I don't own Shingeki no Kyojin/Attack on Titan.
PoV ?
She was scared.
She had nowhere to run. Yet she kept running.
She cried in pain as she felt an arrow pierce her, but even with all her body in pain, she kept running.
She felt her tears drip down her face and blur her vision, causing her to trip with a root and fall to the ground.
She wanted to stand up, but she couldn't find the strength to do so, she just wanted to close her eyes and make the pain stop.
She heard steps ahead of her and froze. Did they find her? How? The hounds still sounded so far away. She shut her eyes waiting for her inevitable death, but no arrow was shot at her, no sword cutting the head of her body, she just heard the steps get closer.
She tried to lift her head but couldn't. Eventually, she managed to see past her bangs only to see some strange type of footwear.
She felt hands gently grab her shoulders and lift her and finally, she could see the stranger's face. It was a man or look like he was about to become one. He had long dark brown hair, a slim face, but what caught her attention were his mesmerizing green eyes.
When he saw her face, his eyes widened dramatically as if he couldn't believe what he was seeing.
He recognized her. As if anyone other than the hunters would be in the forest, she thought bitterly. When he didn't kill her, she had hope that maybe he would help her. But now that hope was crushed.
She lowered her head waiting for him to break her neck.
"Oi, can you stand?"
She raised her head faster than she thought possible, with wide eyes. He…was worried? She couldn't answer him, since she didn't have a tongue.
Instead, she tried to stand but felt pain flare-up in her leg and looked down to see an arrow piercing her leg. He caught her and was about to say something when she heard the hounds getting closer.
The man quickly stood up and positioned himself in front of her, he brought his hand to his mouth and bit it.
She recoiled at the sight of the sudden action. Was he crazy or something? No. He had done it with a purpose, but whatever it was failed, by the look of shock on his face.
His look of shock vanished when as soon as she saw the hunting party get nearer.
He quickly grabbed her and carried her in front of his chest, and started running away from the party.
She heard him grunt and stumbled a little, however, he didn't drop her, instead, he held her harder so that she wouldn't fall.
She tried to peek over his shoulder and saw an arrow sticking out of his shoulder.
She couldn't help but shed some tears as he held her close. He was helping her. She was only a lowly slave and yet…
Someone cared for her.
She wanted to tell him that she deserved being hunted, that she was a slave and didn't deserve his help.
Then why didn't she? Even without a tongue, she could try to break free from his grip. So why wasn't she? She knew the answer.
Deep down, she wanted to be helped, she wanted to be cared for.
She wanted to be free.
"There she is! Shoot her!" she barely heard the shout come from behind her, meaning her pursuers were far away, but it was enough for her thoughts to disappear and the fear return tenfold.
"Mn" she heard her savior grunt and could see the tip of an arrow sticking out of his other shoulder.
She held tighter to his shirt and felt tears return to her eyes. Why was he helping her? Didn't he know he would die too if he continued? She didn't want him to die, the only person to ever help her.
Suddenly he stopped, and she thought that an arrow had finally pierced his heart, but when she raised her head to look at him she saw him looing in the distance.
She followed his eyes and she saw a giant tree right in front of her. Was this tree always in the forest? How come it still stood.
Her savior moved closer to the base of the tree where she saw a type of entrance. A good place to hide she noticed. Once they were at the entrance he once again stopped, but this time he was looking down.
To a chasm filled with water. Maybe they could jump and stay close to the surface to not drown.
Her thoughts were interrupted when once again she heard shouts in the distance although getting closer.
Suddenly they were both falling into the water below
They both hit the water, but for whatever reason, none of them could go to the surface. Was she going to die? She didn't want to die! She wanted to live! She wanted to go back to the way things were before! She wanted to thank her savior for caring for her in her last moments!
She turned to see the man who had taken two arrows for her and saw that he was calm, and she could make a small smile on his face.
She tried to let go of her fear and die peacefully as her savior was doing.
What she didn't notice was the spine-like fluid/being that they were getting closer to. It seemed to split into two and align itself with both their backs.
Slowly they kept getting deeper, until finally…
…they touched it.
Outside, the hunters kept looking for the slave girl that dared to free their livestock.
"Where did that little bitch go?!" one of them asked while looking around, their hounds seemed to have lost her scent.
"I don't know, but once we get our hands in her and that man that helped her, they will regret ever being born."
They continued to walk and stopped when they heard a crashing sound as if a tree was falling.
Birds started to fly from the direction a cloud of dust rose and the dogs started to whimper, the hunters both looked at the dogs worryingly.
