughout the district. Most of the casualties had came from the Waller side, many of which were Trainees or Garrison personnel who were part of the Vanguard. Every now and again, a Waller would stumble on the UNSC as they began corralling their dead. There was an even more somber air above them as they carried their men onto the back of their metal carriages and drove them away. The feeling of losing brothers far away from home hit hard among those in their ranks.

It was especially hard on the Garrison when they reached the front of Trost, where the Vanguard was. The bodies were the most numerous there, and most of them were burnt crisp from the explosions to slow down the Titan advance. The buildings too were smoldering messes, at one point the Garrison had to combat a fledgeling fire that could have engulfed the District in a second disaster. For some reason the UNSC seemed better equipped to deal with this mess than the rest, as they pulled and pushed debris out of their way in search of bodies underneath the rubble.

Some of the Garrison even swore that they saw several of the older UNSC soldiers pause in the middle of a burned out building and just sit down, as if reliving some painful memory. They wisely never disturbed these particular soldiers, even as other UNSC soldiers stood in silent guard for their mourning comrade.

Gawain was among those who were dealing with the dead and he grimaced as he stumbled on another dead marine, this one being the burned remains of Carl. The marine crouched down at the burned corpse, the face now melted together and as black as ash. He tapped the remains of the marines helmet, and against all odds the marine Neural Interface lit up and a friendly tag appeared. Since Gawain always kept his HUD eyepiece on, he was amused to see that the full name that popped up was 'Private Coral Shane'.

"Fucking Coral, we could never get your name right," Gawain chuckled. He heard the crunch of ash behind him and the Corporal glanced to see Rowen stepping up behind him.

"He had the worst luck too," Rowen muttered as he looked over Gawain shoulder. The man grimaced, a disgusted look on his face as he rocked back on his heels. He sniffed, regretted the action, and coughed while trying to get as far away from the corpse as possible. There was a somber silence between them, Rowen just staring at the ground as Gawain neatly packed the corpse into a body bag for transport.

"If only..."Rowen muttered, causing Gawain to stop as he listened, "If we weren't watching the Wallers, then a lot of us would still be alive."

Gawain paused, something lighting up in his eye as he rose to his feet. Rowen turned to the Corporal, his hands on his hips as his face looking horribly pale. They stared at each other and Gawain had to sigh at what he saw, "You can't say that," Gawain said.

"And why not?" Rowen shot back, "It's the truth!"

"And is the truth going to bring them back?" Gawain countered. He sighed as he rubbed his eyes, feeling much older than his actual age as he rounded on Rowen. "No it's not Rowen! They're dead, why? Because they were protecting lives? Because they were helping save as many people as they could? It's because they were soldiers doing their duty? Fucking hell I don't know. They all join for whatever reason and they all knew they could die."

Gawain sighed as he crossed his arms, looking at the ground in silence. "Fuck Rowen. I don't have time for this. Alright, I gotta go pick up the dead remains of marines who were supposed to be the best of the Academy could offer. The fucking best, Rowen! So you can sulk over there, or you can be one of the best and bury your comrades instead of taking away the significance of their deaths as their own personal and military responsibility." Rowen was quiet, staring at Gawain who was quietly waiting for the marine to get his sense together.

Finally, after a while, Rowen stepped up next to Gawain and crouched down next to Carl's dead corpse. "Come on, someone has to make sure they mark his grave right." Gawain looked down on Rowen and nodded. When he crouched down and grabbed the end of the body bag, Rowen seized and pulled at the top. When the body was off the ground they began walking towards the muster point.

"You know Carl had an older brother in the Armored Division," Rowen said as they traveled further away from the ruins. Passing Walkers glancing at the two soldiers and fellow marines trying their best not to look at another fallen comrade.

"Yea," Gawain muttered.

"We weren't properly attached to a unit, so we don't really have a commanding officer. I wonder who is going to tell him about this." Gawain sniffed as he shifted the weight on his arms. They kept walking in silence, Rowen just staring blankly at the dead body of his friend as they marched onward.

"I don't know. I just want to make sure they at least have a body to bury," Gawain replied evenly.

