A/N - Holy S*! Already got a few views not even a day after uploading! I should have posted here in the first place.

Since people are actually finding this story here, I'll go ahead and post as many of the chapters I already have finished, as I can.

I do have a requests though. If Anyone of you know how fast Dragons mature in Inheritance Cycle, please P.M me or leave a review.

Also, here's a speech guide for future reference.

"Talking"

"Telepathic Speech"

Thoughts

"Translated From The Ancient Language"

Thank you for reading my story and I hope you enjoy. :-)

Wings Of Freedom

Chapter 2

Eren breathed heavily as he ran for his life through the grassy fields. His vision obstructed by the thick fog, but he could clearly hear the THUMP...THUMP...THUMP of the Titan chasing after him.

Eren ran through bushes full of thorns and was cut up a little, but powered through it as he kept running but the Titan continued to gain ground on him. Eren's foot caught on something and he fell. He looked up at the Titan as it came into view through the fog and his eyes widened in horror "no" he said with fear as he looked up into the grinning face of the Titan that killed his mother. Eren screamed and covered his head as the Titan stomped towards him and he waited for the end.

But it never came, and Eren looked up in confusion to see that the Titan had walked right over him and was continuing on. Eren didn't have time to be shocked or confused by the Titan's behavior though, because he saw the Titan's intended target "no!" Eren yelled as he tried to get up and run after the Titan, before it could reach his house. Eren tried to rise to his feet, but he was pulled back down by whatever had tripped him. Eren looked down and froze for a moment before screaming at what he saw. A decaying hand, was sticking out of the ground and holding him by the leg.

Eren tried to pull free, but more hands shot up and gripped him tightly. Eren screamed some more as he tried to wrench himself free, but the hands wouldn't let go "why..." a raspy voice called out and Eren froze again "no...please god no" he begged as he looked down in horror and the body of the first hand, pulled it's self up, reviling the dead and decaying form of Carla Jaeger.

Eren stared in shock at his dead mother as she pulled herself up closer to him "why didn't you save me?" she rasped out and Eren started crying "no, I...I'm sorry...I tried" Eren chocked. Carla's face seamed to loose whatever life it had left as she looked at Eren with dead eyes "you failed" she said and Eren started sobbing "please, I didn't mean to...I..." Eren tried to speak but the words died in his throat. Eren then stiffened as Carla pulled herself up so she was face to face with Eren and whispered "your failing now".

Eren gasped and turned to see the Titan ripping the top off his house and he heard Armin and Mikasa scream as it pulled them out "NO!" Eren yelled as he tried to brake free and run to them, but the hands of the dead, berried beneath him, tightened their grip and pulled themselves up, revealing them to be his neighbors from Shiganshina, and Armin's grandfather, and everyone he'd left behind on that boat so he and his friends could escape.

Eren screamed as they held him down and forced him to watch the Titan eat his friends "Eren, how can you hope to save them, when you couldn't even save me? You can't even save yourself" Carla said and Eren continued to scream as the dead held him down "Eren" they all called out.

"EREN"

"EREN"

"Eren!" Mikasa yelled and Eren shot awake, breathing heavily as sweat ran down his face and soaked his clothes. Eren blinked a few times as he got ahold of his senses. His hands, arms and legs, were cut up a bit, and a little of his blood was running down the sharp rocks in the cave they were in, and Armin and Mikasa were holding him down tightly, in an attempt to control his nightmare induced thrashing.

Eren's breathing finally slowed and he looked up at his friends "A-Armin...Mikasa?" he said, still a little in shock from his dream. Armin and Mikasa sighed with relief as they let go of him "it's alright Eren. It was just a dream" Armin told him as he rubbed the cuts and bruises on his own hand, from trying to hold Eren still. Eren felt guilt rising in him and he looked down at the floor and silently cursed himself. This was the third time he'd had that same nightmare. It had been three days since Wall Maria fell, and they were barely holding it together. They had been on the run the whole time, with little to no food or water, and hardly any sleep on account of Eren's nightmares. It didn't help that they were trying to sleep during the day ether and move at night. Armin had noticed early on that Titans only moved during the day and seamed to be incapacitated at night, and so they developed a schedule of moving at night, and trying to find safe places to hold up and try to sleep during the day.

