Chapter 2 – Chance

Trepidation crept up your spine, silent and ominous like a snake on its perch. Your guts were trying to convince you different. And they were probably right. You couldn't dodge the thought that this might be the very worst idea you ever came up with.

With your nose cringing in disgust, you ventured past the vaporizing puddles of blood. Their stench was pestilent, worse only for their vast amount. If it wasn't for their temporary appearance, it surely would have flooded every shaft of grass by now, turning the vigorous green into soiled crimson. The titan's disgruntled growls were vibrating the Earth under your feet - an all too intimidating message to stay clear. But worse were the screams. You had plugged your ears to avert any serious damage, but it was far from effective. Even the softer squeaks were incisive enough to breach your walls of flesh.

You were unsure whether to be appeased or unsettled at the sight of its living body. If only it died, you could simply leave without another pinch of guilt. But with your ears were filled with nothing but its cries, you found yourself unable to turn your back. Granted, your reason was still refusing to accept that titans could possess such a thing as feelings or emotions. But once you had noticed it, it was impossible to dismiss the whining again. Now, the immense pain cut through air and soil, a forlorn plea for deliverance. Yes, it was pity that drove your action, pulling you closer with invisible strings, like a siren. But it some ways, it was also guilt. It would have been easy to dismiss the thought, as it had been its own choice to fight. But alas, you couldn't help it. If it wasn't for this creature, you would be dead by now.

You watched with a mixture of awe and uncertainty as you stepped closer to the giant's upper half. The more you approached it, the more it seemed to grow in size – an allegory for the daunting task that lay ahead. It was so huge, a mere finger of it being large enough to compete with your insignificant size. Needless to say that any movement on its part would lead to a sudden end, especially in this state of delirium. Even though the body was remaining still for the moment, it was quivering like hell. The immense tension beneath the crippling shock made the flesh ripple and shift beneath the tightened skin. The menace in their loaded strength couldn't be any more obvious.

In a wide distance that you deemed safe enough, you circled the torso to its left side where the forearm was still missing. The lower waist was out of its reach. Surely there was no need to increase the risk of this well-nigh insane venture. Careful not to step into the sizzling pool that engulfed the stub of flesh, you averted your gaze from the head. You had been watching it closely for any hints of its attention, but for the time being it had settled down a bit. The screams had quieted to soft wails, as if slowly but steadily loosing its strength.

Little did you know how wrong you were.

Shortly after passing the shoulder-level, a sudden outcry made your heart jump in the chest. A heavy quake followed as the titan slammed its remaining fist to the ground. Loaded with anger and despair, the power of its strike had almost thrown you off the feet. You panted. The hand lay on the body's other side... The unexpected demonstration of its power caused your nerves to ripple, the gnawing doubts now biting as they tried to scupper your motivation. Looking back however was even worse.

Your breath hitched at the sight of the head. It was now tilted to the side - your side. Even with several dark strands of hair running wildly across its face, you could see the eyes behind them being wide open and looking right at you – their dimmed colour still as stone. Its sudden yet full attention felt like a vice. With legs trembling like a newborn fawn, you suddenly felt fragile and small. And still, all you wished was to grow even smaller – miniscule or even microscopic, just anything to escape the heavy burden of its gaze.

Blood rushed down to your feet in preparation to flee, the adrenaline sharpening your senses until it almost seemed as if time passed slower. For long, torturing long moments you waited for the starting shot. On the very next move, you would run - just anything that freed you from the bonds of anxiety. Instead of moving however, the titan sent another screech through your bones – the intensity crippling for yet another time. As you dared to look up again, the head had turned to the other side.

Did it.. not even notice you...?

In heavy chops you sought for air. You hadn't even noticed that you had stopped breathing. But now that you listened, you could hear the signals clear as ice. All of your body wanted to quit. It would be so easy to turn on the heels and run. To simply forget about the whole of the damned idea… But then again, you were still alive. So far, it was not the titan that was your foe. It was only your fear. Something that you could fight – and defeat.

