She wasn't as brave as Gabi, but she also wouldn't cower off to the side and watch the girl he loved die in the flames of war.
Falco gathered his courage and charged forward, determined to stay beside the girl he loved and protect her at all times.
As if fate itself were playing a cruel joke, on the battlefield—inside a trench—he unexpectedly saw his older brother, Colt Grice, who had originally been designated as a Warrior candidate.
Overjoyed, he shouted "Brother!" and threw his arms around him.
Colt hadn't expected his little brother to show up at the front line. He immediately shielded him, forcing him down into the trench.
"Why are you here?!" he demanded harshly.
Colt knew this was no place to be. To begin with, there was no chance of victory in this war at all. Eldians like them were nothing more than cannon fodder to the Marleyans—consumables meant to slow the Rumbling. If Roger Eikam decided to be ruthless and trampled them along with everything else, they would all die neatly together—no survivors.
At first, Colt had thought: if his brother Falco could live safely with the family, escape to the secure rear, and survive a little longer, that would be good. That hope was what he used to keep himself fighting.
But now, the brother he'd dreamed of protecting was right in front of him—in a place this dangerous. It was so absurd he could barely believe it.
He pulled off his steel helmet and shoved it onto Falco's head.
Colt desperately pressed his brother from the upper part of the trench down to the lower part, refusing to let him get hit by any stray rounds.
And Falco didn't have the nerve to climb out of the trench anyway.
He had come looking for Gabi, but on the battlefield, by sheer accident, he'd gotten separated from her. He didn't know where she'd run off to.
Still, seeing his brother eased the hopelessness in his heart—if only for a moment.
He and his brother hadn't seen each other in a long, long time.
At some point, Marley's "Warrior candidates" had become a joke.
There were no Warriors anymore. Marley's Titans had all been sent to the front, and then tricked away by a man named Roger Eikam.
And with that, the Warrior candidates Marley trained every day became a complete international laughingstock.
They weren't disbanded only to save face. Marley still wanted to reclaim those Titans and have them inherited.
But in name, they were already scrap—Warrior candidates raised with such enormous resources reduced to useless leftovers, shoved into logistics, made to clean up and sweep floors.
Maybe not a "waste" in the strictest sense, but at the very least, it was laughable.
Even Colt Grice, who had once been the captain of the Warrior candidates, had been placed on the front line—now just an ordinary soldier.
Falco, meanwhile, was still too young, not yet old enough to be sent to the front, so he'd been kept in the rear with Gabi.
Marley didn't care about brotherly bonds. So for three full years, they hadn't seen each other even once.
On the battlefield, Colt had slept with his rifle as his pillow. Whenever he thought of his brother or his family, he would take out their photo and stare at it.
He'd applied to headquarters many times to go home and see his parents, but Marley's command always refused—afraid soldiers would grow attached to home and stop returning to the front.
Three full years without going home. The people there were nearly at the point of forgetting what the eldest son even looked like.
All they could hope for was that once their second son Falco grew up, reached conscription age, and entered the army, he would find Colt Grice in the unit—and the brothers could look out for each other.
That hope had just come true without any effort at all.
Only… it looked like it might be at the very end.
Like a farewell.
Falco could hardly believe his eyes as he looked at Colt's face.
"It's been so many years… and you haven't changed at all," he said, hugging Colt tightly.
Colt held him hard against his chest.
"You've gained a little weight," Colt said. "So why did you come to the front? I thought you still had a few years before you're even old enough to serve."
Falco's expression darkened.
"The internment zone has fallen into chaos. We slipped out in the confusion and came here to help the Marleyans. To keep Eldians from escaping, the Marleyans only blocked the retreat routes—they never imagined we'd move against the flow of the crowd. So all the way here, Gabi and I weren't stopped."
"Gabi came too?"
"Yeah. She rushed in. I can't find her now," Falco said, frantic.
Seeing the panic on his brother's face, Colt started searching too.
With years of combat experience, he quickly spotted a small figure that wasn't even trying to hide.
If nothing went wrong, that was Gabi.
But she was completely trapped now—because right in front of her stood a Colossal Titan.
It was about to stomp down and crush her underfoot, mercilessly turning her into paste.
"What do we do?! Brother! That's Gabi! We can save her! If we don't, she's going to die!"
Falco shouted beside Colt. He couldn't bear to watch the girl he loved die, so he clawed upward, trying to scramble out and drag her back from beneath the Titan's foot.
But how could he?!
Someone as small as him couldn't even climb out of the trench before Colt slammed him back down.
"Stay put. I'll go."
Colt spoke, pulled on his military cap, and—seizing the moment before the Titan moved closer—burst out at full speed.
All he had to do was grab her at the instant the Titan's foot came down. No need to dodge bullets or anything else. Overall, it would be relatively easy.
That was what he told himself.
So he used every ounce of his running ability and sprinted forward like a shot.
Falco watched his brother risk his life to save Gabi, and guilt ripped through him.
And at that moment, Gabi—seeing with her own eyes that there was nowhere to run, that she was about to be crushed—was swallowed by overwhelming terror.
"How… how is this possible? I-it's moving so slowly… it shouldn't…!"
Gabi went pale with shock. Her lips trembled. Her limbs felt like they'd lost all strength. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't even lift herself—she collapsed on the ground, like she was simply waiting to die.
Only then did she realize something.
When death is right in front of you, courage is worthless.
Right now, she couldn't even hold onto the switchblade in her hand—so what was she supposed to use to protect the Marleyans?
Only the Marleyan artillery could cover her, she thought—turning her head—
—and seeing that the Marleyans had already begun a large-scale retreat, not caring in the slightest whether any Eldians lived or died.
She had been abandoned.
"Hey! Hey!!!!! Where are you going?! Why aren't you saving us?!"
Crying and screaming, she crawled backward.
The shadow above her swallowed her completely. And in the next heartbeat, a giant foot was about to crush her into nothing.
Then—
Colt charged in, seized her by the shoulder, and hurled her out of the way.
But he twisted his ankle and fell beneath the Titan's foot.
Boom!!!
The giant foot came down.
Colt didn't even have time to say goodbye to his brother before he was stomped into mush—bones bursting out with blood, his face crushed and warped beyond recognition.
"Ugh—AAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!"
Gabi was horrified, her face twisted with absolute terror.
Colt's hand was still at her feet. Maybe from a final spasm, it had reached toward her ankle without meaning to.
Panicking, she kicked it away.
Her mind had already shattered.
"Brother!!!"
Falco was drowning in despair.
What kind of cruel world was this?!
Why?!
Why did it have to be like this?!
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