Cursing under his breath, Jean whipped his horse around and made his way towards the group that were tripped by massive exposed roots. A few others helped whilst the rest stood around, observing the environment and watching for any threats. He jumped off his horse and walked towards Armin, who was on his hands and knees slightly dazed, quickly pulling him up by his shoulder and back onto his horse. The haste in which he did it made it harder to get the smaller boy on fully without nearly falling over again, the entire time Jean focussed too much on holding his breath and listening out for any titans that would ambush the group. As soon as Armin had a good grip and was on fully Jean rushed back onto his own horse and followed everyone else's stares at the seniors. They simply nodded and proceeded to go through the giant roots with a trot, forcing the younger members to follow in haste out of fear and dread. In the distance they heard a roar followed by what was presumed to be tearing flesh, Jean strained his ears to listen for any others sounds, anything else that could indicate that Levi was not dying – but all that could be heard after were the soft sporadic chatter of insects that were clearly spooked by the sudden roar. Trembles flowed down his spine as multiple possibilities started forming and disappearing in his head before he forcefully shook his head and concentrated on the situation in front of him. They were at a disadvantage if they kept tripping over roots and injuring themselves by not paying attention, but with the titan that had just followed them it was hard not to imagine all the horrid possibilities that followed being on the receiving end of whatever attacks it dealt. The seniors were heading towards some sort of larger area, a sort of clearing, to try and think of a new plan and spot danger slightly before it reaches the younger members. Another roar ripped through the foliage behind them, but it echoed more and sounded quieter, they were heading away from the fight that was most likely ensuing between the titan and Levi – but for some reason that sent far more chills down his spine than it should have. Being away from Humanity's Strongest, and the foreboding factor that he could be killed, wasn't a comfort and Jean would much rather close to him during this mission than what was happening right now.
The mass amount of trees started to slowly dissipate and it was clear they were finally coming near to a clearing. As the sunlight started filing through the lesser amount of leaves, their environment was finally easier to survey and the seniors started slowing down to be slightly in front of the large group. "The hell was that thing back there?" Reiner was the first to speak up, voice mixing in with terror and anger, struggling to stay quiet. Petra shook her head, as if to be an adequate answer despite knowing that it wasn't what Reiner was looking for.
"If we knew we wouldn't be out here now would we!" Eren snapped back, eyebrows furrowing and eyes darting around him, ready for a titan to burst from the line of trees around them. Reiner sent a glare back in his direction, their eyes meeting and daring the other to make the first move.
"We don't need you fighting amongst yourselves in this moment!" the heads of the young members snapped up to Eld, who was still looking ahead of him, voice stern. The seniors appeared to be chatting amongst themselves, discussing what best direction to next take, whilst the rest all thought one similar thought: I want to go back home. This was what they signed up for when they joined, but it also wasn't. They expected to fight smaller titans like they had during the battle of Trost, but instead here they were head over heels in fear of this giant intelligent titan that they had no information on. A loud burst brought their attention to their right hand side, before hearing a low mumbling, though it might've been moaning in delight, as the wide eyes of a titan was met as it stared at the humans. This was not what they needed in this precise moment, but fate would have there to be far more than one. There was no running from this; they were surrounded by titans with escape blocked with the giant roots around them. Immediately the seniors jumped into action, leaping off of their horses and flinging themselves in different directions towards the titans, first pair of blades withdrawn and impressively avoiding the flailing arms of the titans and already slashing their napes. The rest followed suit.
