[TW: Mentions and descriptions of death, violence, blood, and gore. Please be aware before reading.]
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|Year 850|
The year of familiar tragedy.
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"IT'S BETTER THIS WAY," Erwin secured the jacket's belt loop around his waist. Kira stood on the other side of his desk, waiting with her arms crossed. "With you and Levi inside the wagon, they'll have comfort in knowing that they won't need to be on alert and focusing on our two most formidable soldiers."
He was right. That stopped surprising Kira long ago. However, this next move would be the first time her face would be shown inside Wall Sina for nine years. The Military Police were the ones who would escort them, the most likely candidates to have at least an old description on her features and an educated guess made by him on what she would look like now. Of course, with her wearing the same cloak on her back that she had for so long, they didn't need any other identifiable characteristics.
"Is there someone who will recognize you?" He folded the cuffs on his wrists, straightening out his long sleeved shirt underneath his coat.
"Everybody recognizes me." From the stories about her, to the confirmation of her existence years prior, one look at her cloak with her usage of the gear would be enough for even the simplest minds to connect the two together.
"But," Erwin made his way around the desk, walking to the door and leaving it open so Kira could exit. "There is someone, something, who you have been trying to avoid."
From their interrupted discussion two days before, it was clear that Erwin was seeking more solid information. It was in his nature, it seemed, to attempt to get to the bottom of everything. Kira wasn't sure what it was that was holding her back from properly answering him like he wanted. No, she knew it was her.
She didn't want to talk about it, similar to the way she didn't want to be within the Inner Walls. To avoid the possibility of crossing paths with them, with him. She wanted to be away from it, no further confrontation necessary. Though, the more questions Erwin asked her, the more she realized a truth that made her even more dismissive.
She doesn't remember.
It came in flashes. When she cooked for a group of veterans instead of eating alone. On the days when she couldn't complete a move she'd seen Levi perform. His voice remained at the back of her mind, his one-sided conversations that led to discipline adjustment. Not the time before, nor the first few weeks after entering. Kira didn't remember. She even forgot the look on his face when he would train her, only the ticking sounds from his pocket watch resting ever-so-comfortably inside his left chest pocket. The only thing she couldn't avoid was the sound of his voice, the cigar-induced raspiness, that named every new exercise she'd have to perfect.
In the reality that flooded Kira's thoughts with every step she took down the hallway: she didn't know what exactly it was that she avoided. That in itself, was enough for her to want to avoid it even more.
"Not in Stohess." She answered, and Erwin released a hum of acknowledgement. He'd most likely ask even more questions later, but it was only a matter of time before he figured it out. Just like he did with anything that had ever crossed his path, Erwin would realize that Kira couldn't answer. Not because of a lack of trust, and not because she didn't want to, but because she, herself, didn't know.
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"Do you two enjoy having everybody wait for you?" Levi sat across from Kira and Erwin inside the carriage as Erwin closed the door. Kira allowed her hood to drop down to her shoulders as they began moving, spotting the other carriage carrying Cadet Kirstein trotting behind them.
"Apologies." Erwin replied as Kira laid her left arm across her stomach, her right hand resting on the dagger on her thigh. She moved her face away from the window when she saw people lining up on the side of the roads to watch as they passed, her right thumb rubbing the handle of her weapon as her mind wandered in the silence.
"You're staring at me." Kira lifted her eyes to find Levi's narrowed metal-gray glare rested on her. His arms were crossed and his injured left leg rested over his right.
"How old are you?" Kira looked back out the window as she saw the number of observers fade from the corner of her eye.
"Around fifteen." Erwin kept still beside her, though she knew that he was also analyzing her answer.
"So, you're saying you don't even know your own age?" Levi scoffed. "What happened to birthdays?" Kira tapped the handle of her dagger at his sarcastic remark. She didn't like being in confined spaces for elongated periods of time.
