Titans to the left of her, titans to the right of her. Killing them was easy, but keeping any strays from reaching Eren was proving to be troublesome. Eren was a bigger target than her, attracting more and more pure titans to him regardless of how many times Carmen swerved and intercepted the them. It was a constant battle to gain their attention and keep them all in the far corner of Shiganshina.

What made it worse was the fact that Bertholdt was on a rampage, kicking down houses in the north of Shiganshina. Her moves became increasingly calculated by the second as she spiralled through their open hands and cut as many napes as she could manage.

Everything outside of her own orders became white noise, her only focus was the group in front of her. 30 titans became 20, and 20 became 10, until eventually, there were only 5 titans left. Two of them were far larger, possibly between 12 and 15 metres, while the other three were no bigger than 10 metres. Her main issue, however, was gas. Each second that passed by, caused it to lessen. She'd done everything in her power to avoid wasting any, but nevertheless, she running on fumes.

A titan hand reached out to grab her while she stood perched on a rooftop. Breathing out a sigh, she sprung back into action and shot one of her hooks into its eye, then she ran up its arms, using her hook to keep her attached. Things moved slower as she then used some gas to spin around it and slice the nape.

"Only 4 left." She told herself, as if that made her situation any better. Replenishing her swords with a sharper set, she then shot her hooks onto a taller titan and spun around it, she instantly cut it down before jumping off of its falling corpse and then shooting towards the other taller titan, cutting it down with equal brutality. "2." She sighed and looked at the two smaller titans.

They wouldn't be too much work, in fact, she noticed one of them was still recovering from one of her previous attacks as it lacked an arm. As she stood on the roof of the house she was on, she looked around for her comrades. The whole city looked bare and worn down. An eerie silence enveloped the area that made her worry slightly. Despite it all, the Colossal titan had completely disappeared, so she assumed that there had been some success on her squads end.

Her eyes travelled back to the titans futile hands reaching out to her, it was useless, they couldn't reach no matter how hard they tried. Yet, the awful smiles on their faces made her feel uneasy. "You were people, weren't you? Thats how you suddenly appeared in Shiganshina." She spoke aimlessly to the titans, knowing it was pointless. "I don't know what it's like to be a titan, but I can't imagine it's a pleasant feeling." She spun her swords around as she walked to the edge of the rooftop. "No matter. I'll put you out of your misery."

It was almost instantaneous, she used the technique she picked up from Levi all those years ago and she spun quickly with her swords pointed. Both titans were soon left evaporating on the ground as she wiped their blood from her face.

"I wonder how everyone else is doing." She spoke to herself again, a way to ease her own nerves as she walked through the streets of Shiganshina. "I hope the recruits are listening to my advice. They've worked too hard to freeze up."

Carmen felt a lot more at ease as she walked through the streets. For one, she wasn't evading titans hands and mouths, and another thing she'd noticed was the absence of the loud crashing noises the beast titan made whenever he threw rocks.

She figured it was best to let the others know she was still alive, she took out a green smoke signal and shot it into the air while she continued to walk. "That'll show them." She spoke to herself again. "It'll take more than 30 titans to kill me. In fact, I would've dealt with them a lot quicker if I didn't have to keep distracting them and stopping them from running off to Eren."

The woman huffed, she understood Erwin's plan, however it was still straining. Her gas was practically null, she was just simply walking in hopes that all other threats had been eliminated. Eyes wandering, she suddenly saw something that shocked her and turned all her hopeful attitude upside down.

"Is that?..." Carmen looked to the top of the wall separating Shiganshina and Maria. Sliding down it, was a titan that Erwin had previously described as a shifter. On its back were a few crates and a blonde man that she didn't recognise - however, she did notice that all his limbs were missing, not to mention the steam emerging from them.

This was bad. No. It was beyond bad. Was that the beast titan? But then, where was Levi? Were her recruits safe? Were they even alive at all?

Thoughts rampaged through her head as she began to sprint through the streets rather than her idle pace. She ran as fast as her legs could take her, racing as fast as she could. Her sprint led her through the streets rapidly, until she turned a corner and came to an abrupt stop. The ground was shaking, she could hear loud and heavy footsteps, as though a titan was jumping from house to house.

Her eyes locked onto Hange and Reiner, in line with the new titan's open mouth. "Lookout!" She instantly shot her hooks, colliding into Hange and knocking her out of the way. Flawlessly, the titan widened its jaw, clasping it around Reiner and protecting him behind its teeth.

No. No. No. No. Carmen shook her head, she wouldn't allow it. That titan had stolen Reiner, the beast titan, and she could make out Bertholdt sitting on its back, limbless and unconscious. She wouldn't - no she couldn't - allow it.

"Give him back!" The assassin sprinted after them, quickly switching to ODM gear and spiralling towards the titan. Her movements were fast, she knew she was running on fumes, she suspected her gas would give out before she reached them. But that didn't stop her from trying. Both her hooks landed onto the cart titan, propelling her towards it at speeds she hadn't reached before.

In one swift sweep, she swung past Bertholdt, tucking his body under her arm before attempting to speed away. Her gas was almost up, she could feel her speed weaken as she kept on moving. Then suddenly, in an instant, her gas supply died and she went crashing onto the roof of one of the houses. Luckily, she used Bertholdt's body to shield her from any damage.

Her breathes were quick and shallow as she kneeled down on the roof. Was that it? Had she done it?

Coming to her aid, Hange and Jean used their gear to ascend to her rooftop - though when they looked at the horrific sight in front of them, their expressions of awe soon converted to that of fear.

"I got him." Carmen grabbed Bertholdt, presenting him like a kind of trophy to Hange and Jean. The two looked at her with concern, guilt swarming their features as they realised that Carmen hadn't noticed it. For a second, Carmen was confused by the silence, but soon, Hange cleared their throat.

"Jean, take Bertholdt to the others." They ordered, pointing at the red smoke signal that Mikasa had fired earlier. Nodding his head, Jean took Bertholdt, uncomfortable with the amount of blood coating him. Her blood. The boy flew away, leaving Carmen with Hange.

"You'll have to carry me, I'm out of gas." She said casually while Hange still looked as though they were contemplating something, ignoring her as though it was plaguing their mind. "Hange? Are you listening to me?" She tried to gain their attention.

Hange snapped out of it and took off their scouts cloak abruptly. "Yeah, keep talking to me, will ya?" They asked. Although she was a little bewildered at the demand, Carmen decided that Hange probably had reason behind their words.

"...Okay then." She agreed. "That man with the blonde hair, he was the beast titan, wasn't he?" She spoke aimlessly, she already knew it was, but nothing else was coming to mind.

"That's my guess." Hange responded carelessly. Much to Carmens perplexity, they took their cloak and wrapped it around the assassins left foot, applying pressure. Then, they cut one of Carmen's ODM straps from her thigh and began tying it around her ankle tightly as a tourniquet. "Keep talking. Whats your favourite season? Spring? Winter?" They continued to distract her, making Carmen begin to worry.

"Hange? What's going on?" She looked down at her leg.

Horrified - was Carmen's expression.

Bloodcurdling - was her scream.

——————

Authors note -

Lol