Jean stood from his horse, aiming his gear at the forehead of a titan with bulging eyes, propelling himself forward and landing on the forehead, his momentum being enough to force the titan's head back to prevent it from acting for the few precious moments that Jean needed to jump down and slash at its nape. Swiftly moving onto the next titan that readily approached him, eager for a meal; he swung around it as it uselessly flailed its arms around trying to catch him, the nape easily sliced. The next titan would prove to be more difficult, standing at ten metres tall and having functional arms. Each swipe at his wire forced him to readjust and position each grapple to get closer to its nape. A sharp force pulled him down midflight, unable to register that he needed to fire out his wire again and landed in the hands of a different titan, still ten metres though. Jean struggled, but unfortunately his arms were clasped to his side in the vice like grip and the breath was being crushed out of him. "Help!" was all he managed to call before a choking sound erupted from his throat, his very life being slowly squeezed out of him. His eyes were forced shut by the sheer amount of pain that ricocheted all through his body. As suddenly as the painful pressure had been applied, it was removed in a swift movement of blood and steam, before he felt himself be caught and brought to a higher level. His swiftly opened his eyes and clung to the level that he was brought to and harshly regained his breath. He glanced down, somewhat surprised as the group had managed to slay the last one. In total there were around thirteen titans that had attacked them.
"You ok?" Jean twisted his head to face the friendly, yet concerned expression of Reiner. Jean nodded, still regaining the breath that was denied from him.
"Hurry back to your horses! We're leaving this forest!" Eld called to the squad, already on his horse. The rest of Levi's squad had followed suit, as the younger members scrambled back onto their horses.
"Wait what about Levi?" Armin questioned his voice shrill with adrenaline and fear. Levi hadn't returned yet. It sent alarm bells ringing in Jean's head, how truly strong was the titan that chased them? "He'll catch up." Petra answered, but her confident facade was easy to see through as her voice shook and her eyes betrayed her emotions. Humanity's Strongest couldn't have fallen. Surely not?
"We're leaving, let's go!" Eld commanded, jolting his horse to a gallop and rushing through thickets and giant roots, with the rest trying to match his speed and not fall over again.
It was near impossible to see through, as multiple branches were repeatedly hitting Jean's face and forcing him to squint his eyes to avoid them being damaged. Eld seemed confident in where they were going, almost as though he knew this part of the forest. That wasn't a bad thing, it was much better than the large group wandering aimlessly in titan territory. Soon the large trees started to get thinner and fewer until a familiar, imposing but also comforting, wall finally came into view – causing multiple recruits to breathe in relief. Something was off, Jean could feel it. The trampling of the hooves was being accompanied by an unsteady, larger, beat. And it was approaching. Jean glanced back when no one else dared, and dearly wished that he didn't. Behind them, not approaching as fast as the previous titan, but still chasing after them was easily fifteen metres in height, with a lean muscular build. The longer black hair that draped over its dangerously glowing olive eyes and rows of exposed teeth only cemented that this was another intelligent titan, and one that clearly was ready to smash them to the ground like mush. "There's another titan after us!" Jean screamed, eyes not tearing from this new titan as others looked back.
"Oh great! What do we do now? It's coming straight towards us!" Connie joined in, eyes widening, "This one also looks a lot meaner! I don't feel like being eaten alive!"
"It's slower than the other titan; we should be able to reach the wall before it at this pace!" Eld responded, altering his eyes between the new titan and the wall. As though it heard him and took insult the titan roared, a shriek piercing the sky and successful in sending chills down the humans spines, and increased its pace. It was now easily out running the last titan.
Fear now engulfed the group, screams of sheer terror rushing through the easier to scare members. Even Petra had joined in. It was only a matter of minutes before the titan would reach the group and trample them easily, no matter which direction they went. The fast rhythm that the titan somehow managed to produce matched Jean's heart rate, increasing with every step closer it took. Why of all times couldn't that dwarf be here? Of all the times for Levi to be missing, it had to be when the entire group's very lives were in danger. Jean would've groaned if it wasn't for the fact that there was a much larger issue heading right towards them. Then suddenly the titan, emotionless as ever, began to topple over, blood and steam bursting from behind both knees and ankles. Almost as though a miracle, a horse emerged from the behind the titan, with the rider hopping down onto the saddle with ease and ushering the creature onwards. As soon as Levi's distinct features came into view, his voice rattled through the tense and horrified atmosphere "Don't stop! Keep going!"