Her eyes trailed upwards from the window, tracing the ceiling of the carriage's cabin. There it was. The symbol that remained everywhere, no matter where she went. The only short escape she had from it was when she was outside the walls. Her eyes lowered from the brand-mark to Levi's stare, before turning to face the window once again.
"I don't know my birthday."
Finally, she felt Erwin shift beside her, crossing his right leg over his left. The weight of Levi's gaze left the side of her face, and the exhale Erwin let out told her that it didn't take much of an effort for him to find the answer he desired.
He knew she didn't know.
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"We got through surprisingly easily," Eren walked a step behind Annie. Mikasa was on his right and Armin infront of her. The three childhood friends wore their dark green Survey Regiment cloaks to cover the maneuver gear that was hidden at their sides. Each of them held onto the straps of their backpacks, and Eren glanced around the empty streets with each step. "That's the mighty Military Police for you. Goes to show what kind of work they do."
"Don't look around at everything." Mikasa quieted him as they continued walking through the deserted streets of the Inner Wall.
"Let's hope they haven't realized Jean took my place," Had it been in any other situation, Eren would have laughed at the vision of Jean in that horrendous brown wig. As his eyes came in contact with the back of Annie's head, anything funny about the current mission ceased. "That definitely won't last for long. He and I look nothing alike."
He'd always had a habit of talking more than he should've. Usually, only the people around him would call him out on it, and Eren would deny it happening. Though, as he walked through the streets, luring a girl he'd known for years because of some weak hunch, even he was aware of the meaningless babbling that came with his nervousness.
"It'll be fine," Armin turned to look over his shoulder at him. "You both have the same sort of mean, and nasty look to you."
"I don't have his horse-face."
"Hey," Eren and Armin turned away from each other to look at Annie. "How were you planning to get over the wall if I hadn't agreed to help?"
"We were going to barge through using O.D.M." Eren was grateful as always to have a brain like Armin's on their side. If it was up to him, this mission wouldn't have ever happened.
"That's crazy," Annie countered. "Couldn't you just have escaped before reaching Stohess to avoid all this trouble in the first place? Why'd it have to be here and now?"
"I felt this town's complex layout would make our body-double plow more likely to succeed," Armin answered evenly. "Plus, acting dutifully and keeping their defenses down will buy us more time to escape than head-on opposition would."
Eren allowed his eyes to wander along the expensive buildings that made up Wall Sina. For once, he didn't have the boiling urge to comment on the upper-class. Instead, he became confused when he felt a mild familiarity with the surrounding architecture. He shook his head. The entire situation he, and the rest of the Survey Corps, was stuck in was jumbling up his thoughts and making a mess of his mind. There is nothing familiar with the Wall Sina. Besides being interrogated inside the Innermost Wall, his father was the only one who'd have to come here for his work.
"I see," Annie's voice brought Eren back into the current debouchel, almost making him question whether or not he enjoyed being trapped in his own thoughts. "Good point."
"Oh!" Armin's pace quickened as he turned his body. "Over there!"
Eren felt the invisible weight of anxiety place a heavy pressure on his chest as the four of them jogged to the tunnel. He released a shaky breath as he glanced down at the steps. But, if he was so confident that Annie wasn't the Female Titan, what was there to be nervous about? Why did he now feel his stomach churning as though he'd eaten something rotten, and needed to regurgitate it?
"Here?" Annie asked, her voice low as she stared downwards at the steps.
"Yeah. We're going through here," Armin confirmed. "It's what's left of an underground city they were planning to make," Eren silently followed Armin as he went down into the tunnel, Mikasa following on his left. "It leads to the vicinity of the outer gate."
"Really? That's amazing." Eren paused his walk when he didn't hear the last set of footsteps, the only ones that were actually meant to enter the tunnel, and he turned to face the entrance.
"Annie?" He let out a forced chuckle, seeing the blonde girl completely frozen at the top of the steps. "Oh, man. Don't tell me you're afraid of dark, cramped places or something."