With a last deep breath, you approached the titan's waist, only to find that your plan was trickier than expected. Even though it was lying flat on the ground and this should be the lowest place to climb, the waist was almost as high as yourself. And the incessant trembling didn't make it any easier. You tried to take hold on to one of the gaping wounds, but immediately pulled back again in a sharp hiss. The body temperature was high enough to burn you. In another approach, you tried to use some smaller scratches that hadn't cut through the skin. It was still hot as fuck, but on the edge of the bearable.

You moaned in aggrevation. You always hated climbing. And your guts wouldn't stop hurling their reprobation.

In the very instant that you reached to upper edge, you could see the spike poking out of the belly's center – clear and calling. A dark whole gaped to its side, where the flesh was pierced by the larger branch. Almost the whole of the waist and hips were stained red from the remainders of adversarial and own blood. In a large radius of the spikes' penetrations though, the skin had turned to a deep purple.

You took one step after the other, cautious not to fall by the intense shaking of your ground. You would have spread your arms for balance, but the constant whines were too deafening to take them off. At least the tensed muscles provided a steady surface. As you reached the branch, you looked to the titan's head again. From this perspective you couldn't see anything but the downside of its jaw, but at least it didn't seem as if it noticed your insignificant weight. Or at least you hoped so…

You took a deep breath and wrapped your arms around the spike. Looks like you were actually going to do this… Let's hope it wasn't the biggest mistake of your life.

Granted it was only the smaller of the two, this branch was still as long as yourself. You pulled hesitantly first, fixated primarily on the titan's movements in fear to draw its attention. But it didn't react in any way, and neither did the branch. With the back straightened, you started pushing with your legs. Now that you couldn't plug your ears anymore, it was a torture of its own to feel them bursting under the cries. Oddly enough, the pain motivated you to increase your efforts, until the spike finally started to budge.

Dark, purple blood started to pour out of the wound, feeling awfully hot as it enclosed your feet and risked you to slip. But you were almost there. With a last gathering of strength, you pulled out the rest of the spike, the sudden release causing you to topple backwards.

Unexpected silence surrounded you as the whining stopped immediately. Then you heard a loud and deep exhale before the head tilted to the side in a loss of strength. The trembling decreased as well until the body lay completely still.

You cringed as you suddenly sank into the ground by the muscles' relaxation. On the first sight it could as well have been deemed dead. There was not a single sign of life, neither twitch nor breath. The only hint was a faint movement beneath your quivering feet – a weak throbbing that only silence could reveal.

A heartbeat.

It was obviously just exhausted. Tt would need a long rest in full sunlight to recover. And as the current sky was shrouded with wadding clouds, this would surely not happen before tomorrow. Thankfully.

Now that it was obviously immobile, you couldn't resist scrutinizing the stab wound. Though the purple colour wasn't fading yet, at least it seemed as if it wasn't expanding further now. Knowing that you had done enough to secure its survival, your conscience was now at ease that you had returned a favor - even though that the titan wasn't fighting for you in the first place. After all, you doubted that it had noticed your mere presence. But that was fine, it's not like you would ever expect a titan's gratitude, right? How daft would that be?

After a last glance, you turned your back to hop off the motionless body, but froze after your first step. As you heard a heavy inhale, you instantly knew that you were in deep shit.

"Fuck."

Your heart started to palpitate as your ground lifted and fell in heavy panting.

That was much quicker than expected, and now that's what you got. But the worst thing wasn't even this unexpected turn. Worse was that you had been fully aware of the consequences, no matter how hard you had tried to ignore them. In a corner of your mind, you'd always known that good actions wouldn't neccessarily lead to a good ending. It was nothing but wishful thinking, stories of heroism to encourage children for being good in a wicked world. Never would they tell the stories of the truth, the tragedies of the many fallen soldiers that were blinded by this deception. Just like everyone. Just like you.

