With splintering teeth, Pieck clamped her jaw down on the rubbery texture of the centipede-like creature. She persisted against all of the grasping hands of the Pure Titans tugging at her, the teeth burying into her limbs. The pain inflicted on her takes over a portion of her brain, as if dealing with it is energy expenditure enough, without the effort of new thoughts. It is the sort of pain that burns, as if some invisible flame were held against her skin. But nevertheless Pieck refused to allow her jaw to unlatch. Through the blinding pain, her mind was a jumble of disorderly thoughts, each one growing louder than the last in an effort to be heard. It's going back to Eren! The Rumbling will start again! I can't hold on! No, you have to! The world will die if you don't! But...Father is gone. Gabi is gone. Jean...Reiner...Annie…We failed...we all failed...we should all die now...what does it matter now...everyone is gone...why not?

Die. Die! Just die! Pieck screamed in the deepest recesses of her mind. Tears flowed down her cheeks, her jaw clenching on the elastic skin. The permeating image of Father's wide dark eyes and terrified, pale face filled her mind. She could remember his scream, the panic and desperation that had filled her chest, almost to bursting. She couldn't move. She was frozen stiff, trapped in memory, frantically trying again to figure out some way to save her father.

"Pieck!"

The voice shouting her name sounded faint. Her eyes shot up in alarm in the direction of the sound.

Her vision was obstructed by a pillar of white steam rising to the skies. But she could somewhat make out a distinct silhouette of Falco's Titan. Someone is shouting to her, but the voice was so faint that Pieck can't tell who exactly it is.

It didn't matter.

Pieck clenched herself harder and harder to the creature, hardening her own jagged teeth to hold on, livid, manic, blind to any of the hazards. All that mattered was the creature, cutting it down and ending all of this nightmare. Avenging her father's demise.

Suddenly a bloodcurdling scream tears through the still air, in her peripheral vision, Pieck watched in absolute horror as Reiner is torn out of his Titan by a Pure Titan. Teeth buried into his chest, his blood cascading profusely down like a waterfall. Reiner flailing and wrenching with all of his might to tear out of it's grip. He made an awful, bloodcurdling sound, somewhere between an unintelligible howl and a curse. All she could do was close her eyes as Reiner's final scream pierced the air.

Even with the brutal restraint of Annie from behind, the creature thrusted forward with little effort, straight to Eren. Pieck could feel her teeth starting to crumbling into fragments. But yet she kept her jaw fastened.

The strident roaring of Titans in her twinging eardrums, the heavy flow of blood seeping out of her gaping wounds, and the sheer chaos seemed endless in nature.

For a fleeting moment, the creature went limp-then shot skyward. The abrupt movement was so violent that it gave Pieck a dizzy rush, and Annie lost her grasp completely.

The hazy sun momentarily burned through Pieck's eyes, causing her to squint. But she could see the birdlike figure of Falco coming closer and closer to her. Blackness filled the edges of her vision and her breath came in ragged, shallow gasps. The only thing she could hear was her own heartbeat. .

And then, the world went dark.

/

Pieck awoke encompassed in a white pillar of steam. Her eyes were too heavy to open wide, her ears ringing. A painful tingling sensation sting at her fingertips which quickly evolved into a total loss of feeling and sensation in them altogether. Seconds passed as she lay there, then, she heard voices. Fading voices that seem to grow more and more fainter by the second. Mikasa. Levi. Armin. They are all talking among each other, all sounding urgent, distraught, even fearful.

Her eyes finally cracked open, gazing up at the blue sky. So beautiful. So shiny and clear. Pieck saw the silver clouds blurring in the skies, her brain befogged. Her mouth dry as sandpaper. The air tainted with the unmistakable smell of blood. Her head feels foggy, but clearer than it has been moments before. No more fever addled brain, The pain that once burned like fire had faded away to an icy numbness. Her limbs still feel somewhat stiff from the lack of movement recently.

There was still steam lingering in the air, but it is not from her. It was beside her.

She rolled her head to the side, and her heart jutted in her chest. Cloaked in a pillar of steam, a pale, haggard Jean laid supine beside her. He's curled up asleep, the sight of him making her relax. Then the realization strikes her full-force. Jean must have eaten a Titan Shifter. With all of her ebbing strength, Pieck fought against her overwhelming dizziness to sit upright. Her head and her limbs felt all cold with fear, even colder than the chill of the air around her. She saw Mikasa, Levi, Armin perched at the front, all silent and rigid.

But no signs of Gabi, Reiner, Annie or Connie.