"Yes. I am," Annie replied. "I doubt a brave, suicidal maniac like you would understand how a delicate damsel feels."
"Any damsel who can flip a grown man upside down isn't delicate at all," Eren turned back around, ignoring his sweaty palms as he walked further down the stairs. "Cut the crap. Let's hurry."
"No. I'm not going," Eren felt his lungs compress tightly in his chest, as if he'd been punched, as he halted his walk. "I'm afraid to go down there. I'm not helping unless we stay above ground."
"Quit being stupid!" Eren's hood fell to his shoulders as he forcefully turned around. "Just get down here! Stop screwing around!"
"Eren. Don't shout!"
"I'm sure it's fine, Mikasa," Annie's empty gaze shook Eren to his core, a rush of unsettled nervousness flooding his every nerve. "Because, for some reason, this whole area has been completely deserted for a while."
"What was it about her?"
"At what point did you start looking at me that way, Armin?" Eren shifted his wavering gaze over to his friend. Armin was shaking, his hand that held the next phase of the backup plan trembling as he held the flare gun. It had to be a joke, but as he moved his eyes from one friend to the other, seeing Mikasa's face set in determination, he realized that it wasn't.
"Annie, why did you have Marco's gear?" Even Armin's voice quivered, and Eren involuntarily gasped as Annie looked away instead of denying the claim. "It had all the same scrapes and bumps. I could tell, because I'd helped him do maintenance on it."
"Yes," Even though her voice had lowered to a whisper, since no one else was on the street, she was as clear as day. "I found it and took it."
"Then, those two Titans we captured alive, was it you who killed them?"
"Who knows," Annie dismissed with a sigh. "But if that's what you suspected one month ago, why didn't you do anything then?"
"Even now, I can hardly believe it!" Eren looked on wordlessly as Armin spoke through gritted teeth, his jaw clenched in disbelief. "I just wanted to believe I had it all wrong, that's why I didn't–" Armin choked on his words, losing his usual eloquence with the surge of emotions that was rushing through him, through them all. "Still, back then, the fact that you didn't kill me back then is why we're in this situation now."
"Yeah, I agree with all my heart," Eren's widened eyes finally blinked at Annie's response. "I never imagined you'd end up cornering me like this."
"What was it about her?"
"Hold on, Annie!" Eren clenched his fists at his sides. "There's still a chance you're going along with all this as part of some horrible, idiotic joke! Just get down here!" He stomped up a few steps, his jumbled mind scrambling to find an out for her. To give his friend an out. "There's something you can prove just by coming down here! Come down here and prove it!"
"That you recognized?"
"I can't go down there," Annie denied, her eyes still not looking at any of them. "I'm a failed warrior."
"I'm being serious here!" Eren vehemently shook his head. "This isn't funny!"
"Talk to us, Annie!" Armin joined. "We can still talk this out as–"
"Enough," Mikasa tossed her cloak over her shoulders. "I can't listen to any more of this. It's pointless," Her right hand secured a blade into her handheld trigger and pulled out the full blade. "I'm going to cave you up again, Female Titan!"
She laughed. Clutching her right elbow in her left hand, Eren watched Annie laugh for the first time since he's known her. A genuine, deep rooted laugh that almost seemed to drop the already cold temperature within the tunnel's staircase.
"Armin," Finally she looked back down at them, a smile still on her face. "It's nice I could be a 'good person' for you. For now, you've won your bet," Her smile quickly morphed to something sinister and mixed with panic. "But, my bet begins now!"
Just as she lifted her right hand to bite it, Armin shot a flare into the sky from the gun in his hands. As planned, multiple soldiers dressed as citizens leaped from their positions to grab her. Before Annie could move, a dozen soldiers were on her all at once. She was gagged with cloth and her arms and legs were hurriedly restrained.
