"SCOUTS MOVE OUT!"
The loud roar of the commander rang through the air, signalling that the 58th Expedition beyond the walls had begun. Jumping at the loud and powerful voice, Lyra Everhart gave her horse a quick kick. The animal leapt forward, galloping to catch up with the other recruits.
Jade-colored orbs locked ahead on the horizon, a line of tall for and evergreen trees coming into view. Swallowing, she urged her horse on, riding alongside Erwin. "C-Commander?" She asked hesitantly.
The blonde man glanced to the side, surprised to see the normally silent girl speaking up. "What is it?" He asked.
"A-Are you sure you want me with Levi's Squad?" She inquired, "I...I don't think I'll be of much help."
"It's the safest spot in the formation," Erwin answered, giving her another sideways glance. "Since it's your first time officially out in the field, I figured you'd want to stay in innermost formation. Especially since the outer formations will encounter the most titans and well...you know."
"I attract titans like a magnet." The girl muttered quietly, lowering her head.
"I'm honestly surprised you volunteered to come along," Erwin spoke up after a depressing pause of silence. "It's a brave thing to do, Lyra. I'm proud of you."
The dark-haired girl looked up, surprise flickering in her jade orbs. Did he just say he's proud of me? Her cheeks burned red and she quickly averted her gaze. However, she couldn't stop her lips from turning up into a small smile.
For as long as Lyra could remember, she had been alone. She could hardly remember anything from before the age of six or seven. She truly had no memory of who her family was or where she came from. One of her first memories was of wandering the streets of the Orvud District. And upon trying to recall the memory, she could only remember a sense of anxiety and fear-like she had been searching for something. But when the king needed more test subjects for the top secret Project Immunity, she was one of the first to be snatched up and shipped off to the interior underground for testing. Injection after injection she was treated like a lab rat. The king had wanted to create a serum that would make humans ultimately immune to titans. The concoction was supposed to make humans secrete a smell that titans found repulsive, and once the so called "cure" was created, it would be distributed to every human within the walls. However, upon testing, it was found that the serum had the opposite effect. Instead of titans finding the smell repulsive, they found it appealing.
The sixteen year old shivered, grimacing at the sudden flood of memories. When the time came for her to be tested, she was literally dumped in titan territory. It didn't take long for countless titans to catch her scent and swarm. Lyra tightened her grip on the reins. I still don't know how I survived that. I ran for hours, jumping every giant hand and mouth that came my way. By some strange miracle I ended up running into the Scouts.
It was strange. The brunette found herself lost in thought. Erwin had saved her from the depths of hell when she was just twelve years old. He even opened up his own home to her, practically taking her in when no one else would. If she was completely honest with herself, she looked up to him like a father. Taking in a deep breath, she focussed on keeping herself focussed and calm. I owe him my life. And even though this is suicide, I don't want anything to happen to him. I owe him this much!
"PREPARE TO SPLIT!" Erwin shouted. And extending his hand into the air,, he shot out a green smoke signal.
The grey mare whinnied as Lyra tugged back on the reins, forcing the animal to slow down and veer to the right.
"Captain!" The brunette shouted, alerting the leader of the special operations squad that she had joined them.
The short man nodded and increased his speed, leading the small group towards the forest ahead.
Giant trees were everywhere. Lyra gazed around in wonder at the beautiful canopies. She had never seen so many trees in one place before. And never once in her life did she think she would get to see anything besides the stone walls of that cell she had been locked in for nearly seven years of her life.
It was nice. A quiet ride with no titan interference yet. Levi rode in front, leading the group down an old dirt path that Lyra concluded used to be used for transportation years ago.
The girl could sense that her horse was starting to get tired and reassuringly, she rubbed the mare's silky neck. "Good girl, Lily," she spoke quietly to the animal. She had fallen behind Mikasa and Connie, finding herself riding uncomfortably close to Eren Jaeger.
It wasn't that Lyra hated him, per say, but she certainly didn't trust him. After all, the first time they met had been a terrifying encounter for her. She shivered at the memory. They had been paired together for a training exercise shortly after they had both joined the Survey Corps. And before the girl could even introduce herself, he had tackled her and pinned her to the ground, madly repeating over and over again on how delicious she smelled.
To say the least, it freaked her out, and Lyra had made sure to stay clear of him ever since, interacting with him only when absolutely necessary. Hesitantly she glanced to the side, grateful to see that he was staring ahead, a look of determination on his face. But her relief was short-lived as he suddenly turned towards her, his gaze locking with hers.