The ground suddenly stiffened again as the waist tensed for a movement. The head lifted a bit, blinking to the sky for a few times in utter desorientation. Then it struggled a bit to support the chest on the elbows. In a high snarl that could be considered a hiss, its gaze snapped to the source of obvious pain, cascades of hair falling down the sides of its cheeks as it peered down to its left side.

It… hadn't noticed you… at least not yet...

Though the eyes remained hidden yet again, you could tell that they were staring at the remaining stub of its arm. For several long moments it simply stared without another move, head swaying slightly in numbed confusion. Only then did you dare to avert your own stare for a second.

There was something weird about the pose of its head. It hung slanty, indicating that the spine was probably broken, and the neck seemed almost too weak to bear the weight of its appendange. But more interesting were the ears. They were long and pointed - long enough to peek out of the black, shoulder-length hair.

You scrutinized. Such ears had never been seen on any other titan. Something on them seemed especially attentive, senses as sharp as their form. They could almost be considered aggressive in some ways, spiky as they were.

You almost gasped in surprise as they suddenly pricked forward.

With the head still hanging, the titan lifted its gaze to investigate the clearing. The movement was steady but slow, clearly showing its weakened state. A soft greenish shimmer flashed through the dark wires, interrupted for several times as the eyelids blinked repeatedly. Still, you could tell that they were attentive, surveying its environment as if they beheld it for the first time.

Then it started to turn – awfully slowly, to not miss any detail of the clearing.

Surely, the almost relaxed drowsiness of it was far better than the previous rage, but in this case the sudden change of temper was all but unsettling. With you still being unable to move any bit, it caused this awful tension of yours to feel like an eternity. All you could do was to salivate your throat in an attempt to ged rid of the forming lump - and to watch its gaze drawing more and more into your direction.

Your perception seemed to narrow in this moment. With nothing but tension in your limbs, there was only your palpitating heart, the titan's movement and its exhausted breath. The breathing was quick for a creature of its size, but definitely slower than your own which was flat and underlined with panic. And it was definitely stronger. Now its sound filled the whole clearing, for it was the only sound that could be heard. It was like the ticking of a clock, a reminder for the inexorable advance of time and the moment that would arrive soon.

Or rather… that would arrive now.

Green eyes emerged from their enshroudments as the titan's gaze reached the front. Then they widened as they noticed it – a small figure with a sheepish look that was clinging to a toothpick.

With its gaze now focused upon you, your motionless stance turned into one of full paralysis. More than the weird form of its long ears and the bare jaw it was the huge pair of almond-eyes that caught your attention. You hadn't really paid attention to them during the fight, nor did you really notice anything special about them so far. But now, their emerald-green colour hit you completely off-guard.

You couldn't help but think that they reminded you of human eyes. Granted, all titans showed certain similarities to humans - a fact that was nothing but irritating. But never did they possess eyes that looked so... vivid.

It.. no. He possessed not only intelligence, but also some kind of consciousness.

Time passed with the both of you simply staring at each other. Other than you, the titan blinked for a few times as he scrutinized your form. His attention was almost sensible, wandering from one side of yours to the other. But his obvious interest didn't come anywhere close to your own state of shock and fascination. The movements of the eyelids revealed a translucent pair of extra lids – the same sort as a snake's. But the irises were by far the most enthralling. They possessed a vibrant glow, a spark of vigour that you hadn't seen before. The richness of their colour seemed to be intensified by a dark mask that surrounded them.

Despite all the appalling atrocity of this beast, its eyes could be called wonderful. Beautiful, in fact.

In the end, they were almost too enchanting for you to notice a distant thought in the back of your mind.

Actually, it shouted for your attention.

You were torn back to reality as you noticed the movement of a large shadow in the corner of your eye. Not sparing a second, you darted to the left - only to see an enormous hand approaching you. Conscious or not, it wouldn't make much of a difference if you were devoured soon enough.