Watching the group of people pummel her made Eren instinctively step forward to try and stop it. Mikasa blocked his path, keeping him in his place as they watched Annie struggle to hold her own. In an instant her right hand shot out of a soldier's hold, and only then could Eren see the silver ring that was placed on her pointer finger. As she flicked her wrist, Eren and Armin were yanked backwards.
"Mikasa!" Armin yelled, startled.
"It's too late!" As they reached the end of the stairs, a bright spark following an explosion knocked them backwards, and the three narrowly avoided the falling debris and broken bodies as they tumbled after them.
Without having the opportunity to overcome his shock, Eren was once again pulled back by Mikasa. A hand, the Female Titan's hand, Annie's hand came reaching down into the tunnel, barely grazing Eren as he finally regained his footing and ran in the opposite direction.
"Damn! That ring!" Armin heaved as they ran. "She knew I was lying from the start! She saw the ambush coming from a mile away! Surely there must've been a better way!"
"Save the regrets for later!" Mikasa cut in. "What should we do now?"
"First, we rendezvous with Squad Three and get above ground. Then, we fight Annie, the Female Titan, as per Plan B!" Armin answered. "Eren, you'll help catch her in your Titan form, just as we planned," Eren stared ahead as he ran, trying to hydrate his painfully dry throat. "All right?!"
"Y-yeah!"
"Hey!" Focusing his gaze, Eren spotted two men waving from halfway down the tunnel. "Capture Plan A failed?!"
"It did! Please switch to the backup plan!" Armin shouted, but the three of them reeled backwards as the Female Titan's — Annie's — foot stomped its way through the ground, crushing the soldiers and blocking their path.
"We have to help them!" It was obvious they were dead, but Eren had yet to process his surroundings as real, and as such, he reflexively went to help his comrades.
"Eren, get back!" Mikasa raised her voice as she pulled him away from the gaping hole that used to be the ceiling. "Does she not care if she kills Eren?"
"She took a gamble," Eren slowly turned his eyes away from the smushed soldiers, facing Armin. "She gambled on Eren surviving when she made that hole. This makes her all the more formidable. Annie's that desperate to catch Eren now!"
They all ran the opposite way, finding a center point between the hole Annie had just created and the destroyed entrance that they had started from. They all kneeled, huffing intakes of breath and distant pounding footsteps were the only things Eren could hear before Armin pulled his focus.
"Now what? Our escape route's been cut off. And she'll be ready and waiting for us if we make a run for it on our gear. That said," They all covered their eyes as another surge of dusted air pushed against them as Annie created another hole further down the tunnel. "If we stay here, there's no telling when she'll stomp on us."
"I'll manage somehow!" Eren stood up. "Just like when I stopped that shell! Come here!" He quickly pulled the other two up on their feet and tugged them closer while placing his right hand in front of his mouth.
The taste of blood seeped into his throat, a painful groan escaping him as nothing happened except creating the puncture wound on his thumb. His eyes clenched shut as he slowly shook his head back and forth, sinking his teeth deeper into the wound and allowing more blood to escape.
"Again?!" Eren cried out as he took another bite out of the same place, the pain sparking up his entire arm. "Of all the times! Damn, that hurts!" He fell to his knees, clutching his hand to his chest.
"You can't transform without a clear goal, right?" Armin questioned. "Try to focus again! Hard!"
"I'm trying to!" Eren snapped as he dug his teeth into the wound again, ripping apart his skin. Blood trailed from his mouth down to his chin, but the taste didn't bother him anymore. Only the frustration he felt from failing at his part. The anger of failing again. "It's not–"
"Are you sure?" Eren looked over as Mikasa crouched by his side. "Could it be that you still have problems with fighting Annie?" Eren lowered his hand, his eyes following as he stared at the ground.
"Eren?" Armin asked slowly, but Eren didn't respond.
"After all this, don't tell me you still think that Annie couldn't possibly be the Female Titan." Mikasa's glare pierced his temple as Eren's eyes remained attached to the floor.
