"Petra, move!" Oluo's yell broke through the freeze of panic that had engulfed her. Petra's eyes widened and her survival instincts surged up once again. Firing her grappling hooks upwards, she saw them sink into the nearest tree. Her body was yanked upwards and nausea shot through her at the abrupt vertical movement. Beneath her, the female titan's foot crashed against the trunks. The ripples of the motion chased her through the air, unsettling her.
She glanced back down at the gigantic blonde head disappearing through the woods, followed by a glimpse of Oluo shooting after her.
Only when she refocused her attention back to the rapidly approaching tree trunk did she realize she shouldn't have looked back. She was seconds away from collision.
Petra cried out as she attempted to turn her body and pull her cables back for a re-fire. She managed to do one of those things.
Her left arm took most of the impact against the tree instead of her face. Her entire left side, all the way from her knees to her temple, blazed with pain, insides rattling from the impact. She dangled in the air, her hooks still attaching her to the tree.
Her world spiraled into a blur of golden light and green shadows. It was all so mesmerizing, she reflected with a dazed smile, and all of her favourite colours as well. So, so pretty, she thought. So pretty. Hanna and Jaime would like these shades. Hanna could draw them. She reached out for them with her left arm and instantly, pain coursed through her, causing her to whimper. She lowered her arm and the pain began to dull a little.
She swung through the air as her vision battled to straighten itself out. The nausea began to creep up on her again, not helped by her decision to look down.
Which of course, is when her vision began to sharpen, allowing her to see the shapes of the trees and the distance between herself and the ground. The tree branches came into view, reaching out at intervals beneath her. Her head pounded and she let out another small groan as the sounds of the forest came back to her.
There was a distant rumbling, like giant footsteps and Petra began to remember. The beautiful, terrifying face appeared in the front of her mind, along with the bloodied images of Eld smacking against a tree, falling to the ground in pain, and Gunther, lifelessly dangling in the air like that. Her amber eyes widened and then narrowed as rage burned through her. Got to take care of her, for everyone… especially them.
As she dangled in the air, it seemed her body didn't agree. The throbbing in her temple and all down her left side was getting worse.
I need to stop for a moment.
With another glance at the ground, Petra felt her stomach lurch. She lifted her head up instead, further up the tree. A strange shadow stood out on the other side of the trunk from where the hook had embedded themselves. It was an unusual shape compared to the other shadows on the trees. Petra endeavoured to focus on it. Doing so was helping the remnants of her dizziness but the effort of doing so just invited her pounding head to worsen.
What was worse was every swing of her body was getting smaller and smaller, giving her less opportunity to investigate it.
I can't stay like this.
Dangling here was not an option even though it hurt to do anything else. She had to get to sturdier territory.
Hanging onto as much concentration as she could, she summoned both of the grappling hooks back to her, suspending her in the air. The whoosh of the hooks returning to her helped to focus her senses a little more. As she began to fall, she shot her hooks into one of the higher branches near the shadowy shape. Another unpleasant lurch as her body was propelled upwards. Bile burned its way up her throat which did nothing to distract from the aches in her head and body.
Forcing back any focus on her aches and discomfort, Petra passed the mysterious shadow shape on the trunk. As she landed on a branch above it, she recalled her cables and stumbled to her knees, her hands holding herself up on the branch.
The strange shadow was actually a hole within the tree itself. It was blackened as was the rest of the tree, going up, Petra realized with her dwindling focus. She scooted along the branch, trying to get a better look at the hole. Could I fit in there? It's like the space we found Ilse in.
She reached up to hold her head. She couldn't stay on this branch much longer.
Once again, she released her cables and watched the hooks burrow into the trunk above the hole.
She stood up and dropped off the branch, mentally preparing herself for the nausea as she did. There it was, the jerk around her navel, as the momentum carried her into the tree hole.
The darkness of the trunk greeted her as she landed, recalling the hooks as she did. Her body and temples throbbed in unified protest. Her concentration began to slip away like water, along with her energy.
I'll just rest here a bit. Just for a few minutes…then I'll be fine. Just let me catch my breath,
The nausea began to ease off as she lay still, taking deep, careful breaths. She closed her eyes and a low groan escaped her lips as complete darkness fell over her like a bed sheet. She wasn't able to hear the sound of her name being called not long after.
