"Where is he?! Where is Eren, and Lillya, where are they Rika?! Oh god, are you okay? Rika, your head; a-and your back!!" My mind rushes and I can't think straight, the horror I saw as I turned into a completely different person and allowed my friends; my precious friends to get hurt without so much as a hint of remorse; the tears begin to fall and I scream out, unable to handle what I saw.
"Kou!!" I hear my name being screamed from a distance and a moment later Eren comes rushing in; panting, looking pale and sweaty like he's sick with a fever. My eyes immediately are grabbed by a white oval where his hand should be that's pressed to his chest.
'His hand,' the realization sets in and the image of me shoving his fingers into Arbrors helmet flashes through my mind. My voice catches and my bottom lip quivers, then my legs give out and I fall to the floor. "E-Eren I'm so sorry," I sob, unable to control the pathetic whine in my voice.
"Kou, no don't cry!" He rushes to my side and sits in front of me, wiping my tears, 'why the hell am I being comforted, he's the one with missing fingers!!' In a fit of rage toward myself, I grip handfuls of my hair and pull, self-hatred boiling deep inside me. "Kou stop please, its okay!!" He pulls my hands down, freeing my hair from my hands.
"No, Eren it's not okay, it'll never be okay; YOU HAVE MISSING FINGERS!" I yell uncontrollably, "Oh my god, what have I done, what the hell have I DONE!?" An endless flow of tears stream down my face; my throat feels dry; breathing is painful and yet my heart keeps beating faster, my breathing quickens and this familiar sense of panic arises from inside me. I feel him gripping my shoulder with his unscathed hand.
"Kou calm down, please I need you to calm down, you're hyperventilating and you need to focus and calm down, just look at me and calm down." His voice is slightly muffled but I can still hear him; he is all I can hear. His hands on either side of my head, holding me still so that I can look only at him; even my own breathing is drowned out by his soothing words. I force myself to focus on him, every inch of his face burns into my memory as I listen to his calming words; his eyes slightly red, dark circles are formed beneath his eyes, the hair on his forehead is stuck due to sweat. His eyes are beautifully gray, pulling me with ease as it resonates with every word he speaks, as if he's putting me under a spell of obedience, and with greater ease, I feel the world around begin to come back, but with less anxiety inside me.
I'm able to see my surroundings more clearly; Eren's wrist is on the side of my hand instead of his hand like I thought, Rika is still standing off to the side, still not uttering a word but looking slightly interested; but not worried. The room is cool, but still depressing, the stone slab is cold and pressing against my back, Eren's hold on me has softened and he slowly releases my shoulder, grabbing my hand with his and squeezing softly. Again, the look of worry in his eyes as he watches me carefully, I nod; showing I've calmed down.
"Shall we go see Lillya?" Rika asks, my eyes widen a bit and the images of her leg being ripped off flashes through my mind, Eren watches closely at my every move. I nod once again and we get to our feet, I feel the fear building inside me, 'If I panicked that badly over Eren's missing fingers, how bad will I react to a whole limb being gone?' I wonder to myself as we carefully exit the room and walk through the hallway once again.
"Where were you at? You couldn't have been far since you came so quickly after I woke up." I ask Eren while we continue walking a few feet behind Rika.
"Uh, not that far I guess, I heard your scream and came rushing is all." He responds vaguely but I let it go, knowing I need to prepare myself for what I'm about to see.
We walk for another ten minutes or so in silence when Rika finally stops; turning and facing the wall on the right, and like before it opens up and she walks in. This time Lillya lay on the stone slab in the center of the room, but the slab is much larger and her arms and leg are strapped down, long white objects protrude from the ceiling from above her, the room is brightly lit all over and the objects with different shapes move around like a robot but with fluid motion. Three of the objects pinned her arms and unwounded leg down despite them already being held down, the remaining objects lower themselves above the wound and pull the loose skin back; immediately Lillya's body jerks upward and a gut wrenching scream escapes her mouth. Despite being held down by these machine-like objects. She easily forces them into a struggle to hold her down, her back arches and lifts majority of her body off the table, another machine pushes her body down by the stomach, waist and chest. The ceiling opens up in one spot and a machine appears from it, holding what looks like a leg.
YOU ARE READING
Holding Everything
AdventureWhat would you do if you found out the hard way, just how weak and small humans were? That when up against a real terror, they would be torn down easily and trampled upon; would you, as a human, still try to do whatever you can to surpass such a thr...