Lacking any better idea, you instinctively held up the yew spike to signalize you would use it against him if necessary. The hand indeed hesitated, but only for a short moment. He knew that he had recovered enough strength to get rid of the spike quickly. And he knew that you knew.

"Damn it…!" you hissed again.

You backed up to maintain enough distance until you could come up with an escape plan. However, the intention failed as you slipped on a puddle of viscous blood and fell off the left side of the titan's waist, letting go of the spike in the process.

It was a fairly short fall compared to the one you had experienced before, allowing you to get back on your heels relatively quickly. This time you didn't hesitate to leap forward before the titan had any time to react. He was slow, and that was your main advantage. Your only advantage, in fact.

Relief washed over you as you looked back to see that the titan was still leaning on the stump of its left arm, hence unable to use it in any other way. However, you underestimated the reach of his right arm. Before you could comprehend what was happening, you were painfully proven wrong the painful way. Not even a second after noticing the impact to the front, you crashed into the open palm, the rebound strong enough to throw you down to the ground.

Your blood went cold in horror and disbelief. He would simply close his hand now to get hold of you… It couldn't be any easier.

You scrunched your face in anticipation, mentally preparing for what was soon to come. But the moment passed with nothing happening. Only as you dared to look up again, you saw the hand still placed right in front of you. Its fingers twitched, but they didn't move any further.

Then it hit you. They were obviously still broken.

In a swift movement, you used the opportunity to jump over the titan's wrist, running as fast as possible in the miniscule hope of escape. With the eyes fixed to any movement on your back, you expected him to reach out again. But to your surprise, nothing of the sort happened.

Once halfway to safety, you turned your head completely to see if he intended to pursue, but the gargantuan body only lay motionless. All he did was to watch closely as you reached the clearing's edge. Without another warning, the gargantuan body then collapsed, the head falling back to the ground in a hard thud. Then the eyes closed shut.

For many more minutes you continued running, your feet seeming to have developed their own will. With the latest occasion still nestled in your palpitating heart, the panick faded only slowly, urging you to press on even as your legs grew sour. With every minute that passed they grew wobbly and weak, until you eventually tripped and tumbled over roots and moss. You panted, but welcomed the forced halt as an opportunity to rest. That was definitely enough titans for a day's work.

In forced swallows you attempted to salivate your desiccated throat, mind squirming in disbelief. It was a miracle that you just escaped the clutches of a 15 m abnormal – an intelligent one nonetheless. Thankfully, he was too wrecked to get up any time soon. By the time that came to pass, you would be on the other side of the Wall.

After catching your breath again, you shoved aside the rest of your panic. Only then did you feel able to take in new information, eyes surveying your envorinment as if they beheld it for the first time. The woods would offer enough shelter for a short rest, but you couldn't stay for too long. Though the trees around here were high enough to escape the reach of titans, they couldn't serve as hiding place. Like most forests under human, or in this case former human management, the trees grew denser than they would naturally, allowing them to gain height quickly but leaving them thin and weak.

You would have to find a more appropriate shelter to recover before you could make your way back in the guard of night. Even though your body ached for a whole week's rest, you couldn't risk any more titan confrontations by staying another day. More than that, you were clueless on how to find enough resources out here. Your hunting skills were of no use without a bow, and beechnuts or acorn would surely not suffice for long.

It should be possible to reach the wall in a long night's walk. But to succeed, everything depended on not getting lost in the darkness - despite the ever-present risk of getting injured or devoured was…

Seeing that time was suddenly your greatest enemy, you forced yourself to move on. The terrain ahead was slightly inclined, probably the foothills of a hill or mountain. If you could reach a lookout before sunset, you'd be able to discern the best trail.

Once again you took a deep breath, the fresh air cooling and soothing the heat in your lungs and muscles. But more than that, it helped to ease your mind. Only now you noticed that behind all the stinging pain in every limb, it was your sanity that was longing for rest. The loads of horror and despair left you nothing but a nervous wreck.

