**written by: thesketchytepe**
10:37 PM
"'Get a room, you homos?'" Ymir spat as she slammed the door behind them. "Uh, you're kidding me, right? Whenever we get together with them, Reiner and Berthold are always the first ones to shove each other's hands down their pants in front of everyone. Don't even get me started at the noise—it's like two walruses fighting over a fishbone."
Historia skipped down the steps. "Did Reiner seem okay to you? He was a little quieter than usual."
"Like I fucking care if he's okay. He was probably in the middle of some inner soliloquy, wondering if he should kill himself or not. Geez, Hamlet much?"
"Ymir, don't be so harsh."
She rolled her eyes and grumbled as her hand instinctively wrapped around Historia's, her long legs easily keeping up with Historia's bouncing ones. It was now completely dark outside; singing crickets accompanied the crunching of leaves underneath their boots as they strolled through the dense woods around them. A chilly breeze whipped through the air, fluttering Ymir's long bangs in her eyes.
"Maybe we should've been more considerate of our surroundings," Historia mumbled to the floor. "This visit isn't about us anyway, you know. We're supposed to be here for Eren."
"But we haven't had time with each other in forever. We haven't had sex in, like, months. We never have time to do anything."
Historia was well into her business degree at college—she piled so many classes on top of her schedule in hopes of graduating early so that she and Ymir could take that Europe trip they'd been planning and saving for years. She spent all day at school attending lectures, working at the university's bookstore, and studying at every chance she got. Ymir saw no point in school and instead took a variety of odd jobs to raise money for that summer-long trip. She worked as a bartender at the local pub, controlled the giant saw at a warehouse for a lumber business, and, every once in a while, was a truck driver for transporting inventory to various retail stores. She sometimes had to leave the state for those and could be gone for up to a week before she saw Historia again. Those were always the longest and hardest days she had to go through.
"I know and you work really hard all the time." She squeezed her hand and smiled up at her. "Thank you for everything you're doing. It'll all be worth it in the end, I promise."
Though the darkness was beginning to mask everything, she could still see Historia's golden hair and bright blue eyes and shining white skin. She was a literal goddess and anyone who thought otherwise was obviously blind.
Ymir grinded her teeth and leaned down to nibble at Historia's ear. "Goddammit, you're so fucking adorable."
She giggled and lightly pushed her away. "No, stop. I have my earrings in."
As they wandered through the woods, Historia talked about her upcoming midterms and Ymir complained about her idiot coworkers. But the Europe trip quickly outshined those two boring topics. Historia mentioned all the places she wanted to visit—Paris, London, Florence, Madrid, St. Petersburg, basically the whole travel aesthetic on every white girl's to-do list—and Ymir commented on all the alcoholic beverages she wanted to drink. On the top of their list, however, was to have a picnic right in front of the Eiffel Tower. There was an open field for people to sit and take pictures of the iconic romantic tourist site and Historia really wanted to take advantage of it. Ymir thought of it only a couple of weeks ago, but she planned to propose to her at that very spot. She actually found the perfect ring the other day whilst running errands at the mall. She chatted with the guy behind the counter and he agreed to put it on hold for her during the weekend. When this whole therapy session for Eren ended and Historia went back to school, Ymir would pick up her paycheck at the pub and then head straight to the fancy jewelry place to purchase that beautiful ring for her beautiful girl.
Nervous about the whole proposing thing, she accidentally slipped the secret to Sasha. The girl could get you to talk, in Ymir's defense—she was so approachable and, in some ways, reminded her of Historia. Her bubbliness, friendly chatter, and big wondering eyes pried the plans out of Ymir.
"I'll rip out your jaw if you mention this to anybody, even Connie," she'd threatened, pointing a finger at her chest as if it were a dagger.
She zipped her lips shut and threw an imaginary key over her shoulder. "As if. Connie's more oblivious than the dog. I won't tell a single soul; I just want to help make this perfect!"
Sasha had sent her texts of all the things Historia liked and that she should bring to said picnic. Ymir already knew Historia's love of daisies, white wine, and the color purple, but now she heavily considered Sasha's suggestions. Where could she get the best white wine in France? How many bottles should she buy? Were purple daisies even a thing? The whole ordeal was growing more stressful with each passing day and she wasn't sure if Sasha was even being helpful at this point or just making it worse.
All she wanted was for Historia to say yes.
Ymir groaned dramatically, hoping to send her worries out into the crisp autumn air and away into the trees. "How far away is this love barn anyway?"
She frowned at herself for using Connie's coined term for Eren's family barn.
Historia glanced up and peered into the blackness. "Oh, I think I see it." She pointed ahead. "Is that it?"
Ymir stared until her vision adjusted to the tall dark structure several yards ahead. From what she could tell, it appeared like any other normal barn you'd see on a farm: short, square, and plain looking. Nothing special stood out about it, but it did look like one of the tiny windows adorned it was broken as if a baseball had flown through it.
"I guess," Ymir mumbled. "Doesn't look like a love barn though."
"Just like with everything else, it's the inside that counts."
"Ew, what Hallmark movie did you just step out from?"