Pieck used the time to try and sort through her memories and thoughts. The fever she had suffered had jumbled up her memories severely, so she was not sure what exactly was real or not real. I was biting into that...thing….Is Eren...really dead? It...stopped moving when Eren died….Reiner...where is he? Wasn't he...eaten…I saw something happen to him...but...no..wait where's Annie...where's Gabi...where's...how am...I'm here…The very last thing she could recall was that creature seemingly pursuing Falco. Did that...thing...attached to...Her thoughts suddenly taper away as overwhelming heaviness infuses in her psyche.

Seconds passed, and the steam surrounding Jean gradually dissipated. Clearing Pieck's view of him completely.

Jean suddenly stirred, a soft groan hummed from his lips. His eyes snapped open, glancing around him panicked for a brief moment as he gathered his bearing. She slides down into his view, and Pieck catches a short glimpse of his expression relaxing when he sees her. Or is that her imagination?

"Pieck," He breathes, his brown eyes locking onto her. A ghost of a smile waned on his face.

Pieck felt the heat climbing quickly up her neck, into her cheeks, even warming the tips of her ears. He's still here. She sighed. She could still vividly remember how he bravely rescued her, risking his very life by sprinting into the cavernous spine of the Founding Titan just to save her. Her eyes welled up with hot tears. There was something about Jean at this moment that made her feel strange. But she could not say what exactly it was.

"How long?" Jean tried to sit upright, but his face contorted with pain. Pieck gingerly pushed him down on his back. "Take it easy." She insisted. "You'll feel better soon, but for now, you just need to rest."

"Wha...what...happened?" Jean spoke through his gritted teeth.

A violent shudder coursed through her. "You were turned into a Titan and ate Reiner." Jean's eyes widened with absolute shock. Her words were followed by a long pause.

Jean's face shifted from shock to palpably morose. "That thing...where is it?"

Pieck stared at Jean with plaintive eyes, her last memory haunting the forefront of her mind. Her words froze in her throat.

"The creature attached to Falco," Pieck turned her head to see a pallid Armin crawling to her. His blue eyes were grave. His face looked somehow older than nineteen years old: harrowed by the pain and the hardships he had faced over the past few days.

"Falco?" Pieck's words froze in her throat. Falco? Out of all of the Titan Shifters to cling to; it had to be the innocence of them all. "It can't be Falco? He's been through so much! Why him?"

Jean shuddered. "What happened?"

Armin's voice came out as a weak whisper. "After Eren died, the creature went for a new host, and it chose Falco. The creature attached to him...infused into him..and suddenly…and suddenly the Rumbling...restarted. The Titans just started moving again.." Armin paused, taking in a tremulous breath. "We..failed.." He shut his eyes, Tears cascaded down his chin, paving way to his trembling chin.

The unthinkable revelation struck her in the heart like a scorching knife. Father is gone. It was unimaginable to think that moments before she and him were tearfully embracing one another.

Now it seemed that nothing existed in the world anymore, save for suffering and darkness. Everything was cold, her heart sinking to the deepest depths, her eyes streaking with a cascade of tears. With a powerful onrush, Pieck feels an incredible stinging sensation seeming to emit itself from somewhere deep within her own brain. She clenched her jaw as the blood pounded in her temples. Her mind was too overwhelmed to take her any further. The pain is immense, moving to the back of her eyes. It was a sudden migraine attack, no doubt induced by the acute stresses of this latest revelation.

Her sole reason why she became a Titan Shifter, her sole reason why she served for Marley, her sole reason for existing in this bleak, meaningless world is dead, moved on, unreachable forever.

Pieck would never feel warm or happy again, she decided. She was just tired of all the pain. So slowly, she allowed herself to sink down into a state of numbness.

"We're going back…?" Jean's voice sounded like a faint echo.

Armin coughs out a soft sob. "There's nothing else we can do." He hung his head down, sitting in a hunched position.

Pieck dropped to her back, unable to contain the overwhelming heaviness boring into her. Everything around her blurring through a veil of tears.

For what felt like a litany of hours, Pieck laid there quiescently.

Without any sort of warning, a plethora of memories of her dearest companions flashed before her eyes; Galliard, Reiner, Annie, Gabi, Udo, Zofia, Bertolt, Commander Magath, and even Zeke Yeager, and then painfully enough, her father.

She cracked open her eyes and gave them a moment to adjust to the hazy sky filled with blended tones of rosy pinks and sandy yellows. When she fell asleep was beyond her. All she remembered was lying awake for what seemed like years and years trembling, and weeping. And then…dawn.

The tears stopped flowing. Her throat felt rough and dry, her lips parched. Her eyes were burning.

