Because Of You

Chapter 21

In a swift motion, Gunther was dead. Carmen didn't usually flinch at death, but something inside her snapped when one of her squad mates were killed. She didn't know what it was, or what it mean, however she did know one thing. Whoever that was, already had a mark of death. Their fate had already been decided as soon as they crossed the deadliest woman within the walls.

"Gunther! Are you okay!? What happened?!" Eren was the first to call out, but he was shocked when the quietest person in the squad yelled.

"Eren! Stay back!" She ordered, turning to give her friends a sympathetic glance. "Everyone! Get as far away from here as you can! And don't look back!" She demanded.

"Carmen, wait-"

"I said go, dammit!" The assassin shouted once again, causing her friends to hesitantly let her speed towards the enemy.

The assassin however didn't hesitate at all, she raced towards the killer eagerly. That monster killed her friend, and even though she wasn't as close to Gunther as she was with the other three, she sure as hell wasn't going to let her get away with his murder. They were friends. Her opponent didn't last long before Carmen caught up to her, and when she did, she showed no remorse.

Sharply, she drive one of her blades through the back of the hooded scout, causing them to yell in pain, next, she quickly dragged her sword back out and stabbed her in the back again. This fight was easy, maybe too easy, but Carmen soon realised why.

"Shit." She cursed seeing the amber sparks fly from the enemy.

.
.
.

Everything was black until Carmen slowly began to open her eyes again, letting the rays of light slip past her blonde hair that stuck to her face with a mixture of sweat and blood. As she took her hand to move her hair out of the way, she noticed a thick coating of red, Carmen knew she had blood on her hands, but now the metaphor had become reality. Panicking, she jerked her head downwards to see the source, only to see it was coming from her torso.

Sticking out of her and holding her above ground was a branch of the tree she'd been beside during the explosion. However, that was far from her concerns when she realised what else the explosion had caused.

"No." She muttered before shouting. "Petra! Oruo! Eld! Are you there!?" She choked out hoping to hear a response but she began to lose hope when no one did. "Can anybody hear me!? Please!"

Again, no response. Panic soon turned into dread and Carmen had no choice but to escape from the mess she'd caught herself in. Gripping her swords tightly, she knew the damage she was about to induce, but she had to. So, the assassin cut the front end of the branch, then, the woman turned her body looking at the damage behind her. It wasn't too bad, after all, the bleeding wasn't as severe as the things she'd seen. If she had to guess, she'd say it missed her vital organs, which was beyond lucky.

Preparing herself to descend, Carmen sliced the back end of the branch and quickly used her gear to land safely on the floor. Thankfully, the branch remained inside her, stopping further blood loss. Then, she tried again. "Petra! Where are you!?" She yelled, but no response. Until suddenly, her eyes fell on one of her squad members. "Eld?" Her voice shook, seeing only half of her friend saying in a pool of blood. He was gone, there was no denying that, but there was still hope for Petra and Oruo, even if it was rapidly dividing.

"Oruo..." She didn't even gain distance from Eld before seeing her friend, bruised and crushed amongst the wild flowers. Out of everyone, she'd known Oruo one of the longest, she'd trained with him, joked with him, understood him. But all of that meant nothing.

Next, she turned around, Oruo wouldn't have died far from Petra, because no matter what he said, he liked her more than he admitted. Her eyes caught sight of her strawberry blonde hair instantly, then, they trailed down. Petra wasn't just her friend, she was her sister, and while she was fighting for her life, Carmen had her eyes closed. "Petra... I'm sorry." Carmen towered over her, she'd never cried before, but when the tears began to build up in her eyes, she realised exactly why. Her whole life, she'd been heartless, but her squad had changed that, they'd pieced back together what she thought wasn't there.

But now, they were gone.

Carmen's breathing got heavier, she was crying and doing nothing to conceal it. Because it didn't matter, she was going to avenge her friends, even if she died trying. The assassin gripped her swords tightly, silently saying her goodbyes before flying through the trees with speeds she'd never had to use before. Soon, she passed by a titans skeleton, but it wasn't her target, so she followed the cracks in the ground until her eyes met her enemy.

Her pupils dilated when she latched onto her new target. Disregarding both Levi and Mikasa, she shot straight through the two and speeded onwards.

"Carmen wait!" Levi yelled, confused as to how she was both alive and functioning, she must have been in immense pain. Except he didn't know she was practically immune to it.

Carmen ignored him and shot her hooks onto the leg of the female titan. Noticing this, the monster turned around, ready to kick the woman, but she greatly underestimated her opponent because as soon as she turned around, the hook was retracted and Carmen spiralled, slicing up the beasts legs entirely. Making the female titan fall to the ground.

"You murdered them!" Carmen accused, yelling with anger. But her voice only caused the female titan to single in on her location and fling one of her arms backwards to swat the scout. Again, Carmen dodged and ducked underneath the arms only to swing from behind the female titan and take out both of her eyes.

"Slaughtered them like animals!" She continued to scream as the titan backed itself onto a tree, protecting its nape with a crystallised hand. Carmen took note of the abnormality and avoided the blue barrier, choosing to cut up her upper arm instead which caused the whole arm to fall limp beside the titans side. "So why don't you kill me?! Huh!" She shouted. "Go on! Kill me, just like you killed them!"

While the woman was distracting and fighting against the titan, Mikasa saw an opportunity. Both the titans hands were slumped at its side, giving her a clear shot at the nape, if Mikasa was quick, she could take down the titan then and there, saving Eren.

But she was wrong. As soon as she got close to the titan, it's arm lifted into the air, prepared to crush Mikasa. "Don't do it!" Levi yelled at her and pushed the girl away from the danger, at the cost of one of his legs. He didn't have any more time to spare, so the captain quickly sliced the female titans jaw, revealing Eren in a coating of saliva. "Carmen! Come on! We're leaving!" He ordered.

"No..." Carmen began to get dizzy and tried to secure herself by digging one of her blades into a tree so she could regain her composure.

"Hold Eren." Levi handed the boy to Mikasa and turned back for the assassin.

Just as he was about to land beside her, the woman let go of her blades and began to fall towards the ground, she was running on pure rage the whole fight, and even if she was still experiencing those feelings, her body couldn't take the pressure anymore. Levi quickly changed direction when he saw her fall and caught her in time.

"Carmen, stay alive dammit." He shook her as he rested against another tree. Carmen didn't answer him with words, she could barely keep her own eyes open, let alone speak. But she did raise her hand, displaying the mass amounts of blood coating them. Shocked, Levi trailed his eyes over her body, initially he thought it was titan blood, but it was clearly Carmen's, meaning he wasn't wrong when he assumed she was dead against that tree. "Keep looking at me okay?" He instructed and quickly flew away from the scene, hoping to reach the medics in time.

"I thought you were dead." He told her, but Carmen couldn't exactly hold a conversation with him, in a way, it was just Levi trying to keep her awake. "You did well, even with that injury, you kept going. So don't just give up now, because it's not over. If you want to kill her, then you're gonna have to stay alive."

He was right, if she wanted to slaughter the bitch, she needed to survive first. So she focused on her breathing and did everything she knew of to keep herself alive. Eventually, she found that both their attempts to keep her awake were all in vain, and once again, she drifted out of consciousness.