Chapter 1
Over the past 2 weeks much has happened. She finally unleashed her true power and she managed to save many lives. Not only that, she got the man of her dreams and her sister back. Talk about hitting 2 birds with one stone. Finally, she had thought that she may get a break, a chance to enjoy everyone being alive, but no, another threat arose and now she was making her way through the city on horseback.
"These basterds need to cut us some slack!" a black haired girl shouted. She had stormy grey eyes and shadow black hair. Her build athletic and quick.
"Talk about bad timing!" a boy shouted. He was blonde with azure blue eyes that held thoughts, plans, genius plans and so much curiosity.
The horses came to a slower pace, until they stopped completely. Hanji turned around to face the Scouts that had been following her.
"The Beast Titan is somewhere within Wall Rose. From the information that the lieutenants have told me, we think that it is a human wrapped in a titan body. Also, it seems that there have also been titan sightings." Everyone gave a surprised yelp.
"They've breached the wall…?" the blackette wondered out loud.
"Scouts have been sent out already to locate the Beast Titan. A red smoke signal will be shot into the air once it is found. I want 2 squadrons to surround the wall, one east and one west. I also want the rest of the Scouts here to scout out the interior and try and find any survivors, if there are, bring them back to the wall. The garrisons will await your arrival and you will then take and carry the survivors through the wall safely into Wall Sina," Hanji explained.
"Yes ma'am!"
"Also, one more thing! I want a titan shifter in each group; none are to be in the same group. If worst comes to worst then we might need the strength of another titan to help," Hanji said. Eren looked over at Thalia worriedly.
"Hey, I'll be fine. Honestly, it's you I'm worried about," she smiled weakly. Eren leaned and gave her a kiss on the head.
"You better not die," he said. Astrid came and punched him lightly in the arm.
"It's fine Jaeger, she'll be with me," she said.
"And us," a male voice said. The three turned to see 2 familiar faces.
"Reigner, Bertholt," Eren said. The 2 boys grinned.
"She'll be safe," Bertholt said, clasping Eren's shoulder. Eren nodded and looked at Astrid.
"Is Corporal going to be with you?" he asked. Astrid raised an eyebrow.
"Who? Levi? No, he is going to be with Hanji, Erwin and a few other Scouts, they are going to be in the interior scouting out for titans and looking for village survivors. They are supposed to be a lot of villages within Wall Rose. This mission is suicidal and may take a while," Astrid explained. Mikasa and Armin then trotted up.
"We're with you Eren, along with Jean," Armin said. Eren supressed the urge to roll his eyes. Time with Jean? Oh joy.
"Got to say, I wasn't expecting to be tossed right into this right away," Thalia said. Annie came up behind her sister.
"I agree, though I already have enough stress on my back. When this is over and if I'm not dead I need to still go through punishment," Annie said.
"Yeah, oh, Annie who is in your group?" Thalia asked.
"Ymir, Krista, Connie and Sasha," she said. "They wanted an extra in case the whole "hugging-my-sister-and-wanting-to-join-the-Scouts" thing was all a bluff, which it wasn't, but you know how Scouts can be," Annie said, rubbing her neck.
"It's just a precaution, hopefully that whole situation will have blown over soon," Armin said.
"Scouts saddle up, we're about to leave!" a voice called.
"Be careful out there," Annie said, putting a hand on Thalia's shoulder.
"Back at you, but don't worry, I got Ash, Reigner and Bertholt with me," Thalia smirked. Annie's eyes widened a little and she met the 2 boy's eyes. Their expression hardened and Annie looked like she wanted to cry. "Annie? You okay?" Thalia asked. She kept her eyes locked on Reigner and Bertholt and nodded.
"Yeah, perfectly fine," she said. Her voice was emotionless and cold. She turned and headed to the front of the group to meet up with her squad. Astrid turned to the 2 men.
"What the hell was that?" she asked. They both shrugged.
"Beats me," Reigner said.
The gates opened and the Scouts charged out of the city and into Wall Rose. Thalia, Astrid, Reigner and Bertholt went along the east side of the wall, while Eren, Mikasa, Armin and Jean went west and Annie, Sasha, Connie, Krista and Ymir went through the center.
As she ran, Annie stared at the ground speeding past her, deep in thought.
I thought they were going to let this go once I joined the Scouts? she thought. Are they really going to make their move? she asked herself. She grits her teeth. If they were going to attempt this plan while they had Thalia alone, then things are going to get ugly, fast. Not only will the Scouts think she had something to do with this, but she can only imagine what Eren would do…she doesn't want to imagine it, but let's just say, Eren can be the very definition of hell if he really tried.
Never mind this Annie thought. I just need to hope that they're not smart enough to take advantage of the situation. The fact that the titan shifters have split up is like them putting their hands out and asking to be handcuffed. They have Thalia alone, and she is the one they really want.
"Annie! Snap out of it!" Sasha shouted, as she ran alongside the blonde. Annie blinked and looked at the brunette.
"What?" she asked.
"We're coming up to the first village and we can't have you zoning out like that if we run into any of our little titan friends," Sasha explained. Annie nodded and they both sped up.
Annie's squad entered the village with caution. As they walked through, they noticed that it was dead quiet and completely deserted. The only sound that was heard was the horse's hoofs on the grass.
"Where is everyone?" Krista voiced, breaking the eerie silence.
"They couldn't have evacuated, we would have saw them and with titan's lingering they would have thought it be best to stay indoors and hide," Ymir said glaring at her surroundings. The squad captain sighed and turned to the group.
"I want us to split into smaller groups and scout the village, send someone if you find any survivors or clues as to where everyone went," she explained. She then leaned into Ymir and Sasha, who were near her. "Oh, and be sure to keep an eye on Annie, we wouldn't want to have a bigger problem than we already do," she whispered, though, Annie's instincts and abilities to sense have been altered since she is a titan shifter. She rolled her eyes and looked at Krista, who smiled nervously. "Right, so split up and meet back here in half an hour," she ordered.
"Yes ma'am!"
Annie, Sasha, Krista, Ymir and Connie walked through the village on horseback alert and steady. It may seem quiet but they weren't taking any chances.
"It's strange, isn't it?" Krista said. "The houses barely look damaged, so where is everyone if the titan's haven't invaded?" Krista asked.
"Honestly, anything could have happened, but I still don't get where the people could have gone at this point. They wouldn't have made it far without the Scouts finding them and no one has been taken to Wall Sina as far as we know," Connie said. Annie sighed and closed her eyes, keeping her titan instincts intact.
"There is something we are missing," Annie said. "There-," she paused. She heard a whimper. She stopped and turned to her left.
"Annie?" Sasha asked.
"I hear something," Annie said, climbing off her horse. She drew a blade and followed the sound of life. She looked through windows, in corners to find the source and when she finally saw it, she gasped. In a house, there was a 4 meter titan gnawing on a woman. In the house, crying was a little girl. "Oh my gods!" Annie cried. She ran at the titan and sliced through the nape. It fell forward and the woman gasped a breath. Annie could see and sense the life draining out of her.
The rest came rushing in and stared wide eyed at the scene. Sasha and Krista rushed to the girl's side picking her up. The woman was lying in a pool of her own blood.
"Get…my daughter…t-to safety…" she said, in her last breath before she died of blood loss. They only sat there, stunned. Ymir turned to the door, expectantly.
"How…how did the titan get through the door without smashing it to bits?" she asked.
"I don't know, but we need to signal the others to take this girl to safety," Krista replied, as Sasha grabbed the girl's hand. The others nodded, before they rushed out of the house and Connie rushed off to find the others.