"I heard the Wallers are burying theirs."

Gawain didn't reply after that.

Jean

Jean felt sick as he stared passingly at the regurgitated remains of his fellow trainees. He glanced away, making to tighten the cloth over his mask as he went out on his way. As he walked however he tapped his shoulder and hips painfully. After the battle of Trost, he had spent an hour trying t rip off the scavenged 3DMG he had found off a dead soldier. In his hurry he had skipped out on a few essential straps, leading to very painful flight into the air and a more tedious time in trying to take it off.

He hadn't found Marco yet, he wanted to thank him for saving him when he was on the ground and vulnerable to getting eaten by a Titan. Roland and Adam had found afterwards and kept him safe from getting eaten by a Titan as he entered a lackluster flight path with his wrongly strapped 3DMG.

He was pretty sure he spotted Adam turn the corner ahead of him, he figured he might as well check on them. He could at least respect that even if the UNSC had some secretive goals he didn't know anything about, they at least helped out Trost during the breach. He strode past the corner, careful to avoid the blood splatters and glanced down the road.

At one end a group of Trainees were crowding around each other, glancing at their feet as several body bags that the UNSC had provided laid by their feet. Even at his distance, Jean could tell they were occupied which meant those particular soldiers were waiting for a cart to come and help transport the bodies away. There was a somber silence around those men, their eyes were shadowed and dark, and they stood like statues.

One of them was next to a body and crying. Frowning he moved so he was able to see who was crying and grimaced when he realised it was Hannah. That meant Frantz was in the bag, he had heard the details revolving around his death. He turned away from her and moved on, he could barely imagine what it was like losing someone that close to you. He knew his mother was still alive, for the amount of relief that gave him and it was quite an amount, and he'd never had to deal with loss like that before.

"Damn, last I saw him he was flying over where Jean was." The named Trainee paused at hearing his name. Blinking to himself he turned and spotted a group of marines crowding around at the other end of the road. He recognised one of them as Adam who was staring at something on the ground with his arms crossed and eyes closed.

"Jus' a kid and already gon'. Damn if them Titanhs ain't tryin' mah morals," That sounded like Roland and Jean could see he was standing at the back of the group. He didn't recognise the other marines but they looked much older than the two so Jean guessed they were part of the relief force.

The older men glanced at each other and moved away from the two, probably to find other bodies and Jean began making his way down the street. He could tell that they were staring at a dead trainee, if the brown jacket wasn't telling enough, and he was curious to find out who had been killed. Was it one of the Garrison? Or another poor kid from the 104th. Was it someone he knew? He hoped not.

He grew closer to the body and before long he was able to catch some similarities as he drew closer. His face grew paler when he realised who they were looking at, right down from the mop of a hair and freckled face, there was no doubt he was staring at Marco. He paused, staring at the dead corpse in silence, his breath knocked out of him.

"Ah shit." He heard someone muttered as heavy boots started making their way towards him.

"Jean wake up, man!" Two hard hands gripped his shoulders and shook him. Jean snapped awake, staring at Adam's worried blue pools as he gently let go of Jean. Roland strode up next to Adam, a shovel in his hands that was covered in blood and small bits of gore. Jean realised they were using it to pry off the bodies that were splattered on the walls. For a moment he thought they were going to use it on Marco, maybe he had been crushed up against the wall and they had to pry him loose.

He lost his footing and began swaying back and forth. Was that how he died? Getting crushed up against the wall? Or maybe he was flung into the ground by his wires? How could he have died like that, Marco was one of the top ten, he wouldn't have fumbled like that...would he? He had to know, he had to find out. As he turned around and walked away, he needed someone to confirm that Marco was gone, to confirm how he died.

"Somebody had to have seen him die, I need to find him. I need to know." He walked off to find someone but before he could he felt a hand on his shoulder, one that quickly twisted him around and steadied him.

"Don't beh ah fool," Roland muttered, "You got ah job to do, get it don'." Jean resisted and began pulling against the arm, trying to get away from the marine but he couldn't muster the strength.

