41This is my favorite chapter thus far for what I assume are many horrible reasons. This is also where I feel the story really kicks off. Everything prior to this is "backstory," at least to me.
Lots of content warnings in this one. It's Attack on Titan after all, and this chapter really reminds you of it.
I'd say enjoy, but that feels wrong...
Chapter Nine
The False Campaign – Part 3
Year 834
Shiganshina District
Most children spent a day as warm and pleasant as the one they had out in the fields beyond the inner gate. They'd hit each other with sticks or frighten the flocks of sheep that grazed on the western hill. Klara had gone with them a few times, having become famous – or was it infamous? – for being the child that tried to ride the ram. It hadn't worked, of course, and the only reason she escaped serious harm was because she could climb a tree faster than the ram could run.
She was always doing stupid things like that. Her grandfather said she lacked the part of the mind that tells a person to stop, and she had told him that was what he was for.
He'd chuckled at that and told her to do the dishes.
That afternoon, however, Klara was on the roof, where she preferred to be most days. There was something so calming about watching the clouds pass overhead, the birds call out as they flew by, and listening to the distant sounds of a world going about its business in peace.
As much as she moved around, Klara found remaining still was her favorite.
Matteo shifted beside her, bent over his latest book. She turned her head, watching him adjust the glasses that were far too large for his face. He had never been a fan of the rooftop, but if she was there, he'd follow. She usually had to grab him by the back of his shirt and help pull him up.
"What are you reading about this time, Matteo?" Klara asked, sitting up.
"Poultices," her friend replied, eyes never leaving the page. "I never knew there were so many different applications for plants."
She raised an eyebrow. "That epidemic really changed you, didn't it?"
"My parents nearly died, Klara. Your grandfather was lucky he didn't catch it too. If it weren't for Mister Yeager…well, I just think there should be more of us who know what to do."
Klara hummed, drawing her knees in. They had been lucky. So many more people could have died. They had shut the gates, and left them to their fate. There were less children running around the fields than there used to be, even with Mister Yeager's efforts.
"I think that fits you, Matteo."
"Really?"
"Doctors are supposed to be smart people, and you're the smartest person I know."
Matteo blushed.
They fell into comfortable silence. Klara watched the rooftops, seeing which homes had a fire going already, the smoke curling from the chimneys. A cat crossed between houses with a single, easy leap.
Her gaze landed on Wall Maria. It was hard for it not to. The behemoth was never far, and hard to hide from. Maybe that was why she always preferred looking up.
"Do you think we're safe here?" Klara asked.
Matteo finally glanced away from his book, his blue eyes bright in the sunlight. "What do you mean?"
"Within the walls. Do you think we're safe, or are we just waiting for something?"
Her friend took a good look at the wall. "I think we are. These walls are so large, I can't imagine anything ever getting through them."
"I suppose so."
Matteo frowned. "Don't you think we're safe here, Klara?"
Present Day
Within Wall Maria
The smell alone made her retch; the contents of her stomach spread out across the bloody ground, though it wasn't much. She hadn't eaten since the large breakfast they'd been given in Trost. It left her heaving with no reprieve.
To her left, the lifeless eyes of a young woman were staring at her, green tinged with red as blood continued to run down her face. To her right, the lower half of one of her fellow scouts, his innards spread across the grass. Flies swarmed around them, leaving her surrounded by a dull buzz.
What happened? How did I get here?
When she tried to remember, her head only hurt more. There were just sporadic images. Titans. So many titans descending upon them. The people fled, screaming and trampling one another in their panic. For every titan she brought down, ten more took its place.
She'd gotten caught. A titan had her by the leg, and in her desperation, she'd sliced through its fingers, and straight into her thigh.
Klara flipped over, sitting up slowly and pulling her right leg toward her. Her pants had nearly blackened from the blood, but the bleeding seemed to have slowed. She must not have cut too deep.
She tore her cloak off, grabbing what remained of her right trigger to slice up the fabric. Half the blade was still attached, if that. The other trigger was gone entirely, its wire frayed.
