Freedom Fighters League of the Exiled

Too Late

The portal closed behind us and it was too late to turn back now. Oh god, this mission is doomed. I'm going to drag everyone down. I'm going to ruin all their hard work. I can't do this.

As desperately as I tried to hold in my emotions I guess some slipped out. Eren instantly grabbed my hand and whispered in my ear. "Breath, everything will be okay, we got this."

His voice sounded so calm and soothing. I took a deep breath and tried to calm myself down. No one else seemed to realize my little episode as they all started to head towards the trees. We were a good distance from the camp and there weren't any guards around.

"You can do this, I know you can, and deep down you know you can. Just remember screw what everyone else was thinking, you know your limits and you know damn well this is in your limits."

He was right. I was so confident two days ago, but then everyone else made me think twice and I've let it influence me. Ya know what I'm not worried. If anything this just makes me want to prove them wrong.

"Feeling better?" Eren asked as I took a stable deep breath.

"Perfect, spite is a hell of a motivator," I whispered back.

"Damn right it is, now go show everyone what you're made of," he said as we made our way back to the front of the group. He just told everyone we were trying to think up a plan and he thinks we got a solid one. Not only did he calm me down, but he came up with a plan as we were talking. That's my boyfriend. He's a badass.

We just started walking until Ymir raised a hand to stop us. "We are coming up on where guards will start patrolling.

"Alright," Eren said, starting off his plan. He turned to Ymir and whispered. "Ouija, I need you to send a few spirits ahead and see if there are any cliffs or trenches along our path.

"Anything else they should look out for?" She asked.

"If there are any giant trees surrounded by a bunch of little trees, or by more giant trees, also where the guards are patrolling around those areas," Eren specified.

"Okay I'll send them out," she said before rolling her eyes, "all except for one who says he's keeping his eyes out for any guards around us.

That must be Gabriel. I thought to myself, of course, he would be the one to remember to watch over us here. I mean Marlowe is plenty capable of keeping a lookout, but he can't look everywhere at once.

"That's fine, we need more people watching our backs."

Ymir sent them out while Gabriel helped lead us to a safe spot. We just backed up a bit from where the guards were patrolling and waited for the information to come.

We waited in silence until Ymir finally shook her head and mumbled out, "one at a time please, you're giving me a damn headache." She pulled out her notepad and started having each spirit fill her in and give her directions that were clear when read back out loud.

There are cliffs all around the camp as well as 5 trenches. They also found several giant trees, but only a few were surrounded by other trees big or small."

She ripped out the pages that she wrote in and handed them to Eren who squinted his eyes to read them. I can tell by his thoughts the writing was a little messy and hard to read but that's probably because Ymir is writing in the dark and Eren is also trying to read in the dark.

"From what I can see the closest thing to us is a big tree about 500 feet that way," Eren said and Ymir nodded in agreement.

"That's great and all, but what do trees, trenches, and cliffs have to do with anything?" Hanji asked and I could tell mostly everyone was thinking of the same thing.

"They have to do with the plan for us not to get caught," Eren smiled. Ymir had Gabriel lead us past some guards to the first tree. Gabriel took the front whereas Marlowe was watching behind us. Once we were at the tree Eren leaned in and whispered to Hanji to fill her in on what she needed to do.

He gave me a nod as he tried to fill me in mentally, but I already knew since I've been following his thoughts since he first came up with this idea.

Hanji grabbed Erwin and Thomas with her vines, Eren lifted Marlowe Ymir and himself off the ground. I looked at Armin and gave him a nod before raising him and myself up. Eren made sure to only give me the lightest person because he didn't want to put too much strain on my powers, but honestly, I think I could have taken two.

Once we were in the tree Hanji fastened some vines around everyone and hooked them to the tree branches keeping everyone secure at the top of the tree.

We waited a while up there figuring out where we should head next. There was another tree 400 feet diagonal to our leftish, and the next place we would be able to go is over 1000 feet to another tree, but diagonal more to our right, about 700 feet away there was a trench and only a few hundred feet from that there was another tree.

"I think we should head to the trench, 700 feet might be pushing it, but it's better than trying to make 1000," Eren suggested.

"You're team leader, it's your call," Hanji shrugged.

"If you think we can make it 700 feet then let's do it," Erwin nodded.

"Well if we can't make it 700 feet then how are we going to make it 1000," Armin mumbled.

"Alright, looks like we are heading for the trench." Eren pushed a moment, "Marlowe is it clear below us? Ouija can you have them check around to make sure we have a clear path?"

"Done and done." She nodded.

When we got enough information about where the guards were we came down from the tree and started quietly making our way towards the trench. Surprisingly we only had to stop a few times and we weren't spotted just hiding behind the trees and bushes.

When we made it to the little trench we all sat down in it and Eren had Hanji cover it over with vines and leaves making it look like small bushes and grass above us keeping us in perfect cover.

We all stayed quiet and caught our breaths before deciding to head towards the next tall tree. From the tree, there was only one more place to go. The cliff by the camp. We just had to make it 400 feet to the and to the cliff and we would be home free.

From what I heard this cliff was a nearly straight drop off the mountainside. We have to be extremely careful. So far everything is going well, better than we all could have expected but I still couldn't shake this feeling that I'm going to fuck something up, but now is not the time for doubt now is the time to believe in my self as much as I can. I can't be the reason this mission fails.

We came down from the tree once we knew it was safe and we all quickly went straight towards the cliff. There were a few guards nearby but if we were quick about this we could make it.

That's what I thought until I heard Marlowe's thoughts call out to me, and then again with Ymir's.

Both of them told me that two guards turned around. Shit, they are coming this way they are going to spot us. I quickly whispered the information to Eren as we all moved a little faster.

"We have no other way. We have to jump," Eren said and I let out a little sight before looking back at everyone.

"Jump," I told them. Only me Hanji and Eren knew the full plan at this point so there confused and scared faces when I told them to jump off the cliff was awful to see, but there was no other choice, and no time to stop and explain.

When we made it to the cliff without hesitation almost everyone jumped off believing that we wouldn't leave them to certain death. I felt the wind nearly get knocked out of me as Hanji's vines wrapped around me and pulled me to the side of the cliff. She made a sturdy platform outta vines and leaves that were heavily woven and made it easier for us to stand and sit. We could barely see through them which helped since seeing through them would mean staring down a dead drop below us.

I looked around and everyone was here... everyone except Thomas. Shit. I looked up and there were lights on him and his hands were frozen in the air. He didn't make it. I could hear the guards up at the top. "Who are you, what are you doing here? This is a restricted area." A man said.