The eerie silence that engulfed the town was deafening. It was the same hush that haunted ghost towns and graveyards at night. It was laced with fear and it dangled you off a cliff; a second from death and a second from safety. The hiss of steam from the titans was all that pierced the air. It was as though time had stopped. Neither of the boys said anything. Both were horrified.

An explosion shook the city and the spell was broken. People ran around, screaming, and calling for loved ones. Jack and Hiccup glanced at each other before sprinting off toward the wall. Chaos had broken out. People and animals were everywhere but they were running in the same direction. A mother screamed for her child who got caught in the crowd and was ripped away from her. Jack grabbed Hiccup's hand and held on tightly. He did not want to be separated from him. They pushed and fought their way through the crowd until the bottom half of Wall Maria was in sight.

Around them, a little girl was screaming and crying for her parents until she was knocked over and trampled underfoot. A man ran through the crowds with a knife in hand. When anyone got in his way, he slashed them. A young woman, no older the twenty-five, took one last breath before jumping off the roof of a tall building. Her fresh blood joined the many others that painted the ground ruby. But neither Hiccup or Jack noticed this.

An old woman looked up calmly at the wall with empty eyes. She walked towards it slowly.

Through the clearing dust and steam, Jack and Hiccup saw a cyclopian hand pluck her off the ground like a doll and shoved her into a grotesquely large mouth. The snapping of her bones rang in their ears.

The wall had been breached. Titans walked among human's once more.

Jack looked up at the monster as it grinned and grabbed it's next victim. He froze in horror as he watched a screaming, kicking man go down it's throat as a bump.

Hiccup and Jack gripped each other's hands as tight as they could. In all this insanity, it seemed as though the other's touch was the only thing that kept them grounded.

Jack turned toward Hiccup, trembling. "We need to find Emma and our moms."

A high pitched scream interrupted them for a moment before being cut off. They both winced.

"We need to hurry." Hiccup readjusted his grip on Jack's hand and they nodded at each other. They ran through the crowd, taking care not to be separated. "My mom said she was going to do chores today. She should be at home. What about Emma?"

"S-She said something about picking flowers at breakfast." Had it only been half a day since then? It felt like another world.

"She'll be in the orchards then." Hiccup squeezed Jack's hand before letting go. "I'll look for our moms. You find Emma and meet us at the gate."

He opened his mouth to protest but closed it. Jack did not want to let Hiccup out of his sight; If they weren't together then he couldn't protect him. The sass mouth was his best friend and he'd be lying if he didn't say he knew what that feeling that squeezed at his heart was. Losing him would be more painful then death. But he knew that splitting up was their best chance of getting everyone they loved out safely.

"I will." He nodded. "Just... Promise me you'll be there." Hiccup started to say something but simply looked away.

In that moment, it fully hit Jack that there was a very real possibility that they would never see each other again. How much was and is going unsaid by them both. And that he couldn't bring himself to be the first to actually say something rather then just speaking. Jack had always thought that danger made confessing things easier but it wasn't. The confessions built up and become a jumbled mess, making the words crash together and fight, With a thousand things to say and all of them trying to come out, Jack found that he had nothing to say to Hiccup before they parted.

He couldn't say how he felt but he could show it.

Jack impulsively grabbed the front of Hiccup's shirt and pulled him close. He brought their lips together in a chaste kiss that made the tight feeling in his chest become molten lava. It dripped from his heart and became a storming sea in his stomach.

Jack pulled away and looked into Hiccup's wide green eyes. "Stay safe. We'll see you at the gate."

He turned and ran toward the orchard, leaving behind a very confused Hiccup.

Jack paused only for when he reached the edge of town. He gulped down some air and thank his lucky stars he hadn't encountered any titans. Then he sprinted as fast as he could down the small dirt trail that snaked through the orchard. A few stray titan's meandered around and picked up any spare souls who thought they could hide from them in a place where there are a few people. Screams filled the air. Jack left the trail when he saw a patch of flowers and kept looking. Whenever he came across a tree he'd look up at the branches incase Emma was hiding in one.

But as the patches of flowers grew further apart, Jack began to worry. Could she have-No. No, she couldn't have! Jack would probably find her curled up in a tree, shaken but alive. He just had to keep looking.

The ground near him shook and he saw the back of a titan facing him. Fear shot through him and he froze. It was so close. He was dead, that's all there is to it. One false move and the titan would hear him. He would never be able to see anyone he loved again. At least he had kissed Hiccup once.

God, how dramatic could he get? He wasn't going to die here. He couldn't.

Jack shook his head and slowly, silently backed away from the brut. It was uncomfortably close to him, but if he was quiet and didn't turn around, he could probably get out of this alive. His back ran into a tree and jumped away with a small gasp, his heart racing. He tensed and glanced back at the titan but it didn't seen to have heard him and was lumbering slowly away from him. He waited a moment before running toward another tree. The minute it took to get there was one of the most terrifying in his whole life. Jack hid behind it and paused for a moment, peeking to see if he'd been caught. It didn't seem like he had.

