I shove my way through the throng of Trainees and Garrison soldiers, my eyes roving over every head looking for three specific people. So far I haven't seen head nor tail of Marco, Reiner or Jean; even though Jean was a total ass to me all the way through the Trainee Corps I can't help but look for the cocky bastard.
Yet, even before I got into this crowd, Mikasa and Eren tried reassuring me that they were safe, that nothing happened to my friends and single acquaintance. But, I shrugged off their words and dove straight into the ever growing crowd. With each delicate minute that passes my heart drops further and further with every face I don't recognize. Then, a firm hand clamps down on my elbow catching me from moving anymore and yanking me backwards.
"H-hey!" I call trying to jerk my arm back, but the grip tightens until I break through the crowd. I'm spun around to face my 'abductor' and all the breath that was in my lungs whooshes out like I was punched in the stomach.
"R-Reiner." I whisper in shock staring at his smiling face. His eyes dance with happiness.
"Hey Sakura it's good to see you." He pulls me into a tight and warm embrace. I stand there in shock, basking in his warmth my mouth hanging half open in dumbfounded shock.
"Oh my god Oh my god. I thought you died. Oh my god." I whisper as I wrap my arms solidly around his waist.
"I know," I can feel him chuckling the vibrations of it shaking my smaller frame,"I thought you died too."
"I'm fine. We're fine." I whisper, tears of happiness threatening to spill that I quickly stifle. He pulls back, holding me at arms length, but instead of his eyes dancing with happiness like they were minutes ago; regret shines in them like a beacon.
"Sakura," he glances back over my shoulder and I twist around to see Mikasa standing there watching us carefully,"Before you go back into Titan territory I want you to know I'm truly sorry for everything that I have done, but I want you to know that I can only be myself around you."
"What do you mean?" He gently pushes me back in the direction of Mikasa,"Reiner?"
He gives me a small sad smile,"Go on. You have a mission to complete and so do I." He turns and disappears in the crowd of soldiers.
"Reiner!" I yell ready to plunge straight back into the crowd if it wasn't for Mikasa's hand, I would have.
"Sakura," she says pulling me back by my shoulder,"We got to go."
I curse underneath my breath, my mind whirling with questions directed toward Reiner,"Alright alright! I'm going." I shake her hand off of me and twist around to walk next to her in the direction of the squad.
The crowd seems to split showing where the Elite squad is standing hunched over a map as they revise the final decisions for the mission. I take a deep breath and shake everything that was on my mind off, refocusing myself I steel my nerves and cool my expression. I have to be ready for this mission; nothing is going to hold me back.
------*------*------
I curse as I kill yet another Titan that threatens the safety of Titan Eren, so many have been drawn away, towards us, towards him. I land in a crouch my muscles already begging for relieve that I can't give them, not yet. My clothes are coated in blood from fallen soldiers, my cloak having fallen off ages ago laying on a roof somewhere.
"An 11 meter class coming in from the East!" Rico yells pointing her sword in the direction, her silver hair is matted with sweat and her silver eyes skim carefully over the buildings in search for threats.
"I'll get it!" I yell back, we nod our heads at each other in understanding, but just as I'm about to swoop in for the kill; Mikasa comes out of nowhere and kills it effortlessly. The Titan falls on a roof and Mikasa lands on top of it gazing at the still steaming Titan Eren. I land next to her in a defensive crouch, my body coiled like a snake ready to spring.
"Okay, Mikasa got it." I say with a roll of my eyes and a small smile.
"Sakura! Mikasa!" I jerk my head up at the sound of Armin's voice and instantly stare in shock at the small blond boy that is standing on Eren's neck,"What happened to Eren? To the mission?"
"Get away from there Armin! Eren is dsyfunctional, he can't control a Titan body! Everybody is fighting to try and protect him until we can retrieve him!" Mikasa yells in warning.
"Armin! Get away before you get hurt!" I cry with narrowed eyes.
Armin ignores our pleas for him to move away from the unpredictable shifter, it's obvious he's in turmoil with himself, by the tension in his back and the way his hands are slightly shaking he's thinking about doing something stupid.
"Two meters long and one meter deep." As he talks he clicks the hooks of his maneuvering gear so they are impaled into Eren's nape,"As long as I don't stab right in the center he shouldn't get hurt to bad; it'll only hurt a tiny bit."
"Armin!" I cry out my eyes wide as he takes his blades and stabs straight into the nape.
Eren tosses his head back and roars, thrashing his body left and right in utmost agony.
"Armin!" I cry again.
"J-just protect me okay? I know you two can do it!" I curse underneath my breath and glare at Armin with a shake of my head.
"Fine! Just be careful? Okay?" I turn toward Mikasa and nod my head in the direction of the closest Titan. She sighs, shoots one look over her shoulder before following after me in pursuit of a 8 meter class. I fly around the Titans face, keeping him distracted while Mikasa swoops in for an easy kill. Again and again we kill while keeping a cautious eye on the pair.
"We are going to have to travel South, just for a bit. Armin should be safe."
Mikasa nods her head in agreement, her jaw is set,"Yes he should be fine."
We both move quickly, jumping from roof to roof to kill distracted Titans with a simple flick of our wrists. We land next to each other, having just killed a 14 meter class that was more interested in us then we would have liked. I close my eyes and lean my head into my bloody hands, gasping for breath. I slowly open my eyes looking down at the shingles through half closed eyes, I quirk my head to the side in confusion, a piece of shingle is vibrating for an unknown reason.
"Guys!" I look up as Armin lands next to us, a small smile on his face,"Eren won! He's carrying the rock toward the wall all we have to do is protect him for a little while longer! Then we win! We beat the Titans!"
I stand up looking in the direction Armin was desperately pointing, a gasp escapes my lips when I notice the boulder moving slowly toward the wall.
