Horses were gathered so close that Caroline's boots brushed up against Hange's as they sat in the stirrups. Fifty-seven scouts were gathered at the wall, awaiting for the gate to open. The crowd around them was abuzz and children watched with awe. Hange was meeting their eyes, even waving, while Caroline was holed up in a pit of anxiety. This missions objective wasn't clear, but even her squad leader assured her that they were meant only to follow orders. Anything that they needed to know, they would. It was terrifying... but as the gate opened slowly she couldn't help the way her heart fluttered and her hands gripped the reins that much tighter... she was going to see the outside world... Titans were terrifying, but they were going to see everything that had always been a mystery before.

"Attention!" Shadis bellowed from the front. His deep voice was loud enough for everyone to hear, even so far behind. "The 23rd exterior expedition will now commence! Advance!" There was no time to think. Robotically, Caroline tightened her thighs around her horse's sides and took off riding with her fellow scouts. They sped to a gallop; the hooves hitting the stone street like war drums.

"Titans we're coming to see you!" Hange cried with excitement, earning a very disgruntled look from their superior officer. Cara grinned as they passed through the tunnel and looked up to see the sky above... yes, it was the same sky she had always seen but they were not in the shadow of a wall anymore. They were free from their cage and galloping through the grassy plain beyond the wall. It was a feeling that could only be described as euphoric. As they followed the main squad, it seemed as if their way was clear—but as they made their way over a large hill, Caroline set her eyes on her first titan.

"Is... it's... smiling," she said with disbelief to Hange. It was a four meter class titan; certainly not an abnormal. His face was distorted with a large nose, a toothy grin and big blue eyes. It even had shaggy blonde hair.

"It's ADORABLE!" Hange screamed with glee. They stayed on their course as the flanking squad activated their ODM gear to cut it down. They made it look so easy. All they had to do was drive their cable into the thing and orbit around it... then with one hard swoop they took out the nape.

"FOCUS," their squad leader growled at the two of them. They quickly averted their eyes, though Hange seemed almost say that the titan was killed... it was as if she thought it was a baby. It was rather small, compared to the training titans they had worked with before. Caroline caught her breath and worked to keep up with the team as she glanced around; searching for signs of more creatures. She didn't know what she expected when they got out... perhaps a swarm? It was probably a good thing they didn't see any...

The farther they rode though, the more common they became. Caroline's squad was flanked by three others—as they kept the new cadets safely tucked away if possible. By the time they reached what looked like an old camp, they had seen and killed five titans... Cara was in awe of the survey corps abilities... There were no titans around the abandoned campsite, but they did come to a halt... At first Caroline didn't understand why, before Hange gasped... The ground was soaked in dried blood and large footprints were buried in the sand. Handprints as well... Two corpses that had to be nearly a month old were rotting against the ground; crushed, while what looked like a sack of human remains laid coughed up in the middle of the site.

"What is this?" Caroline asked quietly as they began dismounting. Their squad leader, Peter Richards dismounted and frowned deeply as he looked over the scene.

"A stop... we were ambushed here on our last mission and we couldn't collect the deceased," he glanced around, searching for the cart. Mike, their fellow cadet looked like he was going to be sick. It made sense, what with his enhanced sense of smell. Caroline had to breathe through her mouth and Hange... she couldn't move. She just stared at the sack with wide eyes, probably not sure whether to be horrified or excited...

"How many died?" Caroline asked quietly as she started to help dig through the damage for supplies. Abandoned gear and rations were still useful... she did her best to ignore the corpses.

"Twenty," Peter replied with a solemn expression. He too was collecting gear. Hange was looking over the titan pellet with a twisted expression. She pulled out her blade and poked at the sack; puncturing it and letting everything spill out. "CADET!" Peter yelled as he approached her, clearly exasperated. Hange looked up and held up her hands as Caroline continued looking for gear.

"I just wanted to see how thick the membrane was! We need to get the bodies out anyway, don't we?" She had a point, but Mike gagged when the smell hit him. When Hange joined them, they took ages collecting damaged and abandoned gear from corpses as well as finding badges to give to the families of the fallen... Seeing so much death so soon was a reality check...