About four miles away from the forest, the Scouts gathered, their wagons loaded with what supplies they had left along with the wounded and what corpses they managed to retrieve. Officers walked grimly around exhausted, horrified soldiers, collecting the names of those present and those who were missing. Those well enough to ride and fight on, if necessary, knelt to the floor, making the most of this temporary reprieve.
Commander Erwin stood with Captain Levi and Squad Leader Miche listening to Miche list the current statistics of casualties and fatalities.
"So far there's no sign of the female titan following us yet, sir," he informed Erwin. "But I doubt she's going to let us rest for long."
"Indeed. No doubt she won't take as long to recover as we would," Erwin agreed. He gazed over the soldiers, many of whom had tired eyes, shining with tears. Some were fighting them back and others let them flow freely. His lips tightened in pursed sympathy. "We took heavy losses today," he remarked, "and there's no hiding it. We'll have to answer for it when we return. But there's nothing for that. Not without pointlessly sacrificing the rest of the Scouts, and Eren in particular, to try and save face." He rubbed one hand against the other. "Have everyone be prepared to leave in ten minutes."
"Yes sir," Miche nodded, gave a brief salute and strode off to deliver the message.
Erwin turned towards Levi, noting the smaller man's silence and stiffened stance. "I'm sorry about your squad, Levi. It's a relief that not all of them were lost today."
Levi remained still, his expression emotionless as he held Erwin's gaze. "They served our cause with everything they had. No one can ask any more than that." He glanced over towards one of the wagons where a somewhat cleaned Eren was being loaded onto the injured wagon alongside a barely conscious Eld.
"No," Erwin agreed. He turned his watch onto the forest in the distance. "We'll make that titan pay for all the good soldiers we lost today."
"I'll gladly take that bitch out myself," Levi agreed. For a moment, he continued to eye the forest. Despite his emotionless expression, Erwin could read the loathing in Levi's eyes as he regarded the last known location of their enemy.
"I don't doubt it," Erwin stepped up to the raven-haired man. He placed a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sure you'll have another chance."
The captain's shoulder tensed beneath Erwin's fingers. "Next time I won't be leaving her breathing," he muttered darkly.
"You had to, on this occasion," Erwin's voice was hard. "Keeping Eren alive and in our custody was priority."
"Of course, sir." Levi's tone was extremely curt.
In those words, Erwin could hear the bitterness of the Underground thug who'd ravaged a titan in revenge for the deaths of his best friends, who had been so consumed by it that he'd foregone all pretense at being a good soldier and just taken his chance at murdering Erwin. Here he was again, faced with the loss of more comrades, people he'd handpicked and fought with for years. It wasn't difficult for Erwin to share the man's rage at the injustice of it all.
"We'll get justice for the lives of everyone who was sacrificed today," Erwin promised. "Their sacrifice won't be in vain."
Levi said nothing. A long stretch of silence fell between the two men before he began to walk away from Erwin. "I'll go and get the brats ready to go," he muttered. Erwin watched him stride towards the horses where many of the newer recruits were talking and adjusting saddles and stirrups.
The sound of approaching hooves, diverted the commander's attention yet, out of the corner of his eye, he saw Levi pause and look back, over his shoulder.
Two soldiers, Moblit and Jean of the 104th, brought their horses to a stop in front of the commander and instantly dismounted.
"Commander, Captain," Moblit stepped forward with his fist across his chest. "We searched what we could of the forest without getting too close to the titans."
"And you found no one else?" Erwin assumed.
"No, sir. There was a lot of blood but no signs of those who were flagged up as missing outside the forest. Unless they managed to escape on horses and have had to take a shortcut, it looks like they may have been eaten."
Erwin nodded his head once. "Thank you for trying. We can only hope they've just been delayed. They know to head back to Karanes district. It's not safe for us to wait here for much longer." He straightened up a little. "Get some water for your horses," he gestured to the two soldiers, nodding towards a nearby stream cutting through the countryside like thin ribbon. "We leave in ten minutes."
"Yes sir."
When Erwin looked back round towards Levi, he was already closing in on the new recruits.
Petra's eyes blinked open to a dull ache in her head and her left side. There was a comforting stillness in the air, cool against her face. She groaned a little, letting her eyes adjust to the contrast of light and darkness that met her attention. Shadows hovered over her lower body as well as forming a dark crescent around her. However, her head and torso were bathed in moonlight pouring in from above her. She winced under the light and turned her face away.
