"I could deny it if I liked.
I could deny anything if I liked."
― Oscar Wilde
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In all honesty, he didn't know whether to be grateful for his incredible luck or to despise it completely.
After pulling himself free from the smoldering wreckage, he had distracted himself from the shock by trying to determine why the hell the van had exploded. He chalked it down to the tank that had ruptured during the fight in the back of the vehicle that had possibly been triggered by a gunshot or something beyond his reckoning. He had fearfully checked his shaking body for any injury that shock was preventing him from feeling, but aside from enough bruises and minor cuts to make a general practitioner twitch angrily, he couldn't find anything that could have been life threatening. And so he had run.
He had cursed every step he had taken. It felt cowardly. It felt weak. It felt selfish.
But that's just what I am.
If Dust hadn't been there when they had pulled him up from beneath the floor, he didn't think he would have been able to do the things he did; fight off the majority of them, snatching guns, throwing Krista free from the…
Did she even recognize me… ?
"Doesn't fucking matter. We're running, ain't we?"
Right behind him, he had heard Dust chuckling at his mental distress and he had shrugged it off just as quickly. He had realized, sprinting into the wasteland, that this could very likely spell death for him very quickly; a wind had picked up and was making forward progress difficult, and he also was fairly sure he was still reeling physically from the blood he had given. Only minutes after considering the bleakness of his situation, he had run into a rest stop where a huge group of people had stopped to shoot off fireworks down a hill. Half the cars still had keys in the ignition and, when a particularly large attraction had lit up the evening sky to the cheers of the likely drunken crowd they were appealing to, he had slipped into an Impala with Dust, and hit the highway, driving as quickly as he dared.
Blood dripped down from a slash on his forehead which he wiped away angrily from dripping into his eye, trying to ignore it mixing with the guilty tears that already burned his cheeks.
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"Armin, please. Just tell me what's going on."
"Just drive Eren, I'll explain later."
"Why not now? We've got nothing better to do then… "
"Just trust me, alright?"
"I do, I always have, but this feels so wrong."
"I know, I know it does, but this is just something… STOP THE CAR!"
Having been looking at his friend for the hundredth time since they started driving, Eren barely had time to look forward as he instinctively slammed on the brakes. With an awful screech, the car slowed hard enough to throw both of them forward, fishtailing the last few meters to nearly spin in a half circle. It jerked to a stop after what seemed like an eternity and as soon as he was sure they were both safe, Eren had no problem spinning to stare at his friend furiously.
"What the fuck was… "
He very quickly realized he was staring at an empty seat and through the windshield, he saw Armin sprinting down the left side of the street.
"Armin!"
Swearing, he clambered out of the car himself and ran after him; his longer legs allowed him to catch up fairly quickly and he opened his mouth again to shout at his friend before he realized what had caused Armin to run. His confusion and anger was very quickly swallowed by panic as they caught up to her.
Krista was on her hands and knees, crawling down the side of the road; Eren reached her first and took her by the shoulders and dropping to his knees, allowing her to weakly fall against his lap. Her face was pale, though her hair seemed wet with sweat; Eren could do nothing more than hold her and gape. Fortunately, Armin had no such problem kneeling in front of her and begin gently firing off questions.
"How did you get here?"
Breathing heavily, she only shook her head and it was then that Eren realized she was crying.
"What happened?"
Suddenly, her eyes glowed furiously and she desperately tried to free herself from his grip and stagger along her way. His strength easily outlasted her and he pulled her back down as gently as he could, though it was not lost on him the energy she had moved with that shouldn't have been possible in her state. She moaned through her teeth before closing her eyes and beginning to sob. Eren only shook his head as he thought he heard a distant care engine growing louder.
"Eren… "
He looked up to see Armin staring back at him with wide and fearful eyes; following his gaze down, it took Eren's shocked mind several seconds to realize that Krista wasn't pregnant anymore. He inhaled sharply and resisted the urge to yell. Armin, in a very rare show of violent emotion, did it for him.
"Where is the baby?!"
She wailed into Eren's sleeve and pointed. He looked up and, completely surprised at how it had missed his attention, saw a thick plume of smoke, curling its way into the twilight sky. He could feel himself start to shake as he heard a vehicle pull to a halt behind him. He could only stare as car doors opened behind him and several pairs of feet hit the asphalt; he was nearly thrown aside as Ymir pulled Krista from his grip and pulled her into so tight a hug that it indicated she may never let go. He sat there, blinking dazedly as shouting sounded around him and he was nearly knocked over by Sasha, who sprinted past him with Ilse towards the black smog. Finally, he felt hands on his shoulders and he was forced somewhat roughly to his feet.
"Eren… ?"
He turned his head slightly to see a concerned, yet preoccupied Mikasa looking back at him. He could only stare at her before a rush of relief and something he couldn't identify caused him to gasp and wrap his arms around her; it was returned somewhat and he could sense there were much more pressing matters on her mind. Nevertheless, she spoke quietly in his ear.
