𝑾𝑨𝑹𝑯𝑨𝑴𝑴𝑬𝑹 | a. arlert

005 | get free

the last day or so passed in a blur - you had been travelling practically nonstop since you reached the outer wall, the fear of pieck and zeke catching up acting as a momentum to carry on moving forward.

you were so sleep deprived that you had basically no recollection of what was going on, and just stumbled across the landscape as if you were possessed. somehow, you had recently made it to the second wall, but there was still a long way to go.

since you left the desolated city your thoughts had been plagued with nightmarish flashbacks - and you couldn't help but feel a hint of disgust towards your friends for what they had done, though you knew they had no choice, it all felt so much more real now that you had witnessed the destruction in person.

eventually, exhaustion overcame you and you let the desire of slumber take over - drifting into a euphoric sleep, sprawled out on the grass.

-

your ears were ringing, pulling you away from the grips of sleep, though you refused to open your eyes just yet. there was another sound entering your head now though; the distant clatter of hooves against the firm ground approaching.

it had to be your imagination - you weren't even sure if this part of paradis was inhabited, though it was a possibility since you were now inside one of the inner walls, and it didn't seem to be breached. however, you hadn't seen a single soul in god knows how long, so your mind must be playing tricks on you...right?

the noise came to a halt and was soon replaced by a lighter sound - the crunch of footsteps drawing ever closer, though you refused to open your eyes to investigate, desperate to cling onto the last traces of sleep.

even through your closed eyes, you could sense someone was looking down at you and the fact that sunlight was no longer burning into your eyelids was a dead giveaway. slowly, you opened one eye, squinting as your vision began to focus.

surely enough, there was someone staring down at you; a strange expression on their face as if they had never seen another person before.

"hello?" you let out wearily, sitting up and watching as your new acquaintance inched further away, arms now crossed in a puzzled way.

"are you alright?" they asked, crouching down and extending a hand to help you off the ground.

"i think so." you murmured in response, gladly taking their hand before beginning to rub your pounding head. "where are we?"

"near the outskirts of wall rose." they replied, staring at you intently.

you nodded, racking your brain for an excuse as to why you were lying on the floor out here; surely there had to be some village around that you could say you were from, and just blame your current situation on a bad case of amnesia.

"oh how rude of me, i haven't introduced myself." you said, trying to change the subject. "i'm y/n, it's nice to meet you."

"hange, and likewise." your companion replied, giving you a soft smile.

the two of you sat in silence for a few minutes, wondering what to say next. you were sure that hange had quite a few questions for you, and was most likely suspicious, but they were just trying to be polite at the moment.

"let's get you out of here." hange said, turning around to attend to their horse which was stood nearby. "this part of wall rose isn't safe right now."

wall rose, that must be the name of the second wall here, you thought.

you followed hange without complaint, clambering onto the horse behind them, still trying to keep up the whole amnesia act. it wasn't long before the two of you set off, heading in the opposite direction that you came, deeper into the confines of paradis.

you had to admit riding horseback was a lot less tiring than walking, though you couldn't help but feel slightly uncomfortable being alone with a stranger (mostly due to your past experiences back in marley; almost everyone you met seemed to have a personal vendetta against you, simply for being eldian.)

hange seemed trustworthy and kind though, even if you could also argue that they had a few screws loose, willing to help a total stranger with basically no questions asked.

it wasn't long before the horse became distressed, desperately trying to escape from its reigns. you clang onto hange, in order to avoid being thrown off onto the hard ground. they managed to get the horse under control and brought it to a stop, looking around to see what had caused it to flip out.

you followed hange's gaze, eyes landing on the remains of what appeared to be a village. there was smoke coming from a few of the buildings, suggesting that it's destruction was recent. squinting your eyes, you realised there was a titan perched behind a tree in the distance. it didn't sense the two of you, and wasn't trying to attack, which you thought was odd, given their nature; maybe this was zeke's doing - could he be nearby?

"i just remembered." you started, startling hange. "that's my village; the titans suddenly attacked it and i managed to get away, but must have fell at somepoint and knocked myself out."

sure, this wasn't the best lie you had ever come up with, but it was certainly a reasonable excuse for being found out in the middle of nowhere.

hange simply nodded in response, expression suggesting that their thoughts were elsewhere.

"shit!" they yelled, pressing their foot into the side of the horse, causing it to start galloping. "we have new recruits at castle urtgard still. i need to get back and let the commander know what's going on!"

you had no idea what they were shouting about, but kept quiet, watching the blur of scenery go past to try and keep yourself awake.

-

it didn't take long to reach your destination, and you were now stood by an unkempt stable, focusing on hange tying the horse up.

"this is one of the scouting regiments buildings." they explained, as if able to sense your confusion. "the majority of my comrades are stationed here, plus we can get you checked up and make sure you haven't got any injuries from your fall."

scouting regiment... you swore you had heard that name before. right, zeke had mentioned it! apparently it was the military group reiner and the others had infiltrated. maybe annie would be here!

you were pulled from your thoughts when hange walked over and grabbed your forearm, beginning to lead you towards the door a little too harshly. the inside of the building was dimly lit and smelt kind of musty.

letting hange pull you along, you scoured the corridors for any signs of a familiar place, but to no avail. you were so preoccupied that you didn't realise hange had stopped walking and bumped into them, nearly causing the two of you to come crashing to the ground.

you were now outside of another door, one that was housing many booming voices and no doubt much commotion.

"wait here." hange instructed before disappearing behind the door, letting a wave of noise escape from it in the process. you nodded and moved to stand against the wall, slowly sliding to the ground as you let your legs give way from exhaustion.

you were ignorant to how much time had passed when the door opened again, and unconsciously covered your ears with your hands to block out the ruckus, your tired mind not being able to handle it.

staring down at the wooden floor, a pair of unfamiliar boots came into view - their owner crouching down in front of you. slowly you lifted your head up, locking eyes with a boy with long, blonde hair.