"Can't believe we're finally back out in the field again. You nervous?" He grinned, his gaze softening when he noticed that she was looking at him.
"..." The brunette remained silent. Quickly she averted her gaze to hands, tightening her grip on the reins once more.
After watching other people die at the hands of titans under Project Immunity, Lyra was wary, and wanted to avoid titans as much as possible. And that's what Eren Jaeger was to her: a titan. He was a ticking time bomb of anger that could turn into a fifteen meter killing machine, and that terrified her to the core.
"Miss? Uh, Miss...Everhart?"
"Lyra." The sixteen year old corrected and shook her head, coming back to the present. "Just Lyra is fine."
"Lyra..." he repeated the name and looked up, remembering the past, "You were in the western division right? Guess that explains why we never really talked to each other, huh? I heard you graduated in the top ten. Plus I remember you beating Jean's ass a couple weeks ago after he tried hitting on you, so you're alright in my book!" He grinned.
"Haha, y-yeah." The girl laughed nervously. She just wanted to get away from him, and quickly.
"Hey, brats!" Levi yelled from the front,"Shut up! Enough talk back there unless you wanna attract titans!"
Lyra instantly sat straight up. "Y-Yes sir!" The two replied in unison. Laughing in embarrassment, Eren rode ahead, leaving Lyra alone in silence. She breathed a sigh of relief once he was far enough away. She found herself looking around the large trees, suspicious as to why there were no titan encounters yet. I should be attracting every titan within a two mile radius...Getting nervous, the brunette found herself getting antsy and very on edge. Something wasn't right.
"The end of the forest is just ahead," Levi called, "Be on your guard. We got some ruins of an old village coming up. It's most likely infested with titans."
Lyra swallowed, her throat tightening and her stomach churning. His words made her skin crawl. "You're doing this for Erwin," she whispered to herself, "He saved your life, this is the least you can do. So suck it up. Follow Levi's orders, no matter what." Her eyes slowly trailed down to her trembling hands. Unconsciously, she gripped the reins tighter, threatening to have them cut into her her hands.
Glancing over his shoulder, Eren took notice of the fearful expression lingering on her face, a concerned look crossing his face. "You alright?!" He yelled.
"Left!"
Lyra was pulled back into reality as her horse abruptly increased its speed and sharply swerved to the side. Glancing over her shoulder, the girl gasped as she saw the reason the formation was heading left.
It was a small one, no more than three meters tall. Slowly it trudged towards the group, it's lips turning up into a creepy and sinister grin as its blue eyes locked onto the Survey Corps member lingering at the back of the formation. Coming to a stop, it seemed to lose interest, before it crouched low to the ground and began sprinting towards them.
"Cadet Everhart, speed up!" Levi yelled furiously.
Lyra couldn't tear her eyes away from the running titan. Her vision blurred and her mouth hung open as she felt a scream rising in her throat. She swerved to the right, barely managing to dodge the titan as it lunged itself at her, its face coming in harsh contact with the ground. Wasting no time, she increased her speed, catching up with the group.
"That was close! You ok?" Eren asked, moving to ride alongside her.
"Y-yeah," The sixteen year old tried to focus on catching her breath. She was still in a state of shock, her body in flight mode.
"Damn titans!" Eren muttered under his breath. "H-Hey ease up on the reins a little!" He urged, "You're bleeding!"
Her eyes drifted down to the death grip she had on the reins, surprised to see a small amount of red dripping down onto the saddle. Her body suddenly started to register pain, and she grimaced. I actually managed to cut myself with leather. I need to calm down…..
"It's alright," Eren offered some words of comfort, "Just focus."
Lyra nodded numbly, her mind still processing everything that was happening.
"Look, there!" Levi yelled, pointing to his left, "Over there, that forest leads directly to a series of caves. On the other side is the abandoned city of Jericho. And beyond that is a river. That's where Erwin wants us to set up camp! Avoid the left, Jericho is sure to be completely infested!"
"Yes, sir!"
It's alright, you're fine, Lyra. The brunette tried to console herself. Just listen to Levi. Everything will be fine, everything will be fine, everything will be-
"MOVE!" The shout brought Lyra back to reality and glancing to her right, she saw Eren's hand reach out and smack the rear of her horse. The grey mare whinnied and violently swerved to the left. Glancing over her shoulder again, she spotted a fifteen meter class suddenly burst through a small clearing in the trees. It crouched on all fours and began crawling towards them at an alarming speed.
