The Wolfe Hunt •Attack on Titan Fanfic•

Nightmare

"You can't wake up from something that isn't a dream"

~

All of us remaining soldiers were ordered back on top of the Wall to be split into different squads to act as decoys in order to draw Titans away from Eren as he carries the boulder over to the hole. It was simple enough being a decoy: we didn't have to fight. All we had to do was get the Titan's attention and keep them distracted long enough.

It wasn't terrifying in itself, but hanging off the side of the wall like we were now and just watching the Titans', the varying sizes of their arms clawing up at us, the different shapes of all their maws gaping and snapping at us. I think that's what scared me the most. The fact that they eat us because they want to, not because they need to. They're not hungry. They just enjoy killing us off. I swallowed the lump that formed in my throat, glancing at Lea who stared wide eyed down at the crowd of Titans below us. My finger on the hilt trigger began to whine, aching for relief. I flipped the switch and reeled myself back on top of the wall in order to give my hand a short break. Marco was right there as I pulled myself up, staring in the distance towards the other side of Trost with a solemn expression.

Flexing my hand, I walked over and lightly bumped him with my hip. "Hey,"

Marco didn't reply for a moment. Instead he grabbed my hand and gave it a squeeze, his eyes still trained on the sky behind me.

"No! Look, over there!" Someone shouted while another asked what was going on.

Suddenly, I recognized the expression on Marco's face. It was similar to the one I saw when I found him on the rooftops earlier with the other recruits. Defeat.

"It's over. They failed."

I turned to see what they were all talking about only to see the red smoke in the sky from the Elite Squad. Where Mikasa and Eren were. Meaning Eren couldn't get the boulder. I could feel my stomach turn at the realization of us being screwed. I returned the squeeze back into Marco's hand. It gave me some sense of comfort, no matter how temporary it may be.

"But, how?" A familiar voice said beside us, Armin.

He put down the gas canisters I assume he was bringing around for resupply and began running off. And I had a good idea where.

"Whoa, wait!" Marco called out, clearly worried. "Armin, where are you going?!"

I gave Marco's hand another squeeze before releasing it and jogging after Armin. "I'll get him!"

His black brows knitted together, fear swam in his brown eyes. "Evie, wait-"

I turned completely, jogging backwards briefly. "I'll be right back, I promise!" Without waiting for him to reply, I followed Armin to the other far corner of the Wall. "Armin!" I yelled after the blond but he didn't reply. "Hey, Armin!" Again, he ignored me which was uncharacteristic for him.

Constantly calling for him wouldn't do me any justice either, it's just making me out of breath. If it meant getting to his friends, he wouldn't stop for anyone. I would do the same for Lea- and even though Leon hates my existence, I'd even do it for him. I don't plan on being gone long, I just want Armin to be careful. Once at the end of the Wall, he turned and ran down the other side. I realized he was running along the Wall to get as close as possible to the smoke signal while preserving his gas. I followed, of course. I wouldn't want to waste my gas and get stranded like we all did before.

Not too long after, we neared the smoke that had all but disappeared into the sky. Armin jumped off and shot his anchor into a nearby building. Not hesitating, I hooked mine into a house rooftop and kept my chase up. It wasn't until Armin had passed a tower then stopped. I managed to land on the same roof as him a few feet away and dragged my eyes over to the ground where Armin was looking. There was the boulder, and there was Eren in his Titan form slouched on the ground against it, steam emitting from his hands and his face.