The Guardian's Tale (AOT fanfiction)

-The Hunters-

The Colossal Titan came crashing down, causing a huge wave of steam and heat. I crouched and hung on to one of Reiner's armor plates, feeling the heat starting to burn me. What the hell ? Heat didn't usually affect me so why now ? Reiner then suddenly bit Eren out of his Titan form and grabbed me tightly in his hand, almost crushing every bone in my body. Bertholdt came out of his titan, holding Ymir and used his ODM gear to get onto Reiner's back. Immediately, he set her down and gagged me exactly like before, by placing a piece of cloth in my mouth and tying it behind my head.

"Why is he doing this ? " I thought. "It's not like fire can come out of my mouth...do they know something I don't ? "

Bertholdt then went back to Ymir without a word, leaving me in Reiner's crushing grip. As he ran, I could see the wall get further and further. Reiner brought me up to his nose and opened his mouth, letting out something that sounded like an "I'm sorry ". He then let his arm drop again and kept running. I could feel Reiner's grip tighten and blood soaked through the gag. Then, I slowly passed out.

(..............)

I slowly opened my eyes, the burning Sun almost blinding me. As I tried to move, I realized my wrists were tied as well as my ankles, I tried to straighten up but they had tied my wrists to my ankles with a long cloth. However, I could speak now as they had removed the gag, probably due to the blood.

"You're are awake." Reiner said coldly, standing next to me. "Welcome back my love." His hazel eyes found mine but I turned away.

I looked over to see where Eren and Ymir were and noticed they were on a tree, lower than us but still close. Eren struggled to get the cloak around his arms to open and when he finally got it open, he let out a small scream when he realized 3 quarters of his arms were missing. I looked closely and noticed Ymir was still missing her arm and her leg. When I went to check my own body, I felt that all my ribs had been broken, same as both of my ankles. Smart move, I couldn't run away.

"Sorry Eren that was uh...that was my fault." Reiner apologized. "You can pin your injuries on me. You too Yuki. Guess I was kind of in a hurry back there. I bit your nape without thinking about your arms."

Eren started mumbling about how he lost then stopped and looked at Reiner dead in the eyes. He then bit his arm as if he was trying to transform.

"Eren..." Ymir said as Reiner untied my ankles, allowing me to sit upright. "Take a look at where we are. This is the giant forest within Wall Maria. Wall Rose is leagues away which means we're deep in the heart of Titan country. I think our buddy down there is an abnormal." She pointed out a tall Titan laying down, just staring at us. "He may look like he's just kicking back but those eyes haven't left us once. Lots of smaller ones down there too, that's plenty bad enough. Another big one over there, fixated but keeping his distance. And then there are these chumps." She pointed at Reiner and Bertholdt. "Dirty bastards. They had the foresight to suit up in full gear. Of course Reiner took yours. Yuki...you okay there kid ?"

"I'm fine...All my ribs are broken, same as my ankles." I started focusing on healing my left ankle first. "Point of her little speech is, changing into a Titan isn't going to accomplish much right now. One...they can do the same thing if they want. Two, they can zip into the trees if not and three we're basically surrounded on all sides."

"She's right." Reiner said as he sat down next to me, making me lean on him. "You can't turn into Titans right now anyway. Don't count on THAT ability coming to the rescue. Your body can only take so much and Yuki's Titan is different so she can't turn."

"Nice try." Eren said coldly. "You expect me to sit here and take the word of a liar ?"

"Eren...he's right." I tried healing my ribs at the same time as my ankle. "Either way, we're at a disadvantage here. We don't know the ins and outs of how this works unlike them." I winced as Reiner softly wrapped his arm around me. "A-Anyway...isn't it about time someone explains what your plan is with us ? Or did you break my bones for no reason ?"

"We're taking you to our hometown." He simply said. "Of course I realize none of you are going to do as I ask. Like Ymir was saying though, this place is crawling with Titans. We can beat the living shit out of each other if that's what you want but I wouldn't recommend it. We wait for nightfall."

"Hang on a sec-" I let out a small cry of pain as I straightened up. "Why didn't you just stay in Titan form and run straight home ? What's the point of stopping here in the first place ? Did you get winded and have to take a b-...Fuck...A break or something ?"

"Why don't you use your imagination love ?" He grinned as I turned away. "It's a possibility we'll just sit on our asses until the Sun goes down." He then turned my head towards him and softly grabbed my left hand. "I know this is hardly the time or the place but I had to do it sooner or later." He said, reaching into his pocket. "I promised you back then...I'd always protect you...now I want you to be promised to me...in case we get separated then...here." He placed a small and simple dawn colored ring on my ring finger. "I love you...just remember that."

"N-Not the time..." I managed to blurt out as I turned away, blushing and holding my hand. "But...I...I..." I shook my head, unable to get the words out. "Thank you..." I turned back to him, my cheeks as red as the flowers below us. "I-...love you too." I gave him a small smile, tears forming in the corner of my eyes. 

TO BE CONTINUED !