Awakened

Chapter 31

They ran.

They ran until their lungs burned from the night air. They ran until they knew the Scouts were not following them. Not that they could. Ruby made sure of it. The small red-head led them through twisting corridors, over bumpy rooftops, winding streets, and twisted alleyways.

Even with all of her training, Mikasa at some point got lost herself and couldn't find herself to remember where they went, or how they got to where they are.

Tauriel was panting when they stopped, putting her hands on her knees. "Captain," She gasped. "Remember when I used to say our training was a waste of time? I take that back. I take it all back."

Hannah snorted, breathing heavily. She leaned against a rotting wooden wall of a house. "Yeah. You thought you were at your physical peak, didn't you?"

Annie, who had remained silent the whole way, leaned against the wall Hannah was on. She saw spots dance in her vision, before suddenly the ground came up before her. She collapsed on the ground, barely catching herself on her hands.

Mikasa was there instantly, hands on her back and eyes full of worry. "Shit. I'm sorry Annie. I hadn't realized how much of a toll this could have been on you. I could have carried you."

Annie shook her head, still trying to calm down her racing heart from the sprint they just did. "We were running for our lives. It's fine."

Mikasa pursed her lips, but said nothing else. She instead focused on steadily getting Annie to stand up again.

Tauriel huffed. "Where the hell are we anyways? Ive never been this deep in Romanov."

Mikasa didn't particularly care to actually observe where she was when they stopped, but as she looked around there were no hints as to their location. She recognized nothing. It seemed like another old alley, cramped and close spaced from the rotting wooden houses.

A foul smell wafted through the space however, and Mikasa crinkled her nose upon finding a pile of garbage bags and huge container filled with trash a bit down the alley against the wall of a house.

"This is the only safe spot I could think of to escape to, and where they won't find us." Ruby answered, moving past Tauriel. She went to the pile of garbage and put her hands underneath the garbage container. "Anyone want to help me with this?"

Weiss, Blake, Yang, and Tauriel went to her. Tauriel was confused as to what she was doing, but followed the lead of the other girls as they all pushed in one direction. A wooden trapdoor revealed itself, and Mikasa couldn't help but widen her eyes in surprise.

Ruby opened the door and gestured at everyone quickly. "Everyone inside. Now."

It was silent in the alley as no one made a sound of objection. As soon as they all stepped into the basement like room, Ruby whistled a strange noise. Then, she closed the door and the room was filled in darkness.

"Sorry guys, I know its dark. Ill just move over here to turn on the- whoops! Sorry, didn't mean to step on you I promise. Anyways there's a lamp around here, or I think it was here. Or was it here? Ill step over here-ah! My bad. Sorry for bumping into you. Im just searching for...aha! Found it!"

A click sounded, and then the room was illuminated by a single oil lamp. Mikasa winced at the sudden burst of light. When her eyes adjusted, she couldn't help but let her jaw slack in awe.

It was a rather large basement room with stone walls that reached up in a low ceiling. There were multiple torches lining the walls, and ruby went ahead lighting each of them. The more she lit, the more spacious the room grew. It had to have been as big as the half of the lodge the regiment stayed at after the keep was destroyed. All around the walls were tables filled with gadgets and spare parts.