angelic | jean kirstein

chapter seventeen

ANGELIC – CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Eren was gone.

Isabel sat with her knees pulled to her chest, chin resting on her legs as she stared across the large expansion of land littered with large footsteps leading as far as the eye could see. They had lost Eren, and there was no telling if they could get him back. It had been five hours since he had gone missing, five hours that they had to take him wherever their little hearts desired.

She ground her teeth together as she glared at the sky ahead of her, blaming herself for what had happened. If she had only noticed what Reiner was doing sooner by dragging Eren directly under Bertolt, they would still have Eren.

"Are you alright?"

She shifted her eyes up to see Moblit hovering over her, his eyes soft as he sat beside her, kicking his legs over the wall. "You seem to get a lot of head injuries." He joked quietly as he nodded to her bandaged head.

Isabel sighed as she looked down the edge of the wall where she had been knocked unconscious, it was a miracle she hadn't developed some sort of brain injury from the amount of bumps to the head she had achieved.

"Can I ask you something?"

Moblit hummed in response and turned to face her, though she continued to keep her eyes at the wall below. "Why didn't Mike come back? Why did he have to die?" Her voice was so quiet, she sounded like she did when she was young, it reminded him of when she used to ask why one of her 'friends' didn't come back after their missions.

"I -"

Isabel cut him off, turning to face him, eyes beginning to well with tears again. "What do you think his last thoughts were? Do you think he was scared? Do you think he accepted it? Or do you think he spent his last waking moments screaming out for us but we weren't there to save him?!"

"He died on his own, Moblit." She whispered. "Nobody was there with him. He died alone without anyone there to offer him some sort of comfort by going out with him, he was all alone. The one time he needed us most and we weren't there, I wonder what he was thinking. I wonder if he wished it was us instead of him, I wonder if he regrets his choice to join, because I sure am starting to regret it."

His eyes shifted behind her to the incoming horses, the Commander riding the front one, his eyes trained on Isabel. Moblit sighed and placed a hand on Isabel's shoulder. "You want to know what I think?" She nodded. "I don't think he regretted his choice to join, terrible things just happen to good people unfortunately. I know how much he cared about you Isabel - the way he used to talk about you, about how proud he was of you, it was like you were his little sister, his pride and joy. I know it hurts, I've lost my fair share of friends and it doesn't get easier, but I'll never regret my choice to join, so that's how I know he didn't regret his choice."

"He used to talk about me?" Her eyes seemed to light up, she sniffled, wiping her nose on her jacket sleeve.

Moblit's face softened as he nodded. "All the time."

"What type of stuff did he say?"

He paused for a moment, trying to remember the many things he had said about Isabel. "When you were six or so, he used to get really excited to babysit you for Commander Erwin, it was his favourite thing to do. He'd talk all day about the exciting things you guys were going to get up to - oh! He used to practice perfecting his hair styling techniques on Hange in return for helping her with research, you always did love it when Mike put your hair in those twin buns on the top of your head."

"Him and Hange always used to bicker over who got to look after you if Commander Erwin was busy." He continued as he watched her frown slowly crawl up into a lopsided grin. "Of course Levi would always swoop in when they were distracted and demand he watched over you because he's your godfather, that really used to wind Mike up. And when he found out you placed fourth, you should have seen him. I don't think I've ever seen Mike so happy, he was so so so proud of you. He just loved you so much, Iz, I'm sure he'll be watching over you from wherever he is now. He's at peace now, he doesn't have to worry about anything anymore."