"Usually they would bark at another animal, but what would make them whimper?" one asked aloud.
"I don't know, but whatever it is I don't want to fi-" his voice was cut off by the sudden flash of lightning and the subsequent thunder that comes with it.
They both were startled by the sudden sound and were promptly lifted off the ground by an invisible force, throwing them into the trees, one of them breaking his arm, while the other his leg.
"What the fuck was th-" his tongue seemed to freeze when he saw where the light had come from.
There in the distance was a massive cloud of dust and smoke, yet they could make the shape of two humanoid figures, when the smoke cleared a little, both hunters couldn't help but soil their pants.
In front of them were two giants that seemed to be able to touch the clouds.
The first appeared to be female if the bust and somewhat long hair were something to go by. It had ribs coming out of her sides as if someone had opened them, but the most terrifying thing was its skinless face, with no nose, and its empty eye sockets.
The giant fell to its behind, seemingly unbalanced, and gave a clear view to the other giant beside it.
The other giant had a male build and seemed to be taller than the female ones by a full head, it also had external ribs, however, they seemed to be more closed to its body. The body was incredibly muscular, and besides the external ribs, its body seemed to be covered in skin.
His face unlike its companion had skin, it had lips but you could see its teeth from the sides as if he didn't have cheeks.
His face had no eyebrows, and pointy ears, it had shoulder-length hair, but what petrified the hunters was its eternal scowl and eyes. The unnatural amount of rage its eyes conveyed froze them. Slowly the giant turned to face them. When it saw them its scowl seemed to… deepen?
It started to walk towards them, and just in two single steps, the last thing they saw was the foot of the giant whose anger they had somehow conjured.
PoV ?
She felt like she was flying, she could see them from above the clouds, she had never felt freer.
But all her reality came crashing down when she felt someone shaking her up.
"Hey" she heard a voice, it sounded so familiar, it sounded like…
The man! Her eyes quickly snapped open and she saw the same guy who saved her give a relieved sigh seeing her wake up.
"Oh good, you're okay" his voice was low and calm, she had a hard time hearing him, but she still did. "How are you feeling?"
How was she…feeling? The last time someone asked her that, it had been her parents before they had been killed and they had cut her tongue out.
Yet this complete stranger came out of nowhere and not only helped her escape but seemed to be worried about her. She couldn't help but feel that he had ulterior motives, maybe he liked them young?
Yet when she looked at his eyes, she could only see the worry in them. Genuine worry.
She wanted to answer him, to thank him, to make him know how she felt, to tell him her name. But she knew she couldn't all the slave had their tong-
She stopped what she was thinking when a sensation she hadn't felt in years came back.
Her tongue against her front teeth. Tears started to swell up in her eyes.
The man seemed startled by the sudden action but was quick to hug her and run circles on her back with his fingers. She cried harder when he did that.
Someone cared for her. He didn't see her as a slave. He didn't see her as a criminal.
He saw her as a human.
"It's okay, you're safe" he kept reassuring her with his soft and calm voice.
After some time, she was able to get herself under control, and a comfortable silence fell between them.
"Ymir" her voice was dry, and it sounded so raspy from misuse it was a challenge to even say her name, but she knew he could hear her "My name is Ymir"
The man seemed shocked when she told him her name, but soon regained his cool, and a small smile formed across his face.
"My name is Eren" his voice was more firm however it remained warm and welcoming "Nice to meet you" he offered his hand for a shake, she stared at it for a few seconds before grasping it as firmly as she could with a very small smile of her own.
Soon after shaking hands, she heard horses galloping and for the first time since waking looked at her surroundings.
It was evening, and the sun was starting to set, and it gave the sky a beautiful orange color with purple across the clouds.
But what had her attention were the clouds that seem to be rising from the ground, she couldn't see what was making them but it was something the size of a hill.
She then turned her attention towards the group of Eldian warriors approaching them. Soon they were in front of them, and she could count a total of 6 with only one having armor, while the others only had helmets and boots.
The one who wore some armor and seemed to be the leader approached the two of them. Ymir's slave attitude returned, and she lowered her gaze low so that she didn't make any accidental eye contact.
She felt the warriors stare, so she dared not look up "Where did the giants go? Answer me"
Ymir was afraid to answer, and even more so because she didn't know what they were talking about. Giants? What giants? She didn't even dare nod her head for fear of what they could do to her
"What's it to you?" Eren however didn't seem to share her fears.
The warrior was startled by the cold tone used, but soon Ymir heard steel being drawn and a scream, she then heard steel cutting flesh and felt blood fall on her hair.
