Shorter Than Me

17 Ecyn

They're abandoning me. Captain Levi is leaving me in the middle of nowhere to die. The thought almost makes me want to cry.

Everyone flies away without a "goodbye" or even a sympathetic glance at me. Now only Captain Levi remains. He looks at me, probably about to say some stupid goodbye statement. You served well. This is your last act as a Scout.

I didn't think I would die like this.

"What are you waiting for?" he asks me.

I just look at him quizzically.

"F***ing get on my back. I'm saving your damn life."

My mouth drops open, but I step forward. So he isn't leaving me behind. He turns around and I place my hands on his shoulders. I pull myself up and he pulls my legs around his waist.

Yes, I am making this happen.

I put my arms around his neck.

"Hold as tight as you can with your legs and arms, just don't strangle me. And if you tell anyone, I will kill you."

Right now, I doubt that because he's saving my life. But I don't doubt that he will punish me for the rest of my life, so all I say is, "Yes, sir." I feel like I should add a thanks, so I also say, "Thank you, sir."

"If you fall off, it's not my fault and I'm leaving you behind for real." With that, he jumps up into the trees and I ride through the scariest fifteen minutes of my life. He goes pretty slowly and gently, but I still pull on his neck countless times and I swear I'm going to make him throw up something. I can't think straight with my body pressed so close to Captain Levi. The situation is so impossibly foreign and awkward I almost want to let go. If I wasn't hanging on for dear life, I would let go. I have to adjust myself countless times, and I try not to disrupt his movement. It's hard to imagine that these legs kicked me and these hands punched and slapped me. Now they're saving my life. I can tell the weight throws him off balance, but I guess he's so used to the maneuver gear that even a large change in the center of gravity doesn't stop him.

Eventually, he lands on the ground. I slide off his back. My legs and arms are stiff from holding on so tightly, but they won't be for very long.

"Keep running that way." He points in the direction we were headed.

Then he leaves me.

But I know he thinks I'm safe.

I'm just all alone and helpless.

I follow him as quickly as I can. I run for at least five minutes. I don't see any titans- thank the Walls and anything and everything. I don't even know where I'm going, but I trust my sense of direction and the captain's. I also don't think he would bring me this far just to let me die.

Eventually, I see something in the distance. Something that looks a lot like horses and people. I run up to them, breathing hard.

"See? I told you we should wait for her," Hanji says to Captain Levi.

"The captain said you started running after us," Jean tells me. "That's a long way to run."

So that's what he told them? I try to breathe harder. I bend over and attempt to look exhausted.

"Jaeger, give her her 3DMG back," Captain Levi orders.

Eren gets off his horse and removes my maneuver gear. I put it on as fast as I can and mount my horse.

I wasn't left behind. The thought makes me want to cry in relief. But I won't. "Thanks for... waiting..." I say between heavy breaths that are only half-pretend.

"No problem. Levi here wanted to leave you to your fate, but we all refused." Hanji smiles at me. I manage a smile back.

"Thank you... so... much..." I hope Captain Levi knows this is directed at him.

"Time to go." Captain Levi says. He steers his horse in one direction and we all follow him. Hanji has the captain's extra horse trailing behind her.

I notice a couple of our group eating some food and realize I'm really hungry. I don't know how long we've been out here, but we must have missed lunch. The sun is already going down. We have maybe an hour before darkness.

Captain Levi calls for us to stop sometime before we reach the edge of the forest. The sun is making the trees' shadows very long. The forest is getting really dark.

We tie up the horses again and climb high into the trees.

Don't ask me how they got Eren up there. They did.

Then we sit on the largest branches and drape blankets over our legs.

Sooner than I would have thought, I fall asleep.

***

Surprisingly, no one falls in the night. It's a good thing because when Captain Levi wakes us up, apparently a few titans have dragged themselves to the base of the tree. The sun hasn't risen yet. We need to move before the titans get their strength back.

Hanji jumps up and gets excited about the titans below us. She goes down to examine them.

"Captain," Arlert says. The Captain looks at him and he continues. "I was thinking last night and I think we should split up. Titans are attracted to larger groups of people, so if we split up, it might be easier to get back."

"We'll do that then," the captain decides. "Hanji, Guiin, Ackerman, Jaeger, and I will go first. Once we reach the edge of the forest, we'll fire a green signal. Fire one in response, and the second group will follow. The first group will go slower until the second catches up and everyone will go back."

"But I didn't get a lot of time to study Eren!" Hanji complains.

"You're the one who let him run away. We leave in two minutes." the Captain says.

At that, Ackerman, Jaeger, Hanji and I start getting ready.

"Guiin, kill the titans down there." I look up from folding my blanket haphazardly.

"Alone, sir?" I ask.

"Yes."

I set my blanket on the branch I'm standing on and jump down. There are only four of them. Three of them aren't even moving. I kill the fourth before the rest. It's surprisingly easy. The other two are as well, but the last one is laying on its back. I swing close to it and it reaches out to grab me. I scramble away as fast as I can.

Luckily, it sits up to try to eat me and I am able to kill it that way. I go back up to where I put my blanket. Then we go to our horses. Captain Levi starts leading us away. I glance back at everyone. When I see Armin, he is holding out his hand with all of his fingers outstretched.

Five.

I turn back and glance at all of us. All five of us. Captain Levi, Hanji, Eren, Mikasa, and myself.

Sorry for making you wait for SO long but wasn't this part worth it? And there are EIGHT parts total in this chapter. Nice long chapter. You're welcome. Thanks for reading.

What do you think will happen next? Will more things go wrong, or will life be full of puppies and rainbows that poop unicorns?

Thanks for reading!