Outcast (Aot Fanfiction)

Ch. 2 Forgotten Memories

"F-Forget about me...."  Ethan whispered as Erwin rushed over to his body. Ethan's leg as been torn off; but Erwin wasn't going to leave him after what he did. He saved not only Erwin's life; he also saved the entire rest of the troops, and he was going to get this son of a bitch back home. "Y-you have to keep moving out of here..... No time to waste."

"You're not done yet..." He grunted as he threw one of Ethan's arms around his shoulder. They had grown close; something Erwin promised himself he would never do again after losing most of his comrades time after time. Ethan had always been like a brotherly figure to Erwin; helping him cheer up with the darkest of times; always lending a hand to help him out. Highly skilled in the field of medicine and use of Omni-directional Mobility Gear, Ethan was the perfect asset on the field. Whenever a man was injured..... Ethan and his troop would be in charge of taking the other wounded back to camp while half of them would stay with the other men; protecting them from further Titan attacks. Proving his worth almost immediately; Ethan graduated in the top ten of his training squad, along side Erwin himself. Joining the survey corps with Erwin, they both quickly went higher in ranks as the years passed by.

No matter how high they went, they didn't have much of a friendship. Paper work. Plans. Nods of understanding. That's all their relationship consisted of. Well, at least until he found out about ten years later. Ethan and Erwin were forced to pull several all-nighters together to finish paperwork and prepare several troops for departure; so eventually the two opened up each other, spending night and day talking about work and themselves. Erwin revealed his true nature, an easy going guy who can't help but worry about his own future; with one of the sharpest minds of this time.

The thing about Ethan that made him so different; the thing that made Erwin want to tell him everything, was his attitude about life. He simply looked at everything as if it was a new start.... Everything was a new opportunity to improve yourself or something you've been working on. As the years went by, they had grown so close that it made Erwin have a hope..........for him to see that maybe he could turn out like Ethan did.

Having a wife, Ethan was a happy man when he found out his wife was pregnant. Ariana, the wife was just as nice as Ethan himself, showed how happy they were together, and how they planned on having a nice big family. Erwin would usually cringe at the sound of a family, because of his own past, but for once, he had hope for them that they could make it. They can have a normal life besides all of the chaos in the world. Shaking his head, Erwin let himself back into the real world, looking down to the wounded Ethan.

"T-take care of Lexi.... please...." Ethan sputtered as he caught up to this breath. Erwin, now setting him on top of the horse made sure he was strapped in before getting on the same horse in front of him. He might not be able to save Ethan's leg... but he was going to get the rest of his body back to his family. Ethan deserved it after all he's done with the survey corps. After all that he's done to help out Erwin himself.

"I won't need to, Ethan." Erwin forced a smile to help out Ethan's hope. He rarely ever did this, in regards to focusing on his missions and putting his full attention to the task at hand, but this guy that was dying before him, was one of his closest friends. How he let himself be so naive to let his feelings get so deep in the friendship..... He doesn't know; but he was going to get him back.... Along with his own troops. "You'll be there for her, I just know it."

Slinging the ropes forward, Erwin raced through the rest of the forest finding his other troop members; telling them the mission was a failure. Not only did they not find another water source, they didn't clear this area from the titan's grasp. Already beginning to plan parts of the next mission out here, his attention was diverted when he saw Mike charge up on his horse; riding next to the commander.