Eren sat there for a moment with bags under his eyes, and he glanced up to see the others in a similar condition "I'm sorry guys" he apologized and Armin looked to him with tired eyes "don't be. We're all dealing with this in our own way" he said but Eren continued to look down at the floor in shame.

The earth shook as a Titan walked by their cave and Armin glanced down at the small hole in the wall, next to the ground and saw sunlight shining through "we still have a while before sunset, so we better try and get a little more sleep" he said as he laid back down. Eren wasn't so excited for sleep though. He was afraid he'd have that same nightmare again, but he needed sleep badly, so he too laid down and attempted to rest.

[Elsewhere]

Roy sat atop Wall Maria, panting as he looked down at a scorch mark on the ground in shock. Thalia draped a wing over him while growling at the very same spot. A scorch mark she created when the Titan that once stood there attempted to eat Roy.

The Rider rubbed the spot on his chest where the Titan's molars had attempted to crush him in half. Thankfully it didn't make it through his wards, but it was still traumatizing "what the hell was that thing?" Roy asked and Thalia snarled at the incinerated remains of the Titan "I don't know, but I can smell more of them all around" she warned, then glanced down at her claws with blood evaporating off them "it healed impossibly fast too. My claws were practically useless against it" she snorted with anger and Roy grimaced as well, as he remembered it healing after Thalia clawed and crushed it into a bloody mass of flesh.

Roy then grunted as he stood up and walked to the other side of the wall and looked down at the destroyed city below. The Rider stretched his mind down to the city, but found no one alive "whatever these things are, they've clearly been around for a while" he said as he looked up at the rest of the wall "long enough for people to build defenses against them" he continued. Thalia turned around and joined her Rider "I fail to see how a people capable of surpassing the Dwarves in construction, could fall prey to mindless abominations such as these" the Dragon commented.

Roy sighed "what makes you think they're all mindless like the ones down there seamed to be" he said while eyeing the busted gate "besides, look around you. What do you see?" the Rider asked and his Dragon eyed the wall "an impossibly large wall that shouldn't exist" she deadpanned. Roy shook his head "yes but what's in the walls?" he asked while looking down at all the destruction "cities an towns. Judging from things, this wall has probably stood for hundreds of years, and what happens when something people rely on, stands for that long?" Roy asked with bitterness and Thalia growled as she caught on "they get comfortable with the status quo" she answered with equal bitterness and Roy nodded "it's just like Vroengard and the Order. Some people may want change, but most likely the ones in charge didn't want to risk changing anything, and so they were unprepared when this happened" Roy explained while looking over the ruined city, his bitterness over the fall of Vroengard leaking into his voice.

Thalia growled as she looked over the wall with a more critical eye and noticed the lack of defenses. No archers, no catapults and no wards. It was just a wall and it seamed everyone relied solely on it's size to protect them. Thalia sniffed the air a little "Judging by the smell of the blood and the lack of decay, I'd say the wall was breached about three days ago, around the time we arrived here" she said and Roy clenched his fists as guilt built inside him. Thalia nudged his side "you said it yourself, we where too weak to help anyone after our fight with the Shade, and we've only just now recovered enough to leave the cave we've been hiding in" she told him and some of the tension left her Rider, but not all. Roy then turned and looked out towards the interior of the Wall and stretched his mind out as far as it would go "I still don't feel the egg" he said and Thalia's head drooped a little "neither can I" she admitted with shame. Roy hummed in thought as he gazed further into the Wall "then let's head further in. If there are any refugees, they might have mistook the egg for a precious stone and grabbed it on their way out" he reasoned.

Thalia snorted in agreement as she lowered herself down and Roy jumped up in the saddle and the two flew out to Wall Rose.

[Back With The Others]

"AAAGGGHHH!" Eren screamed as he shot awake "Eren!" Armin called as he ran over to his friend and put a hand on his shoulder "hay, are you ok?" he asked. Eren didn't answer and simply stared at the ground for a moment "yah...I'm fine" Eren finally answered while running a hand through his hair and gripping his head damn it. Get it together Jaeger Eren thought to himself as he gripped the soft grass with his free hand.

Eren's eyes shot wide wait, grass!? he thought with horror and gasped as he looked around at the open, moonlit field "what!? Why are we out in the open!?" he asked in a panic. Armin gave his friend's shoulder a firm squeeze "calm down, we still have time before the sun comes up" Armin assured him but Eren looked up at Armin with worry "what happened?" he asked, the bags under his eyes making him look a little unstable. Armin sighed "you passed out from exhaustion while we were moving" he explained and Eren looked at Armin with horror damn it! I put them in danger because of a stupid dream! Eren scalded himself.