When she sliced through the cloak, Klara found herself staring at a hand. Just a hand. There was a ring on it.
Focus, Klara.
With a hiss, she tightened her makeshift bandage around the wound. Her leg throbbed a little more, but at least she might not bleed out when she started walking.
If she could walk.
Through great effort, Klara eventually made it to her feet, though she was unsteady and putting most of her weight on her left leg. It felt like a breeze could knock her straight back to the ground. She quickly detached her broken gear, leaving only the trigger with its half-blade in her possession. It probably wouldn't be very useful, but she felt a little better having it anyway.
She looked out across the field, taking in the carnage. There were bodies as far as she could see, some densely packed together in piles, others spread out and alone. Horses were amongst them, necks snapped and legs crushed. There was so much blood, the distant hill had been stained red.
It was too much to take in. Klara saw it all, but it wasn't registering in her mind. She thought it might be a vivid dream, or an elaborate drawing in some book. There couldn't be this many people dead. She had become a soldier to prevent this. How could she still be alive if there were so many people gone?
The wind picked up, and the putrid smell hit her nostrils once again. It was death and decay, bloating organs in the midday sun, and blood congealing on the grass. Klara doubled over to retch again, and put too much weight on her right thigh. She collapsed to the ground in an instant, smacking her face in the bloodied mud.
With a shout, she scrambled up, and began to wipe at her face. But her hands were bloody, her sleeves were bloody. Her shirt and pants were soaked through. Every part of her was covered in blood. She just hadn't seen it until now.
Why?! Why me?! Why am I alone?!
She couldn't breathe. Her mind was spinning, circles and circles, screams and stench and death in an endless bombardment on her thoughts. Why was she alive? Why were they dead? What had she done wrong?
Why?
"Help!"
Her mind went silent, and her eyes focused on the direction of the sound. A hand waved limply in the air.
"I can hear you! Please!"
Klara stood, limping her way across bodies to get to the man calling for her. She tripped and fell several times, her hands grasping onto arms and legs, broken pitchforks and shoes. Faces stared up at her, twisted in agony and fear, men and women and those who were barely out of childhood. Whole families watched on as she stumbled across their bodies.
She all but collapsed in front of the man waving his arm. It was Orsen. He had a cut across his forehead, bleeding into his limp, yellow hair, and his other arm was twisted in a way that told her it was broken, but it was his leg that caught her eye. It was a stump, ending before the knee.
"Lange, is that you?" he wheezed, eyes rolling up to meet hers. How pale he was. "Fuck, how did you survive that fall? You hit the ground like a sack of bricks. Thought for sure you were dead."
"No easy way to kill me," Klara replied, peeling off her jacket. It was disgusting, partly wet, partly cracking from dried blood. Matteo would have hit her for using it, but she had no other choice. "Trust me, I've tried."
She wrapped it around the stump as best she could, tying it off with a grunt. It was doubtful he'd make it past the field, much less back to the wall, but she couldn't just let him bleed out.
"I've noticed. I remember that stunt outside of Utopia. The recruits wouldn't stop talking about it for a week. It was annoying."
"Sorry to bother you like that. Won't happen again."
"Yeah, we really made sure of that, didn't we?"
Klara sighed, grabbing under Orsen's arms and pulling him into her lap. They sat there, looking over the destruction as birds flew overhead, singing the afternoon away.
"There had to be a better way," she heard him murmur.
There was.
Erwin had watched them leave from the top of the wall with Commander Pixis. Were they still there? she wondered. Were they waiting for survivors, or had they given up just as quickly as everyone else?
"They should have just lined us up and shot us," Orsen continued, coughing. It made her realize how dry her throat was. "It would have been kinder."
As disturbing as the idea was, Klara could not help but agree with him. How many were still out there now, alone and scared, slowly dying of a wound that no one would fix? How many were pleading for help that would never be heard? How many were meant to struggle on for several hours more with no hope of rescue, only an inevitable death?
She turned away from the field, looking at the patch of forest they were beside. They had attempted to use it to gain an advantage against the titans. But people panicked, and ran away from the trees. What were they to do but follow them?