"Hange... this will be us one day you know that right?" Caroline murmured as she pulled her cloak up over her nose. She pulled the belt off one of the half eaten corpses that had fallen out of the pellet... It was disgusting.

"Stop it Caroline; you're here now. If you keep dwelling on the negatives... well it won't make anything easier. Do you need to take a break?" Her eyes were filled with concern, which was different from her maniacal excitement... The weight of the losses were affecting her too, even though they didn't know anything about the dead. Caroline shook her head and stiffened up; stubbornly taking on the task at hand.

"What is that?" Mike asked with a twitching nose. Caroline turned to him as he looked around, searching for the source of... whatever scent he had caught.

"It's death, Mike. Stop sniffing around and help me get this tank..." Caroline didn't mean to be rough, but the bile inside the sack made everything that much harder to salvage. Mike ignored her though. He approached the front, where the commander and his officers were planning out their route back... "Mike!" Caroline frowned and let the tank drop as she followed him. Hange didn't take long to catch up with Moblit trailing behind her. "Mike come back we're supposed to be loading the carts"

"Something's coming," he replied calmly. The commander turned around, along with the high ranking officials to stare at the group of cadets that approached... it was embarrassing, but Hange was wide eyed and curious. She thought Mike's nose was a fascinating thing, able to pick up everything around them. She once tested him by hiding items around the bunkers... He was almost canine like—so if something was off, Mike would know.

"Something? Like a titan?" Hange asked as she looked around. There was a thick forest in the distance, but all around them there was nothing but grass. Still, Mike had gotten the scent for titans on their way here—so he could have been right.

"Two; at least," Mike murmured quietly as he gestured towards the forest. "No... More,"

"What are you going on about cadet?" Shadis questioned as he looked him over. Before Mike had a chance to speak, a titan came barreling out of the woods.

It wasn't a titan that she'd seen before. It didn't stand or walk slowly. Hell it didn't even look as human as the others had. This one was on all fours with a gaping mouth and small eyes. It moved faster than any horse that Caroline had ever seen and it kicked up dirt behind it as it charged. The color drained from Caroline's face as she checked her gear to make sure it was ready. It was getting so close—and it was closely followed by two other titans. One was at least ten meters high, the other about five. They were slow moving.

"An abnormal!" Hange cried as she too made sure that her blades were at the ready. Shadis was watching the approach—was he frozen? It was difficult to say who to send after it.

"Smith! Take your squad and intercept the crawling abnormal!" Smith—Caroline turned to look at the squad he was referring to. The leader was young, blonde and handsome but had a deadly look in his eyes as he directed his team towards the aberrant. Caroline watched with wide eyes as they tried to surround it. The titans before had been so easily taken down, but the moment the titan was close enough, it crushed one of the scouts under its hand. Another scout tried to swoop down and cut the titans nape, but the wild titan rolled and pulled the scout underneath it. The squad was down to three now—Smith took control; directed the two survivors to take out the back legs before he came down hard on the nape. All that Cara could do was stare in horror, shock and awe. They didn't even flinch as they went after the other two titans...

"Move soldiers! Get the gear into the carts; get the bodies loaded. We don't have the man power to handle an ambush!" He seemed genuinely concerned, and by the way Mike's eyes were darting around Caroline was worried too. Hange pulled Mike by the shoulder back to the carts where they worked faster and tried like hell to ignore the fact that Mike still couldn't focus on much other than the phantom smell in the air. Could he really anticipate a titan from so far away?

"We don't have a lot of time," he said after a moment as he turned around to help load what they could. They wrapped one of the corpses in a blanket and carefully moved it onto the cart. At this point, the smell and the disgust was the last thing on their minds. They didn't have the manpower to handle a real ambush. This was supposed to be a short mission... but it was cluttered; disorganized. They'd lost two men already and they hadn't even been away from the wall that long.

"Six more coming in from the left!" another scout called. "Two aberrant and four five meters!" Caroline's hands were shaking as she tied down the cargo and looked up to see the titans coming for them. Shadis let out a frustrated growl.

