Year 850
*SNAP*
'No, that wasn't the sound of my bones being crushed in the hands of a titan, that was the sound of someone's wire being released.'
A sensation of warm liquid started to slowly make its way up my leg.
'Am I dead?'
"(Y/n)!!" I voice shouted out for me as I was dangling upside down.
"Don't move!" Someone else said as I opened my eyes, I was face to face with a Titan.
I didn't say anything but my breathing got heavier as the Titan looked up at me with its hungry eyes.
Then, it had hit me.
'The stinging pain coming from my leg was someone's wire keeping me from falling into the jaws of one of those monsters."
I tilt my head up to see Sasha hooked on a tree and calling out to me.
"Fucking pull her up already!!!" Jean says, hitting Sasha's head.
"Jean! Give Sasha time!" Armin says, grabbing Jean's arm.
"Jean come grab the wire and slowly pull her up," Sasha says as Jean grabs the wire.
"Don't you risk the chance of the wire releasing?" Jean asks.
"The hook already released its mini spikes, getting a good grip on her muscle so it should do," Armin says.
As my blood started to rush to my head more and more I felt a tug on my calf.
"I wouldn't suggest moving around!" Armin shouts.
"Yeah! I wasn't planning on it." I yell back as Jean slowly raises me.
I felt a hand wrap around my boot.
"This is where your core workouts come in handy, give me your hand!" Jean says holding out his free hand.
I curl up and grab his hand as he quickly pulls me up. As I safely make my way up, Jean just stares at me.
"Don't look at me like that!" I say removing the hook from my leg.
Armin reaches for his pocket and pulls out some leftover bandage and wraps my leg.
"Does it hurt?" Armin asks.
"It's bearable but I can't work with this blade in my arm, I could have saved you all the trouble if I could grip the branch," I say.
Sasha offers me a hand up and hugs me and heads back to her position.
"Are you...Crying?" I say pointing at Jean's face.
He turns red and looks away, "N-No! Some dust got in my eye, that's all." He says as Armin and I giggle a bit.
"You think I'll be risking too much if I take it out?" I ask Armin.
"I'm not a doctor, so don't rely on what I am going to say, but I would leave it in." He says heading back to his branch as I walk out on the branch.
"I know what you're thinking Jean..." I say as he puts his head down.
"You don't because I wasn't thinking about anything." He says.
"Sure...Is that why you have that look on your face." I say as he pouts more.
"I could have lost you..." His voice shakes.
"But you didn't," I say smiling.
He doesn't say anything but instead, I hear fast, loud, footsteps coming up right behind me. As I turn my head around he grabs the collar of my jacket and yanks me closer to his face.
"Jean?" I say.
"Jean! Be careful with her!" Armin shouts.
"It would have been my fault! It was my fault in the first place you fell! How many times am I going to have someone slip through my hands before it's my turn, huh?!" Jean yells at me, tugging on my collar.
"Worst part it is, you didn't even look sad...You didn't have one ounce of emotion written on your face! Or did you just give up?! You probably just fell and excepted it... " The tip on his nose started to turn red again.
"I told you, I show-" Jean releases my collar and steps back, not letting me finish.
"Just shut up..." He says going to another branch and Armin ran up to me.
"Don't worry about him, he is probably just shaken up..." Armin says bringing me back to the trunk of the tree.
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*PEW PEW*
Distant weapon fire was heard within the forest.
*SCRATCH*
The faint sounds of bark being ripped off the trees could be heard beneath us as titans tried to climb the trees.
"They, uh- They've figured out how to climb," Christa says.
"I can see that. Well, if they make it up this far then we could just move a little further, I suppose. Anyway, I doubt we'll be here for much longer. I suspect the order to withdraw will be coming any minute ." A woman says with short blond hair with an undercut.
"What makes you say that? Those explosions in the back? I hope everything is okay" Christa says worriedly.
"Me too." The woman says.
"Who is that?" I ask Armin.
"Her name is Nanaba, she comes from Miche's squad," Armin responds.
More weapon fire was heard in the distance.
"Mikasa. Do you think that's cannon fire or what?" Sasha asks.
"I mean, nothing else makes that much racket, right?" Mikasa doesn't respond to Sasha, she looked more focused than anything.
"What the hell is with all that noise? Seriously." Ymir comments.
"Gimme a hand here, Bertholdt. You happen to see what tree Christa scuttled up?" She asks.
"Sorry, I don't have a clue," Bertholdt responds.
Even more weapon fire was heard.
"Hey, whaddya say we get outta the way?" Jean says as a titan was making its way up the tree.
Armin nods as he picks me up and follows Jeans lead.
"Ugly bastard is really gettin' the hang of it." Armin sets me on a separate branch then hops over to an empty one.
"At this rate, he gonna try his hand at buildin' a damn treehouse," Jean says.
"That's a bit intimidating..." I say as Jean doesn't even acknowledge my presents.
"Oh come on! You can't just ignore me!" I say as Jean crosses his arms and pouts.
"How petty," I mumbled.
"it's also quite alarming that it is showing its capability of learning. Not a pleasant thought. Of course, they probably all developed at different rates." He says.
'He is too smart for me." I think looking up at him.
"Hey, Armin. They want us keeping these Titans outta the forest right? I think I just figured out why...We're here to lure the Female Titan into a trap. C'mon, what else could it be?" Armin seems taken back by what Jean said.
"Like you and (y-y/n) said, there's a person inside steerin' that thing. Commander Erwin wants to figure out who." Jean says.
"Hey! What was with the stutter for my name Jean?!" I say waving my arms around.