"You recognized her fighting style, her body posture, and because you've known her previously, you're in denial about her involvement in the slaughter of over three dozen soldiers."
"What did you see just now?" It was all so much, too much. Eren didn't have any time to understand it all. One day he's just a cadet, the next he's training every night with Faith and the people around him started dropping like flies. "She killed our comrades, you know. Do you still think it's not her?"
"You're in denial."
"Shut up!" Eren yelled as he lifted his hand once more. "I'm trying!" He was trying, he knew that as he sunk his teeth even deeper into his hand. He was trying. He knew Annie was the Female Titan. But, maybe he didn't want to fully believe it. If he did, that meant believing that someone he considered a friend was really just a traitor against humanity.
"You know the Female Titan is Annie. Then you know you have to fight." Eren looked down at his bleeding hand. He already knew that, he was trying.
"Fighting is the only way you can move forward. If you can't fight, you can't win."
"Or are there certain, special feelings stopping you?"
"If you don't win, nothing changes."
"Huh?" Eren blinked rapidly, looking away from his hand as the sound of blades being unsheathed sparked his attention.
"I have a plan!" Armin pointed one blade towards the two holes created by Annie, and the other back towards the broken entrance. "Mikasa and I will exit that hole and that entrance at the same time. At that point, Annie will go for one of us," Eren looked up at him as Armin pulled his hood over his head. "When she does, run the opposite way, Eren!"
"Wait!" Eren protested. "That means one of you will get killed!"
"If we stay here, all three of us will die!" Armin argued as Mikasa took Eren's fallen cloak from the ground and wrapped it around herself. "Mikasa! Get in position!"
"Right!" Mikasa agreed. "I'll take this way!"
"How?" Eren trembles, empty gaze staring at his bleeding hand. "How are you guys able to fight?!" Despite the pain he clenched both of his fists, looking ahead and turning over his shoulder frantically to catch a glimpse of his friends running away. "How?!"
"We don't have a choice," Mikasa slowed her run. Armin ignored his plea, continuing to sprint towards the exit. "We live in a cruel world." Mikasa pulled her hood over her head as Eren lowered his teary stare back to his torn up hand.
"Fighting is all we can do."
Gritting his teeth his hands shook as he glared at them, as if trying to pull apart all of the answers to his questions. Thunderous footsteps came from above, and before he could even react, Eren was crushed under the rubble.
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Kira raised her hood as she exited the carriage, standing beside Levi and keeping her head ducked. They'd all heard the deep booming that sounded from the Southwest part of the city. The first explosion set the plan in motion, and Kira managed to see the explosive rebound of the Female Titan's transformation outside of her window seat.
The Female Titan was always going to transform. Of course, getting her into the tunnel was the most unrealistic part of Plan A. Now, it was just a matter of how many bodies she'd already left behind. The only problem was that there hadn't been another explosion. No other strike of orange lightning that would suggest that another transformation had taken place.
Eren had not transformed.
"Escort Squad!" Commander Nile shouted to his troops planted on a building's roof. "I'll hold this position! See what's happening!"
"Nile," Erwin called, and the Military Police Commander turned. "Deploy all troops immediately. We should assume a Titan has appeared."
"A-are you crazy?!" Of course, the workers of the Inner Wall wouldn't recognize the sound of a transformation. "This is Wall Sina, you know! No Titan would show up here!"
"Stop right there, Yeager!" Cadet Kirstein bursted open his cabin door as he jumped to exit the cabin. He grabbed his regiment cloak as he exited, pushing back against the Military soldier.
"I'm done playing dress-up! Never call me that name again, you halfwit!" He ripped off the brown, floppy wig he was wearing and tossed it to the ground, running towards Kira, Erwin, and Levi. "Commander! I want to help, too!"
"Ask Squad Four for equipment." Erwin replied as the Cadet swung his cloak over his shoulders.