"Let's do it. I hate losing." I leap from the roof and move quickly behind Eren. 'Just a little bit more' I think to myself.
'A little bit more.'
-Erwin's POV-
I stood atop the wall overlooking Trost with Levi at one side of me and Hanji at the over, having left Mike with the injured. Commander Pixis stood in front of me sipping on his flask of alcohol slowly. He sighs as he pulls the flask back and rubs his mouth on the sleeve of his uniform.
"So as you see Commander Erwin," he turns his body toward me,"This Eren boy is humanity's last chance of survival, if we can seal this hole what is stopping us from sealing the others?"
"Yes, I do agree with you, but I can't place my faith in something I have yet to see for myself." My voice is bland and my expression cool.
Pixis chuckles,"You are as straight laced as they say." He turns back toward the town,"Well, anyway, this girl that you were asking about, Sakura is it?" He leans back and whispers in his advisors ear,"Where did we send her?"
I feel my eyebrow twitch in annoyance, but quickly cool my expression back into an unreadable one.
"She was placed on the Elite squad, sir." The girl says staring straight ahead.
"Ah! Yes! Ian wanted her didn't he?" Pixis chuckles,"That girl is definitely something with that 3D maneuvering gear is she not?"
"So, she was placed on the team that was to follow this Jaeger and ensure his safety, correct?" I question, tired of his vague answers and off topic conversation.
"Yes she was." Pixis takes another pull from his flask.
"Thank you, Commander Pixis." I walk past him, motioning for Levi and Hanji to follow me,"I will go assess the situation in town."
I don't wait for his reply, I drop straight off the wall and enter the destroyed town. My cold eyes running over every building I fly over, looking for anything that indicates that Sakura is still around.
"E-Erwin." Hanji calls from behind me, I flip up and press my feet against the brick of a chimney. Hanji is standing overtop of a pool of dark liquid her eyes locked on a piece of fabric that is laying in the middle of it.
"What is it Hanji?" I ask as I move to stand across from her. With solemn eyes Hanji bends down and picks up the fabric by a dry spot then holds it up for me to see.
"It's Sakura's." She whispers twisting the cloak around so I can see the Wings of Freedom on the back of it,"Her initials are written on the tag."
My breath hitches in my throat as I hop over onto Hanji's side of the roof. I snap the fabric from her hands, not caring that my hands are now stained with blood. My world stops spinning and it's just me and her bloody cloak, I can feel everything Sakura has helped me feel drips away until I'm an empty shell. Again.The warmth Sakura has placed there and nurtured is gone.
"It seems this shifting brat is in trouble." Levi growls from where he is crouched on the chimney of the building. His gray eyes are locked on the North side of town, his lip curled in disgust. If it wasn't for us having been friends for a long time I would have thought nothing was wrong with the Lance Corporal, but I knew him better. He didn't want to stick around and think about his he wanted to keep moving, so the pain didn't have time to sit and grow.
I look up at him, my eyes colder than usual, the fabric slips from my fingers and lands in a heap at my feet,"Go on Levi." I turn my back and hop from the roof,"You move faster than the rest of us."
Levi is a dark green blur as he shoots toward the North side of town. Hanji moves to fly next to me, her face etched with worry, but she doesn't speak a word. It doesn't take long for us to lose sight of Levi. I clench my fists, anger boiling up from the depths of my emotions. If she would have just stayed with the formation, she wouldn't be....be....dead! But, she just had to run off and protect her dear loved ones.
I flip over a building, now moving faster than before desperate to see this 'shifter' more so than to see if Sakura really is alive. Mostly because why build up false hope when I know it will just get crushed?
I'm now so close to the gaping hole in the wall I can see the boulder being held up by the 15 meter shifter. He swings the boulder around and slams it into the hole, blocking it off completely. But, I don't let this minor victory change my course of action; I press my foot to the lip of a building and leap into the small clearing directly in front of the now sealed hole. Standing up slowly I let my ice cold eyes run over the humans and Titans when I hear a strangled voice from behind me.
It sounds so familiar it causes my heart to soar as I spin around to see her. She's leaning against a brick wall, half cloaked in shadow, but I can feel her eyes on me as my name leaves her lips again. A small smile grazes my face, half in disbelief half in relief. I slowly step toward her drinking in the sight of her breathing chest and tear streaked face. She smiles sadly at me.
"We won." She whispers as I step into the shadows in front of her. But, that's not what I'm worried about, I remember the way she said I love you, with so much emotion that I know I have to say it back.
Because I feel the same way.
I reach up and cup her check in my large hand, running my thumb over her cheekbone. I lean in close, placing my forehead on hers and staring into her beautiful emerald green eyes.
"You know I had to question Hanji to figure out the meaning of those words." I whisper my breath gently brushing across her slightly parted lips,"You could have said it in English you know."
A light blush crawls across her cheeks,"Oh really?" Her breath caresses my lips sending shivers down my spine.
"Yes, really," I lean in closer until our lips are only centimeters apart,"You want to know what I have to say about that?"
"Hmmm?" She purrs and I can't hold back anymore. I push my lips against hers, instantly my world falls away and it's only the two of us. I can feel the warmth, her warmth, spreading through my body starting from my lips and extending all the way to my finger tips. Her lips were just as soft as they looked, pressed against mine with our emotions overflowing in the simple kiss; it sends my mind scattering for an explanation for why it feels so right. She reaches up and wraps her arms around my neck pulling me closer to her, until the heat of our bodies are joined together.
In a desperate need of oxygen I pull back and place my forehead against hers.
"I love you too."
---A/N---
*Squeals* oh my god! I have been waiting soooo long to get this up! Gosh and now that I do, it just, I just. GAHH!!! I swear I love this so so much!!!
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