The haggard face of Jean appeared in her view. His vivid brown eyes locked on hers. He rose a water canteen to her lips.

"Want any?"

"No...I'm not thirsty.." Pieck turned her head. Jean drew the canteen away. She let out a soft sigh. "But...thank you. I appreciate that, really." Jean sat ramrod across from her. He looked healthier compared to how he was hours before.

"Just thought you'd want something to drink. I got some crackers if you-."

Pieck shook her head. She was hungry, starving quite frankly, and her throat was dry, but she didn't want to do anything. What's the point?

"You're better." She mutters. "How...do you feel about—well what happened?" She sat upright, dull dizziness rolled through her.

"Not sure." Jean took on a morose look. "Reiner deserved better..you know?"

Pieck gazed into Jean's dim eyes, a warm shudder ran through her. "Reiner was an honorable man at heart. He had his fair shares of regrets, but he did not die in vain. I'm sure he is pleased that his friends made out alive."

Jean sat there in dismal silence, his eyes planted in Pieck's. He looked rather subsided.

Pieck, for a moment, considered telling Jean about her adventures as the Cart Titan as a means of rapport. But she held her tongue, the distinct differences between their circumstances was beyond measure.

Jean was from Paradis, the Island of Devils, as she's been taught throughout her life. The Island that inhabited the Subjects of Ymir. Where Titans are essentially the local fauna, and where society is encompassed within the towering walls of hardened Colossal Titans. With the ODMgear, the vertical maneuvering equipment, and razor-sharp blades, Jean was born and bred to kill Titans.

"What's the plan?" Pieck asked suddenly. "What of the Yeagerists? I'm sure there are still remaining ones roaming about. Just waiting for us to return."

Jean looked to the three in the front. "We discussed it when you were out. We'll just stay out of sight for the time being. I'm sure we got most of them. But I'm sure we can take on the remaining Yeagerists."

Jean gave her a concerned look. "What's your plan?"

Pieck could not provide an immediate answer for that. There was no safe place for her in Paradis. She had no place to call home. It was crushed, flattened by the Titans. No one to come to and no one to come to her. The Yeagerists will either feed her to a fellow member or they'll just kill her outright.

Pieck's heart sank. "I'm not sure."

"I mean..I know everything has gone downhill..but..you can—"

"I said I'm not sure." Pieck said softly. "I'll see what happens."

She noticed that Jean's face was a bit flushed. "Um...you know Pieck, you can..still come with us…we are still allies. Still...you know...friends." Jean gestured vaguely, futilely, as his words failed to remotely resemble a coherent sentence.

But it didn't matter. Pieck seemed to understand what he was trying to communicate well enough, even though her face took on a peculiar expression stunned, and just plain awkward.

"Friends?" The sudden rush of memories hitting her directly in the chest as if it has been a physical blow. The images came easily to her; the blood-soaked battlefield, the sheer devastation of Wall Maria, the thousands of Survey Corps soldiers pulverized by Zeke's barrage of rocks.

All done by her and Zeke's hands together.

Four years later, Paradis returned with a vengeance by launching an raid on Liberio. Her and Jean attempted to kill one another, Pieck attempting to shoot him and his associates down, and Jean nearly killing her with explosive spears.

Allies. Friends. Pieck thought incredulously. The word had a decidedly odd ring to it. Days ago, she had formed an alliance with this man and his team in hopes of saving the world from the Rumbling. But now, all that is done now. They failed tremendously. But yet they are still on fair terms.

"Fire-forged friends." That figurative term flitted in the forefront of her mind. "I won't be much help anymore. I'll be walking around with a target on my back."

Jean nodded. "That's right," His fists clenched to the sides. "I'm just saying that you're still a good member to have, you know? We worked great back there and I'm sure that we can make it through all of this. We can hide out for a bit. Just try to find some peace, some normalcy."

"Normalcy." That word rang meaningfully in her heart. A rare commodity that was unreachable.

The overwhelming guilt permeated throughout her body. Hot, salty tears stung her eyes. "Jean, I appreciate your concerns. I do. I believe our alliance is over now. What's done is done. And honestly, I do not want to bring you and your friends any more suffering. I've done enough."

Before Jean could utter another word, Levi's loud voice broke through the air. "There's Paradis! Hang on, we're going to descend soon!"

Pieck and Jean met eyes once more, and there was a short look to one another.

Pieck could see a faint glimmer of newfound hope in his bright brown eyes. "Pieck, we just need to stick together, we'll figure it out."

NEXT CHAPTER WILL COME SOON. THIS IS A SHORT STORY. SO I HOPE YOU ENJOYED.