Armin noticed Eren's condition "hay, we're all not sleeping well. If you hadn't passed out then one of us would have" he said, knowing full well that he was about to do the exact same thing before Eren did. Eren still continued to stare at the ground though with a scowl and Armin sighed "anyway, Mikasa went on ahead to look for a place to hold up while you rested" he explained. Then right on cue, Mikasa walked up out of the tree line. She then froze when she saw Eren awake and then sprinted to him "Eren!" she called and fell to her knees next to him.

Eren recoiled a little, but then scowled at the ground again "I'm fine Mikasa" he said, still feeling guilty. Mikasa looked a little hurt by his reaction and looked at him with worry. Armin noticed the tension and decided to change the subject "Mikasa, did you find anything?" he asked and Mikasa seamed to snap out of it a little "yah, I found a cave down by the river and some supplies in an abandoned house, but we need to move now if we're going to make it by daybreak" she answered. Armin nodded "let's get moving then" he said as he stood up then offered a hand to Eren. Eren looked at the offered hand for a moment, then grimaced and looked away and rose on his own "yah, let's go" he said, a little bitter.

Mikasa and Armin looked at him with worry for a moment "alright" Armin said, a little dejected and concerned for his friend as Mikasa lead the way.

Mikasa lead them to a small cave on the river. The entrance was low to the ground and they had to crawl to get in and the floor was flooded with an inch of water. Eren felt his shocks getting soaked as he stood there, crouched so he wouldn't bump his head on the ceiling. He then gripped his stomach as it began to growl "how much longer can we keep going like this?" he muttered to himself as he felt his fatigue eating away at him.

Armin looked down with dread as he slid down to the floor "I don't know. In our current condition, I doubt we'll make it much farther, and I'm pretty sure we've been walking in circles a little, with how sleep deprived we are" he admitted and rubbed his baggy eyes. Mikasa then looked to her pack and swung it in front of her "well, I might be able to help with one of those" she said and pulled out a few stale roles of bread.

Eren and Armin's eyes widened as they stared at the food with a little shock. They then devoured it with zeal and it was gone in the blink of an eye. The three of them then slumped against the wall of the cave and sighed in content. They were still very hungry and were starting to look it too, but it was something. Eren closed his eyes and let his hands fall to his sides in the water, trying to enjoy something in the nightmare that was his reality. Then he felt something smooth, brush against his hand. Eren opened his eyes and looked down at whatever it was and gasped at what he saw.

Mikasa and Armin noticed and looked to him in worry "Eren, what's wrong?" Mikasa asked and Eren picked up what he found "guys, check this out" he said and held in front of him, what appeared to be a large, red stone, with silver veins. Armin and Mikasa, also couldn't help gasping a little at it. The stone was beautiful and sparkled in what little light leaked into the cave "wow" Armin breathed as he ran a hand over it's smooth and polished surface "weird, it doesn't feel like a normal stone, but then again, I doubt this thing was polished naturally" he commented "yah, but I didn't think rocks like this, got this big" Eren added as he turned it over in his hands "I didn't think they did ether. It must be worth a fortune" Mikasa added. Mikasa then arched an eyebrow and tilted her head to get a better look at the stone "it looks almost like a-"

BOOM!

Mikasa was interrupted as the earth shook and a little dust and some pebbles, fell from the ceiling. Eren look up as he heard the booming and he groaned a little "looks like the Titans are moving again" Armin commented and looked up, hoping the cave wouldn't collapse under the weight of a wondering Titan. Mikasa tried to settle in on the wet floor "well, we better try to get some rest" she said and Armin nodded in agreement. Eren involuntarily gripped the stone tighter though as dread filled him. He didn't what to go to sleep. He didn't want to live through that nightmare again.

Eren sighed as he released the tension in his body and set the stone down and settled in. There was no point fighting it, all he could do was endure. Eren cast one last look at the stone before drifting off to sleep. In a way he wished he could take it with them. It was unique and something about it seamed to almost speak to him. But they couldn't afford to carry the extra weight and it would just slow them down what good would a rock do for us anyway? Eren thought as he banished the idea and fell to sleep. Though if he had stayed awake a little longer, he might have heard the faint squeak, coming from inside the egg.