All he could feel was the wind hitting his face and the numbness of his fingers as they wrapped around his movement gear triggers.
Six.
In total so far they had lost six soldiers, and the retreat was called. There were just too many of them. Too many titans surrounding the forest, and they didn't have enough men to push forward. In all honestly, they may not have enough men to make it out of this alive even if they were fleeing.
No.
Levi couldn't let himself think like that. His squad was well trained. There was none that could hold a match to them, and they were always ready; always on point. Setting his jaw, he propelled himself forward again, glancing back to get a visual on his team. He could only hold the gaze for a moment though as he had to keep moving.
"Head East!" he exclaimed, trying to get them to the point nearest the wall when they got out of the forest. With any luck at all, at least some of the horses and a few of the carts would have survived the onslaught of titans.
The ground around them shook with tremors stronger than the shockwaves of an earthquake as more titans approached.
"Come on! Let's move!" the corporal cried, his hands tightening around the handles of his blades. His eyes squeezed closed for only second as he paused, letting his men get ahead of him. If he could take this fucker down, then he'd buy them more time whether he made it out or not.
His eyes flitted to the frightened faces of those around him as they went blowing past him, a few others had stopped too, having the same idea as him, but he barked an order for them to go on, to leave it to him.
Some lost their resolve quickly and fled no sooner than he had opened his mouth; he couldn't blame them. A part of him wanted to do the same thing, but there he stood rooted. He wouldn't run. He would fight until there was no more fight left in him because he had to live with himself. He had to be sure that his actions were ones he could live with, and cowardice was something he could not bring himself to bear.
Other troops stood strong, giving him a glance, their faces and convictions unwavering until he shouted another, more crude order.
"I said move it you shitty fucking brats! I gave an order!"
His words seemed to echo around them as the rest reluctantly turned as others just kept coming, a titan right on their heels. His eyes were trained on the mindless beast before him when a flash of red hair caught the corner of his vision.
It took him a moment to understand what he was seeing as he realized one of his own, Petra, had become tangled in her own gear. A misstep, perhaps, or maybe even a malfunction, but either way, she was the only one left between him and the titan that was raging after them.
"Levi!" Petra cried, seeing her leader. He would save her, she knew he would. Lance corporal Levi Rivaille was humanity's strongest, he himself added up to a hundred normal soldiers.
A shout came from Levi as he realized in one brief moment that the titan had his eyes on the same redhead that he did and a menacing smile formed on its lips.
Was this another unique variant? Titans had never seemed to have a method to their killing, or even a real reason, save for the misery of the human race, but this one…
It was like it knew.
"Petra! Petra hold on!" He exclaimed, his muscles reacting out of sheer adrenaline and will power as he was suddenly propelled forward, his steel grey eyes never leaving his squad mate. "I've got you!"
Shit was all that ran through his mind as the titan picked up speed as well, and it was closer.
"Work on your gear! Unfasten your harnesses!" he yelled. If she could do that and drop down, maybe, just maybe she would buy them both just enough time.
Quickly, Petra's terrified, shaking hands began unbuckling each strap, albeit with some difficulty as she clung to his voice, his words… his promise. She clung tight to who he was, the man she had come to so admire. The one she put all her faith into.
A breath rushed from Levi's lungs, his fear quickly falling away, dissolving into a clear resolve. He had to reach her first. He swooped closer, almost there, but the titan was just as close.
Petra's hazel eyes were locked on Levi, refusing to look behind her at the enemy quickly approaching. She was still hanging, but now it was by a single strap that was still fastened around her leg. She had figured out Levi's plan without him having to say a word and she nodded, one hand holding her up, tight around the part of her gear that had hung her up in the first place, the other poised just above the last buckle, ready to release it at Levi's signal.
"Petra now!" the corporal cried, his black hair wild in the wind as he rushed toward her, his whole body tense and ready to catch her as soon as his grovel hooks dug into the branch above her.
In a split second, multiple things happened at once, there was a cry from Petra's lips as she began to fall, the ground growing ever closer; the hiss that came from Levi's gas tank strapped to his side sounded like something that had come alive viciously, ready to attack. In that same moment, the titan, his huge brown eyes set on the falling girl, dove forward a wicked grin spread across his features.
Too late.
He was literally two seconds too late.
All the corporal could see and taste was the metallic, coppery blood that was now covering his face and hands… his uniform, everything. His stormy, grey eyes were wide as a single vein of fear snaked its way through him as he stared in horror… in silent shock.
Her eyes, those gorgeous hazel eyes would forever be burned into his mind, though not in the veil of kindness that he had always seen them in before, but like this, terrified, cold, and unseeing. The eyes of someone already dead. Half of her body lay before him, her arm still outstretched, reaching for his hand; a hand she would never be able to grasp. The rest of her had undoubtedly already slid down the monstrous titan's gullet.
Levi stood frozen, his hands trembling. All the sounds of the forest around him melted away, giving in to the deafening, buzzing static that seemed to fill his mind, breaking him down slowly as he stared at what was left of his fallen comrade.
Quickly, reality hit him, bringing him back to here and now. He had to stuff the shock down for now; swallow it whole just like he always did and let it eat at him slowly, devouring the light in his eyes just like the deaths of all the rest.
The danger was still present and chillingly close as the titan reached for him, his grin becoming even wider, seeing the pain in the human's eyes.
A noise started deep in Levi's chest, a low growl bubbling up from the depths of his core oozing with venom as the sound radiating from him grew, becoming a maddening battle cry that he hoped Petra could hear in the heavens. It was the cry of a truly broken man that had endured all he could to the point of shattering. It was the very sound of his soul coming undone and splintering into a million shards that could never be pieced back together.
Just as the beast's hand began to close around the petite soldier, a maddening smile upturned the edges of his mouth and in an instant he leapt upward, his fingers squeezing the triggers on his gear. the grovels embedded themselves in the chest of the foul creature before him and in seconds were pulled back to him, covering him in the steaming blood of the titan as his feet landed briefly on top of it's closed fist before he was off again, propelling himself to a nearby tree. He watched it one moment as realization hit it that it had missed him, and with one final cry, he lunged down onto the titan's back, both blades in hand with a dark, fearsome gaze.
It was over in moments… the forest shook as the tremendous weight of the creäture hit the solid earth, causing a large tremor that silenced the forest around them as if a bomb had just gone off.
"That was for Petra you son of a bitch." He muttered, wiping a bit of blood from his face with his sleeve as steam rose from his frame as he took a few shaky steps away from the body that was already beginning to deteriorate.
"I was going to marry her one day."