With every step you took, you tried to gain distance from the horrible memories. With your mind almost desperate for any sort of distraction, you focused on the surrounding woods. At first, it was difficult, as if forcing medicine to an exhausted patient. But soon enough, you felt able to relax again. Soon enough, you indulged in everything you found, the thoughts wandering off and taking their own trails.

Sallow light peeked through the gaps of the canopy, forming long shadows of beech, oak, spruce and fir. Maples and hornbeam were mixed in as well, and the ground was covered with a green carpet of wood anemones, lilies and flowering ivy. At first sight, there was nothing too special about the forest, just another composition of formerly fostered trees. But something was different. Unlike most forests inside Wall Rose, this one appeared particularly vigorous.

You allowed a weak smile as you searched for more signs of wildlife. The songs of chikadees was what you noticed first. But the more you let your senses wander, the more hints could be detected in every corner and every level of the shrubs and trees. There was a lot of activity in the higher levels of the canopies. Not only songbirds, but also jays and woodpeckers cackled and drummed against the bark, their deep sounds echoing over far distances to secure their territory. The underbrush was full of movement, too. Squirrels rummaged on the ground, restlessly foraging for reserves of the generous trees. Hedgehogs rustled under smaller piles of foliage, and so did the mice. They were already in preparation for the upcoming autumn.

On a sudden intuition, you listened even closer. Rather unobtrusive behind the loud communication of chikadees and nuthatches was the high-pitched, softened cheep of goldcrests – one of the smallest birds that can be found. Most people were deaf to it, as they were deaf to even the most obvious signs of wildlife around them. But as a child you had spent a lot of time in forests like these, and you had set a personal goal to learn all the hidden signs and signals. Once you had trained your senses for even the weakest songs and calls, it wasn't too hard to find them almost everywhere. Or, back at home, at least... Ever since the breach you were forced to move to Wall Rose. Surely, there were all sorts parks and forests as well, but with the high population density, were all marked by the human use and management. None of them were as prestine as the ones you'd been used to.

No matter how odd it seemed, but something about this place almost felt like home.

You let your thoughts and senses venture to far distances, exploring and indulging in every move and niche in marvel. One foot followed the other until your feet developed their own rhytm – the stride steady as a metronome and until they practically walked independently.

It was hard to tell how much time passed in this trance-like state, but at some stage you noticed that the forest's composition changed, the ground turning increasingly shallow and rocky. Spruces and firs were replaced by pines, and the dense herbal layer gave way to bare ground and shrubs. It was not much later as you reached another, even smaller clearing in front of a rock face. A light breeze welcomed you as you stepped into the open.

A dead end?

Your head lifted in survey. The escarpment reached high enough to top the canopies, and the texture was rough, with many bulges and protrusions. It should be easy to climb, even for someone of your clumsiness. Hopefully, it would be worth it.

With the new objective in mind, you approached the cliff, but allowed your gaze to wander to the sides. After only a few steps, you suddenly halted at the sight of a large fallen trunk, a weak smile pulling at the tips of your mouth. Judging by the numerous types of mushrooms and lichen, it must have been lying there for many years. This part of the forest was probably untouched, perhaps even ancient. Imagining that you were probably the first human ever to walk on this ground, it felt somewhat sacred and pure. Hopefully, this place would remain like that – untouched by the destruction of monsters and men.

Images abrubtly erupted into your mind – images of splintered wood and crimson carpets. Ever since your bare-escape, you had managed to stay sufficiently distracted in mental self-defence. But with the barricades of shock now fading with time, the memories were starting to leak back to into consciousness. After holding them back for almost an hour, they now hit you with an even more unrelenting force - the mere memories intense enough for your guts to tense and twist. Especially the memories of the titans were exceptionally clear.