There was movement in those trees now. Klara went still.
"What is it?"
She said nothing, but grabbed a large cloak from one of the bodies. Lying them both down on the ground, Klara covered them, lifting it just barely so she could watch.
A ten-meter titan exited the forest, a haunting grin on its face as it took in the area.
"Don't make a sound," Klara whispered, watching as the giant began to walk closer to them.
She wondered if it realized the people were dead. It must have if it was purposely avoiding them.
Suddenly, the titan stopped, its head turning away. Quickly, it began to move, and Klara realized someone was running in the distance. They began to scream as they realized what was after them.
Klara began to sit up, but Orsen grabbed her shirt and pulled her down.
"All you can do is die, Lange," the man hissed. "For once, just try to save yourself."
Biting the inside of her cheek, Klara slowly nodded, trying not to flinch when the man's screams were abruptly cut off.
"We have to reach the trees. It's the only chance we have."
"We can't run to them, even if you had both legs."
"I know."
That was how they ended up crawling through the field, making their way over blood and bodies. Inch by inch they moved, stopping frequently as more titans approached the field. There were more survivors than she thought, according to all the screams she heard.
Slowly, the sun began to set. It had taken them all day to move ten meters, maybe fifteen, and the forest still seemed so far away, but if they could make it to nightfall, Klara could stand and she could carry Orsen the rest of the way. They could do it; they could survive.
Klara pulled herself over another body, grabbing onto a man's soiled shirt. Suddenly, a hand was on her wrist, and the man was awake, screaming into her face.
"No, no, quiet!" she cried, slapping her hand over the man's mouth to muffle his screams. But it was too late. She heard the telltale sound of approaching footfalls. A titan was coming their way.
"Let him go," Orsen whispered. "Let him go or you're both dead."
"I can't do that."
"Do it, Lange. That's an order."
The footfalls came closer.
I can't do this. This isn't who I am. I can't. I can't. I can't.
Another step.
Klara relinquished her grasp on the man, flopping to the side as he screamed once more. She stared at the dirt, wide-eyed and gasping, hands clawing into the earth, waiting for the end. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the man get grabbed by a hand larger than her entire body, its skin almost glowing, pulsing with heat. She saw him reach out toward her, eyes full of so much fear.
"Help me! No! Please! Help me!"
She closed her eyes, whimpering as he screamed; she heard the crunch of his body as it was bitten into, felt his blood shower her body. It felt like rain in the spring.
They waited.
The titan wasn't moving toward them, but it wasn't leaving either. It just stood there, somewhere behind her.
Klara saw its shadow move then. Its hand was reaching out for her.
Her fear vanished. She gripped her tiny trigger and blade, holding it tightly to herself. If it was going to come for her, she'd give it a fight. This was something she could do. It didn't matter if it was useless in the end, so long as she fought until she could fight no more.
"Lange, run!" Orsen shouted, flipping over and sitting up. "Over here, you big idiot!"
"What are you doing?" Klara whispered, motionless.
"I was never going to make it back. Now let my death mean something, Lange. Run!"
The hand reached around him, and Klara saw his brief bravado flee from his eyes.
"RUN!"
Klara bolted to her feet, limping as fast as she could across the remaining distance to the forest, chased by Orsen's dying cries. Her arms flailed wildly as she attempted to keep her balance, tripping constantly over the limbs of the dead. She could hear the titan behind her, moving again, but she wouldn't look back. If she did, she was dead.
When she breached the tree line, Klara knew she still wasn't safe. The trees were sparse, and left plenty of space for the smaller titans. She continued through, making her way to the pine with the lowest branches.
Climbing with little use from her right leg proved a nearly impossible task, but the fear coursing through her body propelled her upward, through the pain and limitations. Twigs pierced her hands, the bark scraped her bare skin as her shirt became untucked, but that was nothing. What was the pain of climbing next to what awaited her below?
