𝙃𝙚𝙧 𝙁𝙤𝙧𝙜𝙤𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙣 𝙋𝙖𝙨𝙩 || Eren Jaeger

𝒌𝒆𝒏𝒏𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒊𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒓

She moves a couple feet away to get a better view. I scoot closer to Levi and drop my voice to a whisper, "You're not joking, are you?"

"I'm not." His mind is working quickly. "This has been suspiciously easy, its child's play. We're overlooking something. If he's involved in this somehow..."

"That Kenny guy?" I ask, still somewhat lost.

He nods, "Mhm. He wouldn't care about using amateurs... the team would trail from both rear angles... He would choose a spot high up... somewhere... somewhere with a clear line of sight."

I ponder for a moment, look down at where we were standing, and in a mometn of slow calculation, my head shoots up again and I panic.  "Wait, isn't that—"

"GET DOWN!"

The blast is too quick for me to register. Or was it a gunshot?

All I catch is the Corporal's scream and when I blink, he's already yanked me behind the chimney with him. I hear footsteps coming up the slope of the roof behind us. More shots ring out on other rooftops across town. They are killing our soldiers.

But who's "they"?

Who... is on this roof with us right now?

Nifa's body is lying across from us. I don't know what kind of bullets those are...  but... the majority of her head is blown to chunks.

Damn it!, I think, If we were a second quicker maybe we could've saved—

"Its been a long time, Levi..." a raspy voice chuckles behind us. There's a snarl in the way he speaks, and the casual manner in which he addresses my father leads me to believe there's a connection here... a slice of his past that I am not a part of.

"Still a runt or have you grown some?"

I look at the Corporal's face. Furious is an understatement. I hear the clatter of what sounds like the man reloading his pistols, and I ready my blades. He has maneuver gear, that's for sure. There's no other way he and his team could get up here. They are prepared. And we are not.

"Heh!" He suddenly flies overhead, cackling and with both guns aimed straight at our faces. "Nope! You haven't changed at all, boy!"

The Corporal draws his blade. "KENNYYYY!" He roars.

He chucks his blade at him, the metal slicing and propelling through the air. He would've nailed him straight in the face if it wasn't for Kenny blocking it with one of his strange, gun-tank thingies. I don't know what kind of gear that is. All I knew is that its lethal and better than ours.

"Go!" The Corporal tells me, and when the Corporal tells you to flee, it's for your own good.

But since when do I listen?

"No! I'm fighting with you!" I insist and dive off the roof with him.

We fly at full speed. So fast that the buildings are all one giant blur. The wind whips my hair back and I struggle to keep my teary eyes open. Bullets rain down upon us. We dodge them and use the city to our advantage; sprinting across the sides of buildings and jumping off parked wagons. Sounds of whizzing maneuver gear filled the area. Kenny and his team are all over the place. Where will we go?

"Over here!" The Corporal says.

We are headed for an establishment. A pub, by the looks of it. We angle ourselves and kick the doors open, flying inside like two jets and messily landing on the bar counter. I pant, exhausted but otherwise unscathed. The Corporal has a bleeding cut on his forehead, but he seems fine.

"Shit... if this keeps up, I'll lose my team and Eren and Historia." He remarks.

"He's coming." I say, spotting Kenny's silhouette through the skinny crack in the doors, which have swung shut again. "There's a window in the back kitchen. You distract him here, I'll get out and climb onto the roof and take him out."

He nods. "Be careful."

I hop off the counter and soundlessly creep towards the kitchen. There is only one solitary window; small, but not a challenge for me to fit through. I bash my elbow against it and the glass breaks. It is loud, but Kenny is loud too, and I doubt he heard it over his own voice as he taunts Levi in the restaurant. I quickly climb out and use my ODM gear to get on the roof.

As quiet as a cat, I crawl over to the front, reaching the edge and peering down at the entrance. Kenny is right there at the doors, only one step inside the establishment. All I have to do is swing down and kick—

I sense movement behind me.

Bang!

I roll over just in time to dodge a shot. It blasts just inches away from my head. Any closer and I would've ended up like Nifa.

The blonde woman curses under her breath. She's obviously a part of Kenny's team, judging by her gear. "Why, you little-!" She barks at me.

I get to my feet and run. Using my gas I lift myself into the air and ready my blades. I swoop down for the kill.

She dodges it rather swiftly. The next minutes turn into a sword fight. I perform a series of blunt slices but she blocks all of them with her metal gun-tanks. I then make a low cut across her legs. She jumps it.

I'm starting to get frustrated.

A gun is fired from inside the restaurant.

Kenny's body blasts through the doors and he lands on the hard, rocky ground outside.

The woman is momentarily distracted and I seize this opportunity.

"Ha!" I roundhouse kick her. She topples down, slamming against the tile. I quickly pin her arms before she can fire her guns.

"Never take your eyes off your target." I tell her snidely. I know I can kill her right here, but it would be too messy. So for now, I just give her a good bash with the grip of my blade, knocking her out.

"Johanna, this way!" I hear the Corporal call out.

I turn and follow him uptown. We have to fight our way towards the wagon, trying to keep up with it but intercepted constantly by Kenny's soldiers. We meet up with Mikasa, Connie, Jean, Sasha, and Armin in the air.

"Listen up!" The Corporal says as we tail the wagon with Eren and Historia. They are both knocked out cold int here. Two of Kenny's soldiers are in the wagon, one at the front with the horses, and one in the back keeping guard. "These people were trained to kill humans. If you hesitate for even a second, you're dead! When you see an opening, go for the kill!"

Killing people is obviously the last thing I want to do, but if that's what it takes, then so be it. I gave up my humanity a long time ago anyway.

We advance, surrounding the wagon like birds. I kill whoever dares jump in my way. I shoot my hook directly into one soldier's chest, yanking him and letting him drop below me.

"Armin, secure the wagon with Jean!" Corporal Levi orders.

While we battle in the air, Armin takes out the man at the front and grabs the reigns, and Jean kicks down the woman in the back. He holds up his blade and warns her. For a moment it seems he has it under control, but in the space of a heartbeat I look again, and the roles have switched.

My heart stops in my chest.

Jean is now on the floor, and the woman looms over him with a gun, her finger about to press the trigger—

"JEAN!" I scream.

And for a solid three seconds I'm convinced he's dead. I've lost my best friend forever.

Because a gunshot did go off.

Except the bullet didn't come anywhere near Jean.

It takes those of us in the air some time to assess the scene going on below, but soon we realize what happened.

Armin fired the gun.

... Armin killed the woman.

꒰ End of Chapter 9 ꒱