A Place I Call Home (SNK/AOT FanFic)

15 - Culmination

Third Person POV

Her eyes burned, her throat dry and voiceless, as the three Titans surrounded her from three directions. With the now bleakness of the cloudy sky above that seemed to reflect the hopelessness of how she felt. The momentary silence and the distance echoes of the dismayed Titan breathing reached her ears. What was it that she did to end up all alone...? No one was around to be seen, and she would soon follow after Lukas.

At the simple thought of Lukas, the girl gasped, remembering how everything had come to be. Her legs gave out, weakly dropping to her knees. Where did all the confidence go? Was anyone coming to save her? Also, what about the rest of her group?

With all those thoughts pondering through her mind, Sophia's arms wrapped themselves around her as few teardrops pelted on the grassy terrain ... regretting how the mission turned out. If only she'd known it would end so tragically.

Closing her eyes, and not willing to watch anymore, the girl was left to listen as slow footsteps got louder and felt as the ground vibration got stronger. It didn't take half a minute, and she knew during this second that the Titan was merely standing next to her.

She strangely sensed it, surrounded by the two titans, helplessly quivering like a baby; it was mere seconds before one of them bites her head off.

With her fate supposedly sealed, the girl sacredly waited for the Titan to do its job, but shockingly opened her eyes once she heard a piercing whistle coming from a distance. Everything happened so fast, suddenly letting lose her eyes open, all that Sophia saw was a horse striding towards her direction and an individual, in a soldier's uniform, stretching out a hand.

Involuntarily reaching out, Sophia grasped the incoming hand and was swiftly thrown upwards to be later seated, behind her savior.

Letting out a loud gasp as she landed on the horse, Sophia, still freshly baffled and petrified, lunged her arms around the soldier's waist while still shaking, not willing to let go. With everything that just occurred, she couldn't handle being alone anymore while surrounded by danger.

The soldier, yet to speak a word, non-stop hurled his horse sideways retreating away from the clutches of the hazard giants. Sensing the girl's frail arms around him, the soldier momentarily glanced behind him, his great black hair drifting, before focusing his attention forward and addressing her.

"You'll be fine, just rest... I'll take care of things from here."

Hearing those words, Sophia's body tensed, and she swore that the sound and the image of the soldier belonged to someone presumably dead. However, looking back for a second, the illusion distorted, and she realized it was too good to be true, Lukas was, and there was no way to bring him back.

"L-Lukas..." the girl softly mumbled, several tears finding there away downwards, along her face.

Mourning through her destination, the girl was cut-off as she suddenly heard something massive collapse on the ground behind them, in the distance. Not wanting to believe her eyes, the four-legged titans have started pursuing and unfortunately for them has begun to cover a considerable distance over a few periods. And with this pace, it would be barely several minutes before the Titan catches up to them.

Also aware of the situation, Felix continuously switched his gaze between front and back, trying to access their status better. The horses weren't trained to withstand running long, and he didn't know how much it can withstand carrying both of them before collapsing.

Moreover, that Titan was not regular, he never heard of one that can travel using its four joints. It had to be one of those aberrant classified titans. However, it didn't differ, much, how he would classify it because this Titan would be reaching them at any moment.