Venus and Rose

Chapter Twenty-One: Escape

Bide your time, bide your time, you thought even though all you wanted was to slash your blade into the throat above you. You refused to meet the dark blue eyes hovering only a few inches from your face. Eren was strapped to Reiner's back, having been strangled into unconsciousness by Reiner when he refused to calm down. You were unwillingly placed on Reiner's front with your wrists bound behind his neck. As the three of you awkwardly flew through the trees, you furiously ignored Reiner's attempts to catch your gaze.

Ymir's sudden yelling forced Reiner to turn to see the commotion where Ymir was hanging off Bertholdt's back. "Ymir!" You yelled when she and Bertholdt fell. Just as they were about to hit the ground, Bertholdt managed to sweep them both upwards.

While the two loudly argued, Reiner landed on a large branch. "Off," he muttered and ducked to remove your tied hands from around his neck. "Wait here, okay," Reiner looked at you, and you finally met his gaze. In just that single moment, you saw the regret and shame in his expression before he leapt from the branch and soared over to the other pair. They were too far away for you to hear what they were saying, it sounded almost like Ymir was threatening them based on her tone.

Looking around, you noticed that you had been taken to a dense part of the forest and glancing back at the others you saw they weren't paying any attention to you. Crouching down, you clumsily removed the knife in your boot and hissed when you cut your wrist slightly in your haste. The blade slid through your bonds easily and you checked again to make sure the others still weren't looking.

Studying the layout of the branches didn't take much time. They're just big trees, Sasha and I climbed trees all the time, these are just a bit bigger, you thought in an attempt to calm your racing heartbeat, trying to ignore the rising memories of you constantly falling out of trees during your childhood. Edging around the trunk, you hopped a small gap to the next branch so now the others were out of sight. Taking fast breaths to pump yourself up, you broke into a sprint along your branch and cleared the much larger gap to a branch on the next tree. You landed in a hard crouch, gripping the branch below with trembling fingers as you accidentally looked down at the ground.

A memory from your trainee days flashed before your eyes. You were scaling a rock wall during the wilderness survival test and your fear of heights had made you freeze mid-climb. You remembered Reiner reaching down with his hand to pull you up, and felt Jean's grasp on your ankle to help you find the right foothold. You remembered your panic of heights in that moment, but having spent countless hours high in the air during your years of training, that fear had dwindled to a mere memory. Now that fear snapped back into the forefront of your mind as you looked over the edge of the branch to see a wide pair of titan eyes far below you that were carefully watching your movements.

Gripping your knife tightly in your hand, you stood and took a few deep breaths to ground yourself. Listening closely to the distant voices, you didn't hear any commotion so you assumed your missing presence remained unnoticed. The next couple branches were easier to jump, and you made quick progress through the trees. Even with your injured leg, you pushed through the sharp sting and slight numbness, and thankfully it hadn't started to weaken yet.

After putting enough trees between you and your captors, you stopped to catch your breath. After a moment, you tried to find a path for you, but the only tree in close range didn't have a branch close enough to land on. Now worrying that you might have to double back to find an accessible route, you heard an explosive crack behind you and a bright pulse of lightning, causing you to swear aloud. You had run before you heard their plan, and you had silently hoped they figured you were just too much of a hassle to bring along. But what if that was Reiner transforming to find you? You swore again. You couldn't possibly double back now.