She underestimated the strength of a branch in her grasp, and it broke, toppling her backwards until her ankle became painfully stuck between a fork in another branch. Klara found herself staring down at a titan at the base of the tree. It was too short to reach her, but that didn't stop it from jumping and trying anyway.
With a cry, Klara swung back up and continued until the branches thinned out and were too small to carry her weight. She had to be at least twenty meters in the air, out of reach of most of the titans, she hoped.
Glancing back down, she found five titans staring up at her with those dead eyes.
"Get away from me!" she screamed, her arms shaking as she desperately clung to the trunk of the tree.
They never answered, and they never left.
When she opened her eyes again, night had fallen. The air was cold and her body had grown stiff, her right leg completely unwilling to move without force. Somehow, she'd managed to cling to the tree, despite the exhaustion that had pulled her into a deep and dreamless sleep.
Klara glanced down at the titans. The moon was a mere sliver in the sky, but it was enough light. More had gathered since she ventured up, but they had grown still in the darkness. Silence greeted her from below and beyond.
She wondered if there were still survivors out there, those that had managed to stay silent while everyone around them was eaten. It didn't matter, she supposed. She was hardly in a position to help. Getting down from the tree without snapping her neck was going to be a challenge as it was.
The journey was agonizing. Any amount of weight on her leg shot pain straight through her entire right side. It shook too, threatening to give way at any moment. This meant more work for her left side, and the exhaustion was taking its toll.
Close to the bottom, her right knee buckled, and Klara found herself bouncing off every branch straight to the forest floor. She briefly blacked out, only fully regaining consciousness when her hand reached out and grazed the skin of a titan, catching its warmth on her palm.
Klara shot up in an instant, clambering to her feet. With a cry that sounded more animal than human, she limped away from the scene, desperate to put as much distance between herself and them as she could before the sun rose.
But her burst of adrenaline was brief. Her pace slowed, her body putting in too much effort just to remain upright. At a crawl, she staggered through the trees, rubbing her arms for heat as the exposure began to set in.
Shadows began to move all around her, and Klara found herself pointing her tiny blade at the slightest noise, the snap of a twig or the hoot of an owl. Anything and everything was a titan ready to kill her in the dead of night.
At some point, she stumbled across a small creek cutting through the trees. Klara almost cried in relief, collapsing on its tiny bank and shoving her face into its cold embrace. She drank long and deep, wiping her hands clean in its coarse sands and washing the blood from her face.
When she resurfaced, blinking away the refreshing water, she found a titan staring back at her.
Klara shouted, scrambling away from the creek, the blade in her hand once more. She backed up against a tree, holding her little weapon out with both hands, waiting.
But the titan did not move. Its eyes were open, but it wasn't active.
A sob escaped her throat and she lowered her arms.
"Why am I still running?" she asked out loud, to herself, to the titan, she wasn't certain anymore. "I'll never make it back to Trost. A titan will get me well before then."
She looked at the blade in her hands. Small, but still sharp, it could get the job done. Dying by her choice didn't seem so bad a thing.
Klara caught her reflection in the metal, a haggard, unrecognizable version of herself. She looked so old, a decade had passed in a simple year.
This was your choice, idiot! a voice in the back of her mind shouted at her. It sounded like Levi. Orsen chose to die for you. You don't get to throw that away.
Sighing, she ran her fingers along the blade's edge. "Useless."
With a grunt, Klara stood once again. She limped downstream, hoping to find a village at the end of it and get her bearings before sunrise. They couldn't have gotten that far from the wall, but she could not recall how far they traveled. They made it to the first night, and then…
When the sky was beginning to turn pink in the east, Klara stumbled out of the tree line. She fell to her knees, wincing at the pain that shot through her thigh. There were no towns in sight, just a simple farmhouse, but the main road was there. That had to mean something.
There was little in the way of cover, however. A lone, wounded soldier hobbling along on foot was never going to outrun a titan. Even in her best shape, she'd never be able to flee the larger ones, and certainly not an abnormal.
Her mind was beginning to mull over the possibility of hiding in the house until nightfall again when something moved out of the corner of her eye.
