My heart thumped like a drum against my chest, and each quake of the muscle sent tremors of absolute dread drudging through my body. The bright blue landscape and the yellow sapphire burning in the sky shone down on me, spreading warmth over the surface of my coffee-colored skin. The warmth didn't affect this cold feeling usurping my blood though, and the beautiful cerulean sky did nothing to ease my apprehension and fear. My breathing was heavy and quick-paced as I raced to wherever Eren was.
'A titan... Eren has transformed into a titan?' My mind raced at a million miles a minute, trying to gain even a fraction of understanding of the current situation. I couldn't come to terms with any of my non-coherent thoughts.
'Did he lie to me? Did he gain our trust, so we'd never suspect him of being a titan?' For some reason, the thought just didn't sit well with me. I know that all the soldiers, especially all of the cadets, are confused beyond measure right now. Even then, I don't quite care about their confusion. I've gotten so close to Eren, and we've been through so much together, that it physically hurts to think that he'd lie to me.
'Does he trust me at all? I could've kept his secret', but could I have? If Eren had confided in me that he was a titan, there's no way in hell I would've kept that a secret. There's no way in hell I could've prioritized whatever bond we've accumulated over the years, above the lives of everyone within these walls. So, in a way, I'm ecstatic that he never told me his secret because now I don't have to betray my best friend, I can just help him.
"Oi! Dinan. Over there" Captain Levi pointed out. Even the captain had a look of utter disturbance upon his face. How unfortunate is it that I had to meet Levi under such dire circumstances? Then again, any circumstance we'd ever cross paths because of would most likely be dire.
"There's Eren! I think he's getting ready to transform!" I screamed with unbridled excitement. Eren propelled himself through the air with nimble speed, his chestnut locks blowing in the wind wildly. And... to see him soaring so freely above the rooftops like that... he reminded me of a bird. He reminds-
"HE TRANSFORMED!"
A deafening crash boomed and rattled our eardrums, and we all waited in extreme anticipation to see what Eren's titan would look like. I can't believe it until I see it.
"AAAAHHHHHHHH". Eren let out a roar filled to the brim with fire and anger, and his electric green eyes settled onto Mikasa's cautious form on the roof. Then, he attacked her.
Eren began wildly punching in attempts to kill Mikasa, trying so desperately to connect his fist just once to bloody her to a pulp. Nothing could stop him from his mindless rampage, and Eren was so determined to kill her that he was willing to hurt himself.
Mikasa landed on Eren's face, trying to reach him beyond a threshold that nobody within the walls has ever even gotten the chance to cross.
"Eren! It's me! Mikasa! Pl-" Eren brought his fist up swiftly and smashed his face in. Thick, white steam flowed upwards from his face, and it resembled the low clouds that find their way down here in the dirty slime of the walls with us. Mikasa leaped out of the way with a quickness, but had she been a minute too late, she'd be pulverized meat.
"Mikasa! What does this mean for Eren?!" I shouted with worry. Was he dead? Did he kill himself trying to kill her?
"He's fine... he's fine. He came back from the dead... this won't kill him. He's safe in there." Mikasa said glumly.
"Well, somebody better figure out something quick because this kid was supposed to put that big ass boulder in front of the wall! What are we going to do without him?!" a random soldier screamed. A wave of unrest began to settle over everyone at the battle site, and I could tell that soon enough if the titans didn't get to us first, we'd all turn on each other. Everyone would turn on Eren.
Maybe, I could help, maybe I could do what Mikasa couldn't.
"Armin! Why do you think he's just sitting there unmoving? Did he knock himself out?" I shouted over to Armin. If I was going to help Eren, I had to know what was happening. I didn't want to hurt him.
"I theorize that he's not awake right now. He's not sensing himself in this titan body, it's like he's zoned out." Armin explained.
"So... if I can just wake him up...all of him, he could help us," I stated. I soared over swiftly to Eren's humongous Titan form, and I drew my blade.
"Oi! Dinan! It's not safe for you to be down there!" Captain Levi shouted. A certain type of fear was apparent in his tone, and it shocked me. I would have never expected him to care, but I also didn't expect him to know my name. I never told him it, and I wouldn't think a high ranking captain would keep tabs on lowly cadets. I guess there's a lot I don't know.
