Part 59
Saved
"I gotta get back to the village!" Fury hissed to herself, as she galloped atop of a mounted horse towards the destruction that had been left behind by Rod Reiss. A single blaze of fire and debris was left behind in his trail. Screams coming from every direction. "Isaah. You better be okay, kid."
What was she doing? That was one of Fury's foremost thoughts. Going out of her way just to make sure that one specific individual was alive. Was she compensating for something? Flashes of Isabel and Farlan flooded within her memories. And not just them, but the old man too; Hexis. He asked her to give people a chance. In return, Fury simply told the dying man that she would try. Was this her trying?
Fury's horse then came to a sudden halt as she pulled back on the reins. Her hues had widened at the clear destruction in front of her. The village she spent her 4 years at was in flames, bodies scattered and broken on the hallowed ground. Parents still clinging to their children as a wave of scolding fire must have befallen them all.
It was all gone. And not only that, but simple minded Titans were now also surrounding the area, most likely eating any struggling survivors.
The village had avoided conflict from both Titans and people for many years. Yet now it was ablaze in ruin.
"Isaah!" Fury called out. Desperation in her voice as it cracked slightly within the call. Her legs forced her to walk forward as she dismounted the horse, pulling the animal behind her, as it was too unsettled to follow willingly.
Fury's eyes scanned for any movement.
"… please." Came the groan of a villager, trapped under debris. Fury darted her attention to the individual. But it was difficult to determine if their lower half was trapped under rubble, or if it was missing completely. "Oh god…. It h-hurts." The man reached an arm outwards towards Fury, who was stood still as she looked down at him. He was reaching out for her help and yet she knew nothing could be done. His lungs took its final desperate gasp of bloodied air and his body then fell limp. He died. However, it was doubtful that it was free of pain.
Fury kneeled down before the man's body, scanning him. She needed to calm her subconscious in thinking there may have been something she could have done. At closer look, the male's body was too disfigured. Moving him would have given him more pain than he was already dealing with.
Despite the drag of a Titan not too far away from Fury, and heading towards the walls, the world around her seemed quiet for all but a moment. Her horse then neighed sporadically as it then bolted from the startling screech that bellowed nearby, causing Fury to struggle between going after the horse or going towards the scream.
With Titans in the area, she whistled for the animal. However, it did not return.
Another scream rippled through the air. After taking off her ODM, due to no Gas left, Fury made the decision to run towards the child like panics.
"Get away!" The child's voice bloomed into a clearer sound as Fury sprinted towards the commotion. It was indeed Isaah, waving a burnt piece of wood in front of him as Titans were edging closer into backing him into a corner. As much as the boy allowed the panic to keep him alive, his hitched breathing shook him to the core and he froze. Pupils dilated as he awaited for his death to occur, though he tightly closed his eyes anyway.
And yet…
His death did not come. Groans of discomfort began to emit from the Titans around him. The uncomfortable noise, in which he's heard before, of their very muscles being twisted and churned from within.
"You get away from him, now!" Fury bellowed from behind them, her eyes bloodshot with a burning need to keep that boy safe. Better to have one survive than not at all. And because she was able to control the very flesh within these Titans, she forcefully made their bodies twist and become a mangled mess. The cracking of bones as their spines stretched and snapped.
The only problem was that her blade, in which she kept on her, was too dull to strike at all of their napes, since her encounter with Kenny had depleted most of her resources. Therefore, it would only be a matter of time before these Titans healed their bodies. "Isaah, come here!" She then ordered, keeping her focus on the suffering Titans before her.
"Aya!" Isaah bellowed, not quite believing she was there, saving him. The boy scurried over to her, wrapping his small arms around her waist, which caused Fury to take her eyes off the Titans so the she could push Isaah away from her. Because of this, the Titans were then free and were now beginning to heal.
Fury grabbed Isaah's wrist and began to run with him, back towards where Levi wanted to come meet with her.
"… You came back to look for me…" Isaah muttered as he was dragged behind the running Fury. Though, his still shaken hues did nothing but look up at her. "Aya… everybody is dead…"
Fury, still running, looked down at Isaah, seeing him stare up at her. Her expression grimaced. What horrors must he have seen? "The village… Everyone… All gone. My mother, too… I called out for help but… No one came, Aya. All I could do was try to hide. And watch as those Titans began eating anyone who was still alive."
