Imprisoned》Attack on Titan: No Regrets

Nine

Gojo and Lucy didn't go back to their hideout. He dragged the young Ackerman to the cave where they trained. Gojo kept looking back to make sure no one followed them. He let out a breath once he landed. Gently setting Lucy down, he wiped the exhausting sweat from his forehead. "Phew, I didn't think we would make it out alive -"

Crunch!

Gojo knew he wouldn't get a thank you from Lucy. What he didn't expect is to feel a very painful stinging sensation against his cheek. He fell back, landing with a hard thud. Lucy's eyes were burning with rage and hate -- if they were back in his universe, Gojo would be set on fire. Gojo opened his mouth to say something, but the wind got knocked out of him as Lucy brought her foot up and repeatedly kicked him. Her murderous glare set on him while she swiftly kicked his stomach and chest. Not hard enough to cause internal bleeding, but it's going to leave some bruises.

Lucy reached down to haul Gojo up by his collar. "What the hell was that?!" she shouted. "You left everyone behind!"

Gojo gawked at her in disbelief. How could she be upset with him? "Are you kidding?" he asked ridiculously. "I just saved your life -"

Lucy's glare intensified. "You don't leave a comrade behind. You find another way."

"And what would you have done to save them? Huh? That guy was drowning you. Do you expect me to stand there and do nothing?!"

"Yes! If you used that head of yours once in a while, then you could have known that he wouldn't have killed me. A rat bastard captain like that takes pride in capturing people like us, not killing." Lucy lets go of his head to deliver a kick to his side. "His team could have killed us earlier if they wanted to." Her kicks got harsher. Gojo felt his airways getting knocked out of him again. He doubled over as he choked on the air he tried to breathe in. "You moron!"

"Man, I hate how turned on I am by this," Gojo grumbled. Lucy's jaw clenched before kicking Gojo's nutsack. He groaned again as he fell over. "Brings back memories."

Lucy reached forward to yank a fistful of his hair until they were eye-to-eye. "I don't need you to screw this up more than you already did. You better get your ass back to the hideout while I go save them, am I understood?" There was a strange sense of deja vu coming from Gojo. "Say something, you damn brat!" He didn't say anything as his memory resurfaced. Lucy took his silence as an understanding. She scoffed before going after Levi and the others.

Say something, you damn brat! went through Gojo's head. No wonder it felt so familiar to him because his Lucy said the same thing before they kissed. The kiss that sparked something between them, that passion they have for one another. A vivid memory that meant more to him than it should have.

That is, until he heard this ear-piercing screech going through his head.

His eyes widened as the shrieking got louder. It felt like someone got a bunch of hot, jagged knives and kept repeatedly stabbing his head. His eyes felt like they were going to melt off by the sudden rise in his body temperature. The kiss he and Lucy shared was slowly fading, like an old Polaroid photo burning until it was completely ash. Gojo grasped his head as he screamed.

What's happening? he thought. He didn't notice that Lucy rushed back for him. He didn't hear her calling his name in a panic as her hands gripped his wrist. Gojo could only imagine the photo of them slipping away until the last flame went out. Then....nothing.

He didn't recall the kiss from Lucy. Instead, he remembers going back to his room after leaving Lucy alone. Is that how it happened? he wondered. I could have sworn I did something after.

There was a light tap on his cheeks. He felt hands cradling his face. Gojo's eyes were still a bit hazy as he glanced up, chest beating violently like he had run around the world nonstop and was about to pass out.

"Gojo," Lucy called to him. It sounded like she was underwater. When Gojo's vision became clearer, he saw a flicker of relief behind Lucy's eyes, but she quickly hid it.

"I thought you left," he muttered. Gojo finally noticed that his head was on her lap. A strange sense of comfort came to him. It was an urge to turn and bury his face against her stomach while one arm went around her waist. He wanted to, so badly. Instead, he said, "I knew you cared."

Lucy gave him a deadpanned expression before rolling him off her. "You're fine," she excused as she stood. Lucy let out a tired sigh while placing her hands on her hips. "Why do you gotta make things complicated?"

》》》》

Instead of forcing Gojo to stand down, Lucy made him follow her. She needed to keep an eye on Gojo in case he had another attack like that. It scared her for a bit. Lucy wasn't even that far from the cave when she heard him screaming and it struck a chord with her. To her, it sounded like Gojo was getting murdered. Of course, she had to rush back to make sure the Scouts didn't get him. When she arrived back at the cave, Gojo was hunched over on the floor. His body was shaking with sweat pooling down, hot to the touch.

"Lucy. Lucy. Lucy. Lucy," she remembers him repeating in a broken voice.

Lucy hasn't spoken to him about it. Gojo probably isn't aware that he said it. Yet, she made him follow her all over the Underground as they searched for Levi and the others. They looked high and low, scanning the area for any signs of the Wings of Freedom, but they weren't there. It was like they just disappeared. They searched near the entrance of the Underground twice just to be sure.

However, Gojo's thoughts were on something else.

He remembers his past/future memories with Lucy up to the point where they kissed. After that, nothing, as if she never went to his universe in the first place. Gojo kept looking at Lucy during the search to figure out what had happened...until he came up with the answer.

It's because he meddled in Lucy's capture that Erwin didn't offer her a job in the Scouts. And if she's not in the Scouts, then she never would have fallen into his universe; hence, they never met. So, the more Gojo meddles, the more his memories of Lucy get taken away. To make it simple, Gojo's experiencing the butterfly effect.

"How are you so sure they're still here?" he asked as they headed toward the hideout.

The two landed near the front steps. "Because I know my brother wouldn't let some bastard capture him that easily," Lucy answered. They were walking up the stairs. "When I get my hands on him," Lucy sneered. She slammed her fist against the door, "he's dead."

"Ok, so, what is this great plan you have to get them back?" Gojo wondered. He opened the door. "Those Scouts were pretty weak anyway, so it shouldn't be hard to get everyone -" Lucy reached forward and gripped his wrist. Gojo turned back to look at her with a raised brow. "I didn't peg you to be the flirty -"

Lucy reached up to cover his mouth with her hand. "Shhh," she shushed him. Lucy entered the hideout first, scanning the place. It was too dark inside the hideout to see, but Lucy remembers how everything was nice and tidy before they left. So, there shouldn't be a tiny speck of dirt on the floor. Lucy quickly took her knife out and threw it toward the dining room table.

The two heard a match being lit until the flame went toward the candle. Erwin sat at the head of the table. His hands were together under his chin as if he were waiting for them. Lucy and Gojo scanned around the room to see if there were more soldiers, but they saw Levi, Isabel, and Farlan standing behind Erwin.

Levi calmly walked around Erwin. He pulled the chair out from the other end of the table and motioned for Lucy to sit. "Sit down, Lucy," Levi ordered. "You'll want to listen."