He was dead. Eren was dead, she was sure of it. She should've answered them like a good slave. Now her savior, the only person to ever care for her was de-
"Is that all?" she couldn't help raising her head to look at Eren standing there with his arm raised blocking the sword with his arm, the sword stuck in his bone.
She wanted to run to him, to check if he was ok, but she was too much of a coward to do so.
The warrior that had attacked him lost his grip on his sword and stumbled back, all the others that were accompanying him looked too shocked to move.
Eren raised his other hand and ripped the sword from his forearm, letting it clatter on the grass. However, that wasn't the most shocking event.
Right after taking out the sword as if it were only a splinter, the deep cut on his forearm started to close and in a matter of seconds, it was completely healed.
Silence suddenly fell and only the faint sound of the air could be heard.
"M-monster…" the armored men said from the ground "MONSTER! KILL THEM!" Ymir jumped at the sudden order of death.
The other warriors brought forth their spears and approach them carefully, she quickly hid behind Eren.
She noticed how he still kept his cool even in the face of five spears being pointed at him.
Suddenly yellow lightning started to dance around Eren, who raised his hand, and from the ground burst white spikes that impaled all five of the advancing Eldians.
The remaining soldier seeing his subordinates being brutally killed was frozen in shock with wide eyes and a gaping mouth.
At that moment Ymir couldn't see Eren as the monster the soldier described him but as her savior.
She held his leg tighter and his eyes connected with hers.
"What should I do, Ymir?" hearing him say her name made her feel giddy, he said it with care and worry, not like the other slaves who only said it with animosity and disdain. She understood his question.
She was leaving the last man's life on her shoulder. Her decision would decide his fate.
When she was younger, she was happy, the world was fair, she had hopes for the future. She would've pardoned the man who now looked at Eren with fear.
But the world was cruel, maybe deep down she knew. Her village had warriors too, and she had cheered them when they came back from raiding another post.
Yes, life was an unfair and cruel thing.
"Please…kill him" her voice was a whisper, and she didn't know if he heard her "Kill him. Kill him! KILL HIM!" by the end of it she was screaming, yet she didn't care so long as Eren was by her side she didn't care.
The man looked at her with horror dawning on his face and then turned to look back at Eren who was grinning down at him before he slowly started to walk towards him.
"Y-you can't do this! If you kill me, they'll send more scouts searching for me!" he started yelling desperately while backing away as best as he could "Eldia will send its armies against you!" his cries were ignored as Eren kept walking calmly in his direction.
Soon Eren was standing right in front of the soldier who was openly whimpering. He squatted down to the soldier's eye level.
"Let them send their armies, I will take them on if it means keeping my freedom" was all Eren said before lightning once again danced around him and a spike sprouted from below the soldier piercing his stomach and lifting him in the air.
The soldier screamed in pain and trashed, but that only made him bleed faster and soon he went limp and his corpse was left hanging.
Ymir couldn't help but be mesmerized by the sight in front of her. Eren had the power to be truly free, she wished she could be as free as him, not having to worry about being killed or armies being sent his way.
"Ymir" hearing her name she looked at Eren who was standing in front of her with his hand extended to her "Don't fear men like him, so long as I am here…"
"You are free"
Ever since her hometown was invaded by the Eldians, all she ever knew was how to be subservient, to keep quiet, to never linger too long in one place, to never be in someone's way.
To be the perfect slave.
She had seen attempts at freedom by other fellow slaves. Those whose fighting spirit they could never crush. She saw them rise. And she always saw them be butchered as if they were animals.
That's why she squashed her silly dream for freedom very early into her servitude.
In her mind the Eldians couldn't be beaten, she would never be free. Until today.
This stranger, who appeared out of nowhere, saved her from a painful death. Protected her from the soldiers that came. And now he offered her to be free.
She should reject his offer, smack his hand away, and return to the Eldians, and maybe they would be lenient with her.
However, deep down she felt it grow stronger. Her long desire for freedom grew with each passing second. Until she couldn't handle it anymore and jumped into Eren's arms letting out tears of happiness into his shirt.
She felt him tense a little at the sudden gesture, but soon he returned the hug. It felt good. It felt safe.
But there was a distinct feeling to the hug. As if it had happened before.
It felt…familiar.
I had this idea after Chapter 133, although my first draft was with a kid Eren. Then I read 137 and thought maybe adult Eren was more badass. He doesn't care for the world.
I honestly can't wait for Chapter 138 and how they will adapt it to the anime.
It better be fucking awesome.
-The Knight in dark Flames