"Is that a...titan?"

"There's no doubt. Prepare yourself, Emil." Answered Tino, already grabbing both of his two sharp sword blades.

"Right." Emil used his left hand to grip his blades while the other take control of his horse. It seemed unusual at a quick glance, but he was nervous, for fuck sake. His first encounter will come at any second now! Not to mention the death rate.

When the two meter titan were getting closer to the group, one of the soldiers fired the red flare, making the others to prepare their blades, or their transportation. Tino, being the nearest spot from the enemy, launched his 3DMG and fired the wires straight into the titan's left foot, before dismounting his horse and made a clean cut on the nape. Fresh blood can be seen on Tino's green cape.

The blond only smiled and made his way to his horse elegantly. Emil was near him, his eyes widened.

"That is great-and suicidal for a new recruit, Tino!"

"Eh, really? I thought it's a normal kill for me..." Tino said, not really used to compliments.

"An abnormal at three o'clock!"

Someone shouted, who Emil recognized as Leon Wang, while shooting the black smoke flare at the sky. His expression can't be read by a normal person. He really reminded him of his older brother, Lukas.

'Shit, I'd better move.' thought Emil.

He moved a little to the left, trying to avoid the abnormal as possible. Surprisingly, another two titans, fifteen meter class each, were running crazily behing the abnormal titan, who was crawling so fast and the squad will take the impact any second. The white-haired teen can felt his heart racing. He was sweating, too.

More flares were shot, either from Emil's group or the others, but he didn't really looked at his surroundings. 'Which is a bad idea, I know!'

"I'll handle it." A familiar voice rang out and made his move to the first special titan.

The abnormal felt his presence and his movement was a lot faster than before. Emil watched as the figure cut his joints like it's nothing. He aimed for this upper area and the titan attempted to launch his attack.

CRUNCH!

It was close to biting the person's leg, but in a split second, the abnormal titan was no more as the blade made its final move.

When he heard another growling, he quickly attached the gear to his new targets and aimed for the nape. He was ready to slice it, until a sudden interuption came.

"MATTHIAS'S TITAN SLASHER!"

SLASH!

Matthias suddenly appeared and sliced the napes twice in a single blow. Because of the killing, Lukas lost his balance, but succesfully regained it. As their bodies falling down, Lukas kicked Matthias in the gut before returning to his own horse, his face was still annoyed by the crazy action his friend did.

"It should be my kill, you stupid Dane."

"Hey, I wanted to test my blade, that's all!" Matthias retorted back. Of course Lukas isn't going to buy his shit.

"Whatever, Mr. Show Off."

"Ouch, you pierced my heart with those words!"

"Good. Now shut up." Lukas ended the conversation with him fastening his horse.

The spiked-haired blond pouted, but it only lasted a few seconds before the commander spoke in a blaring voice.

"We're entering the woods now! Prepare your 3DMGs and don't waste too many gas!" Gilbert Beilschimdt roared.

"YES, SIR!"

Emil felt nervous again. There will be titans coming out of nowhere once you entered the big trees. He knew it was a great place for using the gear, but he's still unexperienced with the outside world. Lukas and Matthias already experienced this, and Tino was supposed to be the same level as him, but he's really talented.

'Why do I enter the Survey Corps from the first place?' It always haunt his mind. The thought of him being useless, injured, or even dead, it just can't get out of his mind.

"Let's regroup, guys!" Tino chirped, making Emil snapped from his thoughts.

"Good idea. At least we can watch Emil from now." Lukas said. Emil felt his eye twitched.

"I really don't need your babysitting this time, thank you very much." Lukas only scoffed, already expected that kind of answer from his little brother.

"Man, this brings up old times! Let's slash those ugly creatures with our hands!" Matthias laughed with his obnoxious voice. Even if his voice was annoying, Tino, Lukas, and Emil nodded.

"Annoying, but good point, anko." The crossed-clip haired man added.

'I joined... because I want to help them.

Yeah, that should be the answer. At least for now.' Emil smiled at his answer, satisfied. He didn't want to sitting around and doing nothing while the others was fighting with their lives on line.

The four of them went together, their horses galloping with the same speed. The breeze of the big woods made them realized one thing. They're going to stick together, even when they're fighting for their lives.

Because they are one family, didn't matter the blood, and families protect each other no matter what.

'Watch over us, Berwald.'