A Promise (An Attack on Titan Fanfic: Erwin Smith)

The Fall of Wall Maria III

The girl shook her head and redirected her attention back to her surroundings. Thinking about Mike would only get her nowhere - she knew he was more than capable of taking care of himself, so she needed to focus on killing as much titans as she could and give time for other districts to evacuate to Wall Rose.

•

The sky had already faded into a dim color of twilight when Isanna and the rest had received orders from a messenger soldier who had been sent by Erwin. They were told that they had bought enough time and were now tasked to ride to the outer districts of Wall Maria and assist in evacuation.

Her muscles had been aching sore after soaring with her 3DM gear nonstop, but Isanna forced herself to push through the exhaustion knowing that there were still countless of villages in the western, eastern, and northern parts of Wall Maria.

Hanji had been assigned to the western districts, Levi and Mike (who had joined them much later) was to stay in the southern and continue fighting off the oncoming barrage of titans with a few Scouts once sunrise came, while Isanna headed to the eastern villages.

"I don't want to see anyone slacking off!" Isanna bellowed an order, briefly peering over her shoulder to glance at the formation of Garrison soldiers riding their respective horses behind her while holding fire torches to provide them with light; she was tasked to lead them to the eastern districts. "Once we get to the city, separate into five teams and assist the civilians per street! And make it snappy!"

After hearing choruses of affirmation, the raven woman looked back ahead of her and could see an array of buildings and houses of the main eastern city coming into view. In just a few minutes, the Garrison soldiers who were temporarily under her command divided into 5 teams and ran off to different streets to assist in the evacuation.

Isanna rode on her mare through the disordered crowds that were practically stampeding through the streets. Fearful jitters ran across the horde, tightly clasping on their valuables with pale faces while Garrison soldiers led them to the ferries in the harbor and some into large wagons. Even though only fire torches lighted the city, Isanna could very well make out faces that were filled with horror and despair at the prospect that titans had breached through Wall Maria.

Everybody knew that soon, all of the territory behind their outermost wall would be packed with titans.

Occasional cries of infants would buzz the tense atmosphere, some adults were visibly shaking with silent tears, and Garrison soldiers would hastily try to calm down the panicked crowd to no avail - because if colossal monsters were on their way to trample your home, there was no way you were going to 'calmly remain in a single line'.

Pressing her lips together in a tight line, Isanna tightened her fists around her reigns as she watched the civilians march through the streets with sunken shoulders.

She could feel their hopelessness.

Leading her mare through the winding crowd by the side of the street, Isanna's horse slowly trotted down the cobblestone as she kept a careful gaze on the people.

A distant blubbering wail reached her ears, causing the raven woman to pause. Sitting up erectly, Isanna squinted her eyes down the street of people and looked for the source of the noise, but she frowned when she couldn't pinpoint it with her eyes.

Isanna quickly unmounted off from her horse and forced her way through the people, ignoring the sharp looks and curses that came her way until she eventually reached the area farther back into the street where there were lesser people.

And there she saw it.

Just by the side of the street, wrapped in a dirty white cloth, was a crying infant.

Crouching beside it, Isanna tenderly lifted the infant in her arms and scanned it for any injuries - none. That was a relief. She raised her head and looked around her, hoping to see its parent or guardian, but everybody was so fixated on evacuating that they barely noticed a wailing child that had been left on the side of a city street.

This baby had been obviously abandoned.

Isanna frowned and looked back at the crying infant in her arms. She guessed it was still around less than a year old; it had faded dark hair and a striking pair of blue eyes, but she couldn't identify whether it was a boy or girl yet, and nor did she have the time to.

Standing up, the girl decided to keep watch over it and send the baby to an emergency evacuation warehouse inside Wall Rose. She returned to her horse in a light jog and made sure the baby was comfortable enough in her hold.

•

Isanna had accompanied a line of wagons that were carrying the evacuees to Karanes district, the eastern outer city in Wall Rose.

It was already midnight by then, and the peaceful slumbering citizens who resided in Karanes were woken up by the shouts of soldiers and the grinding rattle of the outer gate being lifted up, allowing the residents from Wall Maria inside.

Isanna led her mare and followed the Garrison soldiers as they reached a large evacuation warehouse. She was about to unmount herself when her eyes landed on the long line of refugees wearily entering the warehouse after hours of riding across the grassy fields.

Just one warehouse wasn't enough for all these people.

It was then did it dawn on Isanna that following the fall of Wall Maria, their already-limited resources and space would be expended for the refugees.

Cries of children and infants rang across the night sky that was dressed in night clouds, void of stars and moon, as if the sky itself was mourning with humanity's loss.

Isanna stared at the children that were led inside the warehouse. Those children were no doubt going to be sent to the farmlands and work their lives off to make up for their dwindling resources, sowing and reaping harvests under harsh weathers and working under the unicorn idiots.

At the thought of the Military Police, a rage of constrained fury welled inside her. While the meager amount of Scouts and the entirety of the Garrison were bravely in the front lines, fending off titans while rushing off to evacuate civilians at the same time, those idiots were lazing around behind the interior of Wall Sina, completely oblivious to the hell that was erupting. The girl just knew that even if news reached them, they wouldn't lift a finger.

Some trained soldiers they were.

Isanna was snapped out of her bubbling anger when she heard a cooing blubber, only then remembering that she was carrying a baby.

Wait..

She lowered her gaze and saw the baby peering at her with wide doe eyes, puny hands stretched in an attempt to touch Isanna's face.

The baby was.. smiling at her.

As Isanna stared at the infant in her arms, she momentarily forgot about the hell that was unleashing its rage on humanity, and was brought back to a time when her world had just consisted of herself and her mother, living their days in poverty, but with peace.

Beautiful, the girl thought with a small smile, touching the tip of her own finger on the baby's small soft hand.

It was so tiny, so innocent, so pure. A large distinctiveness from this cruel and tainted world.

The idea of leaving this infant in a place full of struggling labors was a thought Isanna didn't want to happen. She herself had went through the same sufferings, and there was no need for a pure soul to go through the same.

After reaching a decision, the girl tucked the infant closer to her hold and directed her mare away from the warehouse, trotting towards the military barracks stationed inside Karanes.

Isanna wondered how Erwin and the rest would react when they see a kid crawling down the hallways of their new headquarters.