Creature ; Levi Ackerman

CHAPTER III: Dead Girl's Lie

WALL ROSE, 850
TROST DISTRICT

BREATHE.

She couldn't.

"Hey, Hey — stay with me!"

It was a voice, murky and mottled and far away. It pushed at her, shook her, but Evelyn couldn't notice. Not above the pain.

It was an all-consuming fire which ran across her body, darting from her spinal cord to the cavity in her chest and back. It whizzed like tornadoes pin-pricking along her skin, hot and fierce and sharp. She might have cried out, if blood hadn't been broiling in her throat.

"Evelyn!"

A dimmed, baby-blue eye pried open to a flash of yellow and a button nose; Armin's face was flushed with panic and his eyes glassy with tears. He clutched at her shoulders, begging, crying.

"Evelyn, come on! Say something!" He begged harder, cried louder. "Wake up!"

It was only when Evelyn's whitened hand came to rest on his arm did he relent, shakily retracting his arms and embracing her. They were perched on a roof now, the bloody alleyway and the vicious titan only a dream.

Evelyn gave a weak yelp as Armin hugged her, and he recoiled, blanching at her once clean uniform now dampened with red.

"You — You're hurt."

You don't say, Evelyn might have said. But she only fisted his brown cadet corps jacket in her hands, wordlessly communicating how right he was.

"Oh, no," Armin all but whimpered, letting the small of her back rest against his arm. The blood dribbling from her chin glittered in the emerging sunlight after the storm. He gingerly wiped it away, smearing red across his thumb and sleeve. "This is bad."

"What's going on over here?"

Mikasa and Connie jogged over, hopping over chimneys and shingles to reach Armin and Evelyn, the latter of which descended into a bloody coughing fit.

"Damn," Connie began. "That looks bad. But I know there's first aid at HQ. We've got to get her there quickly."

"W-Wait," Armin called as Connie pivoted and readied himself to sling on ODM gear, "Mikasa's out of gas. Evelyn is, too."

"What?" He turned to Mikasa. "We need you! We can't do this operation without you!"

"Here," Armin said, taking off his jacket and propping it under Evelyn's head as a makeshift pillow. He eased his arms out of her hold and drew out his gas canisters. "You need gas more than I do. I've got some to spare. You'll just have to carry Evelyn and I."

"Armin — !"

"Just," Armin proceeded, ignoring Mikasa. He gave her a hard look before glancing back to Evelyn. "Use this canister more sparingly. All our lives are riding on you."

Mikasa looked guilty, but she nodded. "I'll carry Evelyn."

Armin and Connie looked at her. Mikasa glared at them. "I owe it to her."

Mikasa scooped Evelyn's lithe, broken form into her arms, knees thrown over one arm and head cradled to her chest. She'd be damned if she allowed Eren's sacrifice amount to nothing.

She turned back to Armin and Connie, casting them a forlorn expression. "Let's go."

Connie seized Armin and they made for the ledge. But another carnal roar broke out from the abnormal titan, ringing into their ears and shaking the roof's shingles.