Historia laughed and their pace quickened a little. Ymir swung her hand as Historia began skipping again like the Disney princess she was. Her long hair brushed against Ymir's leather jacket and she watched it sway to and fro.
And then a sickening snap echoed in the chorus of crickets as Historia's hair fell forward, pulling Ymir's hand down with her.
A blood-curdling scream escaped from Historia right before Ymir could trample onto the forest floor with her. Historia's hand slipped like butter through her fingers and Ymir caught herself before falling face-first. She whipped around to find Historia lying on the crushed leaves, her sunshine hair splayed out around her. Her eyes fell on her feet to see what she tripped over. It was hard to see at first—it blended well with the dead leaves and darkness—but she eventually discovered two steel jaws locked onto her left calf, dark blood soaking her jeans.
Ymir dropped to the ground just as Historia screamed her name, tears thick in her throat. "Oh my fucking God, is that a bear trap?" she gasped at the sight. Steel teeth dug into Historia's skin which were held back by two steel springs. She saw Historia's navy blue sneaker pushed against a small metal pad. A chain was attached to the trap and ran deeper into the woods.
"Ymir!" Historia yelled again. "Get it off! It hurts, it hurts so bad!"
As her leg wiggled around in the machine, Ymir noticed the jaws sink deeper into her torn jeans, metal screeching against each other.
"Wait, wait! Try not to move!" Ymir shouted, gripping her leg. "It'll get tighter the more you move!"
"But it hurts! Get it off!"
"Fuck…" Ymir whispered to herself. This was bad, this was very bad. More blood spurted from Historia's leg like a crappy water sprinkler. It was like a steel monster had popped out of the ground and was dragging her Historia into its hellish hole, merciless and cruel. Historia was small, smaller than frail little Armin, and by the looks of it, if she kept moving or Ymir didn't get this thing off soon, her leg would be drenched in blood and possibly chopped off.
"Ymir! Help me!"
"Okay, okay! I got you! Hold on!"
She gripped the sides of the steel jaws and tried prying them apart. But, holy shit, was this thing on tight. She grunted as she tugged and pulled, but it was all in vain; her fingers ached at all the strength she pushed into it.
"Shit!" she yelled at the trap.
She then went to the springs connected to the jaw. She wacked on it, shoved it, pulled, punched, pushed, did everything to those things, but nothing budged. She grabbed the chain beside it and yanked on that as well, hoping, praying to some higher power that it'd release its hold on Historia's life.
"No, no, no!" She dropped it and looked frantically around her. Her eyes eventually fell on the barn and an idea began to piece itself together.
"Alright, I'm gonna go to the barn," she told Historia, grabbing her shaking hands. "There has to be something in there to use to get you out. I promise I'll be right back."
A horrible look of despair fell across Historia's features. Wet tears stained her cheeks and her big blue eyes were the size of dinner plates. "What? No! Please don't leave me!"
"I have to, but it'd only be a second. I promise, Historia, I promise I'll be right back."
"B-But what about the others? Go get Reiner to get this thing off of me."
"We're closer to the barn than we are to the cabin. It'll be quicker this way."
Historia began to sob. "Ymir, please don't. Please don't leave me here! It's dark and cold and my leg hurts so much."
Ymir swallowed her own tears, trying her absolute best to calm both of them down. "I promise I'll be right back." She pressed a firm kiss to her knuckles. "I promise!"
As she untangled their grasp, Historia flailed her arms around, trying to hold onto Ymir while crying hysterically. "No, Ymir! Don't leave me here! Please!"
She tried not to look back as she sprinted to the barn, the sound of Historia's cries ripping her apart like a chainsaw.
In her mad dash to the barn, she tripped over her own foot but luckily caught herself before falling forward. What the absolute fuck! her mind screamed. What the fuck is a bear trap doing out here, in the middle of Jaeger's woods? Bears are hibernating now! What is that thing trying to catch?
She threw her weight against the door and grabbed the rusty doorknob. She cursed when it immediately didn't open; she wacked her shoulder against the wooden door twice before it finally creaked open. Inside was pure darkness; she stood frozen as she impatiently waited for her eyes to adjust to this new hellish void. It was one giant room with all sort of instruments hanging on the walls. She could see the vague shape of a lawnmower and a transformer tucked off to the right. Barrels of hay and giant piles of soil completely surrounded the room and it reeked of oil and rust.
Ymir squinted. What the hell? This is a literal barn. Why would Eren send us here if there's nothing but farming equipment here?
She decided to ignore the question for now and wandered deeper into the barn. Her eyes focused on the long metal sticks on the walls and other oddly shaped tools. Could any of these unhitch a bear trap? She had no way of knowing, especially when she couldn't see a damn thing.
Something light then brushed against her forehead; she snapped toward the air. She could dimly see a string hanging a few inches from her face and recede into the darkness above. A light switch—just what she needed.
She pinched the string and then yanked on it. A brilliant pain flashed through her fingers and set her body on fire. It blinded her, this unexpected fury, and shook her bones, fried her muscles, boiled her blood. It was so sudden that she barely had enough time to scream before the string slipped through her fingers and she landed on the floor with a hard thump.
The darkness once again swallowed her whole.