"Mom?" Lying under the wooden beam and pile of rocks that once used to be our home was a familiar lady with dark brown hair. Scattered on the ground, there was no blood, or at least the blood wasn't visible.
I rushed over to her and grabbed the beam. "MOM!"
Putting some strength behind it only made me closer to passing out. My neck was bleeding heavily.
"Mom!"
"E-Eren... is that you?" Haaaah! She was alive conscious. Her state didn't matter as long as we got through this.
"Yes!"
"Thank God." Her voice was comforting but it seemed devoid of hope.
I squatted down next to her and looked right into her eyes. My vision was so blurry I couldn't see anything other than her silhouette, but I could tell that she felt relieved. I didn't know how I could tell.
She was genuine. Unlike Dad who always hid, I felt like I knew Mom- No I convinced myself that I knew her through and through.
"Are you fine, Mom? Just stay here for a bit longer I'll get you out of there." I wanted to I've hope back to her.
"No. Let me stay here, you have to run." As I was about to stand up, she held my hand.
"What are you talking about?! I need to get you out of there quickly." I had no time to deal with this.
"No! Listen to me, Eren! You need to run before another titan comes." Mom started getting aggressive.
So the titans infiltrated the walls after all. I was hoping that the ground shaking was just some rocks falling around. But no. We had all been thrown into the titans' den without any tools to protect ourselves.
'I hope- I pray that Armin and Mikasa made it out of this'
I couldn't let the people close to me suffer such a terrible fate. That included Mom.
"There's no way I'm leaving you behind! We have to get out of here." I got up and started working away at the beam. But nothing moved.
"YOU HAVE TO RUN AWAY! I-I can't move my legs. Even if I get out of here, you won't be able to carry me to the wall."
"I WILL CARRY YOU!"
"It will just slow you down. Because of me, both of us will die."
"JUST GO!" An arm grabbed my leg and forced me to look down. "Please."
A drop of water landed on my shoulder and not long after that, my whole body is covered by the foul-smelling rain. The blood stuck on me slowly dripped from my body to the ground.
Mom's hand was trembling and I could hear her whimpering.
"I can't leave you." She was the person I needed the most right now. Now that my hands were dyed with that bastard's blood.
I started to dig my hands into the rubble and while I did-
"Dak... Dak..." The sounds of footsteps started to reverberate around the town. To my right!
Golden hair peeked over the side of the single remaining building. Wrinkled skin, teeth extending past the sides of its face.
A titan smiled at us.
"Fuck."
The arm grabbing me pulled me down and made me fall back down.
"EREN RUN!"
"NEVER!"
"FOR ONCE LISTEN TO ME!! RUN!!!!"
The titan started to walk towards us. Its feet shook the ground violently. It treaded slowly as if to mock our panic.
"I will save you. I WILL SAVE YOU!" I got back up and pushed as hard as I could.
"I WILL SAVE YOU DAMNITTT!!!!!"
A sharp pain originated at the bottom of my spine.
"Ą̵̰͎̟̻͉̲͉͍͙̈̈̓͌̂̔͑͗͐̓̏̀̚̕͝Ā̵̡̡̢̭̜͈̼͍̤̦̣̬̮̱̍͂̇̃ͅA̸͎̝͓̥͚̰̐̔̑̓̅͆͛̑͝Ą̷̨̡̛̲̤̳͙̞̠͈̺̏̎͌̉̍͊̾͜͠R̵̡̛̲̗͍̳͙̝̠̤͐͗̍͋͗̋̍͜͠͝Ĥ̴̫̱̭̫̙̻̪͋̍͒͌̍̍̏̓H̴͇̼̻̳̣͔̊̽͌̔̈́̑̈́̎́̀H̴̛͚͓̊́͋̂̈̌̾̕͘͠G̷̻͓̞͚͙̙͕̗̺̫͔̜͈̪̝̀̐̈́̀͗R̸̢̙̙͙͉̺͎̻̿̋̔̋́͜Ŗ̵̧̛̮̻̻̤̼̻̫͎̻̝͐͆́̔H̵̲̻͚͇͓̞̜̤̆̄̒̓̀̈́̈́̉̐̆̿̓̑͠G̷̨̛̖̒̏̾̔̈͐́̾̆̀̕!̵͍̩̪̰̙̺̀̌̂̊̐͗̂́̅͘͜G̸̡̛͎̬̝͍̼̱̩̩͕̬̎̍̀̎̆̏̈̐͊͂͋͝͠R̸̩̤̗̘͕̬͕͑͗Ḧ̴̛̫̝́̂̆͌̊̽͒͒͗̄̓̃G̵̨̢͈̼̰̤̀͑̂̈́Ȑ̵̭͇̦̩̀́̀͗̾͐͋͋͊͐̚͝͝H̸̛͍̞͙̬̆͌̒̚G̵̢̘̗̖̖͎̑͗͌̾̑̽͆͗͂̍͒̓͠͝A̵̛̦̻̪̹̙͔͚͓͗̂̊̂͒̎̽̉̃̇͛͘͠͠Ǎ̶̧̯̰̯͈̩̠̩̌͜A̸̺͕̲̩̠̞̖͚͋́͒̒!̴̧̢͈̱͖̟̠̩̤̤̹̳̖̈́̈́ͅ" The beam started moving somehow. "Ą̵̰͎̟̻͉̲͉͍͙̈̈̓͌̂̔͑͗͐̓̏̀̚̕͝Ā̵̡̡̢̭̜͈̼͍̤̦̣̬̮̱̍͂̇̃ͅR̵̡̛̲̗͍̳͙̝̠̤͐͗̍͋͗̋̍͜͠͝Ĥ̴̫̱̭̫̙̻̪͋̍͒͌̍̍̏̓H̴͇̼̻̳̣͔̊̽͌̔̈́̑̈́̎́̀H̴̛͚͓̊́͋̂̈̌̾̕͘͠G̷̻͓̞͚͙̙͕̗̺̫͔̜͈̪̝̀̐̈́̀͗R̸̢̙̙͙͉̺͎̻̿̋̔̋́͜G̵̢̘̗̖̖͎̑͗͌̾̑̽͆͗͂̍͒̓͠͝A̵̛̦̻̪̹̙͔͚͓͗̂̊̂͒̎̽̉̃̇͛͘͠͠Ǎ̶̧̯̰̯͈̩̠̩̌͜A̸̺͕̲̩̠̞̖͚͋́͒̒!̴̧̢͈̱͖̟̠̩̤̤̹̳̖̈́̈́ͅ"
An appendage of mine that I was unfamiliar with. Two crimson tails were glowing a bright red. They looked far more sinister than the titans. Dripping in blood yet looked like dust. My eye was burning and I felt hunger I couldn't understand.