A small whimper and a choked back sob coming from above him made him jump. Jack glanced up and nearly passed out with relief. Emma clung to a branch of the tree with her eyes screwed shut and a sleeve pressed to her mouth to try to muffle her sobs. Her dress was ripped and scratches ran from her temple to cheek, but she was in one piece.

"Emma...!" He cried horsily. Her eyes slowly opened and she cried even harder when she saw him.

"J-Jack!"

"We need to get out of here. Can you get down?" She nodded. "Good." She crawled down the branch and trunk. They siblings fell in to each other's arms and Jack kissed her forehead. He pulled away and looked her in the eye. "We're going to get out of this alive, alright? Nothing's going to happen to you, I promise." Emma wiped away her tears and took a deep breath before nodding.

In that moment, everything was fine. Jack had seen death and heard people's last screams that day, but they were faceless. They were unknown beings with unknown personalities. Jack had no feelings invested in them. Their death only sparked his fear and his protectiveness for his loved ones. He couldn't mourn for the unknown's death while the known were still alive and in danger.

But that self-preserving mindset was a small glass wall of protection and the titans had destroyed Wall Maria. It was only a matter of time before the glass was broken too.

The ground beneath the siblings trembled. They looked around and found the source. The titan had heard them. It charged toward them, dead eyes bright with glutton and drool dripping down it's chin.

Everything wasn't going to be alright, was it?

Emma gripped jack's hand tight. "Jack... I'm scared."

He yanked on her arm and sprinted away from the titan with her in tow. "I know, I know." Jack tried to make his tone as calming as possible. "You're not going to get caught. Uh..." He scrambled for something, anything, to reassure her. What did he normally do to cheer her up? "We're going to have a little fun instead!"

"No, we're not!" Panic edged into he words.

Jack forced himself to laugh. "Would I trick you?"

"Yes, you always play tricks!"

"Alright," He muttered, thinking quickly. How could he turn this into a game? "W-Well not this time. I promise. I promise you're going to be fine. You have to believe in me." A thought occurred to him. "You want to play a game? We're going to play tag! Like we play everyday with Hiccup! It's as easy as 'You're it!'" He squeezed her hand and let go. "Ready?" She nodded. With a quick tap on her shoulder, he raced just ahead of her. "Tag! You're it!"

In that moment, everything was going to be fine.

"Hey! No fair!" Emma's voice was cheerful again. It was working! "You ch-!" She screamed as a hand tightened around her the titan had caught up to them.

"Emma! No!" Anger and fear coursed through Jack. He turned and ran toward the monster that held his sister captive. There was no plan, just fury that blinded him.

Emma was crying and screaming. She struggled against the hand and hit it with her clenched fists. They were the size of ants compared to the one that held her. If it wanted to, it could crush her to death in it's grip.

Jack stopped at the titan's feet. What could he do? What could he do? What could he do? His fury was engulfed by fear as the titan brought her to it's mouth. She was meters away from him. How could he help her? How could he help her how could he hel-

The titan opened it's mouth and shoved her in. It's teeth snapped her bones like toothpicks and blood spurted from her limp body. The scarlet liquid dripped down and chin and a drop fell to ground in front of Jack.

Jack felt sick. He felt faint. He covered his mouth and looked away, tears freely falling. A sparkle in the air caught his attention. It arched in the air toward him and landed at the titan's feet. Jack didn't even hesitate. He dove after it. He clutched it to his chest and ran away from the titan.

Hiccup wandered through the chaotic crowd around the gate. He felt hollow and heavy all at once. But he still wandered, looking for the one face that could make this nightmare just a little better. At least that's what the young teen told himself. Even though it as impossible, he found himself looking for a warm loving face that just couldn't be there.

Jack. Where's Jack. I need to find Jack. I can't leave without Jack. Where's Jack? Jack!

Hiccup felt weak and his steps were shaky. It had been such a normal day. How did it turn out like this? He left the crowd and slumped against the wall of a shop. He legs still wobbled.

Where's Jack? Did he find Emma? Or did the worst happen?

"H-Hic..." A house but relieved voice made him look up. Jack stood above him, bruised, scraped and covered in blood. But he was alive.

"You're safe." Hiccup slowly got up and embraced his friend. "You're alive." Jack wrapped one arm around him a buried his face in his shoulder. After a few minutes, they pulled away from each other but stayed close.

"Did you find our moms?" Jack held onto his last hope.

Hiccup bit his lip and looked away. "T-The street was crawling with titans. I couldn't- There wasn't-" Hiccup paused. "Where's Emma?"

Jack didn't even realize he was crying until Hiccup pulled him into a hug and his shoulder was soaked with his tears. They buried their faces into each other's shoulders and let it out.

When there were no tears left, they held hands as they walked toward safety. The kiss hung over them but it seemed they both agreed that this was not the time for such trivial things. This was the time for mourning.

TRUCIDATION

[noun]

slaughter; the act of killing.

A/N

This was a really hard chapter to write. I'm not 100% happy with it but this is as good as it's going to get for now.

What do you think so far? Am I staying true to Hiccup and Jack's characters and the Attack on Titan Universe?