She looked over and saw a horse grazing in the meadow beside her. Its saddle was still attached, almost completely red, and its black coat had an unusual, slick sheen from all the blood. But the creature did not appear panicked, so it may have been unwounded, all the blood coming from its unfortunate rider.
Klara wondered what happened to her horse, but decided that was a line of thought she did not want to venture down.
"Hey, boy," she called out, clicking her tongue. The horse looked up at her, watching with a tilted head. "Look at you. Not a scratch. Someone was looking out for you."
She held her hand out, slowly crawling toward the beast; she didn't want to take the chance of falling over and spooking it.
But Survey Corps' horses were intelligent and loyal to a fault. It trotted over to her without hesitation, bringing his muzzle to rest in the palm of her hand.
"That's a good boy," Klara said, a small grin breaking out. "Aren't you beautiful?"
With the help of her new friend, Klara got back to her feet, slowly circling the horse to check for any minor injuries. While she found none, she did discover the leg of its rider stuck in the stirrup. She stared at it for a long time, wondering if, somehow, it was Orsen's.
Her hands shaking, she gently extracted the leg and laid it down on the ground. They'd often tried to bring the bodies of their dead home, every piece of them if they could, or just whatever they were able to find. There would be no one taking these people back.
With a gentle touch in the right spot, Klara was able to prompt the horse to lie down, allowing her to mount easily with her leg. She slid a little in the saddle, but blood on her pants was preferable to potentially falling off without it.
"Alright," she murmured as the horse stood again. "Let's go home."
It was a long, but blessedly quiet journey down the main road toward Trost. Most of the titans had been attracted to the crowds, and were undoubtedly lingering by the field again, giving her and her mount reprieve. Still, every now and again, she saw half-eaten bodies lying in the road or in the field beside her. They hadn't all died in that one dreadful place. Their bodies would be scattered for miles.
As the sun rose higher and began to beat down on them, the heat turned the blood into a foul stench. Flies began to swarm them. Klara nearly fell out of the saddle swatting them away.
Only once did she have to hide from a titan. It came from the west, a large, fifteen-meter whose head was bent awkwardly, as if it was forever looking at its feet. That may have been her saving grace, keeping it from seeing her as she leapt from the saddle. She got the horse to lie down again and hid behind it, lying, frozen in fear as she listened to the footfalls grow closer.
The titan passed her without incident, however, and she was allowed to continue on.
As the sun passed directly overhead, Klara finally saw it: Wall Rose. It was a distant, solid line breaking over the horizon, but it was there.
Something bloomed inside her chest. She clung to the sensation, praying it wouldn't leave her alone again.
Maybe halfway to the wall, Klara came across a town. It was fairly large, with a couple paved streets and a large church whose steeple struck at the sky high above everything else. She stared at that steeple from a safe distance away, knowing that she should avoid the town entirely. The buildings could be hiding smaller titans, and without her gear, she was, for once, at a disadvantage being in an enclosed space.
But a part of her wondered if there were survivors hiding in the homes, afraid to leave, waiting for a rescue that would never come.
With a sigh, Klara turned her horse toward the town.
There wasn't much to indicate that the town was actually abandoned. Yes, the streets were quiet, and a few market stands had the remnants of rotten food spilled around them, but otherwise, everything was intact. The buildings were whole, the windows untouched. She could glance inside and see tables set for dinner, ready for the families to return. They'd left in a hurry, and with very little notice.
Klara eased out of the saddle, clinging to the horse to keep from falling down. She walked down one of the paved streets, reaching out to clear a vine that had grown over a front door.
Why should we retake Maria? Everyone who lived here is dead.
Everyone who lived anywhere in Maria was dead. Except their children, and how could they remember home?
She leaned her head against the door, resting, thinking, mourning. All she had ever wanted to do was save lives, and in return, she had been given so much death.
When she stood straight again, Klara found a pair of eyes peering at her from inside. She blinked, watching them, wondering if she hadn't gone insane, and then she reached for the door.
A young man and woman were huddled under the kitchen table, dirty and a little bloody, but whole. They stared up at her with wide eyes, reminding her of children.