"Let go, I've got to find, someone...," Jean then felt something impact his gut. The wind was promptly knocked from him as he dropped to his knees. Roland had punched him square in the gut hard enough to make him keel over. He dry heaved and Roland crouched down to his level as he glared at the trainee.

"Don't go wastingh your time, ain't no one saw what happen to Marco. And you don't have time to worrieh about that anymoh, yea have a job to do, get up an' do it. Be thankful you at least have a body to see'h, some people ain't got that privilege." Jean coughed and stared at Roland and the marine hummed when he saw something empty in Jean's eyes, something hollow. "Go on and make peace, don't be making more holes to dig and bodies to bury."

Jean nodded his head shakily and slowly got up, he stared at Roland for a little bit longer before turning around and heading towards the group of huddled Trainees. Maybe he could find some comfort there as he searched for bodies, amidst the atmosphere of somber mourning.

As he left he wasn't able to catch the conversation between Roland and Adam as he walked away. "Wonder if he's gonna do alright," Adam muttered, "Surprised you could actually deliver a good speech to someone other than me."

Roland hummed as he stuck the shovel into the ground, "I was goin' toh make a 'just do it' joke, but it thought betteh of it." Adam glanced at Roland and finally shook his head as he turned around and walked deeper into the street.

"You're a heartless bastard you know that."

"But I stopped myself!"

"That doesn't give you any points!"

En Router to Trost

Pelican Moscow-007

Anders was quiet as she sat on the Pelican seat, her hand quietly rubbing the data pad on her lap. There was a squad of armored ODSTs surrounding her, staring blankly at the raised ramp or quietly muttering with each other.

She really didn't need the protection and had in fact stood completely against it, but General Hampton was adamant. He procured one of the most decorated ODST squads from the rotation around New Harmony and assigned them as her protection. She was annoyed but she could deal with it.

She knew the Captain in charge of this unit, if only for the large amount of time he spent with the SPARTANs whom she had a rather, platonic relationship with. Captain Redfield was a star in the ODST Corp and there was perfect reason why. He was military through and through and Anders had an inkling as to why he was so silent and well-manifested as an ideal soldier and commander.

Staff Sergeant Riker was different, he wasn't a poster child but he was respected in the Corp. His twin-barreled pistols had young cadets salivating to try and make their own. Of course they had to go through the Supply Officer and the Head Engineer whenever they tried to, whom usually gave everyone one of them a bop on the head. Which made Anders wonder just how he had managed that fit of engineering, especially considering how recoil-heavy the weapon was. But as childish as it was to try and fit two barrels into one gun, he was a cut and dry sergeant. One that she had come to respect thanks to Forge.

"I wonder how Captain Cutter is feeling, the old man is going through some hard times," One of the ODSTs muttered. Anders stopped what she was doing and gently grinded her fingertips against the data pad. Sighing heavily she straightened her back and addressed the two armored soldiers.

"The Captain has lived many years, he has earned some rest don't you think? The two of you have no reason to worry, the Captain would rather you concentrate on your duties," Anders said icily. The two men sat ramrod straight when it became apparent that she was talking to them, and quietly nodded their heads with a 'Yes, ma'am,' before furiously checking their weapons for any deformities.

Watching the working on their weapons, Anders quickly returned to her data pad, which was carrying it with it the written status report that was sent in by the Lieutenants in charge of the relief force for the Wallers in the Trost District.

She furrowed her eyebrows when she came upon a particularly interesting piece of information.

A Trainee, named Eren Yeager, was reported to have the ability to turn in the a Titan. How he is able to do this is currently unknown and the Wallers do not seem to know as well. He is currently held in captivity by Waller authorities and is set for a trial soon to determine his fate in continued existence with the Wall Monarchy.

With each passing sentence Anders became more intrigue, and despite herself she couldn't help but smile as the pieces continued to fall. For a moment she compared the Titan transformation to that of the Wall molecular structure and couldn't help but catch some similarities.

Before she could dive into it however a message from Serina popped up on her screen.

