Ch19: Even Angels Fall

*Edit 2020.

Kaminari's body in engulfed in light as her transformation take place. Large white wings emerging from beneath the skin and sliding through the slits of her forest green scouts cloak, as the next part of her transformation takes place.

Unknown to all but four, the second part to her transformation were razor sharp claws that extend from her finger tips. They were gruesome and disgusting and she never let anyone else see them. Kaminari already believed she was a monster, she didn't need anyone else to verify it.

The Titan shifter paused, seemingly in hesitation as it gets a good look at the figure floating mid air. Kaminari was just as the Titan shifter remembered. She was truly no different from her six year old self, only a little more deadly. She hadn't grown a heap.

After all, the Titan shifter and many of her kind, had practically known the girl since birth. It was following her sixth birthday that the higher ups, through prolific planning, injected her into the underground, after successfully wiping her memory. But that was a story for another time.

Hatred didn't even begin to describe the overwhelming emotions that blinded Kaminari at that moment. She could barely comprehend or grieve the loss of her comrades at this time, her focus was on biding Eren time. Enough time to run as far away from this monstrous shifter opposite her. She didn't care what it would cost to ensure at least one of her comrades survived - Eren had to live.

From his position on a branch away from where the stand off was taking place, Eren took one look in Kaminari's direction before knowing exactly what she was going to ask him to do. Run. Run far away and never look back. Not until he was behind the safety of the Walls and in the custody of Levi and Erwin.

Eren's hands shook uncontrollably for what he was about to do and his throat constricted as he desperately tried to keep his breathing under control. But Eren knew there was no use in trying to hide the torrent of emotions that assaulted his being, as tears continued to stream down his face. If the rest of the Squad couldn't beat the female Titan there'd have to be a slim-to-none chance that Kaminari actually could.

'Stop,' Eren inwardly scolds himself. 'I believe in Kaminari. She wouldn't die that easily...' He clenched his fists as another grisly thought comes to mind. 'But the rest of the Levi Squad couldn't stop her. They died so I could live! Am I really going to let Kaminari face this alone?' As he looks over to where his comrade launches herself at the Titan, meeting her murderous gaze.

She was going to try avenge her comrades, even if it cost Kaminari her life.

She was tired of living anyway.

It only takes a few seconds for Eren to regretfully salute his friend, as if it were the last time he'd see her before turning on heel and not looking back. 'What am I going to tell Armin, Reiner and Bertolt?'

Inwardly, Kaminari sighed as her claws slash the beasts right eye, noticing that Eren was finally leaving the area. In all honesty, she knew she won't be giving him much of a head start but she didn't care. She would try her damnedest to give him every opportunity she couldn't give the rest of her squad.

She kicks off the Titan, making sure to dodge the punch sent her way as the second hand goes to snatch her out of the air. Wings pull tight against the body as she clings herself in a backwards arc, missing the hands that snapped in her direction.

She pulls back and hovers mid air, opposite the beast. The blonde titan just stared at her, not making a move to attack. 'Why?' Kaminari thought to herself. 'Why won't you bastards try and kill me? Haven't I suffered enough."

Kaminari charged at the beast, picking up speed as she sliced through the limbs and around the back of the female titan.   The beast grabbed a tree, ripping it out of the ground and throwing it her way forcing the scout to relocate. She dodged, sliced and arced around every strike and debris sent her way until what ever luck she had, ran out.

With widened eyes on both the titan shifter and Kaminari's part, as the titan's large hand snags a feathery wing between it's thumb and forefinger. The titan closed its eyes, not wanting to watch exactly what she was going to do to the blonde in her grasp, before pinching both wings together and shoving her towards a tree. Kaminari desperately stabbed her blades into the hand of the titan but it had no effect.

The sound of skewered flesh and bones, followed by an agonising scream of pain, was the last thing to be heard from the fight between the female Titan and Captain Moriko, the Angel on the Battle Field.

- - -

Elsewhere, Eren's sanity had reached its breaking point. His worst nightmares were confirm through the dying screams on his friend that echoed throughout the forest. He threw himself against a branch before launching himself back in the direction of Kaminari's screams and where the mangled bodies of the Special Operations Squad lay.

As much as he wanted to follow Kaminari's last orders, he couldn't live with himself if he didn't try. Eren couldn't helpe Gunther, Eld, Oluo, or even Petra, but he could've helped Kaminari. He should've tried harder and ignored her last wish. And it was that thought alone that propelled him to bite his hand, wishing death upon the female titan.

Eren Jaeger transforms into his titan form with a scream of agony, not for himself but for the lives of his comrades that were taken away so savagely and the life of a friend he had so selfishly left behind.

⚔️

Levi had quickly changed direction and raced to where the awful sound emmitted from. He knew that if Eren transformed, there was something drastically wrong. Eren had said he trusted the squad not to.