Once you had vented your thoughts, you couldn't dismiss a haunting detail. It was barely more than an intuition, a vague feeling that there was something odd about that witted titan.

When he first met your sight, there was something like… surprise in his eyes. Surely, any intelligent being would be surprised to see a human on its bulk. But still… it was… more than that. It was only hard to put a finger on it.

With a slight shake of your head, you tried to dismiss the thought, agony written in your wrinkled face. It was surely just your imagination. Hell knows what sorts of stimulants had been rushing through your veins. It would be no surprise if they caused some sort of delusions as well.

You tried to distract yourself by thinking of anything else, but the alternatives were not any merrier. Even more painful was the reminder of your loss. You remembered your comrades and how you had joined their company only this morning. Then you remembered the way they were killed… and devoured.

Without even noticing it, you balled your hands into fists of scorn and hurt.

That fucking bastard of an abnormal… You almost wished for it to revive again, only for you to slaughter it yourself this time. Equipped with blades sharp as razors you would await it on the clearing. Oh, how exciting it would be. You could almost hear the sound of its last steps through the breaking wood. You would watch how it comes into the clearing only to face its d-

Wait…

You flinched, the anger rushing off as quickly as it had come up.

The sounds felt vivid because you could hear them…

"Fuuuck…!"

You were neither in the condition nor the mood for another run, and climbing the cliff would take too long. Judging the intensity of the footfalls, the approaching bastard was yet another large one. It seemed like all the bad luck of your whole life had accumulated for this single day.

You surveyed the clearing again. As far as you knew, titans would only start their persecution on sight. Perhaps there was an opportunity to hide?

Once more, your eyes scrutinzed the rock face. There, almost hidden in a corner between two bulges was a larger crack…

Yes, this might actually work.

Darkness surrounded you as you squeezed yourself into the tight crack with considerable effort. This was definitely no good for claustrophics, and you cursed yourself for thinking about the many bugs and spiderwebs that you were probably touching in this moment.

A shiver went through your bones, the repulsive thoughts only pushed aside by the sensation of hot tweaks all over your body. The rough surface of the stone caused a multitude of scratches – some of them certainly bleeding… But after all, the increasing sound of the footfalls was motivating enough to press on.

Fortunately, after a meter or two the crack widened a bit and offered some more space to move and breathe. Once you felt secure enough for the time being, you turned to peek out of the slit.

After not even a minute, a massive footfall shook the clearing. But then it halted in its wake. Curious as to why, you couldn't desist from pushing your head slightly more forwards – only a little bit, to enhance the limited vision. All you could see was see a massive foot. Though it was difficult to estimate proportions with such a limited referfence, the size of the ankle alone proved that your anticipation was right. It was definitely one of the upper range again.

The skin of the foot waas pale and lacking any traces of wounds, causing a wave of relieve as it hence couldn't be the conscious one. On the other hand, it was quite frustrating to see how many titans there were in this region. Their density exceeded everything you had experienced or even heard of before. You wondered if they were attracted by something, but there was no village anywhere close enough to be an incentive. Or at least, no village that was still inhabited.

Another impact shook the ground, but this time alarmingly close to your hiding place, causing you to jerk back your head. With your head crying in pain yet again, it required all your strength of will to not let out a yelp as you hit the stone behind. Instead of watching, you deemed it safer to listen instead.

There was a cavernous and almost raspy breath. But despite that nothing really happened. It seemed as if the titan was standing motionless for some moments. You too made no move, trying to breathe as silently as possible.

Why wouldn't it move on? It was impossible for it to see you in here, unless titans developed new senses all of a sudden.

Except…

Your eyes widened in foreboding. Now that you thought about it, what you had thought was anything but logical... Titans were gathering everywhere around Wall Maria, even though they shouldn't be able to see behind the massive stone.

You mentally thrashed yourself with slew of insults.

