the hilt | eren jaeger

t e n - J.D.

[TW: Mentions of Violence & Gore]

[Season 2 & 3 Spoilers Present]

YEAR 850~

It's just not right.

Her body laid sprawled out in front of me. Her skin was etched with grime, blood and pain. The color had left it, rendering her a lifeless porcelain doll, a relic of the girl she once was.

The blood had stopped flowing out from her bitten-off legs, and her neck no longer oozed out anything. Everything about Mina Carolina had come to rest.

Her soul, her mind, her body, her thoughts, it was all at peace.

My once-white pants were discolored and soaked with her red essence, and they would never be pure again. That didn't matter.

My hands were stained a dark red, and my trembled actions of attempting to rub them together to get rid of it did absolutely nothing.

My throat was choking me. I couldn't breathe. I couldn't feel anything. Tears were flowing endlessly from my eyes, and I was powerless to this world. Nothing... Nothing matters— Right?

That's what I'd been telling myself all along.

Mina... Mina was going to die anyways... right?

There wasn't ever anything I could do about it... She... She was going to die, no matter what.

It just happened to be here? Right?

My breaths drew themselves shakier and shakier, and I could hear my heartbeat in my head, and it was drowning out all other thoughts and feelings. The rhythm was consuming me, unleashing its wrath upon me until I fell to submission.

The feeling I had possessed in my face was slowly leaving, rendering me numb to the outside world. The remaining life within me was gradually seeping out through the cracks of my essence, and into the fading abyss.

The ringing in my ears grew louder and louder. Every beat of my heart made it more and more deafening. I couldn't do anything to stop this feeling.

I hadn't— I hadn't learned any of the names of my squad mates—

There was no way I'd be able to find them now.

In the distance, I saw the edge of a titan as it was turning a corner in my direction.

I knew I had to leave. It was no longer safe here. I was on the ground, fully exposed to all of them. There wasn't anything I could do.

The titan fully turned the corner, and I got a good glance at its body and figure.

It had lengthy dark brown hair, and glowing green eyes. It stood about fifteen- sixteen meters tall? I couldn't really tell. It was muscular beyond belief, and its skin glowed in the darkness of the alleyway it turned from. It was terrifying.

Under my breath, I muttered a light, "Fuck," and I shut my eyes tight for a moment before reopening them in the dead girl's direction. I reached my hand down to her face one last time, "I'll always care about you, Mina."

With one last look in her direction, I propelled myself to the nearest roof top. Without my knowledge, that was the last time that I would ever look at her face, and the last time I'd ever see her physically.

From the rooftop I landed upon, I saw nobody else, just the faint heads of far off titans.

Checking my gas, I could tell that I wouldn't make it very far with the gas I had left. If I was lucky, I'd be able to kill around five titans before making it to a wall, and even then I would have very little to spare. That'd be with perfect aim, and that'd also require my blades to stay polished and sharp, so it doesn't seem likely.