"Are you real?" the woman asked, her red hair glinting in the sunlight that drifted through the window.
"I wish I wasn't," Klara replied, limping into the home. She grabbed a chair from the table and nearly fell into it. "How did you survive?"
"We just ran," the man said. He was blonde with glasses, a thin but tall thing that barely fit under the table. "I don't know how we ended up here. We just…are."
"Is there anyone else in the town?"
"I don't think so. There were people behind us once but they…they…"
The man put his head in his hands, and fell quiet.
Klara nodded, leaning forward in the chair. She let her hair down, her head hurting enough as it was without the extra strain. The strands glowed red in the light from all the blood that had seeped into them.
"Is that…all your blood?" the woman asked quietly.
"Not even close."
She felt their eyes on her, but refused to look their way.
"How did you survive?"
Klara ran her hands over her face, feeling little cuts across her skin. "I don't know. I should be dead."
"What happens now?"
She sighed, mind mulling over all the possibilities. People were always looking toward her for leadership, and to be honest, she was growing tired of it. It wasn't really something she was made for, at least, it wasn't anything she had ever considered. She didn't like making plans, thinking of acceptable casualties; she didn't understand how anyone could do it.
"We wait for nightfall, and then we make our way to Trost. The titans don't seem to be active in the dark."
The woman leaned out from under the table. "But they sent us out here to begin with! How can we go back?"
"I was promised that the gate would open for survivors."
I just didn't expect to be one of them.
They fell silent after that. The sunlight warmed Klara, lulling her to near unconsciousness. She could feel her mind drifting away, distantly wondering what her grandfather would try to cook for dinner. He'd surprise her every now and again. It was always terrible, but she would put on a grin and get through it.
In that state, she barely registered the distant footfalls, until they were nearly on top of them. By the time her eyes fully opened, a titan had slammed down in front of the house, the sensation knocking Klara from the chair.
The woman screamed as a large hand reached inside the house, going for the both of them under the table.
Klara leapt forward, slicing at the wrist of the titan with her blade, distracting it until the couple fled from beneath the table.
"Out the back!" she shouted, slicing at it again when the hand came for her. She fell back onto the floor, crawling away as fast as she could, just out of its reach. "Get out of the house!"
The couple crawled through the open window that had been their entry point, the man all but pulling Klara through as she attempted to escape. She fell to the ground, bouncing off her wound with a hiss.
"We're going to die," the woman sobbed, shaking. "We came so far. Please, I don't want to die."
The titan reached into the building again, breaking furniture in its path. Eventually it would realize it needed to go around the building.
"You're not going to die!" Klara shouted, standing up easily for the first time, a new strength surging through her body. "Alright, you're not. What are your names?"
"Mia."
"Samuel."
"Okay, Mia, Samuel, I have a horse in the city square. Do you know where that is?" They didn't answer. "Do you know where that is?!"
They nodded.
"You take that horse and you ride to the wall as fast as you can. Don't stop until you hit the gate."
"What about the titan?" Samuel asked.
"Let me worry about it. When I give you the signal, you go."
She didn't wait for them to respond, turning around and immediately climbing the building. This was nothing. She had done this nearly every day in her youth; she could do it one last time to save their lives.
Klara crawled on top of the roof, sweating and in pain. Her leg was bleeding again, heavily, but it wouldn't matter much in a few minutes. She just needed to get them away.
This was why he saved me. My life in exchange for two others. Not a bad deal.
The titan had turned away, walking toward the city square. It didn't notice her arrival. Brandishing her blade, she planned on changing that quickly.
She began to run, ignoring the pain and weariness in her body, her leg functioning as it should for one brief moment as she gained momentum, leaping from the roof and onto the titan. Her blade dug into its shoulder, keeping her from falling back into the street, though her arm made a harsh popping sound. She'd dislocated her shoulder, but had succeeded in getting the titan's attention. It swung around, reaching for her, her body whipping in the air, her grip just barely holding.
