I Can Hear His Heartbeat: The Struggle for Trost, Part 4

Hearing the Heartbeat is the eighth episode of the Attack on Titan anime. It was produced by Wit Studio and Production I.G. This episode follows the story of the 104th Trainees Squad and their struggle to escape their current predicament. Meanwhile, the rogue Titan continues on its rampage.

Overview
In spite of Armin's protests, Mikasa and Connie take him with themselves and together run away from the Rogue Titan. However, as they are leaving, Armin suddenly realizes that if they lure the Rogue Titan into the Trost District's HQ, it may defeat all the Titans there. Meanwhile, Jean leads other soldiers to the HQ, albeit with a lot of casualties. There, they are attacked by Titans who are attracted by all the people present in the building. However, the Rogue Titan appears and begins crushing the Titans outside. Armin devises a plan to defeat the rest of the Titans with the use of guns and blades and, after being successful, the soldiers resupply their gas and head towards the walls. However, Mikasa and others stay to watch as the Rogue Titan eventually runs out of steam and, critically injured, falls down, with Eren emerging from its neck afterwards.

Summary
Armin wishes to be left behind to die and allow Mikasa and Connie to live. However, the two brush off his pleas and prepare to make a run for the supply headquarters. Armin knows they will not get past all the Titans and looks back at the rogue Titan currently looking for more Titans to kill. He stops and suggests that Mikasa and Connie kill Titans close to the rogue one in order to lead it to the heavier concentration of Titans currently assaulting the HQ. Although initially reluctant, Connie and Mikasa agree to the plan and begin heading in the direction of the rogue Titan. Meanwhile, as Jean Kirstein watches the failed rescue of Tom, he questions his ability to lead soldiers into battle. He suddenly realizes that the Titans are clustering here and uses this as a diversion to lead the other trainees around the emptier streets. However, Jean is caught by a Titan, but manages to slice off its fingers and escape its grip. Marco Bott thanks Jean for his quick thinking and tells him that he truly is cut out to be a leader to which Jean replies that he does not know.

Most of the trainees manage to reach the building and break in to the upper levels by crashing through the window panes. Jean notices a couple of members of the supply squad and punches one of them for abandoning everyone outside. Marco pulls him off as they begin to argue, but Titans begin to break through the windows. The trainees evacuate to the HQ interior, but Jean loses heart as he questions the ability of humanity to challenge such huge monsters. At that moment, a fist enters Jean's view and he sees the rogue Titan punch the Titans attacking the HQ to the ground as he lets out a tremendous roar. Mikasa, Connie, and Armin successfully make it to the HQ as they point out the rogue Titan's instinct to ignore humans and target other Titans.

Jean and the other trainees are mystified, but Mikasa states that they will be able to use this habit to their advantage and get everyone out alive as the rogue prepares to engage more Titans around the building. Using an arm lock, he throws a 15m Titan against a small group of 3-4m before roaring again and charging at another one. He quickly punches the jaw off of this one and kicks a couple 3-4m Titans that get in his way.

Using this as a distraction, the trainees commandeer the lift to reach the gas supply room on the ground floor. Reiner questions Connie on what they know about this rogue Titan, but Connie says they can talk after they escape to which Reiner agrees. Jean brings in some old firearms and Armin lays out their plan of action to take out the 7 3-4m Titans currently infesting the supply room. By using the guns to blind the Titans, the most physically capable soldiers can leap down from the rafters and dispatch all the Titans simultaneously. Although Armin harbors doubts about the plan, everyone agrees that it is the best thing available and Mikasa further reassures Armin by telling him that his plans have saved Eren and Mikasa's lives before.

The lift is ready and everyone gets into position on the lift or in the rafters. A bit of humor results as Reiner tells Connie that the second Titan weak spot is a sword up their butt. As expected, the Titans begin to close in on the human concentrated lift and when they are closest, are exposed to the devastating volley of gunfire to their eyes. At that moment, Mikasa, Reiner, Annie, Bertolt, Jean, Connie, and Sasha leap from the rafters and kill their designated Titan. However, Sasha and Connie fail and Mikasa and Annie come to their rescue. Reiner comments that he is happy Annie was not hurt in the attack. The trainees, although shaken, are elated as the supply room is cleared and begin refueling their gas tanks.

Marco and Jean then talk about Jean being a leader. Marco elaborates by saying that since Jean is not strong, he knows how it feels to be weak and also is very good at judging the best course of action in a situation. When the trainees finish refueling, they all leave the HQ and begin heading for the safety of the Wall. However, Mikasa is watching the rogue Titan as it has been pinned down by multiple Titans. She believes this anomaly could help unravel some of the mystery surrounding the Titans and contemplates aiding it. Reiner agrees saying that if the rogue died, they will have learned nothing.

When Jean argues that it is still a Titan, Annie replies that it could be a potential ally. At that moment, Armin spots the Deviant Type Titan that killed Thomas to which the rogue Titan angrily bounds toward, losing both arms in the process, and slays the Abnormal by biting fiercely into it's neck. The rogue Titan then lifts the Titan's corpse-turned-weapon, and crush the Titans pursuing it, before sending the body and another Titan flying into a house. Grimly, Jean asks which Titan needed help, but then the rogue Titan lets out one final roar before falling to the ground. Jean remarks that it probably ran out of strength, and turns to leave, but the others look speechlessly at the rogue Titan's corpse as a figure removes itself from the nape of the neck.

The figure who emerges is Eren, unconscious but alive. While the others are in shock, Mikasa quickly goes to check on Eren. She is in shock, but embraces him before listening for a heartbeat, and cries as soon as she finds it. The scene shifts to Stationary Guard spotter monitoring the situation in Trost before turning back to the top of the supply HQ, where Jean, Armin, Reiner, Bertolt, Annie, a crying Mikasa, and an alive Eren are now present. Armin notices Eren has regenerated his missing limbs, but questions arise, as he saw Eren get eaten. He grips Eren's hand and breaks down into tears as well. Jean, one of the speechless spectators, realizes something and turns around. He observes the disintigrating corpses of the Titans and asks, "Then Eren... did all of this?"

Trivia

 * The Titan that attacks Sasha Blouse and is killed by Mikasa is the same one that killed Mina Carolina.
 * One of the very few times Bertolt Hoover speaks is when Sasha and Connie Springer are in danger.
 * In the manga, it was Marco who said that Sasha and Connie were in danger, however in the anime, it was changed to Bertolt.

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