They didn't need him to tell them twice about this, as the wall began to engulf Jean's entire view. He forced his eyes forward as there was no footsteps approaching them, none that he heard, but to also calm his nerves. He may get out of this alive. He dared himself to at least glace back, to find the titan to be standing there next to the feminine titan, regenerating almost all the wounds that Levi must've given it. Their forms began retreating into the distance until the two standing titans were nothing more than a speck and the walls were getting closer to touching distance. Upon seeing them the gate was immediately opened and the horses rushed through. Finally within the fragile safety that the walls provided, Jean could exhale and begin to breath normally again. As they made their way towards the Survey Corps buildings, he kept his eyes fixed to his horse, not looking around at the people watching them enter. He could tell, even without looking at his teammates, that some were never going to get sleep tonight. Finally arriving at the buildings, Levi's squad dismissed them immediately and told them to get some form of rest. The members all jumped off their horses and lead them to the stables. A silence formed around them, before one person sighed heavily. "So there are four intelligent titans out there." Surprisingly it was Mikasa who said that. Though having to deal with four intelligent titans, and the new two most likely as destructive as the Colossal and Armoured Titans, was too much to comprehend. Did humans even stand a chance now?
"What the hell are we going to do!" of course Ymir was the one to snap in anger rather than despair. She huffily brushed her horse as they reached the stables and settled their horses down.
"Try not to die?" Connie tried joking, but fell flat as he received multiple glares. "Maybe they're more focussed on speed? It seemed like it when they chased us?" this time people didn't glare at him.
"They seem to have the form for it." Bertholdt, usually quiet during these conversations, hummed in agreement. Jean stayed silent, brushing the horse's mane to calm his nerves more than keep the horse tidy. The exhausted animal didn't seem to mind though, grateful for some sort of rest.
"The Armoured Titan can go just as fast though." Jean commented, not looking at his members as they looked at him, he simply carried on, "The only one that seems to actually have an imbalance is the Colossal Titan. The Armoured Titan is probably heavier than those two titans but he can run just as fast as them. And we all know what damage he did." There was multiple groans, hums and 'I guess' agreeing with him. Even Armin hadn't argued against him.
"Damn you're probably right too. That kinda raises a question though." All faced Reiner as he stopped, folding his arms and his brows knotting together, "If there's so many of them why haven't they just laid waste to us? They have the numbers and strength to do it, why only destroy one wall?"
"Yeah that doesn't make sense!" Sasha chipped in, "Are they playing with us? That doesn't seem like something titans would do, they're too eager to eat us!" slowly the members nodded. It didn't make sense, now that more intelligent titans were discovered. It was speculated that they didn't have a taste in human flesh as the Armoured Titan and Colossal Titan didn't eat a single human, as soon as the wall was kicked down the Colossal Titan left and after the Armoured Titan did its job it left too. It was too co-ordinated to make sense, even for intelligent titans. Wouldn't they want to destroy the entire civilisation? What were their motives?
They trudged silently back to their dorms, eager to just get some sleep since most of them knew they'd never get any sleep when the rest joined them. The boys and girls separated, and as soon as they were inside their dorms they rushed to get changed. Bertholdt of course hurried to the separate room, as everyone else slowly changed. As soon as he rested and stopped moving Jean's body immediately reminded him of the fact it was nearly squished to death and began to ache. As he removed his jacket and shirt, he noticed bruises already forming around his body, earning a whistle from Reiner – trying to lighten the mood – and sympathetic looks from others. "Man this is going to be a pain tomorrow." Jean groaned, earning chuckles from others. It was better than reflecting on the events that had happened. The atmosphere still reeked of the fear that they had experienced, but inside the walls it also was much less tense. As the boys all got into their beds they all muttered a 'goodnight' to each other, however Eren quickly snuck in 'not you Kirstein' to have a quick reply of 'yeah have nightmares mated'. It was almost as though the events truly didn't happen, and it calmed Jean's nerves tremendously. It was as if no matter the situation, the group had each other to pull through. Like a strange family.