Edge of Hell - Connie x Sasha

By Nemi-Chan from the satanicsix writing group~

Nemi's Note: I do not own Attack on Titan. This is a fic for the pairing "Springles" or Connie x Sasha. Rated M for horror. Please enjoy! xNemi

"Sasha." The girl looked up from her 3DMG to look at who addressed her.

"Hi Connie!" She smiled widely. "Hey, uh… When we get back home from the mission, I… I wanted to ask you something," Connie said, his fingers traveling to his pocket where the necklace was being kept. He had saved up to buy her something for today, the day when he would tell her his feelings. I hope she likes the necklace, Connie thought, that's the kind of thing girls like, right?

"Alright, sure!" said Sasha as Connie knelt beside her to put on his 3DMG. Today, the Survey Corps was scouting out another route possibility to reach Shigashina. As they finished, Commander Erwin shouted the order for departure and Connie and Sasha mounted their horses.

"See you soon," said Sasha as she headed over to her position in the formation. Connie nodded and sighed shakily. There was always a chance that he wouldn't see her later… The Corps departed on their horses. It was a short ride to the gate, Connie was glad. He always felt uncomfortable when the people on the street lined up to stare at them. The gate opened and soldiers filtered through, picked up speed. The wind whipped around them as they flew across the grass, heading north. Connie looked around at the endless mass of hills and trees, a sight he always wondered about when he was younger. Now, whenever he saw this view he knew it meant that several of his comrades were headed to their death. He pulled his eyes away from the vast landscape and looked across the formation. Each person he looked at either had lowered, glazed-over eyes, and looked hopeless, or they had widened, frightened expressions, intent on staying alive. It's sad, Connie thought, that we've dropped this low. We're standing on the edge of hell.

The wind howled through the formations and Connie was lost in thought. Everything was a blur at the fast pace, Erwin yelling directions and the pounding of hooves. Time and noise seemed to stop when a red flare was fired on the East flank.

"Titans," Connie said to himself, his breath catching. Death, he thought, As if I haven't had enough of that in my lifetime. He gritted his teeth and clenched his fist. His fear during these moments on previous missions wasn't occurring this time. This time it was sheer anger. Connie was pulled out of his thoughts as two more red signal flares were fired on the west and southwest sides of the formation. Connie looked around with widened eyes to see his comrades faces of pure fear.

Suddenly the formations scattered as two aberrant titans burst from the forests in to Connie's formation. Shrieks came from everywhere as they stampeded straight through the ranks. An aberrant kicked a soldier off of his horse and Connie had to duck to avoid his lifeless body. His eyes wild, Connie breathed shakily.

"ONWARD!" Erwin bellowed. Where are the soldiers that are supposed to kill these?! Connie thought as another soldier was crushed. His mind went blank and his body took over. Before Connie had time to think he had positioned his 3DMG and had hooked straight on to one of the two aberrants necks. He flew from his horse over the now-unorganized ranks and drew his blades. Whatever the fuck I'm doing, all that matters is that this thing dies! Connie swung his blades at the titan's nape and he felt them drive deep into it's flesh, steaming titan blood spraying across his uniform. The ranks moved out of the way as the aberrant crumpled. Connie let out a sigh of relief as he ran to his waiting horse and hurried to catch up with the formation. He noticed that another soldier had taken out the other aberrant. Commander Erwin was a few feet away from him, and Connie felt a bit of pride when Erwin turned to him and nodded.

The Survey Corps exited the more forested area into an open field and the East and West flanks joined with the center flank. They seemed to have taken care of the titans that they encountered, though there we some horses missing their riders. Connie was extra relieved when he spotted Sasha's reddish brown hair in the Eastern formation. He saw Erwin tuck a map into his jacket and fire a green signal flare to change course. It relayed down through the formation. Connie, being near the center and front, looked behind him and saw several columns of green smoke above their mass of soldiers. The flank veered west, followed the Commanders lead.

Connie lost track of time as they flew across the vast lands. He was staring at the hooves of the horse in front of him when screams echoed through his ears. He jerked his head up and saw titans- masses of them- sprawled out ahead of them. There was no way of going around. Erwin fired a red flare, signaling titans were spotted, then a purple straight after. Emergency.

"We go through them!" He shouted. "Kill and fight at once if necessary!"

"Oh, it's going to be necessary," Connie stammered, readying his blades.

Everyone was silent.

"CHARGE!" Screamed the Commander.

The horses sped towards the mass of titans. Forget being on the edge of hell, Connie thought, We're right in the middle of it. The ranks breached the titans and organization was lost right away. The soldiers scattered. Connie was lost in a blur as he heard the thuds of titans dropping dead yet also the screams of his fellow comrades. An eight-meter loomed in front of him and Connie hopped from his horse, maneuvering his gear straight to the nape and killing it with a clean slice before hopping back onto his horse. The soldiers around him zipped through the titans, occasionally jumping up to kill. They were leaned forward and had intent expression yet he could tell everyone was feeling true terror. Connie made the mistake of looking behind him, only to see a mass of dead titans, dead people and soldiers soaring through the air to save kill their life-threatening opponents. Mangled, bloody parts scattered the field. He gasped and felt a lump in his throat, but everything escaped from his mind as a scaly hand wrapped around his torso and he looked up into the unchanging expression of a titan.

"N-no… NO!" He shrieked. Connie's mind went blank and all he could think of was that he had to get to Sasha. She was all that mattered any more.

"I am NOT dying today!" He screamed. Connie used his free arm and wiggled his blade into his hand. The titan started to squeeze him and he gagged and screamed, his body shaking.