'What the hell is this?'
"Dak... Dak..."
"Shit I don't have time." I flung the appendages from left to right and then-
With one stroke, they wiped the entirety of the rubble away and instantly covered Mom's body so that nothing on top would fall on her.
And there she was- Her legs had been bent out of shape, and there was a pool of blood under her. But Mom was right there, still alive.
"Eren... your eyes." She said with a horrified look.
"Huh? Whatever."
"Dak..." The titan looked at us with its unwavering smile.
"We don't have time for this." I kneeled down and put Mom on my shoulder.
"Eek." Her legs dangled.
"Are you fine?" Of course, she wasn't. But I wanted to know if this position was even sustainable. We were quite some ways away from the wall.
"So-so... please run." She asked.
With her confirmation, I ran. I ran faster than I had ever run in my entire life. But was Mom always this light.
I couldn't tell if it was just the state of my body but this was barely a chore.
Until- I ran further and further, my body started getting depleted of every little ounce of energy I had remaining. The wall was still ways off.
The appendages to my sides started to wither away as well.
I still needed to go.
The rumbling ground behind me snapped me back to reality. The speed of the steps was getting quicker.
"Eren, leave me if you ha- No, just get out of here." Not again.
"I-I can still go on." I persevered.
"You did everything you could. You tried til the very end."
'How could you say this after all I did? After I killed Dad.
No, I won't stop.'
"We're almost th-there. haaahh.."
"It's alright." Her hand gently stroked my back. "You're the best son I could ever ask for." The little tug on my back pulled her off my shoulder and I heard her fall behind me.
'I'm sorry.' As her weight slowly left my back guilt overtook me. 'I'm sorry that you're willing to go this far from me, but I can't go on anymore.'
My left foot gave in as I fell across the ground tumbling for a metre before coming to a stop.
I immediately turned around to face Mom who was also lying on the ground as I was. She was just a couple of metres away.
If we were going to die like this at least I should have been closer to her in the final moments.
Seeing us fall on the ground, the titan slowed down again and started taking its time to walk to her. A clear taunt that I could do nothing about. My blood was boiling.
This was the end.
I tried my best and did everything I could.
Its hands grabbed Mom by her waist as it picked her up with her head hanging below.
"EREN, I LOVE YOU!" She cried. "SURVIVE!"
The titan lifted her up next to its mouth.
Rip.
With the sound of bones crunching and loud shrieks, Mom's legs get bitten off. Even with my blurry eyesight, I could see her blood gush from the titan's mouth.
'Why is this happening? Why to me? Is it because I killed Dad? Is it because I wanted to kill titans? Is it because I didn't become a doctor as he wanted? Why does Mom have to die like this?
Do I have to be this powerless and pathetic? To watch this happen?'
I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.
"WAAAAAH!!! SOMEONE SAVE HER!!!!! SAVE MOM!!!" My throat was dry and broken.
"SAVE HER! Save her! save her...
"Pl-please save her... someone."
There was a fire. There was rain. There was smoke. There was rubble.
And amongst all of that, there was a man who cut through the wind. Time froze for a second. The next thing I knew the titan's wrist got sliced through.
The hunters were here.
Another man grabbed Mom as she fell from the titan's arms.
Everything happened in an instant.
"Are you fine?" The man who chopped through the titan's wrist glided in front of me. Or at least I think it was a man. I couldn't exactly see but the voice was deep and nasally.
"I'm fine, so please take my mother to the wa'-Kukkk-!!"
"There's a battered kid here, I'll take him to the shelter, you get the lady." The man ordered.
"Yes, Captain!"
He turned to me and lifted me on his shoulder.
"You did great, you can rest now."
"Plea-" I saw Mom get carried off in the direction I was headed and stopped my request. "Thank you."
I think I understood that we had been saved.