Beneath her, she could feel the crunching of dry leaves whenever she shifted. Her odm gear was still attached to her, she noted vaguely as more awareness returned.
Where the hell am I? She reached up to rub at her aching temple with her left hand. The muscles in that arm complained at once, throbbing at the movement. Petra lowered her hand again. What happened to me? She lay there, catching her breath and waiting for her memory to catch up with her.
Unfortunately, it didn't take long. It came back to her in a flurry of devastating images: Gunther's death, Eld's broken body, the female titan bearing down on her, that painful collision and then landing in this strange hole in the tree.
Taking care, Petra began to roll onto her right side. The left side stung with the movement but it was manageable. She completed the roll onto her stomach and stared up at the moon that shone through a gap in the canopy of tree tops. It's night… she realised as she took in the silence of the forest. No rumbling footsteps in the distance. No shouts of comrades. Just the low hum of the wind and crickets. It was like the world had gone to sleep, like the expedition had never even happened.
Panic began to seep into her mind. What happened to everyone else? Did they get slaughtered? Did they manage to catch the female titan? Did they go home? Where were they? Was she the only one left? Had they moved on? Was there anyone left to move on? Had they left her behind because they thought she was dead?
Petra stifled a whimper against the back of her hand. She felt six years old again, when her parents had left her with a neighbour for the first time to go to the hospital so her mother could give birth to her sister. She'd hated that feeling of watching them leave, feeling like they were abandoning her. Thinking of that made Petra scoff at her own childishness. It was stupid to think of that now. She was a grown woman and no one would have left her behind if they could have managed to help her. So either they couldn't save her without getting someone else killed or they didn't think she was alive. Or they all died…
Forcing her thoughts away from that idea, she carefully scooted back, further away from the hole, and pushed herself into a sitting position. Once more, the effort sent some aches through her body although they didn't feel as bad as earlier. She just needed to gather her strength.
She took a few deep breaths and fought against the cold, jittery feeling in her chest, working its way into a tighter, painful sensation. Her stomach was stiffening up too which only served to stir up the earlier feelings of nausea. Against her will, a voice in the back of her mind began to shout. You're going to die. This is it. This is your time. You've finally run out of luck. This is the end. Her fingers trembled against her thighs that ached from the weight of her blade boxes.
More images appeared in her mind, one after another, picking up pace as they did. Each image was agonizingly vivid.
A member of the Scouts, likely the Captain, sitting her parents down and breaking the news. She could practically hear her parents sobbing and holding each other as they tried to get their heads around the fact that their daughter was gone forever- that her decision to join the Scouts had ended exactly as they feared it would.
There they were, in the next scene, trying to put on a brave face as they sat her three little sisters down - probably around that rickety old table she kept begging them to get replaced and use the remains for firewood. Her sisters' small, round, and confused faces not quite processing or comprehending what they were told. Oh but Jaime would break first, would be the quickest to grasp the situation, just like she had when their grandfather died. Hannah would cotton on, by Jaime's reaction, forever taking her cues from her. Celeste would be the hardest to explain too. Even now, she still sometimes called for Grandpa.
The final image was like a kick in the teeth on top of other kicks in the teeth. The captain walking away from the house alone, the image of stoicism, disappointment radiating from his narrow grey-blue eyes. Grim acceptance that death had come to surround him again. Petra longed to reach out and pull him back, to shout, "I'm here! I'm alive!" But his image in front of her faded like smoke, just like the other images.
I can't remember the last time I told my family that I love them, she realized with chest-crushing guilt.
As for the captain… well, telling him had never been a real option had it? He was her commanding officer, after all. As barriers went, that was a pretty solid one. But even so, she already missed the way he set her less dangerous tasks (even if she did protest back then).
Her shoulders began to shake as the weight of the day settled over her, pressing down on her until her emotions spilled over. Her sobs started off quiet and the tears rolled down her face in fat droplets, tickling the sides of her nose and sliding down the dips between her cheeks and lips. They dropped onto her neck and slid down to her shirt. It was like the turning of a tap.
Droplets turned into screams and sobs turned into soft wails as Petra tumbled into her own despair.
