Looking Through Me | Attack on Titan Fan Fiction

Chapter 14: Imaginary Miracles

Stellacinque was officially its own district from that day forward. Jean managed to make a schedule, and it went a little something like this:



8 a.m: Wake up

9 a.m: Have breakfast

10 a.m: Start chores

1 p.m: Have lunch

2 p.m: Free time

4 p.m: Finish chores

7 p.m: Have dinner

8 p.m: Free time



It was a fair schedule, and we agreed on it all from there on out. If we went deeper into it, everyone had their own "teams," if you will, that you did your chores with. You'd do your specific task for two days, and every two days, you'd switch partners and chores. It was confusing, but it'd work. You may do a task for two days, but you'd be doing it with two different people either day. Then, once every nine days, you got two free days when you didn't have a partner, because there was only nine of us. On those free days, technically you'd guard the Kilo, Sierra, and Lima units, but you really did nothing.

So far, no Titans had noticed us. About five had walked by, but four hadn't noticed. The fifth had attempted to climb the tree for two hours before leaving. Our group was confident about our tarp-and-tree concealment.

On that first day, we divided into teams, and began our chores after breakfast. Ymir and Mikasa both hunted for food, taking gear for urgent matters and to get up and down the trees. Krista and Sasha were our gatherers, looking for medicinal plants or edible berries and roots, and also took some gear. Jean and Eren got the short stick, and had to work with the axes to hollow out the trees so we wouldn't have to sleep in the open. It was demanding work. Connie was the luckiest, and began with two free days of watching the units. Armin and I were looking for water, and stayed along the floors of the forest to look for a source.

"What a nice day!" Krista exclaimed, stretching her back as she stood up from our little breakfast circle. "When you're done, Sasha, let's start to find some berries! I wonder if there's wild raspberries... What do you think, Sasha?"

To her dismay, Sasha was chowing down like there was no tomorrow, shovelling the hash browns into her mouth like it was the only thing she lived for. I giggled, and she put down her plate, crumbs on her cheeks. "Huh? Did you say something, Krista?"

We laughed, and Sasha smiled. It was a miracle that she was a food addict, because she was able to pack more food onto her horse than any of us could have. There was enough food for all of us for six days, and that was more than enough time to start scavenging.

"Oi, Mikasa!" Ymir yelled from her tent on the Delta tree. She held one of the four aluminum bows that I brought, and fit the quiver over her back.

Mikasa shoved the last piece of jerky in her mouth, and put her plate in the middle. The sad part about having two free days is that you'd have to do dishes, besides guarding the units. Mikasa ran over to Ymir, who handed her a bow.

"We'll be back for lunch!" Mikasa shouted to us, as she flew down the trunk to the forest floor to begin hunting with her partner.

"Done yet?" Krista asked Sasha patiently, who was now licking her plate. She sighed, and continued to wear her patience.

Eren and Jean had already started working on hollowing out the trees, each to their own. Eren was hollowing out a space for himslef in Alpha, and Jean was making his in Gamma. Both were shirtless and sweaty, wiping their foreheads every now and then. It would provide protection from the rain, and then we'd move our tents into the hollowed rooms.

Connie was lounging in front of Sierra, which was just below my huge branch in Alpha.

"Ready, partner?" I asked Armin, who was finishing his breakfast. Over his shoulder, I took a hash brown and shoved it in my mouth.

"Hey!" Armin accused jokingly, and a smiled.

"Ya schnooze ya rooze," I said through my mouthful of food.

"Well I guess I'm done now." He shrugged and put his plate in the middle, and called to Connie, "Dishes are ready whenever you are, Connie!"

"Yeah, yeah," came the lazy response.

We chuckled, and walked to Sierra to get our gear. I strapped on his and he did mine, and we finally grabbed some hoods and got ready to leave.

"See ya later." I patted Eren's shoulder, and he wiped his forehead with his sleeve.

"Stay safe." He went back to hacking at the tree.

Armin and I flew down, the grapples firmly holding the bark of the tree as we descended. When we landed on the floor, we began looking right away. We'd probably be looking within a five-mile radius of camp.

"You know what my grandpa and I did when I was little?" Armin asked as he looked by the bushes and roots.

"What?" I asked, brushing the dirt off my knees.

"He loved to study survival. Grandpa taught me a few things..." He trailed off.

"Like what?"

I leaned against the tree next to him, and he looked up. "How to harvest certain plants, how to make shelter in almost any place or weather, how to tell time by using the sun...how to find water." He smirked.

"How?" I kneeled next to him.

"Easy," he said, and lowered his hand next to the bush we were in. "Get to the roots of the plant. They have to get water from somewhere, after all. Reach down until it feels wet, and if it doesn't after your entire hand is in the dirt, then..."

I pushed my hand into the dirt next to the roots, and didn't feel anything. I pushed deeper, but it was still dry. "Then what?"

"Then you just look like an idiot digging for nothing." He smirked, and my mouth fell open.

"Idiot!" I yanked my hand out of the dirt, and stood up as he laughed. Shoving my hand into his hair, I mussed it up until the light blonde was dirty brown and my hand was clean.

