Chapter Text
‘Rage, my soldiers! Scream, my soldiers! Fight, my soldiers!’
Time seemed to stop for Erwin.
Or rather, it didn’t: it continued marching on, but held him trapped in one long, horrific moment. A cacophony of sounds filled his ears.
His soldiers screaming. Dying.
Splatters of blood as limbs and heads were torn off their bodies by the Beast Titan’s rocks.
The thud of their horses’ hooves against the earth.
His own heartbeat, pounding so much it hurt. His own voice, screaming.
He was going to die.
Trapped in that moment, all he could feel was fear: fear for himself, fear for the rest of the Survey Corps, fear for the people within the Walls if they failed. Fear for Levi.
He had always hung on to a selfish, vain hope that they’d die together. Alpha and Omega, Commander and Captain, Erwin and Levi, together ‘til the end.
He hoped Levi would survive. Erwin, heart in his mouth and voice sore from screaming, knowing he was seconds away from sudden, painful oblivion, shut his eyes to block out the image of that vile creature before him and thought of his mate’s face instead.
And then, suddenly, the long moment came to an end.