Already Gone

Chapter 19: Dinner

hey guys... unfortunately i have broken my hand (just my luck lmfao) which means that chapters might be a bit slow coming out since it's harder for me to type! thanks for the constant support

—

Pounding, a never ending drum that sounded from miles away, even as they slept the feeling of the ground shaking could always be felt. Liesl hadn't slept a wink, scenes of the past twenty four hours replayed constantly in her head. What could she have done different, who could she have saved.

Liesl couldn't change her past, but she could change her future.

"Get up," Liesl demanded, the toe of her shoe sliding underneath Reiner's face. He sat up in a disheveled manner, his sleep ridden eyes widening in horror as he looked up to the group before him.

"L-Lie—"

"—Stop crying and get moving," she replied plainly, feeling the foot steps of her new comrades shuffling behind her. Connie cracked his neck, taking a stance next to her and watching as Reiner slowly stood. "What are we doing?" Reiner asked, body drenched in a cold sweat.

"Saving the world."

The girl uttered those words so plainly that no one in the room had the nerve to say otherwise. Eren Jaeger was walking in a snow path, and over time his footsteps would become covered with sins that resembled snow flakes, it would only be a matter of days before the world would crumble.

"It's nice to see you Liesl," Magath greeted her flatly when she arrived to their hiding spot. Hange was on the floor making stew while the others stood around in a circle.

"Don't lie," she replied glaring down at the man. Magath could tell Liesl had changed, it wasn't just the wounds on her flesh and battered clothes, it was her eyes—They appeared to be a far darker color, not even the light of the moon reflected off of them. She held the eyes of a dead man in her skull.

"Rather than argu, let's get this stew cooking," Hange budded in, stirring the pot before her.

They stood in a circle, Marleyan, Eldian, soldier, and enemy alike. The dichotomy of their past motives meant nothing in the grand scheme of things. Blood spills from wounds whether a person is a Marleyan or an Eldian. A lesson that they were all learning quickly.

Hours before hand, Jean and the others were coming to terms with how the new world would become. In the back of their minds they almost wanted to accept it, Jean especially. If he stopped now, if he let the flow of the tides sweep him out to sea, then perhaps he could drown peacefully. After all, he never wanted to be a Scout in the first place.

But Marco did.

That's why when Niema and Hange had wrangled together Liesl and Mikasa, Jean once again decided to fight against the current. And once Jean gave in, so did the others, devoting themselves to stopping the rumbling. However, standing in the forest, facing the people who destroyed the promises of a happy life. He—as well as Liesl and the others—Weren't sure if this was the right choice.

"Can you kill him?"

Mikasa and Liesl both turn to Annie, who was rather talkative for someone had been stuck in a crystal cocoon. It had been years since Liesl ever saw Annie, but the stoic behavior and sadden eyes on her face hadn't changed.

"Both of you. Can you kill them?"

By 'both of you,' Annie was addressing Mikasa and Liesl. It wasn't until that moment that the pair had any type of camaraderie. There was no common ground for the two women to stand on, or so they thought. Suddenly, when the question had been posed, the wall between them turned translucent.