Almost immediately after he passed where the group had left their horses, and seeing them still roped in place, he saw the first body of his squad- Gunther. Levi tried not to look at the hanging remains as he willed himself forwards, not wanting to linger on the dead any longer than he needed to. The living would be his priority.

There was nothing that could be done for the dead. Even if you avenge them, they wouldn't know it. And as Kaminari had once said, this wasn't the time to get emotional about those we had lost, the others could still be alive. And that was something Levi could only hope for.

Only a short distance on, he passed by Eld's broken body that had been severed in two. Then was Oluo's and later came Petra's. He slowed his pace. As much as Levi cared for the lives of the rest of the squad, Petra's lifeless corpse was somehow harder to see.

Maybe it was Kaminari's teasing about whether or not he and Petra could've been something. Levi didn't know what to make of it as he removed the emblem from her brown Scouts jacket. A keepsake if you will.

There was nothing else he could do for the dead and pushed on. Continuing to follow the deafening shrieks and wails of Eren's titan, hoping to see the only person whose body he hadn't seen yet. The only other one whose lifeless body would bring both Erwin and himself to grief instantly.

The one who he had called himself short for. And the one Levi stuck his neck out, to ensure she didn't end up in the hands of the Military Police; Kaminari Moriko.

Kaminari was a fighter. That had not changed over the years. She was a ray of hope in this cruel and desolate world. One who would give her life in a heartbeat to save another person's life. And after leading so many people to their deaths in the name of population control, it was only time before she became reckless.

Tch, brat.

To this day, Levi had never told the girl how much she meant to him. No matter how reckless or stupid or how much of a shit the girl could be, she was someone who almost knew him better than Levi knew himself. He believed that he took advantage of her loyalty to the scouts when he requested her to be on his special operations squad. And he regretted not spending more time with her.

Looking back it would seem that Kaminari knew that the operation wasn't over. She knew that something wasn't right and he didn't pick up on it in time. Kaminari had been awfully and uncharacteristically tense after all was supposedly said and done, yet she still allowed Levi to leave. 'She had always been too stubborn for her own good.' Levi thought as he picked up speed.

Had Erwin known? Had he known that the shifter would somehow free themselves and purposely sent Levi away? Surely not... Kaminari was as close to the Commander as he was. He wouldn't risk it. The brat was like a daughter to the Commander. But at the same time, she's considered an asset in the eyes of the higher ups. Nothing more.

Out of the two of us, they'd consider her the more disposable one. The unnecessary one and the one who could be discarded after it's use had worn out. With Eren's arrival, Kaminari could be seen as a waste of an asset. She hadn't shifted into a titan like Eren does and she was as fragile as a human being.

A growl escaped the Captain as he continued searching the forest for the blonde brat. 'She has to be here somewhere- there!'

High up in the tree canopy was a grisly sight that knocked the breath out of him. His throat closed up, almost forcing out a cry of disbelief as time seemingly froze around Levi. There, pinned to a trunk, was an motionless Kaminari. Her feet barely skimmed the crooked branch below.

Her once beautiful, crisp white wings were shredded and broken, yet somehow still attached. Thick branches pinned them out stretched against the rough bark. Another branch pierced her side leaving streams of blood to leak from the wound and stain her cream shirt a deep scarlet.

She reminded Levi of a pinned butterfly. One that hung on the wall with bullet pins in their wings for all to admire. So beautiful yet so incredibly broken.

As time begun moving, Levi found himself in front of Kaminari. His heartbeat was deafening in his ears and his hand shook as he found himself physically unable to reach out and check for a pulse. A snapping branch forced his attention but to his relief, it was help in the form of Erwin and Hanji. The woman crying at sight of their comrade. Levi turned away as Erwin approached and felt for a pulse.

The Commander remained silent for longer than Levi had hoped, flat lining the small ray of hope that Kaminari was still hanging in there. (A/N: Omfg that pun though)

Eren's Titan form, screams out and ear shattering sound once again, as Levi peered off in his direction. He looked back to his fallen angel, knowing exactly what she died for and what she'd want him to do next. Erwin silently gestured for Levi to leave and hopefully save Eren from the female titan's wrath.

This would forever be one of the hardest decisions of his life. Leave to save Eren or stay with his fallen comrades and Angel. He knew what Kaminari would've wanted him to do.

Levi turned away from Kaminari's limo body one last time. He didn't bother to wipe away the tears now staining his cheeks and leapt in the direction of Eren's agonising shrieks and shrills.

The Captain didn't catch the words exchanged between the Commander and Hanji as they begun to unpin Kaminari from the trunk. Whether the shits were wishing Levi luck or expressing their sorrow, he didn't know.

Levi couldn't care less.

The Angel on the battle field had fallen, and it was entirely his fault.

A/N: Not edited.

Hmmmmmm, what did you guys think? Maybe that I'm evil? I felt evil writing this.