"GO! NOW!" Klara screamed, hoping it would be enough for them to hear, praying they wouldn't freeze.
Gripping the blade with her other hand, Klara continued to hold on as the titan moved. Its hand would graze her now and again, but it could never quite grip her.
Then she heard the whinny of a horse, and saw the couple fleeing across the field outside the town, due north, straight to the gates as she had told them.
Please, let them live. Let someone live.
With a grunt, Klara pulled the blade out of the titan, launching herself away from it. Her body crashed against the roof, knocking the wind out of her as she rag-dolled across the surface. She landed on her back, staring at the sky.
It was a truly beautiful day.
Don't you think we're safe here, Klara?
The light disappeared as a large hand reached for her. She watched it near, threatening to smother her entirely.
"No," she whispered.
She slashed at the palm that reached for her, rolling away before the titan could grab her. Turning into a crouch, Klara stared the titan down, its short, brown hair waving in the breeze, its dark eyes almost angry as they watched her. She held the blade out toward the creature with her left hand, her right arm hanging uselessly beside her.
"You don't get to kill me that easily," she hissed.
Then she bolted, running across the connected rooftops as fast as she could. The longer she distracted it, the further Mia and Samuel could get. She had to hope there were no other titans in their path; she had to believe…
The roof exploded behind her, shingles and bricks flying into the air. The titan had slammed its hand into the building, just missing her.
The next one did not.
A brick collided with her head, knocking Klara off her feet. She skidded across the roof, flying off of it toward the street, just saved by her blade as it caught the gutter of the building.
She hung there, unable to pull herself up, staring at the blood that began to drip from her head.
The titan emerged over the rooftop, staring at her, its cornered prey.
Klara watched it, her mind wondering what it would be like to be eaten.
No.
She had done her duty; she had made Orsen's death worth it. Now, she could die of her own accord. So, she released her grip, choosing to plummet toward the earth before the titan could reach her.
She had always enjoyed the sensation of falling…
It happened in an instant.
A hand reached out, wrapping around her entirely, a cocoon of heat and steam. But the falling sensation did not completely die away. Whatever had her was falling too.
The grip loosened when the hand hit the street, and Klara once again found herself rolling away, the world a blur. She came to a rest on the cobblestones, staring at her savior.
It was a titan, a solid thirteen meters or more, with dark black hair and eyes that glowed when they looked at her. But it was different than the others. Those eyes weren't empty, soulless things. She could see an intelligence staring back at her, thoughts and emotions lit in those irises.
They were almost…human.
It reached for her again.
The first titan slammed into its arm, biting deep into its bicep. It roared, causing Klara to wince in pain as it whipped its arm back, crushing the attacking titan into the building. Then it took its free arm and began to punch it, until the first titan bit its arm off and went to attack it again.
Klara sat up slowly, her head spinning, jaw slack, a speck upon the world watching as two giants went to war. Walls exploded, glass and brick flew everywhere, screams echoed down the empty streets, until at last her savior stood triumphant over its opponent, screaming into the air, arm missing but quickly healing as all titans tended to do.
Then it turned to her.
She watched it approach, neither afraid nor ready to fight; she was in a trance, confused and fascinated by the creature that stood before her.
It reached out again, bringing its hand to a rest before her. Did it want her to climb on? What was it doing?
Why wasn't she concerned?
Klara reached her good hand out, seeing how truly small it was against a simple finger.
The titan turned its head, noticing something in the distance. It retracted its arm, turning away and running from the scene.
"Wait!" she cried, scrambling to her feet. "Come back!"
But the titan had already fled the town, its long legs carrying it faster than any horse in their possession.
Klara stood there, arm outreached, at a loss.
She was still standing there when other members of the Survey Corps rode into town, their capes the most beautiful things she had ever seen. At the head of the column was none other than Erwin Smith, his blonde hair shining in the light, eyes darkened with determination.
Her face broke out into a genuine grin, laughter shaking her body. How free she suddenly felt.
Then she collapsed to the ground, the world going black and silent.
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Thanks for reading! I'm sorry (but not sorry) for everything.