Her heart hammered away in her chest, the loud, staccato rhythm of it overriding everything else as she stared down at the smoking shell of the titan that had been controlled by Eren Yeager only moments earlier. Elena’s eyes shifted back and forth quickly, bewitched as one of his fellow team members began hauling him out of the steaming hunk of flesh. “He really did it,” she breathed, lilting voice barely above a whisper. She had been convinced just hours earlier when the Colossal Titan had broken through the gate that they would all die. But now, as she stared at the boulder blocking the breach in Wall Rose, she felt an unfamiliar feeling blooming in her chest.

Elena couldn’t be sure, but she thought it might be hope.

“Elena, look sharp!” her squadmate, a dark haired man by the name of Mark, warned as he landed next to her with a dull [i]’thud’[/i]. He knocked his shoulder against hers and jerked his chin towards the street where a seven meter class was steadily lumbering towards the boulder. “You go ‘round front and draw his attention. I’ll hit the nape.” 

“Why don’t you be the bait?” the redhead snapped, trying to school her expression to keep the fear from her face. This was only her second time seeing a titan and her nerves had yet to settle.

“Cut the shit, Ral, and just help me take him down,” Mark ordered in a gruff voice, but his face was sympathetic. “Besides, you know I’m better with a blade.”

“Right,” Elena answered begrudgingly, shifting her weight as she anchored her hooks into the building on the opposite side of the street. “Wish me luck,” she said simply, knuckles going white as she tightened her death grip on her weapons and took a running leap from the ledge to propel herself into the titan’s line of sight.

The beast stopped, dead gaze locking on her as soon as she entered his field of vision. Elena could feel all the hair on her neck stand up the moment she felt his focus shift to her. “C’mon, Mark,” she whispered to herself as she landed on a perch just in range of the titan’s gasp. The titan only hesitated for a moment before shrieking and lurching forward, meaty arms outstretched in a bid to grab the compact girl.

Elena gasped before she quickly fired her hook into another wall and hurtled towards it, but the piece of the building she was attached to gave way, leaving her unanchored and plummeting to the ground below. She shrieked and tucked in on herself to better roll as she made impact, grunting when the jagged edge of a rock sliced through her left shirt sleeve and left a thin line of blood on her bicep.

The blue eyed girl jumped up and whirled around with an undignified squeak to face off with her foe, only to find it face first on the ground with Mark standing on the back of it’s neck. His blade steamed as the titan’s blood began to evaporate and as he pursed his lips to try and hold back his laughter.

“It’s no--not funny!” she yelled, but the way her voice broke in the middle of that statement only seemed to amuse him more.

“I know, I know,” Mark seemed to apologize, holding up his hands in a universal sign for surrender. “But by the walls, you should have seen your face! You looked like you were gonna puke any second!”