Fury couldn't admit it, but she struggled to find the right words to reply with. Thundering strides were then starting to close in behind her as a single Titan was giving chase. Fury kept her eyes on the monster. It was too risky to come to a halt, just to try and force it to go the opposite direction. With the growing flames, it was attracting too much attention for other Titans in the area. Fury now had Isaah to think of. Yet, as she continued her sprint with the boy, a small memory flooded back to her. Clear as day, like the memory itself happened recently.
"So… what is it I call you again?" Isabel asked, being newly introduced herself. "Furry?"
"Furry?!" Fury hissed in disgust as Farlan began to snigger next to her, earning him a nudge to which he began to rub from the discomfort of it. Though the smirk remained on him. "No, it's just… Fury."
"Are you sure?" Isabel joked, grinning herself, though she could see how displeased Fury had become. "All we need to do is give you some fluffy ears and you'll definitely be a Furry to us then!"
"… Hilarious." Fury muttered, sitting back on the sofa and folding her arms. Her eyes scanning over at Farlan, who was struggling to stifle his sniggers. "So you've got jokes. They're not funny. But jokes nonetheless."
"Oh, come on. Lighten up!" Farlan shrugged, giving a wink at Isabel. "She made a mistake. Surely even you can laugh at that?"
"I'm laughing." Came the simple reply off Fury. "But on the inside only. Ha... Ha."
"Wow. Almost convincing." Farlan joked. "I'm proud of you… Furry."
Both he and Isabel broke out into a fit of laughter. Fury still sulked on the sofa, blinking slowly to express her unamused attitude.
"What's with all the noise?" Appeared Levi. It was unclear if he was just simply asking the question or if he was complaining about the laughter.
"I thought Fury was called Furry!" Isabel giggled, earning another bout of sniggering from Farlan. As the two of them continued to play on the joke, even Levi himself allowed a small grin to appear in his features as he took himself to start making some tea. Fury still remained in her sulk. And yet, it had been a while since she heard what genuine laughter sounded like.
Such a simple memory. Yet it was a happier one. One Fury could never forget.
"Why am I remembering that? Of all times… I guess they were silly and pointless days of the past. And yet, right now, it's all I can think of.
My friends. Family."
Fury inhaled. A simple smile formed on the corner of her lips as she gazed back down at Isaah, who was panicking at the Titan following them. "Oi, shithead. Listen to me." She told him, squeezing at his wrist to gain his attention. "Keep running. And don't you stop running until you reach a dishevelled church down the road from here. You don't look back, Isaah. You need to keep looking forward from now on.
I promise you… Someone will be there to help you. He might not be there right away, but you stay at that church until he is. Do you understand me?!"
"Yes, ma'am, I do!" Isaah exclaimed his response as Fury yanked him in front of her, pushing him off to keep running as she halted to deal with the Titan.
"I need to stop this troll from following; it'll give Isaah enough time to run ahead. But I can't just halt this fucker, I need to kill it."
Fury remained stood still. The Titan ebbing closer, reaching out its own hand in preparation to grab the female before it. She did not attempt to control it, and she made no attempt to do anything but grip onto a singular dull cutter that she kept on her being.
The Titan, now towering over her, began to lean down to grab Fury. The female emitted a deafening cry of anger as she acrobatically scaled up the Titan's body, balancing herself at its nape as the Titan itself began to flail its arms to try to shake Fury off.
Holding the dull cutter with both of her hands, Fury raised the blade into the air and began hacking away at the Titan's nape. Blood releasing in every direction, spraying her face as it began to emit steam from is dissolving attributes. The Titan roared in pain as the dull blade began to slowly tear through the skin. And though she wasn't using her Bloodborn abilities, Fury's eyes were vibrantly bloodshot anyway. Her teeth gritted against each other as her attack continued. Even after the Titan then collapsed to the ground, dead from having its nape completely removed, Fury still hacked away at the flesh. Screaming as she did so until she was ready to stop. Releasing all of her pent up anger and frustrations.
The body of the dead Titan began its decay as Fury sat atop its thinning body, breathing hard as she had destroyed her cutter. Only the handle remained.
She stood up, allowing the wind to travel through her hair before she jumped down off the Titan, wiping the cuff of her sleeve across her mouth as she tossed the cutter handle away from her.
Now all she had to do was catch up with Isaah, hoping that he did as he was told and would remain at the church, which held the entrance down into the crystal caverns beneath it.
