hopeless | jean kirstein

6 | fears

The Colossal Titan, with its piercing eyes and flesh-covered face, peered at them through the top of the walls. They couldn't move, they couldn't even breathe properly as they were struck with fear and terror on what was about to happen.

This is it. Humanity is going to perish. Her breath hitched at the thought, numerous scenarios racing through her mind as she began to panic. Taryn gripped the handles of her blades tightly in an attempt to calm herself down, wanting to do something, anything but to just stand there and wait for their deaths to come.

The Colossal Titan lifted its giant foot and pummeled it the direction of the gate, all the while using its hand to sweep up the canons and artillery they had placed for defenses. She stumbled back as she got caught in the impact, losing her balance and causing her to fall off the surface. She let out a yelp of pain as she crashed against the hard stone of the walls, her hair flying into her face and momentarily blinding her.

In an attempt to save herself, she let her hooks pierce through the stone, the sturdy wire retracting and pulling her back up to the top. She began to scale the wall, propelling her body into the air before landing on where she and the others had previously stood at.

She found her fellow trainees dirtied up and bruised as they must not have had enough time to escape the sudden attack.

"Mina! Thomas!" She called out to them, seeing that they were on the ground and trying to stand up. "Are you guys alright? Where are the others?"

"We also got—thrown off—the wall," Mina coughed in between her sentences, her eyes darting to Thomas as he started to wipe the dust off himself. "The others are still down there, and Eren went off to stop the Colossal Titan."

A groan could be heard from behind them, and they turned to see Connie and Sasha climb up, carrying with them an unconscious trainee. Samuel, she remembered. Taryn made her way towards the two to help them, assisting in lifting up the boy from their backs.

"What happened?" She asked them, not yet getting a grasp of the situation.

"The gate has been breached. Titans are going to come in sooner or later..." Connie said, not being able to disguise the fear in his voice. The others went quiet as despair began to creep up their minds.

She gulped, that feeling of anxiousness bubbling up inside her again. The Titans were going to swarm the district, and lots of people would be led to their deaths. She always knew that this day would soon come, but she never expected it to arrive this early.

A sudden burst of hot steam broke them out of their sentiments, the thick smoke taking away their vision and causing them to panic even more as they were at a great disadvantage.

Fortunately, the smoke began to clear, and they could see Eren whizzing past them in the air, the Colossal Titan nowhere in sight. Her eyes widened as a sudden realization came over her. No way, did he defeat that thing all by himself?

Thomas moved to run towards the boy, facing him with a worried look and making sure he was alright. "Eren! Did you defeat it?"

"No," He gritted his teeth, his brows knitting together angrily. "It was the same as five years ago. He appeared out of nowhere and vanished just as suddenly!"

As he said this, she and Connie rushed to the edge, looking down from above to see what they could find. The gate had indeed been destroyed, a huge hole covered in various debris marring the tall structure. Her jaw dropped in shock as the both of them stood there, her heart hammering inside her chest as terror began to take over.