I wanted to heed his warning so badly because I respect him so much, but I needed to help Eren help us.
"I'm sorry Heichou, but I have to do this. We need him" I said.
"Fine, but there's no way in hell I'm leaving yo- a cadet down there by themselves." Captain Levi responded. He plopped down on Eren beside me, gave me a reluctant nod of encouragement, and I stabbed my blade straight through his body, praying that he would feel something and come back to me.
"Eren. Listen to me Eren. You're going to save us, okay? You're going to close up that wall and help us all. Listen Eren, we all need you, we need you so much. I need you. Please wake up Eren. It's me, Mahala, you remember? Do you remember..."
"Look Eren. Look at how pretty the sky is from up here." I said with wonder. Eren and I were partnered up doing work on top of the walls. We were 100 meters in the sky, and the view allowed him and I to see the green pastures of land and the apricot sky gleaming in the distance.
"It's so beautiful, isn't it?" I asked innocently. I looked beside me to gauge Eren's reaction to the beautiful canvas in front of us, but he was already looking at me. He smirked at me and finally gazed at the scenery.
"It is beautiful... it's so fucking beautiful," he whispered while shaking his head.
"And you know what else is fucking beautiful? This air. The air up here isn't nearly the same as the air down there. You don't even realize you've been inhaling literal shit until you've finally breathed in something real." he continued.
"I agree. I feel so free up here. I almost feel like a little bird." I said.
Eren gazed at me with curiosity dancing in his eyes.
"Why? Do you want to fly away from these walls, do you want to know what it feels like on the other side?" he asked inquisitively.
"I don't necessarily want to fly away from the walls, I don't even hate it here that much."I shrugged.
"I just... I just feel like the walls wouldn't be so bad if they only kept things out, you know? I'm grateful for the fact they keep those monsters out, but I don't want to always be kept in. That's what happened to Maria. People had nowhere to go, nowhere to run to, except inwards. What happens when the last wall falls? Then, where will we run?" I asked. I could feel myself getting emotional, but I wanted to tell Eren this. I loved talking to him.
"I guess I'd just like to be a bird... because it doesn't matter to them. When shit gets rough, they can just fly away. When shit isn't rough, they can just fly away! I don't even really envy that they leave, I just envy that they can. Does that make sense?" I asked unsurely. I felt like I lost Eren in there, but when I turned to look at him, his eyes were boring into mine and brimming with tears.
"You're beautiful Mahala..." Eren said crying. We did this a lot, getting emotional I mean. Wait, I'm beautiful?
"Your mind is beautiful. Your spirit is beautiful. Nobody else sees what we see. I can't talk to anybody else about these things, especially not Mikasa." he says. Ah, yes. Mention her while I'm up here with you, why don't you.
Eren turned me towards him and grabbed my hand, placing both our hands over his heart. He seemed to get ten times more serious within seconds.
"I promise you, Mahala. I will fight every day, every fucking day of my life, to make sure that one day, you can have the choice to leave these walls. And when that day comes, I'll be right there beside you. I put it on my life that I'll be there forever."
"So please keep your promise Eren! I need you. You're my best friend. I can't do this without you." I cried. Tears streamed down my face, and my eyes ached.
Eren's titan shifted and I leaped off of him. He gazed down at me with recognition searing in his forest eyes, and tears bled down his face. He heard me!
Eren grabbed the humongous boulder and heroically carried it to the hole in the wall.
"AAAAAAHHHHHHH!" and with that, he slammed it down, and I could feel the whole ground shuddered.
"WE WON! HE DID IT! FOR THE FIRST TIME, HUMANITY'S WON!" Every soldier present cheered and hollered and screamed and hugged. Eren was our saving grace.
I felt a delicate hand touched my shoulder, and immediately, I knew who it was. Captain Levi.
"Dinan. Let's go. After all of this is done, we need to talk."
Authors Note: Hello my friends! I wrote another chapter! And it's a long one too. The long section in italics is a flashback if you didn't understand. I am not one of those people that gets offended by feedback and I would appreciate it if you'd offer some where you see fit. Did you like the Eren x Mahala moments in this chapter? I wonder what Levi's got to say? I think this may be my favorite chapter so far. Please share your opinions and please interact with me. It lets me know that someone is reading what I put so much hard work into.