First Witness
Shingeki No Kyojin
Marco Bodt
He didn't know how it happened.
One minute, Jean was right next to him.
The next, he wasn't.
He was definitely scared, but above that was worry. Even, in the midst of a battle, the freckled saint still worried for his best friend. Hopefully, the copper-haired boy was still okay once he got back to the walls. He felt his mouth lift slightly at the thought of his friend yelling at him for getting back in the walls without him. He could almost hear Jean's irritated shouts.
Marco's thoughts were broken when a looming shadow appeared from behind him. He dodged out of the way out of instinct, the massive hand grabbed a fistful of a roof instead, causing tiles to fly hazardly towards the earth. Marco dared to look behind him to see the aberrant titan closing in on him. Its sharp eyes looked as if the titan was running with its eyes closed, the head was abnormally big for its body, much so that the titan's neck seemed to be on the verge of breaking. Its teeth were in full view as it gritted hungrily for Marco, its arms flailed around as if it had it were made out of jelly, but by the condition of the roof it had just hit, it was most definitely not as soft as one.. He fired his 3DMG towards a building, attempting to make a sharp turn. With his gas tank almost full from the refill before, he shot off a confident boost to make the turn. As he veered to the right and into another street, he heard the titan crash into the row of houses in failure of making the turn. Once again, Marco stole another glance at the titan. He landed on a nearby roof and eyed the pile of rubble in which the titan lay in. The mounds of rubble began to move, and sure enough, the titan broke out from under the debris. It turned to look at Marco, its stare bore into his entire form, making goosebumps form on the teen's skin. He let out a squeak when the titan began to step towards him.
Immediately, Marco shot off again.
The pounding footsteps from the titan began to quicken, giving Marco another shiver. The shakened soldier gave himself another boost to increase his speed. His 3D maneuvering was getting more erratic by the second. The louder the titan's footsteps became, the more desperate he became to wanting to be behind safety the walls. Again, a shadow appeared from beside his vision, he maneuvered out of the way just in time to see the aberrant's hand nearly grab hold of his left arm.
I need to kill it! Marco thought to himself. Otherwise, it'll keep chasing me.
The shadow appeared again. Marco found himself lucky enough to dodge that one. He only got a quick look at the titan's closing mouth as he launched himself into the air. As he gained altitude, he could see that the titan had lunged for him head-first to get a nice chomp over Marco's entire body. He watched as the titan's head crashed towards the ground as gravity got hold of its abnormally-gigantic head.
This is my chance.
Marco shot out a hook from his 3DMG onto the titan's neck. He began to reel himself in as he brought his hands up above his head to prepare for the strike. He felt the air push him back as his 3DMG pulled him closer to the titan's neck. It was if the element wasn't allowing him to make the strike. But he didn't let it stop him. His hands readied and his eyes were steadied on target as he aimed for the kill. Finally, in striking range, he swung his swords and cut through flesh. The resistance of the titan's flesh slowed down Marco's striking speed. But the swords cut through either way. Blood sprayed outwards as the swords Marco held cut free from the titan's neck. A satisfying feeling filled Marco, the sensation of his strike successfully cutting through a real titan gave him a high of some sort. It wasn't like when he was in the supply room, where he got to use the guns to temporarily blind the titans. No, that was a sense of a relief he was given after that event. But by killing the titan alone, even if no one was around to witness it, gave him a sense of pleasure completely unknown to him.
He attached himself to a roof and marvelled at his work. The titan, with its face down, was beginning to steam up. The body rapidly deteriorates, the recent cut Marco had performed deepened into the neck and spread throughout its entire body. The flesh burned away, leaving only the smoking remains of the titan's skeletal structure. If only he could stay longer to admire his own masterpiece.
No time. Marco shook his head. I need to go back to the walls.
Without a second glance, he shot towards the direction of the walls. There, he would be safe, for sure. Yet, even though his mind knew he needed to be alert at all times, he couldn't help but let the ecstasy of killing the titan from before overtake him.
