A Promise (An Attack on Titan Fanfic: Erwin Smith)

The Fall of Wall Maria I

It was as if a bucket of cold water was doused over Isanna's body and she reverted back to the time on her first expedition, frozen on her spot at the sight of her friends being eaten.

Wall Maria had fallen.

She knew the world was cruel, cruel enough to allow those monstrosities threaten the extinction of humanity, but this? This was a whole other level of cruelty.

Too cruel to even believe.

Even though he was obviously frightened out of his wits, the Scout soldier proceeded to explain how a titan taller than the walls had sprouted seemingly out of nowehere in a heap of steam and kicked through the outer gate of Shiganshina district. Shortly after titans had began spilling through the southern district, another titan whose skin was harder than their blades had appeared and blasted through the inner gate.

In simpler terms, their situation was shit.

But Erwin was quick to spring into action.

"Mike, Hanji, Levi, gear up and meet me outside the building in five minutes," he ordered with an urgent tone as if he had been doing this for years, "Isanna, prepare my gear please."

The four whom Erwin ordered swiftly stood up and exited the room without a word, faces now empty from the playfulness that they wore just minutes ago during their usual banter and replaced with serious, solemn expressions.

Just as Isanna strode past the pale soldier, she heard Erwin order him to ride back and rally the rest of the Scouts that were stationed back at Shiganshina to prioritize and assist in civilian evacuation.

As Isanna and the rest of the three headed to the supply room, there was a thick suffocating air that enshrouded above them, with not one of them daring to break it. The very idea that the outermost wall that protected the remainder of humanity from the titans was broken down catalyzed a feeling of despair and bearishness to becloud their minds, rendering even the very same soldiers who were called as the Scouts' strongests to gulp down a heavy lump in their throat.

The fact that the Survey Corps had just returned from an expedition also didn't help their predicament; they weren't given a chance to rest and were now expected to be thrown back into the battlefield - one far worse than an expedition, because they were currently suffering from a sparse amount of soldiers.

After suiting up their gears in the supply room, the four were about to disperse to different directions when Isanna called their attention.

"The three of you are not allowed to die," she firmly ordered with a steeled look directed at them, "have I made myself clear?"

For the first time since the dreaded news reached them, Hanji grinned back at the girl. "'Course we won't! See you later, Sergeant Major."

"Tch. We don't need you to order us," Levi mumbled as he went on ahead, followed by Mike who just silently gave Isanna a smile before he turned away.

Isanna didn't waste another second and turned around her heel, briskly padding down the winding hallway and heading back to Erwin's office. Even though she was inside the building in the second floor, she could hear hollers of urgency shooting from outside and could picture the panic rushing the soldiers as they ran around to follow orders.

Upon reaching the office, the raven woman saw that Erwin had just slipped on the jacket of his uniform, her eyes glancing down at the bolo tie hanging around his neck signifying that he was now officially a Commander. It made her realize how unlucky her best friend was and how heavy it must be for his first day in duty to work on the fall of Wall Maria; the catastrophe was so unexpected, as if the heavens were bored and decided to give humanity another thing to worry about because they had nothing better to do. Pricks.