"Father please stop!"
She wondered why she had said that. Why did she call out to her father with such fear and desperation? Why did she chose to waste her breath on such hopeless pleas? Why, in her final moments, did she call out to the object of her fear?
Why did she waste her breath on such frivolous words? But, in the face of death at the hands of the most horrifying creatures this earth had to offer, she supposed her worst fears would visit her in death. There was no pleasant memories, no 'life flashing before her eyes.' There was not even a moment of blissful numbness.
There was just her, and her screams as the Titans tore her apart. That was all that was left of her. There would be no burial for her. There would be nothing left to bury anyway.
She did not know when she had stopped screaming, she did not know when the blinding pain of death had ceased. She did not even know if the pain had even stopped. But the sweet welcome of death had never looked so promising then it did now. All she knew in this moment was the pure pain and the immense fear that filled her every being.
She thought she felt a tear trail down her cheek. Or maybe that was the blood; hers of the Titans, she was not sure. Did it even matter? Her blood was spilling onto the earth and in the Titans mouths at this very moment.
But what she could identify was the twinge of sorrow that came with the thoughts of her comrades.
Henning, Lynne, Gelgar; they were all dead, and the scouts left on the tower would undoubtedly soon follow in death. No help was coming for them in this cruel world.
They were all going to die.
Where was Mike? That had occurred to her in a distant thought like a fleeting shadow.
Another tear fell down her cheek.
The only explanation to his absence was that he had met the same fate as everyone else.
He was dead, just as they all were now.
In the blinding pain that had so violently began, it soon ended, and she was left with no knowledge of thought on what had happened.
She looked up, blinking as she felt nothing but peace and a faint warmth around her.
Her eyes surveyed the land around her, and she glanced upwards at the sounds of faint whispers.
Something was tugging at her limbs, and she felt the brief flicker of pain. She was still alive, but barely. The fear came back as a choked cry escaped her lips.
"Come on Nanaba!" a voice screamed suddenly, piercing through her subconscious.
She gasped through her tears, looking upward as the light before her took shape of many beings she recognized.
There, atop a slope in the light, was Henning standing with Lynne at his side. Both wore expressions of eagerness on their faces. Gelgar stood next to them, on his hands and knees as he gazed down at her with an eager smile.
And right next to them all was Mike.
The tears flew once more. She had known about Henning and Lynne's demise. But she had held onto a shred of hope that maybe, just maybe that Gelgar and Mike were alive.
The reason for seeing them all being here in one place only had one explanation that filled her with sorrow.
"You're almost there!" Mike shouted, shattering her thoughts as he gestured to her. "Come on!"
"Run Nanaba!" Gelgar shouted, his voice like an echo in the light. "Run to us!"
The faint pain she was feeling vanished as she stepped into the warmth and the light. The tight hold on her body vanished, and the fear of the Titans devouring her was no more. She found her strength and began running upwards to the outstretched hands before her. The encouragement of her comrades and the cheers filled her as she ran to them.
"Come on Nanaba!" Mike shouted once more, reaching for her in the light, as if to pull her away from the cruel, painful world and into the warm light.
She reached for them all, hands outstretched and eager to reach them.
She was almost there. Almost there. She was so close to it all. So close to leaving this world behind and entering a new one.
Many more faces she recognized came forth, all encouraging her to run to them. But the faces she recognized and who grew more prominent were those of her four comrades.
"I'm almost there," she whispered to herself, breathless. "Almost there." She gasped when her hand touched Mike's, and he pulled her up and over the last ledge.
With that one move, her connection to the living was gone.
But she did not mind it. She did not mind that she was no longer alive, that she had taken her last breath of life. It was not much of a breath anyway.
But in reality, that did not occur to her. Death did not affect her as much now. It was much less painful than life.
So such a fact that she was dead did not bother her.
Mike looked at her, very much alive as one could be in the afterlife. His grip on her hand loosened ever so slightly, but there was that knowing smirk of his that everyone knew.
"Yes," he said. "You are here now."
She had made it. In the embrace of the light and the warmth of her comrades, she had made it.
Fear did have a hold on her anymore. Nor did the trials of life.
There were no trials, no fear of death here. With her last breath, she let all of it go.