I got to kill one. Alone! Jean, I need to tell him this. He thought excitedly. He was so caught up in his own thoughts that he almost didn't notice a lock of blonde hair from the ground of the streets.
Almost.
"Annie?" Marco called to her. He landed softly by her side. Marco turned to look at her, she was in fairly good shape, and in contrast with his exhausted stature, Annie stood tall and unfazed. She showed no sign of fatigue and not a single drop of sweat covered her figure, even though Marco was dripping from head to toe. He noticed that the girl didn't have her maneuver gear. "What happened? Where's your gear?"
"Could I borrow your gear?" Annie's voice was as cold as before. The sudden request confused Marco. For what reason would she need her gear. Obviously to get back to the walls, but he didn't mind carrying her back or something like that. Why did he need to give her his gear? "It's only for a second. My gear is fine, I took it off to get a little stretch, but now a titan has it. I need to get it back."
Still doesn't make a lot of sense...
"Um... I can get it for you, if you want." Marco told her. But she shook her head.
"No, you look exhausted. I'll take it. Then, we can go to the walls together. There's a better chance in survival with numbers."
Marco thought about her offer, he was kind of tired, the adrenaline before was beginning to wear off and the fatigue was already settling into his muscles. He could feel his muscles beginning to ache a little and his breath was ragged. He began to unclip his gear and gave it to Annie, who swiftly took it and put it on in seconds. Without a word of thanks or a second glance back at him, she took off.
Minutes passed by and Marco was beginning to get a little worried.
Did she get her gear back? Did she get hurt? What if the titan got to her? Is she okay?
Without a moment of hesitation, he ran towards the direction Annie had left. He couldn't hear any signs of 3DMG and there was most definitely no sound of any titan nearby. He continued to run, concern for his female comrade grew as he still found no sign of her. It was only until he turned the corner of a street that he could hear the faint sounds of a maneuver gear. He looked down the length of the street and saw a small growing figure swinging towards him. At first, that was only all he saw, but when the flying figure came closer, he realized that it was being followed. Behind Annie, the flying figure, was an 8-meter class titan. How he had not seen that first was beyond his comprehension. As the two beings rushed closer to him, he stood paralyzed at the sight. He had no way of escaping, he couldn't fly without his gear and his swords were in the hands of his female comrade; Marco had no way to defend himself. There he stood, still in terror, waiting hopefully for Annie to slay the beast that was approaching from behind her.
But she didn't. Her swords were stowed away, she was only focused on moving forward. Towards Marco. Something in her frozen still eyes made him wary of the fact that she was heading for him. Almost as if she was bringing the titan to him.
He ran.
Impossible. Impossible. Thoughts were swimming around in his head. This is Annie we're talking about. No way. No way. She can kill it. She can kill it.
Then why isn't she killing it?
Giant footsteps sounded behind him and the ominous sound of his own 3DMG came dangerously close. He tried to quicken his pace, but his ragged breathing reminded him that he had already pushed his limit.
Stop! Please, stop!
A whizzing shadow past above his head.
Stop! Why? Stop!
A bigger shadow began to cover him.
Stop! Stop! STOP!
But it didn't stop.
The flying figure stopped in front of him, her small form dangled above the streets he was on, her cold expression never left her face. He reached out to her desperately, yet he knew she wasn't going to help him. A hand took hold of his left foot, his entire body froze at the touch. The titan's heated skin burned onto his, its hold was terrifyingly strong, Marco thought his foot was going to break, but it didn't. The giant lifted the paralyzed soldier in front of his face. Marco could only stare into its open mouth, its teeth full in sight and mouth salivating slightly.
He wanted to scream.
But all that came out was a mere squeak.
"Help."
The mouth clamped shut.
She made sure that the rest of his body wasn't devoured.
She made sure that the mammoth being was dead before his lifeless body.
She made sure that his body was placed where he could see him.
She left with his gear.
No sign of evidence that she was ever there.
But she knew she wasn't going to be the one to shut his eyes for him to rest.
That was his job.
Not a tear was shed by her.