"Soldiers prepare for combat! Kill anything that gets too close. South squad focus on preparing a retreat!" They weren't in the south squad. Caroline's group quickly pulled their blades from the scabbards.

"Caroline! Moblit! We'll take that five meter. Take out the heels and I'll get the nape!" Hange called as she climbed onto her horse. Caroline followed with a nod and mounted up; following Hange with a pounding heart. They all followed; picking off which titan they would kill and how. Everything happened so fast. Before Caroline had time to think, she was standing carefully on the saddle, preparing to launch both cables into the titan's leg. Five meters... it seemed so much bigger up close. She leaped from the saddle and plowed forward; zipping between the titan's legs and turning back around to slice into his heel. Moblit almost mirrored her movements as they worked together. Hange hooked into the titans neck and swung around before diving in for the kill.

"Good job cadets!" called Peter called as he followed them. They weren't done though... Mike came barreling past them towards the woods; following his nose. Hange, Caroline and Moblit didn't hear their commanding officer's protests. They mounted up once again and followed Mike, both to protect him, and to kill whatever he was after. They were young; invincible and stupid to do so—as they realized when a fifteen meter class emerged from the woods. They pulled hard on their reins; skidding to a stop with eyes wide with fear. How could something be so immense?

"J-I—Same as the first! Take out the legs!" Hange stuttered as she prepared for combat. Caroline followed; standing on the saddle and preparing to take the titan out by the knees. Before she could, it started to move. The steps were long, hard and impossible to measure—but the titan got too close. Quickly, Caroline dodged the step that slammed down where she stood; almost crushing her horse beneath its feet. It was going towards the crowd. Caroline fumbled with her gear and launched two cables into its thigh, but it only pissed it off. It turned around, much faster than she expected and tried to make a swipe for her. It hit the cable and threw her off balance—if Hange hadn't swung past and sliced into the titans arm it would have grabbed Cara. "Watch yourself!" she called as she landed. Caroline had fallen, but it wasn't that far. Hange grabbed her arm and pulled her up moments before they both dodged another heavy step.

That was when Smith came in with his two remaining squad members. The scouts sliced into the titans shoulders so deeply that the arms were rendered useless. As Erwin cut deep into the titan's nape, Caroline and Hange were quick to disperse. The titans corps fell so hard the ground shook—but it began to evaporate just as quickly as it had fallen.

"Why aren't you with your squad leader?" He demanded just as Peter caught up. Caroline wasn't sure what to say. She was still getting over the fact that she hadn't died, and she was frozen in place with somebody yelling at her like that. She was more intimidated by Erwin than Peter by far.

"Mike's got a good nose on him. We thought we'd take care of whatever he caught scent of so you guys didn't get too overwhelmed. Good thing you showed up when ya did," Hange mused as she climbed back onto her horse nonchalantly. Caroline followed numbly. "That thing was huge. Mike you gotta learn the difference between them if you're gonna run at them like that,"

"Get back to the carts. All of you," Peter ordered with a stoic glare. The four offered no objection as they kicked their heels and rode back towards the cargo. Mike was still uncomfortable, which in turn unsettled them all. The more experienced scouts were cleaning up the rest of the five meters—the casualties hitting six by the time they got back to the carts… Peter had joined Erwin's squad as they guarded the forest. Already, the carts were being hitched to horses… Two injured soldiers laid among the dead remains…

"They have to come back," Mike said under his breath as he stood on the cart and looked towards the forest. Hange watched the edge of the trees with anticipation and shook her head as she adjusted her glasses.

"Erwin's a great leader; they will be okay," she replied confidently. Caroline wasn't so sure… it seemed like the woods was some kind of nest. Every time that they seemed to get the titan population under control, three more would pop up. As if jinxing it by thought, another titan emerged on all fours… from so far away they could barely make out what was happening—but then a scream echoed loud over the field. It was a blood curdling scream that shook Caroline down to the core with its familiarity. Peter had been bitten by the crawling titan; and half his body lay bleeding on the grass as Erwin's team killed the creature. Caroline almost took off to help; to bring him back—but Shadis barked at them.

