No Choice (Eruri)

Lost

This story will probably not have any new chapters. I no longer enjoy writing because there are too many things going on in life at the moment.

Thanks to DarkblueFloyd, ThatOneIcelander, RaineStorm05, TalenBillen712, MaryPreston2, 234jelibon567, catlover00359, HiranurErcan864, MrsNudel, MariTapia904 and snowmochie for their comments.

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Lost

Was this the purpose so many had given their lives for? Was this the meaning of all the suffering they had endured?

As if hypnotized, Levi watched as the body of the boy he had been talking to just a few seconds ago was slowly crushed between the teeth of the monster. He heard the cracking of his bones, while the smell of blood and burnt flesh was so intense that it almost turned his stomach. Was there no end to this? Did all this suffering make any sense at all?

"Levi, what the hell are you doing?" the commander's roar reached his ear, but he ignored him and continued to stare at this ugly monster standing under the ledge, greedily looking up at him.

They had not seen the titans coming. They had suddenly appeared out of nowhere. And this was not the first time. Again and again and again, they had fallen into the same trap. These monsters were so unbelievably stupid, and yet every time, they managed to wipe out so many lives in such a senseless way. They had only left the outer wall two days ago and had already lost a third of their people. Was that really what they had fought for? Had Isabel and Furlan died for this? What was the point of the survey corps if they couldn't even survive two days out here?

Levi had never gotten the chance to learn the name of the boy whose torso was dangled only by his half-severed arm between the titan's teeth. He wrinkled his nose in disgust as the giant clung to the rocky slope with its paws, trying to reach him with its mouth wide open.

Again, the commander's loud shout echoed over to him. He continued to ignore it and instead looked toward the setting sun as the faces of those who had perished in this expedition passed before his inner eye. Again he saw Furlan raising his hand in a final salute and Isabel looking back at him with her dead eyes wide open.

Under the soles of his boots, he felt the rock slowly threatening to give way, but he simply could not move. His gas tanks were empty, and he had only two blades left. It would have been too dangerous to face this titan, and yet he couldn't just leave the boy hanging there.

A touch on his shoulder snapped him out of his trance before someone suddenly pulled him away from the edge with a powerful jerk. The commander's angry expression blocked his view of the titan as he stood in front of him and yelled directly into his face. "Goddamn it, what are you doing? Do you want to get eaten?"

"Isn't that what the survey corps is for? To get eaten and die senselessly?" Levi asked in an indifferent tone as he pointed past Shadis to the corpse in the titan's mouth. "Is that what you've been fighting for so much?"

"Levi, he's right. Come away from there. This place is not suitable for an ethical crisis right now," he now heard Erwin's voice as well and felt his hand resting on his arm. Reflexively, he tried to shake it off, but it only clawed harder into the fabric of his uniform.

"We're retreating. It's too dangerous." The tone in Erwin's voice immediately sharpened, but Levi didn't even think about obeying his command. He tore himself away from Erwin and, paying no attention to him or the commander still standing in front of him, ran toward the cliff edge.