"Are you alright?"
"Am… am I… ? Yeah, I'm fine, but Krista, did you see… ?"
"Yes, I know. Don't worry we'll take care of this."
Meaning to ask what in the world she meant by that, his mouth stopped working as he saw Annie holding binoculars towards the horizon with an assault rifle slung over her shoulder. He wanted to ask what the hell she was doing with it, when Ilse came hurdling back over the hill and sprinted up to the older woman who Eren hadn't seen before.
"They… it's nasty, van's blown to shit, we… we couldn't hear or see anyone moving, Sasha, she… she won't stop digging… or yelling… "
It became apparent that Sasha was indeed shouting someone's name over and over again out of sight; the woman retreated behind their vehicle and started tearing through the trunk, tossing objects aside, clearly looking for something very particular. Ymir as still holding Krista and both of them appeared to be crying as the blonde tried over and over again to shake free and move towards the wreckage.
"Use this."
The woman had found what she was looking for and handed Ilse what looked like a tablet mixed with a headset.
"Ultra-receptive heartbeat sensor. It'll pick up a mouse if you're within fifteen meters of it."
Nodding, Ilse turned and began to run off with the device.
"Ilse."
She stopped and turned as the older woman spoke her name very calmly given the circumstances. After speaking her name however, it seemed whatever she had wanted to say simply escaped her. This didn't appear to put off Ilse though who gave a brief, sad smile.
"I know."
And she ran, practically leaping over the hill and sliding down it. Eren felt Mikasa gently release him as she walked over to the woman.
"Hange… do we know who it was?"
"I have some ideas. Nothing with proof."
This was all that passed between them as the sun dipped lower towards the horizon and the sound of Sasha shouting dwindled into what sounded like a furious argument that then fell into silence. Minutes ticked as Armin walked slowly over to kneel next to Eren and wrap his arms around him; the only sound now was Krista sobbing into Ymir's shoulder. She stopped suddenly and Eren looked up to see Ilse and Sasha trudging back over the hill; it was not lost on him that they were empty handed. As they edged quietly up to the rest of them, Ilse slowly handed the device back over; it took her nearly a minute to say the one word that looked to be perhaps the hardest word she had ever forced out.
"Nothing."
The sound Krista made then was something Eren knew he would spend the rest of his life trying to forget. Ymir looked up, with defeat in her eyes despite the words she spoke.
"The machine, maybe it… didn't work?"
Glancing down at it without a word, Hange flipped it on and held it up. As she turned, holding it over all of them in turn, Eren could very clearly see the heartbeats showing up on the screen. She closed it and shook her head; Ymir closed her eyes and pressed her lips to Krista's head, understanding that there was nothing she could say.
"Cops."
Annie spoke for the first time since they had arrived; a few of them turned to look at her. Eyes still pressed to the binoculars, she held up a four fingers.
"Sirens. We need to go."
Regret was in her eyes as she turned to look at the rest of them, but her voice was firm.
"Now."
For a moment, none of them moved other than Ymir practically lifting Krista to her feet. Then, Mikasa spoke, very calmly and very deliberately.
"I'm not leaving without bodies."
It registered in the back of Eren's conscious that she had said "bodies".
Annie didn't back in the slightest.
"We don't have time."
Very, very faintly, the sound of sirens could be heard, growing steadily and steadily louder against the flat wasteland. Mikasa took a step forward, a step Eren had seen before. She had done it to Jean, when he hadn't known to close his mouth in high school. She had done it to one of the school shitheads, who had been hassling the down-syndrome kid. She had done it to him himself, when he had made that awful mistake that night. And when he saw that, he knew she was not backing down.
Neither apparently, was Annie.
"Look, I know there are some mysteries buried in the sand and burnt metal down there, but if we stick around we are all in a very bad place."
"I don't care. I'm getting the bodies."
Annie's mouth curled very gently.
"You think that was him? Lying in the hospital, the one they took? You think his body is lying down there somewhere?"
"It may be."
"Then we wait for the police report to come out."
"You know fucking well that Kenny will run a cover for this. We won't know who died in that accident unless we go and find out now."
"Going to jail and possibly destroying the lives of everyone here is worth that to you?"
"I'm not asking you to stay."
Mikasa turned and started walking towards the wreck. The sirens were growing feverishly louder; Hange glanced that way and turned back towards them.
"Mika… "
She didn't stop moving and Annie quickly closed the distance between them and spun her around.
"Hey! This will not solve anything!"
Sasha and Ilse were watching, the former with her fists clenched, but neither of them seemed to have any idea if there was anything they could do.
"I don't care what it solves. For once, I'm going to do this for me."
"Do what? Get hauled into the station? Have Kenny buzz over your arrest and wipe the docket that you were ever there? Ship you off to wherever the fuck he deems where he'll use you as either a bartering tool or a fuck toy?"
"What I do is none of your concern, Annie."
