The sun was setting faster and faster as you started rushing towards where you remembered the horses were. You hoped upon hope that there would be at least one for you to snag on your way back to the walls. Without one, you'd surely die before you even caught a glimpse of Rose.
Your heels aches from the uncomfortable uniform boots, and your body was slick with a mixture of sweat and blood, some yours, some not.
As you entered the clearing, you heard a faint neighing. You breathed a sigh of relief as you saw Petra's horse trotting over to you. All of the others, including yours, were long gone, their hoof prints fresh in the dirt. She must have broken free of her tether and gotten left behind too. As you approached it, the horse extended its neck to nuzzle your outstretched hand. "I know," you cooed to her, "it's been a bad day."
It was nearly completely dark by now. You stroked the horse's chestnut back and pulled yourself on top of her to make a dash out of the forest. There was nowhere for you to stop: the trees were smooth and had no footholds for you to climb, and your gear was completely exhausted. The only way to go was straight ahead and hope that you got lucky enough to make it back to the walls without running into a titan, a rarity, but you were desperate.
As you rummaged around in the horse's pack for any water or food- since the adrenaline and anger had started to meld into numbness, you realized how hungry you were- and were surprised when your fingers grazed a crumpled piece of parchment. It read: "If you're reading this, I've been separated from my horse and am likely dead..." You felt a throb in your chest as Petra's mangled body flashed through your mind. "Nevertheless," it continued, "please give my love to Captain Levi, and please comfort my father. He will be devastated, but give him this- call it a will perhaps- and let him know that he was my everything. Thank you..."
You tucked the letter into a pocket in your pants, swallowing hard. You nudged the horse's side and began the journey out of the forest, trying so hard to feel something, anything, other than grief. You were unsuccessful.
As the edge of the forest cake into sight, you saw that the titans that had allegedly swarmed there earlier had gone. No light was left by this point, and you had no lantern or flares to grant you light. Fear gnawed at you as you slowed the horse to a trot, scared of running straight into a titan. You tore your ears straining to listen to anything moving- any thunderous footsteps, any growling or moaning, anything resembling a titan.
After a fairly silent half an hour, a loud and crashing boom issued from the forest. As you turned, you saw a burst of green-yellow lightning and felt your anger return, bright hot as it had been. There's no way. I stabbed her right through the heart. You halted the horse, now standing in the middle of the expansive plain, squinting as hard as you could in the direction of the forest. You waited, the suspense making the hair on the back of your neck stand on end. What am I going to do if it her? My blades are shot, I have no gas, and I can't leave Petra's horse...
You found that you were very quickly running out of time to make a decision, as something y'all and muscular hammered out of the woods. It didn't take a serious inquiry to know- Annie had survived. Your mind wandered back to how quickly her teeth had grown back, how quickly the bruises and cuts on her face had sealed and blushed themselves. I am so stupid. You punched yourself hard in the thigh in frustration. How could you have thought that she wouldn't fake it? How could you have believed she would be so easy to finish off? As the booming footsteps etched closer, you dismounted from your horse. "I'm sorry," you whispered, slapping it hard on the rear and prompting it to run away. "It's just me and her now," you muttered to yourself, fingering the buttons on your maneuvering gear.
You could barely make her out as she passed you, but you could hear her, and you aimed your hooks toward the noise as she stormed past. She was going slower than she had been earlier, but she was still going faster than you could pace. Your hooks sank into a patch of thick muscle on the small of her back, but you were ripped from the ground and flung around as she continued to run. Your body slammed the ground repeatedly as you struggled to keep your hooks in place. Your head slammed into a patch of thick dirt, and you felt your back pop as you flipped over backwards, landing flat on your back.
Gripping the wires with your hands, you tried to climb your way onto Annie's back. The wires were thin and sharp, and you felt the skin in your palms split almost immediately and slice into two halves. You bit your lips to keep from groaning out loud- she would surely hear you. You figured that she was so tired and spent that she had simply not noticed your hooks, but perhaps it was yet another trick. Regardless, you tried painfully to climb the wires.
The tips of your fingers were so raw and bloody that they felt as if they'd been signed by flame. Your body swung and dangled as you were continuously whipped back and forth as she ran. Your arms aches, and you thought many times of just letting go and giving up. No. How else are you going to stop her? How else are you going to give Petra's note to her father? How else are you going to get back to Eren?
Thinking of Eren gave you a burst of strength, that you used to haul yourself the rest of the way up. You were sure that Annie was suspicious now, because she was now swinging her arms around her back as if to flick off an irksome mosquito. You dodged as you continued to sway. Unsheathing your blade, which was next to completely dull, you gripped the wire with one hand and began to stab. You stabbed at her nape with such a force that she stopped altogether. You were nearly hued off, but you kept your stance. She was completely still, unwavering as a mountain.
Suddenly, she jumped out of the nape, strands of muscle still attached to her face and hands. She swiped at you with one of her blades, fresh and unused, from the maneuvering gear she'd stolen from someone. Hanging on to the wire by one hand, you dropped off completely, hitting the ground with a bang. Your left arm aches and you cradled it as you felt the bone snap. Hot waves of pain washed over you as the swelling immediately rained in. Annie didn't wait, though.