"You're asking for it!" Armin exclaimed, and grabbed a handful of dirt.

"Armin, don't or I swear to—AH!" He shoved it down the back of my shirt, and I screamed as it fell down my pants too.

"I'm gonna send you to Hell, Arlert!" I screamed as I raised my hand full of earth, and whipped it.

It smacked him in the neck, and he fell onto his back. I laughed, and jumped on top of him to do more.

"Wait!" Armin yelled, and held up his hands.

I knew that from the look in his pale blue eyes that something wasn't right. We froze, him on his back, arms raised, and me sitting on his chest, hands full of dirt. I strained my ears, but heard nothing. A few chirps of birds sounded above us, and they grew closer. They zoomed over our heads, and I watched them go by. What were they flying from?

A huge foot slammed into the ground next to us, sending us flying into the air. I screamed, and Armin grabbed my hand so we wouldn't be separated.

"It's okay!" he yelled, "We've been trained for this!"

My look of fear fell, and I gave a stern look. "Right!"

I launched my 3D Maneuver Gear, and flew forwards as a hand smacked into the ground. Armin flew up, and I circled around the Titan's feet, dodging trees and soaring through the air. I did a 360, and met with Armin on the other side. He nodded, and I nodded back. A second hand pounded the ground for me, and I flew right between its legs. With one final tug, I smirked. "Timber."

The wires tightened, and the legs of the Titan were bound together. It let out a roar, waving its black, unorganized hair everywhere. Armin hollered, and we both landed on the back of its neck as it struggled.

"Do the honors," he said. "This is your first kill."

I grinned, and looked down at the raggedly breathing humanoid below us. "Thanks." Twirling the blade in my hand, I grabbed the hilt and launched it down, straight into the left side. Tearing my arm across, I spun and slit the neck open. I flicked the blood off, and slide it back with the rest of the blades.

"You're a natural," Armin said, and gave a small round of applause. "But first..."

His hands cupped my cheeks, and I was about to ask him what he was doing. Armin took his thumb, and wiped the steaming blood off of my cheekbone that must have splattered. "There you go. Don't want to get dirty on the first day."

I held my arms out, and motioned to myself and him. "It's a little too late don't you think?"

He laughed and rubbed the back of his dirty head. "I guess."

I hopped off the Titan, and started to fly to a new spot about one hundred feet away. Who knew how far we were from camp now. Stretching my arms above my head, I yawned. I was tired, and hadn't been getting that much sleep lately. I slid to my bottom when I leaned against the tree, and let my hands play in the mud.

"You're tired too?" Armin asked, and sat next to me.

"Yeah... Hey, Armin?" I let the silt slip through my fingers, and my eyes widened.

Wait... Wet ground? Mud?

"Mud!" I exclaimed, and held my hand up. "Mud! Water! C'mon, Armin!"

I shot to my feet, and started sprinting away. He yelled for me, and started chasing after me as well. I hollered, and started scouring left and right for the water. Where was it? We were already headed in the right direction! I almost tripped over some roots, but kept going. Armin ran to my side and caught up, and he pointed. "Look!"

Right in front of us was a huge spring, with crystalline water. It cascaded down the rounded rocks like a waterfall, and had small crickets making songs on the perimeter. Lush moss grew on the grey rocks, and lined the outside of the large pond.

"Get the canteens!" I grabbed them from my belt, and Armin grabbed the empty ones he'd packed.

We knelt next to the water, and started to fill up one by one. Each of us had three, so when we had all six full we stood.

"Let's get back to camp, I bet everyone's thirsty!" Armin said, and started hooking them onto his belt. "Then we'll get more and come back!"

So we raced back to camp, laughing and screwing around for five minutes until we came to Stellacinque.

"We found water!" we cried, and I emptied a canteen to pour over myself in the heat.

"Don't waste it!" Jean scolded, but I only laughed and danced with Armin.

"We found tons! A whole spring! We'll never go thirsty!" Armin said, and we both ran up the tree to throw them into the Lima unit with all the food.

"Go long, Eren!" I threw a canteen at him, and he barely turned in time.

He juggled it from one hand to the other, nearly dropping it. "Nice job! Thanks!"

"Let's go Armin!" I yelled, and gathered three more canteens.

"Coming!"

We flew back again, still overloaded on happiness and joy as we flew through the branches and under logs. I even pulled a few stunts, and Armin and I started a game. We called it, "who can get the closest to the ground without hitting it from a 50-foot drop". Yeah, it was pretty fun, but Armin almost nailed his face on the ground.

"There it is!" I pointed to the spring, and we landed. My jog slowed until I came to a stop, and stared the spring with my mouth open.

"I won!" Armin cheered, "I came the closest to the ground! What about you, Jen? Jen...?"

I raised my arm and pointed to pond, specifically the rocks on the other side.

"Huh?" He followed my gaze, and we both froze.

Floating around the rocks was tons of dead fish, bobbing in the small waves. Surrounding them was flies, feeding off the rotten and ripe flesh. Their bodies were still, and they hadn't been moving for at least an hour. And it was because of the water.