No, he thought, NO! And stabbed the blade deep into the titans wrist. It let go of him but he used his gear to maneuver around it's body and sliced it's neck. The titan dropped dead as Connie hopped on a random horse.

I am not dying today. I have to live, for Sasha.

But every muscle in his body tensed up when he heard the scream.

"CONNIE!" Sasha shrieked.

A 12 meter class titan had grabbed her around the torso. She couldn't even turn to see it's face, it had grabbed her so she was facing the battlefield they had passed through, still littered with fighting soldiers. Sasha reached her only free arm out shakily.

"SASHA!" He screamed as the titan dropped her into it's mouth.

"C-Connie!" She sobbed as she disappeared into his throat. She's not dead, Connie told himself, She can't be dead. All of the times he spent with her flashed before his eyes; the cooking competition, training, helping her steal food, causing trouble with her, jointing the Survey Corps… Before the titan could close his mouth Connie used his 3DMG to jump straight into it's throat.

He fell through the darkness. Two years ago he would have been terrified, but he had grown and gotten stronger since then. And now, if Sasha was going to die, she wasn't going to die alone.

"Sasha!?" He called out. He heard and gasp and some sobbing.

"C-Connie…" Sasha said. "Connie why are you here!?"

He took a deep breath. "I came to because I didn't want you to die alone." More sobbing was all he heard. All of the sudden, Connie's eyes adjusted and he caught his breath. They were standing knee deep in pure stomach acid. And if that wasn't bad enough, the bloody, mangled body parts of dead soldiers were floating around them. Connie let out a cry of terror. This was well beyond a nightmare. Sasha must've seen it too because he crawled out of the darkness crying. Connie wasn't used to seeing a usually happy and beautiful Sasha look like this. She was covered in her own blood and her body shook with terror. It made Connie so angry to see her like that.

"This is hell!" She wailed as she stumbled across the titans stomach. Connie quietly walked through the corpses around them towards Sasha and embraced her. He wrapped his arms around her trembling body and she pressed her face in to his shoulder crying.

"I know," he said. They sunk to the ground clinging to each other.

"Sasha?" Connie asked, "Remember earlier when I said I wanted to tell you something when the mission ends?"

Sasha looked up at him, "Yeah, I remember," she whispered.

Connie gritted his teeth and hugged her tighter. "I'm still going to tell you something when the mission is over." He pulled out his blade and stabbed it into the wall of the stomach. A small bright light shone through the whole and cast sunlight across their faces. Sasha's eyes widened, and her face seemed to come back to life a little bit. Connie smiled the way he does, showing all his teeth. Ambition in his eyes, he dragged his blade across the wall of the stomach carving a hole in the titan. It's roar of anguish pierced their ears.

"Out before it regenerates!" Connie yelled. Sasha scrambled to her feet and jumped out. She aimed her 3DMG at the ground about 20 feet away and zipped across the field, followed directly by Connie. Corporal Levi and Squad Leader Hanji were riding by and their eyes widened when they saw the kids crawling out of the stomach. Connie smiled widely at the two more experienced soldiers as he flew across the grass.

Sasha screamed with joy as she pulled Connie with her up onto a horse and they sped off to join the main formation. "Thank you!" She hugged him from behind as the rode through the hills. Connie turned around and saw her smiling at him and grinned back.

The rest of the mission went as planned. Though he was glad he and Sasha made it out alive somehow, the casualties were high. From their position in the back of the group the two saw a yellow flare in the sky, signaling that the mission was a success and that they were to head back to the walls. The ride back Connie and Sasha rode in silence. They passed by Jean who made eye contact with Connie and rose his eyebrows. Connie turned around, noticing that Sasha had fallen asleep on his back. Him and Jean cracked up. They saw the towering Wall ahead and sped forward. The gates opened and they slowed down as they entered the city. This time, Connie didn't feel uncomfortable about the people watching them arriving. He realized that they look up to the soldiers and are thankful that the soldiers are risking their lives to help humanity thrive.

Everyone arrived at the quarters and dismounted their horses. Connie picked up Sasha's sleeping body and carried her over to the headquarters building, leaning her against the wall. He took off his jacket, still covered in Sasha's blood. I have to wash this right away, he thought to himself, I don't want to be reminded. He watched the other soldiers walk around, reporting or resting after the mission.

"Hey," Sasha said. Connie looked over.

"Mmm you finally woke up, you dork," he said laughing.

"Pffft!" She pushed him in the armed and laughed, then stopped after a second and looked him in the eye. "Connie, really. Thank you so much."

Connie smiled at her. "Thanks for living. Without you, I don't know what would happen to me." He slipped the necklace out of his pocket and wrapped it around her neck, clipping it in the back.

Sasha gasped and gave him a huge smile. She picked up the necklace and looked at the little heart shaped pendant.

"Sasha," said Connie. She looked up him, with her lovely, green, happy eyes. "I love you," he said, kissing her. She kissed him back and wrapped her arms around his neck. Connie opened his eyes and realized they had a bit of an audience, whom were seriously failing to act like they weren't staring. He scooped Sasha up and stood up from their spot against the wall and carried her away to a more private spot. He turned around to stare at his awestruck friends and smirked and raised his eyebrows.

Connie looked down at Sasha, smiling in his arms. "Hey, we may be in hell but at least you're here with me."

END

Nemi's Note: Connie haters back the hell up! The kid's pretty damn badass. Hope ya liked this "Springles" fic! xNemi