ANGELIC – CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Eren was gone.
Isabel sat with her knees pulled to her chest, chin resting on her legs as she stared across the large expansion of land littered with large footsteps leading as far as the eye could see. They had lost Eren, and there was no telling if they could get him back. It had been five hours since he had gone missing, five hours that they had to take him wherever their little hearts desired.
She ground her teeth together as she glared at the sky ahead of her, blaming herself for what had happened. If she had only noticed what Reiner was doing sooner by dragging Eren directly under Bertolt, they would still have Eren.
"Are you alright?"
She shifted her eyes up to see Moblit hovering over her, his eyes soft as he sat beside her, kicking his legs over the wall. "You seem to get a lot of head injuries." He joked quietly as he nodded to her bandaged head.
Isabel sighed as she looked down the edge of the wall where she had been knocked unconscious, it was a miracle she hadn't developed some sort of brain injury from the amount of bumps to the head she had achieved.
"Can I ask you something?"
Moblit hummed in response and turned to face her, though she continued to keep her eyes at the wall below. "Why didn't Mike come back? Why did he have to die?" Her voice was so quiet, she sounded like she did when she was young, it reminded him of when she used to ask why one of her 'friends' didn't come back after their missions.
"I -"
Isabel cut him off, turning to face him, eyes beginning to well with tears again. "What do you think his last thoughts were? Do you think he was scared? Do you think he accepted it? Or do you think he spent his last waking moments screaming out for us but we weren't there to save him?!"
"He died on his own, Moblit." She whispered. "Nobody was there with him. He died alone without anyone there to offer him some sort of comfort by going out with him, he was all alone. The one time he needed us most and we weren't there, I wonder what he was thinking. I wonder if he wished it was us instead of him, I wonder if he regrets his choice to join, because I sure am starting to regret it."
His eyes shifted behind her to the incoming horses, the Commander riding the front one, his eyes trained on Isabel. Moblit sighed and placed a hand on Isabel's shoulder. "You want to know what I think?" She nodded. "I don't think he regretted his choice to join, terrible things just happen to good people unfortunately. I know how much he cared about you Isabel - the way he used to talk about you, about how proud he was of you, it was like you were his little sister, his pride and joy. I know it hurts, I've lost my fair share of friends and it doesn't get easier, but I'll never regret my choice to join, so that's how I know he didn't regret his choice."
"He used to talk about me?" Her eyes seemed to light up, she sniffled, wiping her nose on her jacket sleeve.
Moblit's face softened as he nodded. "All the time."
"What type of stuff did he say?"
He paused for a moment, trying to remember the many things he had said about Isabel. "When you were six or so, he used to get really excited to babysit you for Commander Erwin, it was his favourite thing to do. He'd talk all day about the exciting things you guys were going to get up to - oh! He used to practice perfecting his hair styling techniques on Hange in return for helping her with research, you always did love it when Mike put your hair in those twin buns on the top of your head."
"Him and Hange always used to bicker over who got to look after you if Commander Erwin was busy." He continued as he watched her frown slowly crawl up into a lopsided grin. "Of course Levi would always swoop in when they were distracted and demand he watched over you because he's your godfather, that really used to wind Mike up. And when he found out you placed fourth, you should have seen him. I don't think I've ever seen Mike so happy, he was so so so proud of you. He just loved you so much, Iz, I'm sure he'll be watching over you from wherever he is now. He's at peace now, he doesn't have to worry about anything anymore."
Isabel let out a shaky laugh as she wiped away her tears. "Thank you Moblit, I really needed to hear that."
"It's no problem." He shrugged and pushed himself to his feet as Erwin jumped down from his horse, he leant his hand down and helped Isabel to her feet, his thumb wiping away the tears that threatened to spill. "I could tell you so much more about him, about everyone, if you want. As soon as we're done today, I'll tell you everything you want to know."
Isabel simply nodded her head as she spun on her heel, eyes meeting her father's briefly before she threw her arms into the salute. He waved his arm dismissively and bent down a few inches, his eyes inspecting her bandaged forehead. "Your head? Again?"
