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~Gabriel Moreau - Wall Maria: Shiganshina District~
Gabriel sweat heavily from the physical and mental stress of the dire situation. Every step that he took towards the canal was one full of grief. His courage, no matter how great, was never enough for him to help those who cried for help, who screamed for their mother to save them. His fear was never of titans, as menacing as they were. His fear was a lack of control - the inability to help those who could have lived full lives. The fear that he wouldn't be able to save his remaining family. This fear was what kept him going after his father had died. Every day he spent training his mind and body, honing it so that he could be unstoppable...but it was never enough to stop the beasts that gnawed away indiscriminately.
His mind was too distracted by his terror and too concentrated on ignoring the suffering around him as a titan lumbered past him. It's feet destroyed the buildings it walked through, sending Gabriel flying back as debris exploded towards him. His vision blurred as the smoke and dust around him cleared. He didn't even notice his pierced leg and shattered ankle until he forced himself back to his feet. The pain was numbed from the rush of adrenaline and the strong will to defeat his fear, but the severe degradation of mobility was clear as he forced himself to move. What was once a frenzied pace was now reduced to an agonizing crawl as he limped through the streets. He didn't even recognize the bruises and cuts on his body and face - he couldn't afford to check. All he knew was a small piece of wood pierced his leg and that something had broken.
When Gabriel finally turned around a corner, that was when he noticed it; his mother's wheelchair, now a broken piece of junk in the middle of the street. His limping pace began to quicken as he struggled to reach it. His mother could not have gotten far, not with her condition. Out of the corner of his eye, he finally saw them. His mother being dragged of an alleyway, his siblings pulling her with in a panicked rush. Two of them dragged her and cried for her to move, the third child held in her arms tightly. Their youngest brother was merely a baby, only around the age of one year. Gabriel rushed to their aid, to which they cried out in relief. "You should not have come here, Gabriel! Take your brothers and leave!" His mother begged him as he struggled against his wounds, the pain now registering as it sent shockwaves through his body.
"I'm not leaving any of you behind. I can't lose you; not after dad! Just hold on to me! Pierre, get Eitan and run for the canal! Lars, stay with me and help me get mother to the boats!" The brothers obeyed him without a single complaint, but their mother continued to cry out in protest. Suddenly, without warning, the large thuds of a titan in pursuit could be heard. Gabriel felt his blood rush and his muscles tense up as he quickened the pace. He would have control of this situation - they would get out in one piece if it was the last thing he did. "Lars, catch up to Pierre! RUN!" As Lars ran, the titan inched closer and closer. His hands gripped tighter on his mother as he continued, his heart racing.
As if by some cruel twist of fate, both Gabriel ans his mother were tripped by a large, yet stubby hand of a titan. He looked back to see his mother being dragged away by the deformed creature, standing five meters tall. "MY BABIES!" She cried out, reaching out towards Gabriel...no, not at him he realized; his brothers behind him. Pierre and Lars screamed as they fled from another titan. They had been cornered by the large figures, as if it was a trap. Gabriel tensed up, unable to move as his greatest fear became reality; hopelessness. His mother cried out in pain as she was eaten from the leg up, her eyes on her children as she watched in pure terror. Lars was grabbed and was squeezed tightly, his small fists pounding away as he cried. Gabriel, stuck in his position, was handed Eitan by Pierre, who in turn picked up a hatchet. "Don't...stop fighting....just run..." Gabriel's words came out as mumbles, unheard by his brothers as they fought.
At that moment, Lars had popped from the pressure of the titan's grip. Pierre, now a heaving and mind-broken mess, swung his hatchet around defiantly. Gabriel watched in silence as the titan's encircled them. Something had snapped in Gabriel as he gripped onto his baby brother. He looked over to Pierre and backed off, his courage already faded away. With a cry, Pierre was grabbed, and Gabriel quickly ran underneath the preoccupied titan. His limp was forgotten as he held Eitan close to his chest, the titan's in hot pursuit, albeit slow to catch him due to the alleyways he took. "You're gonna be safe, you're gonna be safe. Your big brother is gonna get you out of this; I promise.". Finally reaching the canal, Gabriel noticed he was too far from any boats for safety. The crying Eitan furthered his stress as his teeth grit against each other, his mind racing on an escape route. He looked down to the water, having come up with a temporary plan.
Waiting for the perfect opportunity where the titan's sights were broken, he rushed forward. Without a second to lose, Gabriel held onto Eitan closely, and leaped into the water. As he fell, he thought of the other kids. How would they escape? Were they safe? Would everything be different if he had just helped them? Why did he have to go back for his family? Why couldn't they have just died without him witnessing it? These thoughts leeched onto his brain like a parasite, until the cold, rushing water below took a hold of him and wrapped itself around them like a blanket, carrying him and his baby brother away towards the evacuation site.