*CRASH*
"Well, there goes all of his work..." I say as we all look down at the fallen Titan.
"Commander Erwin doesn't have the right, to put all of our lives at risk just to find out one person. Hell, we could've smoked out the spy. Maybe saved some good people." He glares at me.
'What the fuck?!!!'
Armin looks a little frustrated, "No. He did what was necessary." Jean steps back.
"Are you seriously trying to defend him?! Do you know how many of us died so that the Commander could play intrigue?!" Jean shouts.
"Of course I do... All I'm saying is it's easy to judge in hindsight. At the time, though, there was no way to determine what was going to happen, what the outcome would be." Armin says.
"Erwin is a Commander, not a soothsayer. He had to act on what he had." I say, backing up Armin.
"Period," Armin says.
"He had to choose a handful of us or all of us. What would you have done?" Armin adds.
"He made a decision. He sacrificed hundreds of us in the process, but it was for the good of mankind." I state.
"I may be naive but, there is one thing I know beyond all doubt. Genuine harbingers of change must be able to do what others don't dare. Sacrifice their hearts. And except the burden of doing the unspeakable. Whether we like to admit it or not, the fact is this. To rise above the monsters, we have to abandon our humanity. That's the irony, really. If you can't let it go then it's not worth holding on to." Armin looks into Jean's eyes with pure passion.
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"RAHHHHH! RAH! RAHHHHHHHH!!" An ear-piercing scream came pouring out from the forest.
*THUMP THUMP THUMP*
"What the hell is this?! W-Why are they ignoring us all of a sudden?" Jean questions as a mob of Titans came running into the forest.
"Are those all abnormal?!" I was shocked to see that many.
"Who cares?! Concentrate on pushing them all back!" Someone says wooshing by.
"My gear! I can't fight if I-" Nanaba taps me on the shoulder.
"Here. Take it." She says handing me a spare part.
"Where did you-" She cuts me off by flying away.
"Don't worry about it." She hollers.
'I know this is not someone's hand-me-down.'
I slip remove my gear and swap it out quickly.
"That isn't your only obstacle," Armin says pointing to the blade.
"Fuck it." I rip the blade from my arm leaving my arm to pour blood.
"After all, we had an order," I say throwing the blade and concealing the wound with the handing bandage.
"Ick!" Jean says looking at the blood.
"Really? You decide that those are going to be your first words." I leave the two to battle.
"Engage!!" An Elite screams.
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"Hey! What's going on now?!" Armin asks as I head back.
"Commander ordered an official withdraw and to head back to the Calaneth District," I say winging with my ODM gear.
*POP* *POP* *POP*
Blue smoke signals were shot into the air from different sections.
"There it is...I guess we are one here." Nanaba says.
"We return back to HQ on horseback!" Nanaba shouts.
"Understood!" Christa responds.
"Wait! You're tellin' me it's all over?!" Jean questions looking up into the sky.
"Ugh! Thank god." Connie says.
"Hehe." I continue to wing on a branch out of happiness.
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"So if we're going home, that means the operation was a success, right?" Jean turns to Armin.
"Oh wow! Look at the little tulips on the ground!" I say happily.
"Hopefully so. If that's the case, they've might already uncovered the Female Titan's true identity." Armin says looking over to me.
"I wouldn't mind knowing that myself. Still, I'm impressed with the Commander. How did he know she would come for us?" Jean asks.
"How refreshing! Look at the white puffy clouds!! And the free birds!" Jean looks at me all weird.
Jean turns to Armin, "What the hell is happening to (y/n)?"
"Mmm, could be the lack of blood, or she is just overly tired...I've known her too long to not know that look," Armin says pointing out my dazed look.
"Right...Okay anyway." Jean says.
"During the Trost invasion, did it stick you how odd the Titans halted their advance midway through?" Armin says.
"Armin...You are just simply adorable when you get all nerdy." Armin's face goes completely red.
"Hey!! Where's my affection?!" Jean says.
"What affection is there to give Horse Fuck." I look at him unamused.
"Hey!!! Oh, you are so lucky we're on horseback!" He yells.
"Or what? You can't beat my ass! You know you can't" Jean frowns.
"I-" Jean tries to talk.
"You nothing!" I say.
"L-Like I was saying, they must have intended some purpose when they destroyed the front gate, but they never made a move on the inner gate. Nor did they interfere with Eren when he sealed the breach. Perhaps, something must've happened which made them re-evaluate their plan entirely." Armin looks over to Jean and me.
"Are you guys even listening?!" Armin says as we continue to make faces at each other.
"Sorry, what would that be." Armin rolls his eyes.
"Uh...Ahem, something drew their focus away from the Walls destruction. Something that forced them to call off the attack." Jean takes note.
"You mean Eren's transformation?!" Jean asks.
"That's the most logical conclusion," Armin replies.
"Wait, then that would mean..." Jean looks worried.
"They were there..." I say.
"They were there to witness Eren's transformation...It means the enemy is among us..." Armin says.
'No...Can't be possible...I always had my suspicions...But after today, it just doesn't add up, but in the long run, it does.'
I clench my fists as Armin sees.
"Something wrong, (y/n)?" I turn to him.
"No, just thinking," I say looking back.
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(A/N): Silly! Of course, I wouldn't kill off (y/n) like that! There is still so much to the story that I would feel bad for ending it like that! Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter as much as I liked writing it!! Also, the "Pew, pew" made me laugh really hard because it was such a cute little "sound effect" for something really big. Anywayyyy! Double update tomorrow for sure! Sorry, this was posted a little bit later than usual...I had to study for upcoming finals. DX! Love you all!!!('・ω・｀)