Attack on Titan: Bloodline -- Version 2

• Chapter 34 •

A gunshot rang out.

Jean took a shaking breath, realizing that his heart was still beating and he hadn't been shot. The woman in front of him fell off the side of the wooden cart and Armin stood with a handgun aimed where her head had been just moments before. His breathing was heavy and his eyes were shimmering with tears. Armin dropped the weapon and turned back around, taking the reins of the horse-drawn carriage, but before they could get much further, Levi had called to them. He and Sasha swung into action and yanked the two to safety as four more soldiers looped around the corner and over the rooftops, firing an array of bullets at them. Mikasa continued to chase them, skillfully blocking and dodging their continued firing, but Levi wrapped his arms around her, holding her back as the kidnappers made their final escape from Trost District with Eren and Historia in tow.

"Eren!! No!!"

Levi shouted, "Damn it, let him go!! We're running on fumes! Time to regroup!" Mikasa struggled against his grip for a moment, but then she nodded. She sheathed her blades and turned around, walking beside Levi as he said, "Don't worry. We'll get them back. We just need to think about this."

Armin stood by Sasha, his entire body trembling. He felt dizzy, like he could pass out any second, but he knew they had to return to the warehouse. His eyes were glassy and empty. His stomach churned.

"I did it," he thought, walking behind Levi and the others, "I pulled the trigger." His heart pounded in his head.

"That woman is dead because of me."

Sasha grabbed his shoulder and said, "Armin! Hey, pull yourself together. You don't look so good." Armin shook his head and furrowed his brows.

"Gotta keep moving. We have to get the group together."

The world around him felt like a blur and sounds around him were muffled through his thoughts. He took deep breaths in and out, trying to calm himself and steady his shaking body. The long walk seemed short as his head replayed the moment over and over.

Grabbing the gun.

Her aiming at Jean.

Pulling the trigger.

The impact of the bullet in her head.

The blood and brain matter that had exploded from her skull.

Armin felt suddenly sick and gagged, stumbling towards the nearby canal, his hands clutching his stomach as he retched violently, vomiting into the steady stream of water. Mikasa ran to his side and placed her hands on his back, silently attempting to comfort him as he coughed and sputtered, trembling more by now. She looked up and nodded to Levi, who guided the rest of the group into the warehouse where the kidnappers had been tied up and hidden away.

"M-Mikasa," Armin gasped, "Was it like this...for you...?" He looked up, tears streaming down his face as he wiped his mouth, still panting and gasping for air through his panic. Mikasa sighed, rubbing his back gently. He sobbed repeatedly, "I-I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

"It's alright," she responded softly.

"Armin? Mikasa?"

Lorraine ran out to them, but stopped upon seeing Armin's panicked and tearful state. She gasped.

"Did...did something happen?" she asked.

Mikasa nodded, silently mouthing the words, "I'll tell you later." Lorraine looked between them, unsure of what to do.

Later that night, the group sat inside the warehouse, gathered around the light of a small oil lamp. Lorraine, having taken her aching arm out of its sling so she could have more use of it, was in the process of stitching up a gash on Levi's shoulder, her medkit laying open on the ground next to her. He winced a little bit as the small, sharp needle pierced his skin and was pulled closed by the threads.