"And then she ended up over here," Armin explained, using his 3DMG gear to fly over to the edge of the forest, Kadence, Hanji and Levi following behind. "I looked all over but couldn't find her."

"She has to be here somewhere!" Kadence exclaimed, frantically searching every bush and tree for any clues for you. The other three just stood, already believing you were long gone, causing Kadence to turn around and face them, an angry expression spread across her face. "Don't just stand there! Help me search for (Y/N)!"

"Kadence," Armin started sadly and put a hand on Kadence's shoulder. "I'm sorry, but we're not going to find--"

"Don't talk like that! I know we can find her! W-we just have to continue looking!" Kadence argued, her hope suddenly disappearing as she felt tears form in her eyes.

"Kadence," Hanji started. Kadence looked over at her, disappointment obvious in her expression.

"You think (Y/N) would want us to give up?" Kadence asked, her voice cracking as a few tears rolled down her cheeks. "To leave her to die?"

"She'd want us to move on," Hanji replied, despite the tears that formed in her eyes and the pain in her heart. Hanji had known you for a long time, but that's a story neither you or Hanji wanted to get into now.

"But what if she's alive?" Kadence argued, sadness lingering in her voice. "What if she wakes up and no one's around to help? What if she's all alone and injured? What if she's alive and ends up dying, just because we didn't even try to look for her?" Everyone had tears in their eyes by now, except for Levi, but he'd never cry — and if he did, it definitely wouldn't be in front of anyone.

"We've gotta try!" Kadence continued, her voice cracking as she started looking for you again. She kept searching until she glanced farther ahead, her eyes widening instantly and running towards it.

She landed on her knees next to the broken 3D maneuver gear, picking it up carefully and looking at it in disbelief as she saw blood. Tears started falling from her face again as she hugged the gear close to her chest protectively.

Kadence's loud sobbing could be heard, causing Hanji's heart to break even more as she walked over to the smaller girl, putting a hand on her shoulder reassuringly. Hanji looked over at the broken gear before she saw something in the corner of her eye.

She turned her head, seeing a large titan footprint in the mud, causing her eyes to widen. Armin must've seen it too, judging by the look on his face.

"I-I don't think she survived..." Armin pointed out sadly. Kadence looked behind her at Armin, wanting him to continue. Armin pointed at the footprint, causing Kadence to sob even louder once she saw it.

"People die, get over it, brat," Levi suddenly spoke up with no emotion in his voice, his stoic expression never changing. Kadence balled her fists, fighting the urge to punch the short captain straight in the face.

"Easy for you to say," Kadence muttered barely audible, but unfortunately for her, a certain captain had heard, and furrowed his eyebrows.

"This is what you signed up for," Levi replied. "You're a part of the Survey Corps, what did you expect? Rainbows and butterflies and pink shit?"

"Not now, Levi," Hanji said as Levi opened his mouth to continue, but he closed it again after hearing Hanji's broken voice. He was used to the happy, bubbly and incredibly annoying Hanji, not this one.

"Let's just get back to the others," Hanji said. "We should get going soon, anyway..."

"You guys can go if you want, but I'm staying here," Kadence explained, determination in her voice. Armin's eyebrows furrowed in confusion as he looked over at Hanji, seeing her grip something in her hand.

"I'm sorry Kadence," she said, before placing a syringe in Kadence's neck, pulling it out after a few seconds and letting Kadence's body fall to the ground limp. "But it's for your own good."

--

You squinted as you opened your eyes, basically blinded by the bright light. You let out a pained groan, feeling how most of your body was sore. You were hurt somehow everywhere, either it was cut or bruised.

You blinked a few times before seeing straight. You were still in the forest, sadly, propped against a tree, like you were placed there by someone. The leaves weren't doing a good job at providing shade, as the sunlight made its way to you anyway.

It took you a while to remember what had happened and how you had gotten to where you were, but once you did, tears formed in your eyes.

You couldn't believe it. You couldn't believe how Garret was killed so suddenly. You couldn't believe how Elijah and Morgan had sacrificed themselves for the remaining of your squad. You couldn't believe how Mariah was killed, even though she promised to stay alive. And most of all, you couldn't believe how you had survived.

You cried for a while longer, until you had calmed down somewhat despite the pain in your heart. Only then had you realized you were no where near the edge of the forest, where you should've been. The only way you could've ended up that deep into the forest was if the titan had hit you harder, but that would've killed you.

You decided to try standing up, instantly whimpering as pain surged through your body. You looked down at yourself, seeing multiple cuts and bruises basically everywhere. Your clothes were ripped and badly damaged, and had dried blood staining it. You furrowed your eyebrows in confusion when you didn't see your 3D maneuver gear on you.

You tried standing up again despite your pain, leaning into the tree and putting all your weight on it as you pulled yourself to your feet. It took a few seconds for the pain to die down, and you stepped away from the tree once it did.

You only managed to take a few steps before hearing rustling nearby, followed by loud thumps. Looking at the large trees in front of you, you squinted your eyes in hopes of seeing better. Once you finally saw it, your eyes widened, and you instantly took a step back.

A large titan had came into sight through the trees, causing your heart to drop to your stomach. Once the titan had stepped into the sunlight, you saw it had light blonde hair and sky blue eyes, and was definitely bigger than most of the other titans. What seemed most off about it, was that it didn't have a smile like most of the others.

It stepped closer and closer to you, and with each step it took, you also took a step back. You suddenly felt something hard behind you, and realized you had reached the tree. You didn't have your gear so you couldn't fight the titan, and there was no point of running since you were weak and injured.

The titan sat on his knees in front of the trees, and you assumed it was so he could get better access to you. He reached a hand out and you squeezed your eyes shut, tears streaming down your face as you waited for death to arrive.

To say you were shocked was an understatement when you felt a large finger wipe away your tears gently, causing you to open your eyes and look at the titan. He put his hand down after wiping away your tears, and you two stared at each other for what felt like an eternity. You didn't have the guts to move, scared the titan would eat you.

"...A...lex..." Your eyes widened in disbelief as you looked at the blonde titan, knowing you were not the one who talked.

----

In case you were wondering, no, Hanji did not kill Kadence 😂

- Kate ⭐️