Then she walked to the stone. Ran her fingers over the names carved into it. Sasha. Hange. Erwin. Marco. Petra. Oluo. Eld. Gunther. Ilse. Viktor. Thomas. Mina. Franz. Hannah. Moblit. Nanaba. Mike. So many. So gods-damned many.
“What are they doing?” he whispered to Mikasa.
Right hand. Palm open. Thumb tucked. Arm parallel to the ground. Fist pressed just above the left pectoral. attack on titan soldier salute
The soldiers didn’t march in victory. They limped. Some wore blood-soaked bandages. One man’s left arm ended in a cauterized stump wrapped with dirty linen. But when Commander Shadis’s voice cracked across the square—"Present hearts!"—every single survivor raised a fist to their chest, then rotated it outward over their heart.
Eight hundred fists answered. Many of those fists would be cold by sunset. Then she walked to the stone
Eren stared, confused. It looked like they were handing something over. Not to Shadis. Not to the crowd. To the sky.
Present hearts.
She held the Salute for a full minute. No one watched. No commander gave the order. No bugle sounded.