The abnormal lunged forward, chomping at the rear of Eren's horse, barely missing its tail before it skidded off to the side.
"Eren!" The girl found herself reaching out towards him, afraid that he would fall off his horse.
"I'll be fine keep going!"
"Eyes forward, Everhart!" Jean shouted, "Jaeger's fine!"
It didn't take long for the abnormal to turn itself around and chase after them again, it's ravenous and hungry gaze locked onto Lyra.
"Captain! Should we engage!?" Mikasa shouted. But before Levi could even give the order, his horse reared and veered to the left as two more titans emerged from the trees.
"Damn it!" Levi cursed, patting the stallion's neck. "Steady boy, steady!"
This isn't happening, this isn't happening, this isn't happening! The sixteen year old couldn't tear her gaze from the three titans hot on their trail. It seemed almost impossible now for them to get anywhere near the southern wall, let alone Shiganshina.
"Lyra! Get outta there!"
The brunette snapped back to reality, realizing that the three titans had all lunged for her at once. Luckily, her horse had sensed the danger and veered off to the side, increasing its speed. "Good, girl!" Lyra let out a shaky breath and rubbed the grey mare's neck.
It was pretty clear that the group was now approaching the outskirts of an abandoned village. Piles of debris and rubble were scattered everywhere. But that wasn't all.
"Oh...My God..." Lyra mumbled, her jade colored orbs staring ahead in horror.
A horde of titans wandered around the town, and as soon as her scent caught their attention, they trudged forward, their eyes locked onto the small group. Now, at least ten pairs of hungry large eyes in many ugly shapes and sizes were locked onto them. We're...we're surrounded!
"AGHH!"
The sound of Eren crying out caught her attention. The crawling titan had leapt into the air, and landed with a thud right next to Eren, sending him flying into the air. With a loud thud he landed directly on his back, the force of the impact knocking the air out of his lungs. A deep, choking noise rose from his throat as his eyes stared up in shock. His horse landed far away, and with a startled screech from the back of its throat and a crack of its neck, the animal was dead.
"Eren!" Lyra tried to ride over to him, but a seven meter had suddenly leapt in front of her, startling her horse.
"No!" Eren shouted, pushing himself up off the ground," Leave me! Don't die for me just go!"
"No! Get Jaeger, Everhart!" Connie demanded, "He's essential to this mission! If he dies, everyone who has died today has died in vain!"
The girl glanced between Connie and Levi, awaiting orders. When none came, she dug her heels into her horse's side and charged forward, evading the titan's clawing hands. Leaning down, she grabbed Eren's forearm, and using all of her strength, she managed to pull him up onto the horse. "Hang on!" She instructed and turned around, forcing the mare back towards Levi's squad.
"What do we do, sir?!" Sasha screamed in terror, glancing around at the titans surrounding them.
"Engage!" The captain ordered, pulling out his blades. "Take em down!" He growled confidently.
Hastily, Lyra reached for her blades, dropping the reins.
"No! Not you two!" Levi barked, "Everhart, Jaeger, head towards the forest!"
"Captain! We need to keep Eren with us! We can't split up!" Mikasa attached herself to a nearby sunken-in rooftop.
"These two won't last a minute in this mess!" He argued, "You wanna keep your brother safe? Well, this is our best option! Now go!" He turned towards the two cadets on horseback.
"Wh-What?!" Lyra's mind was swimming. She was inexperienced and had hardly any knowledge of the layout of Wall Maria. Where would they go? Would they get lost? How were they supposed to defend themselves all alone?!
"That's an order!" Levi shouted, a furious look crossing his face, "Take Jaeger and get the hell outta here!"
"But-!"
"THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?! HE SAID GO!" Eren shouted and grabbed the reins, smacking the already jumpy horse into motion. Lyra shrieked, reflexively grabbing a hold of the horse's mane to prevent herself from falling off. The grey mare bolted forward at full speed towards the treeline, panting heavily as she pushed herself to her limits.
"Captain…!" The brunette glanced back at Erwin's right hand man, watching as he leapt from the back of his horse and reeled towards the swarm of titans with his gear.
"They'll be fine! Just don't look back!" Eren shouted, tightening his grip on the reins.
Tears pricked at the corners of the girl's eyes, but she refused to let them fall. She couldn't fall apart here. She had to be strong. Gritting her teeth, she turned her gaze forward again.
Do this for Erwin.