She jumped down from her quickly steaming titan and hit the ground next to you, diving her blade towards your face. You jerked to the left at just the right moment as her blade sank into the soft dirt. With your free and useful arm, you grabbed the skin of her face and pushed her over into her back. She sprang back up again, showing no signs of fatigue now, and jabbing her blade at you, drawing into her belt for the second. Her two blades against your dull one didn't sound like a good fight, but you had no choice. She jabbed her blades at you, slicing the air where microseconds ahi you once stood. Once, one of her blades kicked your side, not a life threatening wound, but considering these blades were used for cutting much thicker and stronger skin than yours, the blood immediately began to spill from it. You screamed as more hot pain flooded your left arm when you deflected one of her blows from her right side.
As you were getting more and more exhausted by the fight, the mad glint in Annie's eyes only grew stronger. "You never know when you're beaten," she said menacingly as she tried to plant another stab at your chest, "but then again, you've never had to lose." Don't respond. She's trying to distract you. "I lose all the time," you growled, your voice barely above a whisper. The faces of your squad. Aster, your mother, your brother, your plantation, flashed behind your eyes, the steely glint heating up. Placing all of your weight behind your right leg, you sunk a kick right into Annie's gut. Even someone as balanced and good postured as her couldn't have steadied themselves from that. She stumbled backward, her knuckles white as they gripped her blades tighter, her rear thumping on the ground.
You wasted no time. You stomped the heel of your boot into her stomach and watched as a dollop of blood dropped onto her chin from her mouth. She swung her blades, but you had moved. You now stood on each of her wrists, rendering her blades useless. She sank an earth-shaking kick into your groin, catching you off balance. She was back on her feet in no time and was sprinting away. "where do you think you're going!" you shouted, chasing after her, your bum arm clutches to your chest by your right arm. In answer, Annie turned as she grinned at you. "Good luck getting out of here," she said, her grin turning into a sort of pained smile. "I do love you," she nearly whispered, "but this is for choosing the wrong side," and before your eyes, she had transformed once again into the female titan and was now sprinting headlong in the direction of the walls.
You whistled for what felt like nearly an hour, but Petra's horse had not returned. It was probably scared away by Annie, but your and Annie's fight had caused such a ruckus that you were no longer alone. Your eyes now accustomed to the darkness, you could see large and small dark shapes looking closer to you from the right and left branches of the forest. Seeing no way out, you bit back your pain, and broke into a sprint.
For how many hours you ran, you never knew. You ran until the sun rose and you could see the titans behind you continuing their slow trudge. If they were able to run like some of the abnormal s, you'd have been crushed hours ago. You were much slowed down by your limp arm that had swollen so enormously around your elbow that it looked like a knee. Your eyes aches with exhaustion, but thinking of stopping just made you speed up. The anger and hate that you felt burn in your chest whenever you thought of Annie pushed you forward. But worse still, you hated yourself. You had let her get away. Now she was going to the walls- by now, you were sure that she was already there, tucked safely and inconspicuously in her military police dorm, probably still sleeping.
At some time around the evening, you collapsed. Your legs, starved and dehydrated, not to mention bruised and beaten, could no longer carry you. You laid on the ground, staring at the sky as the thudding of the titans' footsteps echoed against the ground. The grass tickled your ears you closed your eyes imagining, just for a moment, what it would be like to give up. You imagined the ease you'd feel, the weight lifted from your shoulders, of never having to exist ever again. As the footsteps thudded closer though, you knew that you wouldn't. You knew that as long as Annie was breathing, as long as your friends and Eren were at risk- Eren.
Eren would surely die if Annie got to him. You had warned him before you disappeared, but whether or not his titan was a match for hers you did not know. As you tried to stand, you fell immediately to the ground, your knees shaking and groaning with the effort. Looks like I don't have a choice anymore.
You sat on your knees in the grass as you stared at the titans approaching you. You couldn't fight them like this. You were done for. And you hadn't even taken care of Annie.
To your immense befuddlement, you heard another rumbling of footsteps behind you. Titans on both sides of me? But as you turned, you were greeted by the chestnut colored body of Petra's horse. She must have run in the direction of the walls and turned back when she got lost. You smiled, a weak smile, but one nonetheless, as you hauled your broken body into her saddle. Waving one finger in the air back to the titans, now not even 400 meters away from you, you and Petra's horse stamped away, the promise of respite only a breath away.Author's Note:
I don't know if this chapter was good or not lol I kind of have some doubts, but just let me know how you feel in the comments.
Finally almost done with like season 1 in terms of the anime lol, but I feel like the second and third seasons will take a lot fewer chapters than the first did just because of lack of backstory and the episodes for like flashbacks and stuff. As always, thank you all for supporting my story and being so kind always. I love you all and urge you to continue your kindness to others and stay healthy and safe. ❤️❤️
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The Turquoise Cure (Eren X Reader)
FanfictionYou were present at the fall of Wall Maria, becoming orphaned and seemingly cast away from all aspects of hope. As if to add on to the trauma of losing all you'd ever known, you faced life-threatening and body-awakening circumstances awaiting entran...