"Bravado is fine and all that, but just remember to stay alive." Levi ordered.
"Yes, sir!" The Cadet responded before sprinting around the Police's soldiers, aiming for his next goal.
"Erwin! What the hell was that?!" Nile shouted.
"Commander! I brought it!" Kira stepped forward as two thick briefcases were set in front of Erwin, quickly getting to work with attaching her gear in a swift, practiced motion.
"Good work." Erwin acknowledged as he bent down to begin placing on his own gear.
"Thank you, sir." Kira rested her triggers into the holders beside her stomach, her cloak ruffling as her hood threatened to fall off of her head.
"Hold on, Erwin!" Nile protested. "Tell F-Faith to stop, as well!" The soldiers were terrible at hiding their shock when spotting her as she placed on her gear.
All the eyes on her reminded her to tug her hood forwards as she awaited orders. Of course, with all of the stories spread around, they didn't believe that Faith would respond to anyone who wasn't within the Survey Corps. The Commander, specifically. Therefore, it seemed they wanted to treat her as a dog, and speak to her through Erwin as if she couldn't understand the language they spoke unless it came from him.
"All able-bodied soldiers, follow me!" Erwin clipped in his second trigger as he addressed the crowd, Kira following as he began walking away. "We're going to rendezvous with the Capture Squad!"
"Erwin, wait!" Nile was quick to point his gun at Erwin's chest, and the soldiers behind him followed, all weapons pointed at the tall Commander. "You're committing a clear act of treason against the royal government!" Kira's right hand instinctively lowered to her thigh, the target of Nile's forehead already calculated, before a stern hand gripped her wrist.
"Follow the brat that just left, find Eren, and do what you normally do," Levi spoke his orders in a low tone so as to not cause the trigger-happy soldiers to start firing at them. "Use your shitty eyes for something good, and make sure none of them die." He released his grip and Kira caught eyes with one of the soldiers, his once sturdy form trembling slightly as they made eye contact.
"Nile," Levi adjusted his suit jacket as he crossed his arms. Kira turned, attaching her hooks to the closest building on her right and leaping into the sky. "Are you as garbage-brained as you look?"
"H-Hey!" Nile shouted after her, but Kira ignored it as she sprinted over the buildings.
The citizens were running crazily, with no clear direction from the officers who were uselessly sitting on the roofs of random buildings. She jumped from rooftop to rooftop, trailing on Cadet Kirstein as she spotted him in the distance. He was running on foot, still a ways away from where both of them needed to be.
Adjusting her course, she used her gas to push her at higher speeds to her new destination. Her whistle caught the attention of Abel as he and three other soldiers were carrying extra equipment and firepower to follow after Hange. She slid to his right side, extending her hand out for one of the briefcases he carried, which he handed to her without question. Both of them nodding to the other in acknowledgment, Kira flew off back towards the Cadet as he sprinted on foot.
Dropping from the roof of a building to the ground, she slid to a stop in front of the Cadet and placed the briefcase on the ground. He scanned her twice before hurriedly stepping up and opening the case to pull out its contents. She remembered as she watched him scramble to place on his gear, he was the one who mocked Eren for believing in her existence. Jean Kirstein. Graduated sixth in his class with honors.
"I'm ready." He noted and Kira nodded, turning to the direction they needed to be and setting off. Kira adjusted her pace to match Kirstein's, slowing down so he didn't feel the need to rush and use more air than he should, though still leading them both.
Kira landed on a nearby roof. Leonhart's Titan head much closer, though she was distracted by the other soldiers attempting to slow her down.
"I'm Jean Kirstein, sir! Should we meet with Squad Four now?" Clearly he respected people he saw as superior to him much more than he respected his classmates. Though, it could've just been Eren that he mocked, since he was very easy to provoke. He even said the title that only the most nervous soldiers and citizens gave her when they tried to address her.
