"We've just received some news about Squad 00, Commander."

"Dammit, what is it?"

"They are legally dead, none have them have been found or have returned and it has been a month." What was left of Team Rivaille after the encounter with the Female Type Titan and other Squad leaders, stood in wonder, flashing each other a couple of confused looks. Whispers of who exactly Squad 00 was went throughout the room, catching Commander Irvin's ear.

"Ah… Perhaps I should tell you…" Commander Irvin sat down at his desk, opening a drawer, and grabbing a neatly-folded piece of paper. He unfolded it, seemingly to check if it was the correct one, and folded it back up.

"There was more than one 'secret squad'," He began. The room was so silent, so intrigued about these "secret squads", that you could hear the gulps of anticipation in the room. "Don't worry though, there was only two and both occurred while I was the Commander of the Scouting Legion… The first 'secret squad', Squad 0, was more of an experiment than something that would actually be considered doing every 3 years. The 'secret squads' were the top three, for Squad 0, and top four, for Squad 00, trainees two years into their training; meaning they graduated early." Many people in the room expressed faces of horror and disgust, while others labeled these occurrences as "suicide."

"We asked the soon-to-be-members of Squad 00 what they planned on doing after graduating, and all four had a clear idea and replied the same; The Scouting Legion." Commander paused and started to pace around the room as he told the story, looking into everyone's eyes as he passed them.

"You can imagine my face when they replied that, as I had been planning to make them Squad 00 ever since they came into training – reason being, one of them was strong enough to come to a close second, next to Rivaille here." Commander Irvin, again, unfolded the piece of paper that had been heating up in his clinched fist. As he passed Rivaille, he handed him the plan that was placed for Squad 00 only 4 months ago.

"She is…was…very beautiful," Commander Irvin pressed his lips together as he bowed his head, still pacing around the room. "And despite her small stature, being a mere 149 cm tall and weighing at 51 kg, she excelled in all courses. Though, in her opinion, her weak course would have to be hand to hand combat… Samantha den Hellige was her name…" Commander Irvin paused in front of Rivaille, still looking down.

"Beautiful name, isn't it?" Commander Irvin looked into Rivaille's eyes, smiling. Rivaille noticed that his eyes began to shine and become glossy, as if he were about to cry.

"Yes, sir." And very familiar. But why is the Commander so upset about a soldier's death? Rivaille was seemingly lost in his train of thought, trying to find a face to go with her name. Was he romantically involved with her or something? That'd be odd though, I'm assuming she's fairly youn-. Commander Irvin laughed, snapping Rivaille out of his thoughts. He was wipping the tears that had escaped his eyes, chuckling now.

"Now, don't think I was romantically involved with a trainee… She's quite young, 23 in September." Damn, it's like he can read minds. "She just had a light to her, she was always happy and was a very powerful soldier, when fighting Titans, she would protect every person that she physically could. She cares very deeply about others." Commander Irvin paused once more, again, in front of Rivaille. Is he trying to tell me something? He shook his head in disbelief, and turned away from Rivaille on his heel. Everyone in the room stared at Commander Irvin, intrigued, waiting somewhat patiently for him to continue.

"That's enough about Samantha." He finally said. "The three men that were by her side were Esus Van Buren, grad rank 2; he excelled in hand to hand combat and the 3D Maneuver Gear, but he lacked at cutting deeply enough into decoys to consider it a kill. Xavier, whose last name is unknown, but went as Esus adoptive brother, grad rank 3; admittedly, he was scared of Titans, but overall he was average in all courses. The final member of Squad 00 was Alec Callaghan, grad rank 4; he was grand at thinking out the most efficient way to kill the most Titans, he was very valued to the team, despite his motion sickness caused by the 3D Maneuver Gear after a period of time." Commander Irvin walked up to Rivaille, grabbing his hands in a sympathizing manner.

"Rivaille, I know that after your encounter with the Female Type Titan that it is going to be hard…" Commander Irvin stepped closer to be able to whisper in Rivaille's ear. "But I would like for what's left of your team to go find them… Dead or alive." Rivaille shoved Commander Irvin away, sending him stumbling to the middle of the room.

"It's been a mon-"

"Quiet." Commander Irvin got into the position he was before and leaned over the Rivaille's ear once more. "You have to understand, that was just a deadline. Maybe they got lost, they could be waiting outside that gate right now…" A silence laid heavily on Rivaille's shoulders.

"Fine." He breathed out.

"Thank you, Rivaille."

"Corporal, we are 3 hours into the search and we haven't found anyone laying around or wondering. No corpses either."

"Just keep looking." Rivaille sighed.

"Yes, sir."

A few moments later, Rivaille spots a moving figure in the distance, not a Titan, obviously a human. Though he is injured, and the slight bouncing caused by the running horse hurts, he rushes to the wobbling person. As he is halfway there, the person falls on their stomach. When he gets there, he jumps off his horse, his cloak with the "wings of freedom" embalmed on it following him. Still standing, he turns around and sees Hanji jumping off her horse, crouching down next to the unconscious figure, placing her hand on their back.

"Their breathing and their heart rate is normal, just a tad fast. It seems like they have been wondering for awhile now."

"They are rather small; this could be the girl Commander had gotten crazy about." Rivaille carefully rolled over the uncousious body, as they were covered in blood; whose blood it was, they didn't know. Hanji carefully removed their hood and revealed their face; it was Samantha den Hellige.

"The blood seems fresh; maybe she's the only survivor from a Titan attack that occurred not too long ago." Rivaille pondered down at the girl as he began to take off her heavily, blood soaked cloak. It seems like she fought hard these last couple months.

"Commander was right, wasn't he, Rivaille?"

"Hm?"

"She's quite the looker, I mean."

"Right." Rivaille's face started to flush slightly, as he began to notice more and more of her beauty. Her porcelain skin, which was stained in blood, and her beautiful, long, sandy blonde hair.

"Please..." They heard a quiet croak from under them. "Please… get these clothes…" Samantha began to tug at her shirt and her pants. "Please get these clothes off me…" Hanji and Rivaille shared a look, then quickly looking back down at the exhausted girl.

"We'll take you back, dear…" Hanji said sympathizing and calm, brushing Samantha's bangs from her forehead.