The Swords We Yield - ◈ ARMIN ARLERT X OC ◈

Chapter 11 - Payback

Suddenly I am ten years old again, crippled on the floor staring up at the giant colossal titan that towers over me. My throat is raw from my screams, I stumble back as I stand up, staring at Bertholdt in his true form. They are not my comrades, all along they have been our enemies, hiding in the shadows of our own homes. They took everything from us, everything, including Nick, my poor helpless brother who did not have the strength to protect us from these demons the first time.

Jacob yanking me back away from Reiner and Bertholdt, no, the colossal titan and armoured titan, our enemies.

"Hey! Are you ok!" Jacob exclaims patting my arms.

"I'm fine, I'm fine!" I yell over the chaos and hold his arms as he shakes uncontrollably. Another loud explosion of sound reminds me that they aren't they aren't the only ones who can transform, this time we aren't completely helpless, this time we have a titan of our own on our side.

"Shit, Gen!" Jacob mutters frantically looking around.

"Go! Go!" I breathe, pushing him away as he runs off to find her. I hold my hands up to my face breathing heavily, this isn't real, this isn't real, I repeat to myself wishing this was all a dream.

"EREN!" Armin screams stumbling to the edge of the wall, I quickly rush to his side holding him back before he falls to his death.

"It- It can't be!" He cries, "They are our friends, we-" he stutters, "We trusted them!" He yells, staring down below at the Armored titan.

"I know Armin, I know." I whimper beside him. He looks back at me for a moment before facing them again. We sit together watching in utter horror. Consumed by the sight in front of us, completely forgetting about the colossal titan embedded on the wall 50 metres or so from us.

"All troops! GET OFF THE WALL!" Hange screams, I shoot up my head to see the colossal titan raising his hand in the air, preparing to wipe us out. I turn to Armin who is still mesmerised by Eren and the Armored titan.

"Armin!" I exclaim, throwing my arms around him, pushing us off the wall while engaging my ODM gear.

"He's got Ymir!" Armin yells as we land on the side of the wall. I struggle to hold both our weight and I feel my grip losing around his torso.

"Armin!" I struggle, "Can you..." I begin before he quickly engages his ODM gear and drops next to me. "Tha-" I begin before I feel a lack of tension in my gear.

"Ah!" I squeal as my ODM gear disengages and I feel myself plummet to the ground. "No, no, no!" I mutter as I struggle to manipulate my ODM.

"Zariya!" Armin screams, launching himself off the wall chasing after me. I manage to activate my stubborn gear and embed the latches in the stone wall above me, my body jerks as I abruptly come to a stop. As I catch my breath, I watch Armin speed towards me rapidly, without thinking I stretch out my hand for him to take as he reaches me. His fingers quickly intertwined with mind as I use my other hand to grab his arm, catching him as he free falls. He hangs below me, completely relying on my grip around his arm to keep him from falling to his death.

"What the hell are you thinking!" I yell at him, as he hangs below me helplessly.

"I don't know! You were in trouble and I was trying to save you!" He yells back at me.

"You were trying to save me by getting yourself killed!" I exclaim. He looks up at me, before dropping his head to stare down to the metres of empty space between us and the distant ground below.

"Well what now!" I yell, making Armin shoot his head up at me, "How do we get back up! My gear is malfunctioning and probably won't hold us both for much longer. If you let go of me to engage your ODM gear you'll fall to your death and if I let go, the same thing will happen to me!" I exclaim, fear settling in my stomach, this is not going to end well, it can't, I'm not ready to die.