Pretty Little Liar (Aruani Element Shifter AU) ✔️

Twenty Five

The adrenaline rush going through my body was so intense, almost as violent as the nerves and anxiety that boiled in my stomach.

Eren was in front of me, running as fast as he could through the forest, trying to find an exit that would lead safely into the city. But it seemed that everywhere we turned, we got deeper into the forest.

We both stopped frantically as we heard yelling coming from the distance. It was getting closer, and we quickly climbed and hid in a tree.

We waited for a minute, hesitantly debating when to move. But then, some military members came into view. One was holding a detector in his hands, the other had a green cloak covering their face, and another girl was looking carefully around her.

"I'm not picking anything up here. Let's go find the rest of them. It'll be easier then," the boy with the detector said, shaking the detector furiously.

The person in the cloak sighed. A soft feminine voice. "Alright."

Then they turned, and started running down the way they came.

Eren signalled to me to stay where I was for a moment longer.

I had no idea where in the forest we were, but for all we knew, the place will be full of Scouting Legion members.

Eren stretched his head over the canopy of the tree, and tried looking out to see where we were. But the tree was only surrounded by more trees, making it impossible to see further.

"Right. Let's go. We'll go that way."

He pointed to the opposite direction to where that small group had just gone.

We jumped back down, and ran for our lives.

"Eren? What if we bump into somebody?"

He didn't reply. Even though he was talented, and a great fighter, it was obvious that Eren was scared.

"Let's try and find Reiner and Bertholdt," he said.

"Should I try and signal them?"

"It's too risky. Their detectors might pick it up."

We ran in silence for the rest of the way.

Eren stopped when everything went all too quiet. He looked around slowly.  I nervously watched.

Then, the earth started to move.

"Reiner," Eren said, then started to follow the tremors.

They were getting more and more violent with every step. We were getting close.

Then, without any warning, Eren grabbed my wrist and pushed me behind a tree.

"They're there," he whispered.

I could hear footsteps, water, movements in the earth. They were fighting a group of people.

"We need to..."

Eren's frantic head shaking stopped me mid-sentence.

We waited for any movement or sign that would take us to them.

We received it all too quickly, when Reiner's enormous blow to the earth sent the trees around us falling down.

A group of about fifteen armed soldiers stood in front of Reiner and Bertholdt. They noticed us once the tree we were hiding behind fell.

About half of them turned to face us. The man I assumed to be Levi stood at the front of the group, his long gun aiming straight at Reiner. Reiner sent another tremor towards them, forcing a few to trip over, as he smirked at Levi.

Levi turned to look at the two of us.

"Well, well, well. A white, a blue, and two greens. You spoil me."

Reiner laughed at him, scowling.

Levi's expression was enough to make me feel like nothing but dirt.

"Kill them," was Levi's simple comand, as he and a few others prepared for a fight against Reiner and Bertholdt.

I was too distracted by the group of angry soldiers to see where Eren had gone. Without thinking, I started  running, only coming to a stop when a knife was thrown, narrowly missing my head.

I closed my eyes for one second, before opening them. They were silver by now, so I sent a huge gale force wind towards the group, knocking some knives from a few hands.

I kept the hood of my cloak filmly on, as I sent another one directly at a man with a gun aimed at me. He fell backwards, dropping his weapon.

I then created a tornado around my body, and they all stared. It was then I realised, some of them were really young, like the people before. They were also there, at the back of the group.

The person in the cloak was grabbing on furiously to a tree stump. She  stood up, and tried making her way closer to me. I stopped the wind for a second, so as to aim a huge wind current at her.

That was a mistake.

My mouth was wide open, full of shock, when the wind sent her hood flying off.

Christa.

I stopped the wind, and forced myself to look at her.

She looked so angry. So tired and upset. Angry at me, at my kind.

I couldn't bring myself to pull any attacks. Instead, Eren finished the job for me, by jumping out from behind a fallen tree, and sending rocks flying to hit the weapons out of their hands.

Eren, overwhelmed by fear, created a mountain of rocks, and sent them hurdling towards the soldiers.

I stood silently, watching.

Then, the soldiers, urged on by Levi and his team, were reunited with their weapons, and gunshots were heard. Eren was quick to react, by pulling the ground between them up into a field.

I still couldn't bring myself to move. I stared at Christa, who pulled her cloak angrily back over her head.

More gunshots. A few braver members started running towards us with knives. I snapped out of my shock quickly as I realised somebody was running towards me with some sort of axe, followed by somebody with a gun.

I gasped loudly, then jumped over them, then sent dirt blowing into their faces. An ammeuter technique, but it certainly left a mark. By blinding them for a moment, I could hide.

Once the dirt had blown away, Eren, who was used to the dust and the dirt by now, had managed to land a brutal attack at a quarter of the group, by forming rock canons, sending the soldiers to the floor, some bleeding and writhing in pain.

I shuddered at the sight. Then, my whole body froze when I noticed that the next person to run towards me was Christa. She had a large sword in both hands, that she had taken from somebody, and snarled at me. My heart was beating at a thousand miles an hour, as I dodged her attacks. I couldn't throw any attacks. I didn't want to. I wanted her to learn. Before she got hurt.

"You'll pay for what you did to him!" She yelled, trying again to stab me.

I closed my eyes, then threw my hands in her direction, then opened them again to see her fly backwards.

She ran back towards me, this time pushing me onto the floor.

I fell down, then watched her walk over and look menacingly over me.

"Now, I'm going to ruin your life just like you..."

She stopped mid-sentence, just as I closed my eyes. She gasped, then I heard the thud of the knife hitting the floor. My cloak was still covering my face, but that wasn't what stopped her.

"... Armin!?" She whispered, her voice clearly shaking. I then felt my lock and key, and swallow necklaces being lifted, as she froze in shock.

And just like that, everything fell silent.