"The fuck it isn't!"
Eren realized with how quickly the sirens were approaching, they must have been driving much faster than any of them had been anticipating. Hange seemed to have noticed this too and was trying to get the attention of the two girls more deliberately.
"That is enough! Mika, Annie is right! We don't have time for this!"
Mikasa looked back, eyes venomous. Then, that venom drained into disgust and she adopted a much abhorred expression.
"Yeah, you don't."
And she turned and kept walking towards the car. With a roar and loss of control that Eren couldn't recall having ever seen in the eight years he had known her, Annie bolted forward and tackled her friend to the ground. Ilse and Sasha finally broke from whatever was holding them still and ran up to them trying with some success to pull apart a now savage fight. Ymir was supporting Krista and was moving to the cars; looking towards the direction of the sirens, she looked now somewhat panicked.
"Hange!"
The older woman seemed at a loss and Eren sensed that she was someone very used to being in control. Armin was pulling him up and yelling at him, but he wasn't listening. And so he remained there until several police cars pulled up around them, clearly having been driving around ninety miles an hour with how hard and early they braked. Doors opened and shouting began to commence and Eren was distantly aware that guns were being pointed at them.
Why… what did we do… ?
He turned and slowly stood to regard the many officers with confusion; he could still hear sounds of a scuffle behind them. The last door of the first car opened and a tall man stepped out slowly. He looked like a predator, wild, yet clean facial hair, and a pair of eyes that surveyed the situation with keenness. He was not smiling.
"Well, Zoe… this was not what I had been hoping to find."
He stepped around the front of the car and unholstered his own pistol.
"Not. One. Bit."
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It was bothering her a lot more than it should have.
On a night like this, where the building was as occupied as it ever was, with customers leaving and entering at as much of a pace for her and Alya to handle, Florian knew that this was not the time to be worrying about this. It had been only two days since she had last seen him and while she hadn't know precisely when she would seen him again, he had made it sound like it would be soon.
But she hadn't heard from him or seen him, and she was starting to get worried.
She thought perhaps she had been considerably forward and she had scared him off with how much he had revealed to her and with how much she had known he was hiding. This seemed the most likely theory, but she knew there was more to him than that. Just like her sister, there was much fear in him, but just as much brashness.
When she finally saw a brief lull in her duties, she made her way over to the bar, ignoring a seventy year old man who grabbed at her rear and tapped Pixis on the shoulder. He turned, eyes kind and tired as they always were.
"Yes?"
"Hey, I know this is kind of weird to ask... but have you seen Joe around these past couple days?"
"No, can't say that I have... why?"
"Well, I was supposed to see him again, but haven't. I don't know how to get in touch with him, he wasn't answering his phone."
A look came over Pixis's face unlike anything she had ever seen before; it looked like genuine worry and... guilt?
"I see."
"I know it doesn't make sense for me to ask you, but it looked like you knew him at least somewhat... "
"Yes, yes, yes... "
He now seemed to not be listening to her.
"I'll be back in just a moment. I have a phone call to make."
She looked after him, confused.
"I said that he wasn't answering his phone, though."
He glanced back at her briefly, with a look that seemed to emote that he was about to have hell to pay.
"He's not the one I'm calling."
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Mina was genuinely beginning to think he wouldn't show, when she saw the headlights bearing down on her house. Standing from the porch stairs she had been sitting on, she stretched feeling back into her lower body. She only briefly acknowledged that he had not been riding his bike as she had known was his usual means of transportation; she stepped down to meet him as he clambered out of the car, she noticed, with a strange loopy fashion.
"Hey, didn't think you'd make it."
"Yeah, me neither… "
"I got everything you asked for, that I was able to get my hands on anyway, so… hey, are you alright?"
"What… ? Yeah, fine, fine, I… "
His words were quickly contradicted as he dropped shakily to one knee, pressing a hand to his head. Fearing a stab of worry, she quickly knelt by his side.
"What's wrong, are you hurt? What did… Jesus, look how pale you are!"
"It's fine, it's not a big deal… "
"Not a big… what happened?!"
"Let me just see what you found… I'm fine… "
As if to prove his point, he tried to stand and immediately collapsed, rolling onto his side and blinking rapidly as though he couldn't see. By now, Mina was completely arrested by her worry and pulled his arm around her.
"Let's lie you down… no, don't try and fight me on this… you need to lay down, you should not have been driving… "
She helped him up and they started a slow walk towards the house. He was muttering something about being fine, but had stopped fighting her at least.
"There we go, easy now. Here're the stairs, alright and… "
Mina stopped. The noise she had just heard should not have been one that could have been possible. It was just brief and she imagined that in her state of worry she had simply imagined it, and she turned back forward to continue their journey up the porch. Then, she heard it again and she couldn't help but stop and turn. Because, unless her mind was playing a wild and inventive trick on her, she could very surely what sounded to be a baby, crying softly from the front seat of his car.