How's the trip. Hope you're not terribly bored like I am managing New Harmony's systems. Make sure the crops have the right amount of water, get the crop machines working right, set up the street light systems, blah-blah-blah

Anders plastered her lips into a flat line as she read it, sighing insufferably as she read the text. Finally she wrote a reply, No, in fact I found something very interesting. Perhaps you would like to see it, she packaged the information and sent it to Serina back at New Harmony and waited.

After a few seconds Serina came back with a reply. So a Waller Captain nearly got his men killed and started an international incident, a Waller turned into a 15 metre giant and backhanded one of our very expensive and resource taxing to build pelicans and we suffered at least forty-three casualties in the assault. How...out of the blue.

Anders raised an eyebrow at the response but at this point she was used to Serina's antics and sent an even reply. It's something that we will need to know. The Titan kid backhanding the Pelican already gives me reason to intrude on the trial and I'll have to deal with that Captain Kitts. Everything else, I'll figure it out on the way.

There was a pause on the other end before Anders caught an electronic sigh, which was really just a split second flash on the screen, before Serina responded. Cutter will not like this, if he wakes up I mean.

Anders frowned and glanced at the two ODSTs sitting opposite her, despite her logic, she couldn't help but blame them for the sudden topic bring up with Serina. How is he?

He's old, came Serina's reply, his heart is failing but doctors are fixing that up now. His lungs are still strong but just in case we're flash cloning a replacement now. If all is well he'll be up and running right now.

Ander allowed a small upturn of her lips and thought about writing one sarcastic reply, You were in quite a surprise when his life signs started going erratic. If remember well you sent a Capital wide alert to anyone with a helmet to 'Run! Run to the parking lot and give that man CPR!'

Well excuse me for being worried about the future of the UNSC on this planet. I guess I'll make a protocol where I delay your medical help until the last possible second.

Anders smiled for a bit, freaking out some of the ODSTs in the pelican, and wrote Just put me in a cryo tube and my icy heart will fix itself.

I'll hold you to that.

The text box disappeared, signifying Serina disconnecting, and Anders rested her back against the chair she was sitting on.

"Ma'am?" She blinked at the gravelly voice and looked up in time to see Captain Redfield look down on her. "We're approaching Wall Maria, we'll close in on Wall Rose soon."

"Yes, thank you," Anders said, her voice still as icy as ever. The Captain didn't seem fazed at all, which was a given considering how he had at least been part of the crew long enough to know of her ice queen tendency. "I think you have to prepare yourself Captain, some of the actions of the Lieutenant were less than satisfactory." This time the Captain blinked, his face still grim and statue like, but there was a certain twitch on his cheek.

"Yes, ma'am." The Captain said automatically. He quickly made an about face and stared at the pelican ramp evenly.

Riker, who had been watching passively with his helmet under his arm, turned to Anders with eyes exaggeratedly wide. "I've served with him for half of my life and I've never seen anyone make him falter like that." He said in awe. Anders raised her eyebrows in amusement at the Staff Sergeant, who kicked the shin of the seated ODSTs. "Bow your heads to the woman boys, she deserve infinite respect!" The men, who were startled at the Staff Sergeant yelling inside the pelican, quickly did as they were told as they stood to their full height and bowed at ninety-degrees alongside Riker.

Anders, despite herself, couldn't help but cover her mouth as she giggled. The Captain, for some odd reason, had slipped his helmet on before the men had bowed and he was now quietly checking his gun as the pelican continued to rumble in its journey to Wall Rose.

School is reopening soon and I have to seriously contemplate myself as O levels are this year. Considering the fact that I just passed the last year, I wasn't on my computer that much. With that being said, ROTUNSC might suffer a decline in updates. Might however, I have a few friends who might be willing to continue for me when I can't work on it.

Alternate Scene

Jean was making his way downtown, walking fast *sees Marco's corps* crying sad.

Legit this was in the chapter for half a week before I got rid of it.

Quotes that helped me write this chapter.

"This is General Donald Doyle, signing off"

"How many of us are left on our own? Too many to count. And what about those that aren't? They can't even see us."

"I feel...so tired."