The Swords We Yield - ◈ ARMIN ARLERT X OC ◈

Chapter 20 - Hell

I chase Reiner with everything I have. I know the chances of this working are slim to none, but I can't keep being useless. I won't let myself. My eyes urgently dart around searching for everything I need to make my plan work. Getting in front of Reiner and two trees, that's all I need to succeed.

My tank is almost empty however that is to my advantage, less weight means I can go faster. I push forward until I am finally in front of Reiner, and everything finally starts to fall into place. I spot two trees far enough away from each other, but close enough for this to work. I speed towards the tree, embedding one of my anchors into the trunk before aiming my other tree directly opposite me. Quickly looking over at Reiner and the others following I speed up towards the tree. Finally reaching it, I drop to the ground circling the tree until I have run out of wire. I watch Reiner run towards my trap through the low branches, completely out of breath. Please work, otherwise I am going to get trampled on.

I continue to stare in anticipation as he reaches the wire, please trip, please for god sake trip. However once again my over optimistic faith in myself proves to be a waste of my time and energy. Running through the wire as if it was a spider web, Reiner doesn't trip, he doesn't even stumble. However as the titan's foot pushes past the wire, I am ripped from the safety of the tree and dragged forward.

"Ah!" I exclaim as I am pulled forward with an unstoppable force, I feel my body hit the ground as I tumble behind him. I hear the familiar sound of my anchors recoiling back to my sides. I have failed.

I look up to see the horses of my comrades galloping towards me, however the memories of people running towards me back in 850 flood my mind. My vision glitches between the horses and the people who trampled over my fragile 10 year old body. I shield my head before I am trampled on again, yet this time it will be by my own friends and Nick won't be there to save me. Shutting my eyes I hear the galloping get louder and louder with every passing second, just when I expect the galloping to flatten me, I feel someone wrap their hand around my arm pulling me up.

"Zariya!" A voice calls over the high pitch ringing in my ears. I rip open my eyes to see the familiar set of ocean blue eyes, it takes me a moment to realise they are Armin's and not Nick's. He struggles to pull my body up further, so it is no longer dragging on the ground. I quickly grab the front of his saddle, pulling myself up onto his horse. His arm wraps around my back helping me up. I uncomfortably lie over the front of Armin's horse, I try to find the strength to pull myself up into a more dignified position but struggle to gather enough energy to breathe properly. I must have winded myself when I got pulled from the tree by Reiner.

"What were you thinking!! Are you ok?" Armin shouts behind me, I quickly glance up at him behind me as his eyes continue to shift from me to Reiner ahead.

"Yeah I'm fin-" I begin before being overwhelmed with a cough from the centre of my chest. I attempt to cover my mouth with my arm as I do but droplets of blood escape my mouth, flying away. Shit.

"Zariya, was that blood?" Armin cries looking down at worry filling his eyes.

"No, I'm fine! We need to focus on Eren!" I exclaim before covering my mouth to cough again. I quickly shift my weight with my arms when I notice Atlas still riding beside Armin's horse.

"Can you help me?" I mumble to Armin before whistling to Atlas.

"Are you sure you're ok to ride right now? I'm pretty sure that was blood I saw when you coughed." Armin pushes again.

"No it wasn't!" I state shortly, snapping my eyes over at him, "So can you help me or not?" I ask again. Armin stares at me for a moment longer before sighing and taking hold of Altas' reins. He quickly assists me on to him before letting go of me. I notice we have fallen behind when Armin urges us to speed up once I'm on my horse. The loud sound of ODM gear zipping through the air catches our attention simultaneously. We watch as Jean and the others speed towards Reiner, I notice the worry on Armin's face.