She opened her mouth to answer him but before the words left her lips, a head popped around the side of Erwin's body, a sigh leaving his lips. "Seriously, Isabel? Can you not go a week without some sort of head injury?"
"Shut up." She scoffed and smacked his shoulder. "Can you not go a week without babying me? I can take care of myself, horse face."
"Like hell you can, look at your head." He mocked, he tapped her forehead. "Surprised you have any brain cells left. Hello? Anyone in there?"
"Why you little -"
Erwin interrupted Isabel's sentence by letting out a quiet laugh, his eyes flickering between the pair. Jean and Isabel turned to look at the blond, eyes narrowed. "What's so funny?" Isabel asked, Erwin immediately stopped laughing and tried to cover up with a very fake cough. "Well?"
"Nothing. Nothing." He answered before clearing his throat. "Deploy the lifts!"
–
"Let's move!" Commander Erwin's loud voice boomed through the air as he led the charge towards the large forest.
Jean rode close to Isabel, their horses practically glued to the hip. His eyes shifted from ahead of him to the silver-haired girl beside him, making sure she didn't fall off her horse. He was worried about her, he had insisted she stayed behind due to her injuries but she had protested just like he had expected her to, demanding she go as she wanted to rescue Eren and kill the traitors as much as everyone else did.
What had worried him the most was how adamant she was about being the one to kill Reiner and Bertolt, he had never seen her look so bloodthirsty. He couldn't blame her, of course, they had deceived her for three years, pretended to be her friends. Jean knew what hurt her the most about the entire situation though, they were her first friends, and they had turned out to be monsters.
"Will you quit staring at me?!" Isabel yelled loudly as she turned to face him, her hair flowing behind her in her stupidly messy braids. "Keep your eyes ahead, you'll fall off your horse and I won't stop to help you!"
He blinked at her. "Me fall off?! You're the one with the injuries here, Isabel, you're more likely to fall than me!"
"You're worried about me?" She laughed and shook her head, she faced ahead, flickering her eyes between the road ahead and him. "Be careful, Jeanboy, I'll start to think you've fallen in love with me!"
Thump. Thump. Thump.
His heart hammered against his chest as he watched her laugh with a large toothy grin, there was nothing polite about it, it was loud and boisterous and he had missed it so much. He couldn't tear his eyes away from her as he watched her bounce slightly on the back of the horse.
Topaz eyes trailed her head to toe. He watched as her feet were pointed slightly in the stirrups, her thighs were squashed on the saddle making them look bigger than they actually were - he didn't mind though, he rather preferred them looking that way. He watched as her body bounced, partially due to the laughter but partially due to riding so fast on the horse. Her hands gripped tightly onto the reins in her hand and he desperately wanted to reach over and replace the reins with his own hands, but he didn't. He watched as her jaw slowly stilled as she stopped laughing, settling. Her lips were set in a lopsided grin, her two front teeth slightly poking her bottom lip as they were slightly bigger than the rest. Her nose was scrunched up from laughing, he couldn't help but melt as he watched it slowly go back to normal. Her eyes stayed ahead, wide and not so cold looking as they previously had been. They seemed to glow under the setting sun, they reminded him of the forest green trees he had seen, they were utterly beautiful.
His cheeks had burned red as his heart began to race. Isabel Smith was ethereal, she was so indescribably beautiful that he felt as though he should have to pay to even set his eyes upon her. In his mind, angels would take the form of Isabel Smith for she was angelic in his eyes.
He inhaled sharply as he continued to stare at her, how didn't I see it before? He thought. How hadn't I noticed?
Isabel turned to face him, her wide excited eyes examining him, her grin refusing to leave her face. "Well?! Are you in love with me, Kirstein?!"
Thump. Thump. Thump.
"You wish." He managed to splutter out, the words stumbling from his lips as he tore his eyes away from her. He watched out of the corner of his eye as she shook her head and turned to face ahead of them, a quiet giggle escaping her lips.
Despite his response to her obviously teasing question, the question she asked to make him more frustrated because for some unknown reason she absolutely loved to tease him and make him pink in the face. As he stole one more glance, he wasn't sure whether his answer to her question was true anymore.