Holding Everything

Chapter 30: Four

Lillya, filled with rage, throws a heavy punch at Mo, who dodges easily by leaning back and she watches Lillya's left arm extend in front of her face. She grabs her wrist and pulls it more, jerking Lillya toward her causing her to stumble and lose her footing. She lifts her other arm and elbows Lillya in the face, drawing blood from her nose and mouth immediately. Lillya grunts and yells out from the impact; she then grits her teeth, trying to free her hand from Mo's strong grip.

"One little hit and you're already bleeding!" Mo screams, throwing her head back in mockery; she steps back, dragging Lillya with her a bit to put distance between us. Eren and Rika take a step to stop her but Mo's burning glare stops them in their tracks, "One little twist," she says playfully; twisting her arm backward, pinning it behind her back, drawing rasped screams from Lillya's gritted teeth, "and you break so easily!!" She jerks her arm up and we hear a cringe-worthy snap. Lillya grunts, and then lets out a rasped scream, her body tensing up in response as she tries even harder to break free.

"STOP IT, MO!!" I scream, Rika gasps and begins to take a step but I grab her arm, stopping her. Her eyes burning with disbelief as the tears begin falling, I yank her back and press her face to my chest, she struggles, hitting my arms as she tries to break free but with great effort, I don't allow her freedom. "DON'T HURT HER ANYMORE!" I say, forcing myself to sound stern and strong even though Mo would never be afraid of disobeying me. Lillya's shivering body lay beneath Mo's hold on her, her free hand is clenched tightly, drawing a trickle of blood from her nails digging into her own skin. Her hair sticks to her face from the sweat and tears covering her face.

"Humans are weak!" Mo stands, yanking Lillya up by her hair to stand; she sinks to her knees while she holds her arm in pain, teeth still clenched and anger very apparent in her glaring eyes. When Mo walks away I notice that everybody had turned and had been watching everything unfold.

"I guess it's not just a human thing to not mind your own business..." I think to myself. I loosen my grip on Rika and she yanks herself away.

"Bastard!!" she lifts her hand and with a disapproving grunt, sends her hand to my left cheek with enough force to make me stumble. The tears continue to fall from her eyes as she stands over me, clenched fists quivering with anger, I look up at her but say nothing. She goes to Lillya and immediately tends to her in any way she can. A hand comes into my line of sight and I see Eren extending his hand to me, though his eyes show disappointment as well, before I can try to explain he simply says.

"I don't agree with it, but I guess that was all you could do." He goes to Lillya and offers to carry her to a nearby bench.

"Are you going to be okay? What do we do, we can't go to a hospital and even if you heal fast it might heal wrong!" The worry in her voice as Rika speaks only causes her to panic even more. Lillya caresses her cheeks and tucks her hair behind her ear as she looks into her eyes, trying to calm her as best as she can.

"I'm fine, we just have to pop it back into place and it'll heal in a few days at most." She says is if it wasn't that big of an injury.

"It's still pretty disturbing how much our bodies have changed since this all started, it makes me feel like we really aren't even human anymore. Since when does a broken arm heal in a few days?" Eren asks, he shakes his head and the depressing atmosphere begins to grow heavier.

I step forward to protest, ignoring Rika's glare, "you're human!!" I clench my fists and glare at them in frustration, taking them by surprise with the sudden raise of my voice, "no matter what, we are still human." They glance down as if to still doubt, "the fact that she had to use force to make you listen is proof enough that despite her words, she still sees us as humans too."