"She's being lured by the soldiers, and not Eren himself," Kira's hood had long fallen to rest on her shoulders as she surveyed the scene once more, before turning to the other soldier. "Don't fight when you don't have to."
"Understood! So, we'll see what's happened to Yeager?" Kira's eyes locked on the collapsed entry tunnel that was the starting point of the mission. Cadet Arlert was sifting through the rubble, and Kira felt her left thumb dig into her pinky.
"Let's go," She halted her next step, causing the teen next to her to do the same as he waited for her to speak. Kira turned her head back to him, her hands rested on the triggers, ready to shoot them to her next location. "We are the same rank."
"Oh," His eyes widened a tiny bit as the information processed. "Right."
Both of them jumped from the roof at the same time, and Kira slowed her pace so Jean would pass ahead of her as they came closer to the scene. They landed once more on a rooftop across the road from Armin and Eren, seeing the blonde tugging forcefully at a rock.
"Go," Kira told Jean. "I'll watch from up here." Jean nodded as he jumped down. It wouldn't make much sense if there wasn't a look out, especially while they're all up close to the enemy.
Finally, Kira was able to see the one who had killed all of them once again. She ignored the sound of Jean's frustrated shouting as she stared at the Titan's open nape. Her back was turned, watching the soldiers try to dodge her attacks as best they could. Kira's attention turned to the ground, where Mikasa sliced at her achilles and circled around her left foot to make the Titan trip.
Mikasa Ackerman. Graduating first in her class, she was ahead of the rest of the newest recruits by a large margin. Her skill spoke for itself, clearly some natural ability that had Kira interested. If she wasn't mirroring Eren's every step, she could have the potential of being something very strong.
Kira refocused on Leonhart as the Titan tried to regain its balance by grabbing onto the closest building next to her. Her hand swung backwards to catch herself, consequently throwing shards of brick and asphalt behind her.
With a furious speed, Kira flew down from the building she was on and yanked both soldiers back to the road as a large separated section of a house added to the growing pile of destruction that surrounded them. She let go of both of their arms when they landed on the road unharmed, and Jean was quick to pull out his blades.
"It's no use! We've gotta do something about her first!"
"But," Armin coughed lightly. "Ere–"
"Go." Kira ordered, her naturally stoic face blank as she stared at Eren's body within the rubble. Armin looked at her before turning back to Eren, huffing to himself as he left to follow Jean.
She stepped through the crushed debris, the sound of rocks and wood rubbing together under her footsteps as she made her way towards him. Her thumb remained forcefully stabbing at her pinky as she lowered herself to crouch down next to him. He laid on his back, a wooden pillar stabbed through his upper right chest. Blood trickled from his mouth to his ear, pooling from his right shoulder and splattered across his clothes.
"Who said you could die here?" His right eye slowly opened, and she met his gaze with her own glare. "Who told you that you could give up here with nothing to show for it? Only the growing pile of the dead, and more questions than answers? Who said that you were allowed to waste my time?"
Eren's lips parted and his left eye shook as it tried to open. His extended right arm twitched as more blood dripped from his shoulder. Kira felt her own blood drip from her pinky as her thumb retracted itself, only to stab at another spot on the same finger.
"Then die now," Kira stood up to her feet, stepping backwards as she heard the sounds of buildings collapsing and a soldier's scream. "Die now, and learn nothing. Prove everyone who was in that courtroom right. Let them dissect everyone you've ever known, and execute every soldier who was present today," Kira turned away from him, finally releasing her pinky and tilting her head back to glimpse at his pitiful sight. "Die now, and lose forever."
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Next Up: Chapter Sixteen - Locked Memories
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Note: Happy New Year! Just four more days until season four part two releases!
Next chapter, Kira will finally see Eren's full Titan form. Also, you'll get just a smidge little peak into Kira's past!
*Fun Fact ➙ Now that Erwin knows her estimated age, he will chuckle when he thinks back to all the times he's watched someone call her 'sir'.
Hope you liked this one! See ya!