"Move! Retreat! Don't look back cadets!" he growled as Caroline's horse stomped with irritation when she pulled the reins. She stared in horror, swallowing the guilt like a lump in her throat. He wouldn't have been there if they hadn't went rogue… "NOW!" She flinched and turned to escort the cart while Erwin and his team returned. The screams of pain had stopped, and she could only assume that their team leader had died… Nothing else made sense, since Erwin's team wasn't carrying him. Only his horse… It wouldn't be the last time that somebody Caroline knew by name would die in battle either… as she always knew, being in the Survey Corps was bloody work—it made you a suicidal maniac…

She always thought that she would die. Hell, she'd come close so many times over the years that she served, yet somehow she always survived. Hange, Mike and Moblit by her side made things easier. It made the passing of friends bearable—as she always felt that they were immortal in a sense. Each expedition made her stronger… years went by like this. She would train, she would fight, she would lose friends and then she'd do it all over again. Hange and Mike climbed the ranks and Moblit became Hange's assistant. Their romantic relationship lasted through so much… Caroline had been placed in Erwin's squad after years of service. She was an elite soldier, but she didn't have the leadership abilities that her friends possessed.

Was being elite something to be proud of? No. It meant she was lucky. She dodged attacks that her friends and fellow soldiers did not. They died in her place… but she learned soon that regretting the small losses would drive her insane. Instead she kept her close friends that much closer… She'd even grown closer to Erwin during her time on his team. Though she didn't lead, she was still important—and after seven years of service, she had earned the title of veteran. She'd seen so much; survived so much… she lived up to the name.

When Erwin Smith became commander, changes were made that saved so many lives. He fought against his superiors to make the changes he had to implement. He sought council from Hange more than anyone… Caroline had been a part of an evolving unit. Now, seven years later she stood around a table with her squad. Mike stood beside her, along with a woman named Sara and a man named James—all awaiting direction from their commander.

"We've received a request from the military police," Erwin began as he rolled down a long map. Immediately, Caroline recognized the underground. It took Mike, James and Sara a moment to catch up, but she knew the streets as though she were there yesterday. "A group of thugs have been running rampant; using ODM gear they stole from the military police. They are skilled and have been wreaking havoc for years now—but they are starting to target the military police directly." Caroline's eyes narrowed as she looked over the map where he'd made notes of their regular hits.

"Do we have any information on them?" Mike asked after a moment of silence. Caroline was about to ask the same question. Erwin had answers.

"They are led by a man named Furlan Church—" Caroline's stomach lurched as her grip on the table tightened. "The gang itself has a high turnover rate, but it seems to have a few regulars," he set down sketches of said members, and Caroline recognized two immediately. Levi, with his brooding expression and dark hair stood out—and she didn't keep it to herself.

"That one is named Levi… if we're apprehending him, and Furlan—we should be careful. I knew him, a while back and he was dangerous then. I don't even know how dangerous he would be now," she was honest with her squad. She wouldn't hide something like that when she knew Levi would kill them to protect himself… it was simple survival.

"This is a sensitive operation, and a test," Erwin said calmly. "If they are as skilled as they are said to be, we could use them to our advantage in missions to come. We need more elite soldiers..."

"Levi wouldn't join the military," Caroline muttered a little quietly. Erwin frowned and cleared his throat.

"Either way, this order comes from high up the chain. We're to apprehend them—if they agree to join the survey corps then we will train them, if they do not then we will hand them over to the military police and be done with this issue. We can't have them wasting supplies." He looked up, spending a few extra moments to gage Caroline's state before speaking once again. "We leave tomorrow in the afternoon. The military police have set up a trap, but they'll need our help to catch them. Are we clear?"

"Yes sir," Caroline replied with a salute, mirrored by the others who stood with her. Mixed emotions clogged her throat as she turned to leave… Levi… what the hell had he gotten himself into? Seeing him again… it seemed so surreal. After all this time it was hard to imagine him even remembering her… and now she was working to capture him.

It was… such a strange situation.