(Agent Ada) Is he responding?

(Agent Eren) I think the better question to ask is if he’s still conscious.

Gary, Diego, Eren, and Ada circle the barely conscious Fred, crouching down to see the wide opened mouth of Fred.

Fred managed to find the strength to bring his body to a sitting position as he looked up at the others. Gently, he rubbed the back of his head, feeling a large bruise as he tightly clenched his teeth.

(Fred) W-What happened?

(Gary) Here, let me get you up so you can see.

Extending his hand outward, Gary placed his hand in front of Fred’s face, his hand covered in dirt and smoke. Despite this, Fred pushed his hand outwards as well, grabbing Gary’s hand as he slowly pulled himself off the ground, his feet barely keeping him up.

A cloud and fog of smoke and ash circled them. Fred looked around as he saw his backpack right next to him, his face and eyes nonchalant.

(Fred) Did I push the button?

(Agent Eren) Yeah, you did. Right when you fell twenty feet. You managed to keep the creature still, but …

The smoke in front of them faded away, giving them the sight of a large crater in the middle of the field that had small fire burns on the grass. Ignoring the little flames, everyone breathed in slowly as they saw the creature remaining still.

Taking note of the creature’s drooling tar coming from its saber tooth-like mouth, Fred gulped down hard as he continued to look all over the frozen-like creature. Turning his head to the right, he looked back to see the large crater, causing him to smolder his hair, and feel the large bruise on the back of his head.

(Fred) Wait, why is there a crater? Where were those steamers? And where’s the—

Fred then widened his eyes as his hands started to tremble.

(Fred) No…

The remnants of black ash around the crater can be seen, followed by smoldering heat waves trapped within the circular formation.

And the massive creature that remained continued to burn its eyes towards the tall silver-haired man, causing him to look at a dandelion flower.

Seeing the dandelion flower right in the midst of all the ash and destruction, Eren nonchalantly looked at pollen that didn’t dare to leave its stem.

But despite all of this, there was no sign of the Sergeant anywhere.

______________________________________________________________________________

(Fred) Why couldn’t I finish it earlier?

Fred groveled on the ash-covered grass, his hands clenched into fists as he pounded the dirt with his right hand. Tearing up the grass with his left hand, he held onto the blades as he continued to look down at the ground.

All around him were nothing but two soldiers, two agents, and two of his closest buddies, all in front of him as beads of sweat dripped from their temples.

Except for one short woman.

(Fred) He didn’t need to die!

Having the ripped grass in his left hand, he threw it away in the back of him, extending his left arm again to rip away another handful of grass.

(Fred) I could’ve saved him! Why couldn’t I!?

His chest heaved upward, his eyes turning a bloodshot red. Letting go of the handful of grass in his left hand, he placed his palm flat on the ground with tears dripping onto the grass.

The two soldiers, the ones that were well acquainted with the Sergeant, placed their weapons gently onto the grass, their hands shaking gently.

(Fred) Why am I useless!? Why!? It …

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Fred covered his mouth with his left hand, as more tears dripped onto the grass.

Eren, Diego, and even Gary crouched down to where Fred was, their eyes pushed down as their hands were motionless.

(Fred) It should’ve been me—

A hard kick landed on the area of Fred’s lungs, causing his arms and hands to falter onto the ground. Laying on the ground with the grass touching his chin and cheeks, he looked up slowly at the person who kicked him, his lungs failing to take in air.

Pulling back her right leg and foot, Ada's hand, her fists clenching themselves tightly, her knuckles sprouted out like sore thumbs as her bones started to crack. The three men that were crouching down, turned their sharpened glares at Ada.

(Agent Eren) Ada!? Why did you kick him!?

(Gary) You bitch! Only I get to kick him!

(Diego’s thoughts) It should’ve been me!

(Agent Ada) It’s for the best, you pussies!

Her face reddened as a little vein started to sprout on the right corner of her forehead, Ada looked over to the boys with a huffed face. Looking over at the young man starting to drool, Ada slowly stomped over towards where the young man was, towering over the man.

Fred, who continued to cough out saliva, tilted his head as he looked up at her.

(Fred) Why … why did you …

(Agent Ada) Stop saying that stuff you idiot!

Crouching down onto the ground, she instantly placed her hand on the man’s hair, gripping it firmly with her cold hands. Pulling him near, she placed his groggy head close to her face, seeing the red teary eyes of the young man.

The rest of the men just silently watch, continuing to glare at the woman with convulsed faces.

(Agent Ada) He did it to save us, you moron! He sacrificed himself to save you!

(Fred) But why can’t I sacrifice myself—

(???) Let him be Ada…

Two figures stood in back of him, looking around the many soldiers and youthful faces, especially at the two agents.

Glancing at the figures from behind with his eyes, he noticed one of the figures was a below-average-height, blond-haired man dressed in a suit and a fedora, covered head to toe with tar. Next to the man was an above-average-height, brown-haired woman dressed in the same attire. From the looks of them, Fred noticed that both of them had glasses, but the man had normal glasses while the woman had sunglasses.

(Agent Eren) Agent Briggs, Spartan Alexandra, where were you at?

(Agent Briggs) Had to heal some wounds. Porky over there gave me a run for my money.

Nodding his head towards the creature, they all looked at the frozen-like creature unable to move, its legs glued to the grass as its head started to twitch. Seeing that the creature wanted to get out of its position, Briggs turned his head towards Ada, his frowning face causing Ada to let out a bead of sweat.

Briggs folded his arms as he looked down at the woman, his low-frequency voice making her widen her eyes as if his voice had an intent of murder.

(Agent Briggs) Let him go, Ada, that’s an order.

(Agent Ada) … Yes sir.

Letting go of Fred’s silver hair, Agent Briggs put his hands in his pockets as he looked down at the young man. Turning his attention to the woman near him, he signaled her with his head to help up the boy.

The woman, letting off a sly smirk, walked her way as she licked her lips, moistening them as her eyes were completely focused on the man. While on her way towards Fred, she rubbed her hands back and forth, her entire focus on the young man drooling saliva.

(Spartan Alexandra) Oh absolutely~

(Agent Ada) I’ll help him up!

Bringing him up instantly, Ada used her small hands to grip Fred’s shoulders, her tiny body and arms easily pulling up Fred. With his feet steady on the ground, as his heels were digging into the soft grass, Fred focused his attention on the man with blonde hair.

Meanwhile, Alexandra gave off a cute pout, looking away as she put her hands to her hips, her eyes not bothering to look at the short woman. As for Ada, she put herself in front of Fred, folding her arms as she huffed out a huge exhale of air.

(Agent Briggs) Are you with the Dark Angels?

Fredd sniffed as he brushed away his tear-stained face.

(Fred) Only behind the scenes. Why?

Briggs took out his right hand that was in his pocket, grabbing out of it a lighter and a box of cigarettes. With both in each hand, he took out his left hand as well, grabbing the box with it as he opened the lid to the lighter with his right.

All while looking at the tall silver haired man, his eyes containing deep black eye bags underneath his soulless eyes.

(Agent Briggs) Cause I’m going to need to borrow you for a second.

(Fred) Sure. But sir, may I ask what it is?

Opening the box and grabbing from it a cigarette, he placed it inside of his mouth as he ignited the lighter, placing it so that the cigarette would work. Inhaling the amount of smoke and fumes coming from the toxic paper wrap, Briggs looked up into the smokey sky as he blew out the toxic air, his eyes focusing on the abyss.

(Agent Briggs) I want you to make the same device you used for your fight, and also one question that I want to ask of you…