a meeting in destruction;

falteringhope:

                    _{The question brought his thoughts to a stuttering, stumbling halt. Plans on the best path to the gate across the city were lost as he pondered the question. So simple, and yet… He’d grown so used to hoods and civilian clothing that was meant to hide his appearance from the Military Police, he felt only wariness at the question. Eren knew his name was spoken in frantic, anxious whispers — it was the name of a monster, after all. If she heard it, would she choose to risk running headfirst into a different kind of danger? Wasn’t that an obvious choice, given the circumstances? If he found himself in a similar situation, wouldn’t he rather pick the death that was predictable, than the one that made no sense? Eren sighed. Perhaps she deserved to make that choice on her own, but was he willing to risk that, when simply not answering would prevent her possible death?}

                    _{He hooked calloused fingers into the harness, and forced it into a more comfortable position against his thigh as he continued the quick pace down the side street. Then again, the girl that trailed after him was an unpredictability in her own way. Her clothes were too clean, too pristine. Her question was misplaced. She wasn’t scared. She wasn’t crying, or begging him to hurry up. She wasn’t jumping at every shifting, hazy shadow. She wasn’t asking the right questions.}

                    _{’ Have you figured out how to save us this time? ‘
                    ’ Have you seen my so-and-so? ‘
                    ’ What will you do if we get caught on the ground? ‘
                    ’ How will you save me? ‘}

                    _{Eren, so enraptured by his thoughts, kicked a piece of rubble before he realized it. The brick bounced, and clattered against the ground. He came to a physical pause all at once, and cocked his head to the side as he listened for any approaching noises. All it took was the smallest distraction, the smallest mess up. They were just two humans in the midst of a ravaged town. As he brought his arm up in a gesture to stay still, his muscles tensed reflexively, and made his movements awkward. Long moments passed before he lowered his arm with a rough sigh. The lack of an appearance of a threat had him more on edge than if he had heard the telltale nose of thundering steps.} 

                    _{Was it strange to want to feel it in his chest — each step resonating within his limbs, and digging into his very core? Probably.} 

                    _{” Tch, I’m Eren Yeager. C’mon, let’s not waste our good luck. “}

                    _{His continued down the rubble-filled street, side-stepping the largest pieces deftly. The teenager didn’t check to see if the girl still followed until they ran into a building that had collapsed into the street. It only took him a moment to decide he’d rather climb over the bricks, and wood than backtrack, but he stopped after initially finding a hand hold to hoist himself up.} 

                    _Civilian.

                    _{” Can you climb this? I’d rather not go around, and the eaves don’t look safe for the three dimensional gear… We’ll backtrack if you can’t, but… “} 

         _{Watching the young man’s movements and his reactions—at least those of which she could see, only facing his back—told her that she was probably asking the wrong questions. Yet what were the right questions? What could she say, do, pretend to be in order to make it seem like she belonged? But the answer to those questions were simple as she thought about them, let her thoughts linger as the young man’s silence stretched on as they walked.}

                  _{All around them there was destruction and terror, fire and ruined buildings, far away there were ominous sounds that spoke of impending destruction. In all likelihood the blonde should not be as clean as she looked, should not be wearing pristine white, her face should be dampened with tears and sweat and perhaps blood, panicked and crying and begging to be taken to a safe place. Still she felt an odd presence of calm filling up her empty chest, even faced with all of the destruction right before her eyes.}

         _{That was not the first time that she had seen such destruction.}

                           _{But it was the first time seeing it with a stranger.}

         _{Was that the line? If one of the few people in all of the worlds she seemed to feel something for were there, would she be more panicked? Desperate? All rhetorical questions of course, because she knew that the answer was yes. A resounding yes. A yes that came without doubts and as easy as saying that the sky was blue (in most worlds) and water was wet. Despite that she knew that she should at least give some indication of panic, and as she opened her mouth again—perhaps to apologize for requesting his name, perhaps to say something else—she closed it with a quiet click of her teeth as she heard the clattering of a piece of rubble that the young man had kicked.}

         _{As he stopped, so did she, and she stared at the back of his head for a moment as he looked around, most likely to make sure that they had not attracted the attention of whatever threat there was. Something so slight as moving a brick and making it clatter… but in the end she had gotten his name and could only nod, because while most times she would say something like ”It’s nice to meet you, Eren,” she had a distinct feeling that such words would not be welcome at that time, not in the midst of whatever was going on.}

                  _{So she followed behind silently, careful not to step on anything and to sidestep as much of the debris that littered the ground to the best of her ability. Best not to let herself kick something over and alert the brunet in front of her and anger him, or make him tenser than he already was. In truth, Naminé felt bad for being such a bother and almost a burden, but it was already too late to turn back, to shun his offer of help when it was given kindly enough. And surely backtracking wasn’t an option.}

                                             _{Even if she doubted her ability to scale the crumbled building.}

         _{Eying the bricks carefully she glanced at the soldier who had glanced back at her as if as a second thought, and she breathed shallowly before smoothing down her skirt, wishing that perhaps she had something more flexible in her very limited wardrobe. All the same she exhaled a simple, ”I can try,” before approaching the shapeless mass that had likely, at one point not too long ago, been a building. Poking at the bricks unnecessarily she waited for a few more moments before trying to find a hand hold, and then a foothold, making an effort to avoid getting her bare toes crushed.}