Our Garden of Dismay

Denouement

Clouds had been slowly forming in the sky throughout the day, but they finally began to make an impact on the brightness of the sun. A thick layer of dark and fluffy clouds layer the sky, giving a grainy film over the combat that's unfolding in front of me. With the sole goal of our mission to eliminate as many Titans as possible, we spread out and take on Titans that we feel are easy to kill first. Olven dispatches a sub-six-meter Titan with Novak right behind him taking out a seven-meter Titan. Sinclair brings down a five-meter rather quickly despite his wounds and he moves on. I manage to chop a six-meter Titans nape without any preliminary attacks, but I notice Jean-Paul fighting with a twelve-meter. Dietrich and I converge to help her, she seems to be struggling but she isn't the first to face death. The twelve-meter cocks its arm back in preparation to throw a full-force punch. Dietrich was in the middle of attaching anchors to the Titan, so he is completely helpless and can't move out of the way. Before I can shout a warning, Jean-Paul shoves him out of the way. Time feels like it moves in slow motion as the fist connects with her lower body, sending her flying through the air. She flails and flips out of control but just before hitting the floor, she lets a burst of gas out that slows her down substantially so her impact with the floor is less fatal. As she rolls and bounces along the coarse dirt and dry grass, her legs flail wildly and she finally comes to a stop after rolling for about five meters. My cousin lands to her side and I drop down too; she is unbelievably battered, covered in dirt and blood with gashes and scrapes that look painfully deep. Dietrich lifts her head and looks at her face, he then begins frantically looking at all her wounds and checking for any major hits to the head.

"Jean-Paul! Wake up!"

His words are spit out rapidly, his anxiety shooting through the roof as she takes longer and longer to respond.

"You can't die now! I just got you! Wake up goddammit!"

He chokes on the lump in his throat as tears are welling up in his eyes. A pit opens in my stomach at the sad sight, I drop to a knee and look at Dietrich.

"Is she-?"

I begin to ask but I get cut off by her abruptly coughing.

"It was just a love tap."

She barely gets the words out, wheezing heavily and still not opening her eyes.

"Oh my god! Are you okay?!"

Dietrich screams as he hugs her tightly.

"I can't feel my legs."

She mutters weakly, I look down and see her legs are graphically distorted and twisted. They're broken but no bones are sticking out which is a good sign, her ODM gear is completely thrashed, beyond any form of repair whatsoever.

"Dietrich, get her out of here."

I say, looking up to see an eight-meter making its way over to us.

"Leave me, you can't carry me back."

She responds with several coughs between her words.

"Bullshit, I'll just have to show you how damn good I am."

He sheds her ODM gear and lifts her mostly limp body into his arms. With a quick kiss to her lips, he takes off and begins heading to the wall. His movement is wobbly and slow but he manages to make it, I let loose a sigh of relief then look up to the battle. I spot a sight I thought I'd never see, Novak is in a Titans grip, trapped by its tight squeeze. I make my way over, the sight of her captor is horrifying. It's a terrifyingly thin monster, its bones easy to see under thin and leathery flesh. It must be fourteen meters tall and it has an abnormally large mouth even for a Titan. Its boney fingers wrap around Novaks frame, suffocating her. When I get to the Titan I look for Sinclair or Olven but both are occupied with other Titans. I attempt a cut at the fingers but it's too shallow, the memory of Barrett begins flashing through my mind and I start to panic. Novak looks at me, there are no tears, just a look of despair. I make my way to cut the hand again but the Titan lets out a deep groan and begins to fall forward. She falls from the now loosened grip and the Titan begins to steam, dead from a slice at the nape. Just before Novak hits the floor, a man with a large frame swoops down and catches her in his hands. His neck-length hair flows as he flies through the air at an incredible speed. When he shoots high up into the sky, he heaves Novak off him so that she can fly on her own.