Blood suddenly froze in your veins as you heard a low rumble, the sound seeming unnaturally loud as it reverberated in the crevice you were crouching in. As it fell silent, your palpitating heart seemed to fill the whole room and every corner of your mind, until you heard yet another sound. The sound of two, short inhales...

It… almost sounded like a… sniff? This was definitely a strange behaviour as far as you could tell. But then again, it might be that Hange had mentioned something about it… Now that you thought about it, according to her assumptions, they could smell blood over quite a large distance.

Your eyes wandered down into the darkness. Though you couldn't actually see them, the burning sting of your legs was unmistakable.

Damn it. So you'd have to wait here until nightfall, and your back was already aching.

However, something was off here. Any titan would have attempted to break through the stone by now or would at least start to scratch at it. Seeing that the titan didn't make another move, you tried to catch a glimpse through the slit again.

The titan was very close - too close to be a coincidence. It seemed like it had indeed detected your presence behind the stone wall.

You gulped. What if this really was…

As quietly as possible, you stretched your neck further throught the slit, until it was possible to make out something. Bare skin was standing not far from the entrance, but there were neither wounds nor scratches to be seen. You tried to scrutinize further, but your attention was then caught by a shadow on the ground. It was small and moving quickly – almost whirling to and fro. If anything, it was confusing. The movement was far too quick and delicate for anything titan-related, the outlines growing and shrinking with every move. But then again it couldn't be a branch in the wind. Despite its shifting form, there were no gaps where sunlight peeked through.

Another growl, this time short and sharp, made you flinch. It almost reminded of a grunt of some sort. Then you froze completely as the ground suddenly shifted again. Walls rattled under heavy footfalls, but then they moved on and grew silent with distance.

Finally.

As soon as they were out of earshot, you waited several more minutes just to be sure you were definitely safe. Only then you forced yourself through the slit again.

Cautious and alarmed like a deer, you stepped into the open. With an almost obsessive precision, you examined your surroundings in anticipation for any suspicious hint. To your relief, there were no footfalls to be heard or felt. Despite the distant songs of chikadees and the rattling of branches in a breeze, there was only one more sound - the soft lap of perpetual drops.

In an almost unfamiliar sense of mirth, you searched the rock face again to quickly find what you were searching for. There, only a few steps away, was the movement of an all too welcome glitter that lead downwards to a tiny projection, where the precious fluid gathered and fell. Almost racing now, you closed in to investigate the shallow pit that had been formed by the miniscule yet unrelenting trickle.

You scooped another handfull and waited fo the pit to fill again. For several more minutes you repeated the procedure until your thirst was stilled. Certainly, avoiding titans was the top priority for the day, but staying hydrated was the very next duty. As soon as it was dark, you'd have no more chance to search for water. And you would need all your strength for the upcoming night. It would be long and strenous.

Taking a step backwards, you gazed up the rock face. With only the top parts of it being still covered in sunlight, the sun must be soon preparing to set. With the brilliant blue now loosing in saturation, it would soon turn into the warmer colours. And especially here in the forest it would get dark soon.

You would have to hurry to climb the escarpment. But first you had to look after yourself. Your back was aching in pain from the uncomfortable position, and several stings demanded your attention. Thus, before turning your back from the clearing, you first took the time to strech yourself extensively. That done, you examined the many scratches you had aquired from squeezing into the slit. The last thing you needed was a serious infection.

Just as you kneeled down to investigate a larger bruise on your calf, you flinched by a sudden movement to your side. Panicked, your head whipped after the dark blur, but seeing that it was neither a titan, nor any sort of oversized skin-coloured limb, you immediately relaxed again.

However… you didn't relax completely.

You stared in bewilderment. The object that had caught your attention, that was stuck on a branch and moving swiftly in the breeze… It was.. a green cloak… imprinted with the wings of freedom.

Before being able to come up with an explanation, another breeze rustled your hair. But this one… was warm.

You whirled around.

"Im…p-possible…!"