So, yeah. I know it's been an excessively long amount of time since I've worked on this, and I can honestly say that I am so sorry for that. There are 101 reasons as to why it was so late, but I know you don't want to hear that, so I won't really bother you with it. Know, however, that I do care for this fanfiction just as much as my others, and I'd rather have short chapters than long, filler-ones that make little-to-no sense.

Rated T for Teen (mild language)

Lotte Smith's POV:

"Irvin, this is madness," I called from behind my brother as he rode quickly through the forest. Bouncing up and down repeatedly on the saddle was growing tiresome, and I worried on how everyone else was holding up. My mind wandered to the friends I had made over the past month, and I wondered if any of them were dead. I may not have been as close with them as they were with one another, and I knew that, but I still worried greatly for their sakes.

We continued to ride on, eventually reaching what I was fairly certain was the belly of the forest. There were about twenty of us, all veteran soldiers there for at least, I knew, three years. Hanji and Mike were also with us, leading their squads expertly and with ease. We all hopped off of our horses, I nearly falling into the dirt as my foot got caught in its foothold. However, someone's arms quickly caught me and held me long enough so that I could untangle my boot before righting me on my feet. When I looked up to see who it was, I saw Irvin looking down at me with a worried, brotherly look, silently asking me if I was alright. I nodded in response when no one was looking, and stood up, my ankle throbbing a bit but otherwise alright.

It wasn't that people didn't know I was his sister, and it wasn't that Irvin wouldn't have helped any and everyone if they had fallen like that, but for some reason, it was embarrassing, and I felt like I had to hide my heritage. I think, it might have been because I didn't want to disappoint him, or disgrace his name. If I did something wrong, I didn't want people to judge him for it, and wonder if he would do the same thing, making the same bad decisions.

"Irvin, wait," I tried to get his attention, but he was already rising up to a tree branch high above my head with his grapples, leaving me to stand there and pout as my thick eyebrows knotted together.

"What seems to be the problem?"

I turned, hearing someone speak to me, and noticed Hanji was behind me, to my right a bit, a smile on her face. I had known she, Mike, and Levi as long as what Irvin had, because he had introduced me to them before the walls were breached. I sometimes felt like they were worried I was what everyone else thought I was; a thorn in Commander Irvin Smith's side.

"It's just . . . " I began. "I don't really understand why we're here in the middle of the forest. Flares went up that there was an aberrant, so shouldn't we actually go and try to help the others?"

Hanji seemed to think my words over, as though she thought the same thing, but then shrugged her shoulders as her eyes closed a bit. "Irvin has something planned. You know that as well as any of us."

"Yes, I do," I said, nodding. I looked up into the trees as the others around us began to set up traps. I knew that we were looking to capture something, or someone, but who was it? Clearly a Titan, it'd be pretty idiotic to assume anything less, but why all of the traps, and why just one? "I just have a bad feeling."

"Try not to worry about it, Lotte," Mike said as he came down from the same branch Irvin was on to stand beside me. I looked up at him, and he sniffed momentarily. "No Titans are nearby, so you can stay calm as much as you need to. Just breathe, and remember that you're a soldier."

Hanji nodded a short nod along with his words, and they both left me to stand there aimlessly in the middle of the dirt road. Hanji went to oversee that the traps were being set up correctly, and Mike went to talk to Irvin, probably planning something or asking about his plan, or maybe something else. I don't know. I could see Mike and Irvin being together, anyway. After all, I'd prefer Irvin being with Mike than really any other woman; none were good enough for him.

I sighed as I waited, my body beginning to shake slightly as I thought of what to do. I had been given no orders, and felt like a little lost puppy that just stood and looked so frightened, so confused, so unsure.

And then, the ground began to shake.

Please follow and comment.