Vista - Attack on Titan x Reader

CHAPTER SEVENTY SIX: Between a Rock and a Hard Place

You're never gonna let me have the chance to ask you, are you, Reiner..?

As I gazed out at the fur-covered beast, I noticed that by his side, down on all fours, was another odd looking specimen. Upon it's back, it carried several large crates, and I became instantly suspicious.
"They have one more intelligent titan." Erwin spoke before me, and I nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, that four-legged fucker..."

Again, I reacted when I heard a foreign noise, this time being a guttural roar. The Beast smashed the ground, and as the echo of his outburst faded away, the smaller titans at the front of his formation started towards the walls.
"Sir! What do we do about Reiner?! A..and Bertholdt?! He hasn't even shown up yet!" Armin asked in a panic, and I glanced to the Commander, for once wanting direction.

"I'm well aware." He responded, still staring out at the chaos outside of Shiganshina. "Dirk and Marlene squad! Join Klaus squad and protect the horses at the front gate! Levi, Hange and (Y/N) squad, I need you to take down the armoured titan! Deploy the thunder spears at your own discression! Do whatever it takes to achieve your objective! This is is our moment! The fate of human kind depends on this battle! Lay down your hearts and lives, one final time, for humanity!"

Erwin far surpassed passion, and it shook me deep within my core. If I hadn't known him on such a personal level, his willingness to send people to certain death was chilling. Even when I did know him so well, it still felt wrong. Once he was finished, I motioned for my squad to follow direction, remaining behind with Erwin and turning to face the inside of our prison.

Lay down my heart and life, huh?

My legs felt like jelly, and I slowly lowered myself to sit, the crumbling sounds of stone white noise as Reiner scaled the wall, soon to appear before me.
"I saw what happened. How he spared you." Erwin crouched beside me, almost to my level. "I was about to kill him myself...but when he threw you aside...and both Levi and your squadmate came to your rescue...I knew you were going to be in safe hands."

Managing to clear the rattle from my breath, I reached up to touch the wound Reiner had inflicted upon me, the warmth of my own blood seeming to bring me back to my senses.
"I don't think he'll kill me...He would have then and there if he was able to..." I murmured, my face joining the sting of my neck when I realised I had been scuffed up when Jean and I had landed.

"Listen, and please forgive me for this, but I believe I have a plan for us to succeed, at least with taking Reiner down..." Erwin began, and I sighed, closing my eyes for a moment to get my mind back in order.
"You want me to distract him, don't you?" He hadn't needed to finish. I had spent enough time with him to get a firm understanding of how he thought.

Smashing stone grew even closer, and Erwin nodded slowly, meeting my eyes. They were filled with such strong emotions, but they were so mixed together I couldn't even begin to interperet.
"To think, I'd ask my own daughter to be live bait? I really am a devil..." He whispered softly.

"Nah, just a man with one hell of a gambling problem." I replied, my voice holding no sign of jest, despite my poor joke. We both turned back to Shiganshina, our time quickly running out, and I swallowed. "Never thought I'd say this, but I'll lay my heart and my life down..."

"You will have to lay down your heart, but never your life. Do you understand me? You are not permitted to die today. That is an order." There it was. The slight quiver weaving in and out of his words. I had needed to hear that. He was scared, and when someone was scared, they weren't ready to let themselves die. Not without a fight.

Standing up and readying my gear, I gave him one final glance, nodding once in understanding.
"That goes for you too..." Gritting my teeth, I launched off the wall, forcing myself to keep my eyes on where I had chosen to land instead of looking down.

I was nearly blown away when that large burst of energy struck down, but I managed to keep moving, deciding to take a chance and land upon his shoulder.
"Don't mind me. Just keep doing what you're doing." I addressed him quietly, and his giant head nodded slightly, showing me he heard.

Reiner was atop the wall now, so dangerously close to Erwin, and I held my breath in wait. Eren was his main objective. If we could lure him away from the horses, we could buy time. I had to brace my legs as Eren turned and began to run, in hopes our opponent would follow. After a few long strides, I turned to check, but the armoured titan hadn't moved from his perch.

Instead, he and Erwin stared at each other, and even from so far away, I could tell the tension was horrendously thick. Gritting my teeth, I tapped Eren's jaw.
"Grab me with your hand. Hold me out to the side a bit." His eye was almost as big as I was, and he looked at me for a moment before he did what I had instructed, holding me out in plain view. Sucking in a deep, quavering breath, I mustered up all of my courage.

"REINER! HELP ME!"

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***Screencap redraws are a bitch. I had to make it so (Y/N) was sitting and Erwin was crouching because of the lack of height difference xD Erased the dude's face and popped her's in pfff.

Also, I'm spending over $100 for an illustration commission that'll come later on :') Can't say I'm not dedicated to this story.

Next Time: Lightning then the Thunder***