𝐁𝐈𝐓𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐖𝐄𝐄𝐓.ᴀɴɴɪᴇ ʟᴇᴏɴʜᴀʀᴅᴛ, ᴍɪᴋᴀꜱᴀ ᴀᴄᴋᴇʀᴍᴀɴ

『𝟐𝟎』𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐓 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐁𝐄𝐆𝐈𝐍𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆

𝐓𝐇𝐔𝐑𝐒𝐃𝐀𝐘, 𝐌𝐀𝐘 𝟗𝐓𝐇, 𝟖𝟓𝟎 𝐀𝐓 𝟏𝟎:𝟓𝟕

⸺⸺⸺⸺⸺⸺⸺⸺⸺⸺

  You retracted your one wire as you bobbed down, using your momentum to propel yourself back up as your cautious eyes continued to scan around you for titans, 'Something's not right, why aren't there any titans around? They were unavoidable before, overwhelming.' you questioned yourself, a deep-seeded paranoia creeping up on you the longer both you and Mikasa used your gear, 'Did my group just have really bad luck before, or is this actually unusual?'

  "Have you seen Eren and Armin at all?" asked your girlfriend, the ravenette ahead of you but only by a little bit, as she partially raised her voice to enquire about her close friends' whereabouts.

  "I haven't," you admitted, slowly regaining your old self yet again as you both travelled further from the bloody scene, "But surely they're getting ready for when the evacuation bells ring, right? Near HQ?"

  The Japanese woman threw a look in your direction, a small confusion unequivocally written on her usually harder-to-read face, "They've already been rung," she informed, "About ten minutes ago."

  'They did? Really?' you thought to yourself, having not expected for that to be the case, 'And they've already told us to retreat when we've just started? Are we really this useless without the Survey Corps?'

  Frowning, you focused on answering to the girl, seeing as dwelling over humanity's helplessness wouldn't help your case -if anything it would hurt you, serving as a potentially lethal distraction if you were to run into a titan, "Still, I don't think it'd be a bad place to check for them. They'd probably need to restock on gas and blades, and even then maybe someone who's seen them will be there when we are." you reasoned, offering a starting point in the search.

  "Mhm." you barely managed to hear her hum over the sound of working 3DMG, you being easily able to see that her mind wasn't completely there as she seemed to ponder on her nonbiological brother's and friend's location.

  "Over here." came her voice not long after, the girl nodding her head smally in the direction that she soon went in -wordlessly telling you that she wished for you to follow as she landed on a terracotta-tiled roof and took broad steps on it, heading towards its one end. Landing not far behind her, you copied her example while allowing yourself to take a quick gander around the now partially destroyed district of Trost, 'This place isn't looking too well, half of the houses are damaged in some kind of way.' you noted, 'I'm surprised that there's enough for us to walk on all of these.'

  "There're people over there..." Mikasa mumbled after a moment, her features contorting into confusion as she voiced her issue, "But why aren't they evacuating?"

  "Maybe they didn't hear the bell like I did?" you guessed, stepping to the woman's right and squinting your eyes to try and see those she was talking about; it was only after a quick search that your hues spotted soldiers with the trainee patch sewn on the back and arms, you taking note on the way that one cadet in particular was yelling at another before they threw a pointed finger to their one side. Following where they were pointing, you couldn't stop the way your heart seemed to plummet, "Oh..."

  "What?"

  "Look over there," you spoke solemnly as you pointed in the same direction the other person had, "That's probably why."

  Following your finger, her coals grew in size as she seemed to realise the predicament that they were in just as you had. From your view, you could just make out the HQ building that was filled with a plethora of spare blades and gas, the grey, stone brick walls of the structure barely being able to be seen underneath the horde of titans that were currently trying to claw and break their way in and get to the humans inside, 'Holy shit, how in the world are those people ever going to get out...? No, wait,' you thought, pupils dilating with worry, 'How are we supposed to get in? If everyone is left without gas, we have no chance in defending ourselves against the titans or scaling back up Wall Rose.'