Chapter 8:

Throughout the next year, Lilith and Rivaille trained the recruits. The females swooned over Rivaille the whole time, making it difficult for them to learn anything. The males however had realized that Lilith meant business whenever she was instructing them, and they obeyed her every command. Some of them quit because they couldn't handle it, but the ones that didn't managed to catch onto their instructor's skill. Only a real life battle could tell if they truly did, though, and today was the day they would see if they did.

Lilith rode Nightmare next to Rivaille. Irvin had told them that they did not have to be in a squad since they were not rookies anymore, but he advised them to help the others that needed their help. Rivaille and Lilith both decided to wear their scarves with their uniforms, because as Rivaille says, it makes them look "bad ass and a higher rank above the rest."

If they people they trained did well today, then they both would become officers that could hand-pick their own squads. Lilith dreaded this since she is not good at working with others in a team, but at the same time she was excited that she could pick anyone. She already had people in mind; Hanji, Erd, and Petra. But, she knew Rivaille had the same people in mind.

Lilith kept her gaze straight ahead of her, avoiding the people that looked at her as she rode past them. Finally, the gate rose, and Lilith couldn't wait to feel the thrill of killing titans once more. She was in the back of the formation, so she wouldn't get to attack for a while until it split.

"Good luck, Angel of Death." Rivaille says to her before they rode off quickly. They both were curious to see the other in action.

The Scouting Legion entered a forest without any problems. They had went around the forest last time, but Irvin found it better if they could fight with trees surrounding them. Approaching them was a titan that was a 15 meter class, and it was a deviant too.

"One target is up ahead! Prepare for battle! Split into groups." Irvin commands them.

Lilith stayed seated in her saddle, controling her urge to attack it. 'Not now, not until the others need my help.'

The soldiers closest to it jumped into the air. The deviant titan grabbed the line of a grappling hook as a man tried to move to a different tree. He was killed instantly in the titan's hands, and it opened it's mouth and swallowed him. The only thing that was left was the man's arm, and it fell to the ground. The damn deviant had killed ten people before Lilith decides to take it out. Rivaille had the same idea, and they both shot through the air, flipping and spinning occasionally to avoid hitting the trees.

The titan's gaze settled on them. Lilith rememberd that she could momentarily blind a titan before it regenerated it's eyes, and that's what she aimed to do. Her grappling hook hit one of it's eyes, and she smirked before pressing the gas button harder so that she pulled ahead of Rivaille.

It rose a hand to grab her line, and she did a side-spin, which was her favorite thing to do, slicing it's fingers off before landing on it's face. She stabbed a blade into it's only eye left, and she jumps back into the trees before it's other hand crushed her as it slapped itself in the face. Lilith reaches down and grabs another blade since she left that one right in the titan's eye.

Rivaille was glad that Lilith had blinded it, and he swoops down and attacks it from an angle, slicing the nape of it's neck before he landed on the tree right beside of Lilith. The titan fell to the ground, steam rising off of it.

Lilith jumps back down and lands right on her horse's back. The further they ventured into the forest, the more soldiers that got killed or injured. Lilith allows herself to go on another killing spree to save more lives.

The raven haired girl takes down five titans by herself. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw her friends fight too. They did wonderfully, and that is whenever she realizes that they had improved greatly. Some of the recruits she trained fought exceptionally well also, but the only person that matched her speed and talent was Rivaille. He was at her side the whole time while they both killed titans that got in the way.

"Retreat!" Irvin yells suddenly right whenever Lilith dives off of a tree and kills a tall titan. She curses under her breath and finds Nightmare quickly, riding away with the rest of the remaining Scouting Legion soldiers that went on this expedition. As they neared the gates that were opening for them, a couple of 15 meter class titans appear, heading right towards them. Irvin spots them quickly.

"Lilith Ackerman, go take care of those two while we reach the wall!" He calls out to her since she was the closest to them that wasn't injured.

"Understood!" She yells back to him and splits away from the others. Nightmare ran quickly, and then she launches right off of her horse.

The titans stood right next to each other, so Lilith shoots her grappling hook into the one farther away from her, so she could kill them both in one swoop. She does her side-spinning move on them both, digging her blades deep within the back of their necks. Blood gets all over her.

Lilith lands on the ground smoothly, and calls for Nightmare. Her black horse comes running to her, and she hops onto it with ease. She commands Nightmare to run at top speed, and the horse sprints back to the group right as they walk through the gate. The gate was closed behind her, and only then did she see the devistation the titan's had bestowed upon them.

Most of the few remaining soldiers were in the caravans covered in bandages. Some were without horses and limping. She even spots a man that lost his eye in the battles. 'So that is why Irvin chose me to take care of those titans instead of dragging the injured into another fight. I think I'm the only one not injured besides Rivaille and the Commander.'

She keeps her head down in respect. Out of nearly 100 that went on the expedition, only 20 came back. Women crying could be heard from all around, and two kids staring at her caught her attention. Her green gaze locks on them. 'They're probably just shocked because the fact that I am not injured.' Lilith says in her mind and looks away from them, but then she does a double-take and looks back at them.

The girl standing next to the boy looked so much like her whenever she was a child that it was scary. That's whenever it hit her. 'It's Mikasa! That's why she was staring at me!' No matter how much Lilith wanted a reunion with her little sister, she had to make it back to HQ with the others. She spots Rivaille nearby, and Nightmare trots over to walk beside of his horse.

People whispered whenever they rode past, and Lilith couldn't help but listen.

"Those two are probably some of the strongest, they don't even have a scratch on them."

Rivaille must have heard the comment about them, because Lilith saw him smirk.

"Didn't you see how easily she took down those two close to the gate? Of course they're strong!" This time it was her turn to smirk. She looks down at the old man that said that, stopping Nightmare.

"Angel of Death, remember it." Lilith says darkly, and rides back up to Rivaille.

"What was that about?" He asks.

"I just told him who I was."


Back at the headquarters later that day, the tired soldiers limped around. Most stayed in their beds if they lived there. Lilith had washed the blood from herself, and went to go eat dinner. As she ate alone, Commander Irvin Smith walks up to her. The few others that sat there eating turned their heads to look.

"Do you mind if I sit down here?" He asks her politely.

"No one's sitting there, so, uhm, yeah. You don't have to ask, sir." Lilith says matter-of-factly. Irvin sits down across from her at the table.

"There's good and bad news, Lilith." Lilith pauses on eating her rice, sitting her fork back down on the tray.

"Good news first." She tells him, becoming serious.

"You did really well today. Excellent actually. You exceeded my expectations of you, and so did Rivaille. On the last two expeditions, I never got a chance to see you fight but now that I have, I know that the Scouting Legion has hope," He pauses and Lilith picks up her fork, eating a bit of rice. "Consider yourself Colonel of the Scouting Legion."

With those words, once they registered in Lilith's mind, she drops her fork on the floor. A loud echo rang through the cafeteria.

"Why me? Aren't I a bit too... young for that position?" She asks, shocked. She bends down quickly and places the dirty fork back on her tray.

"It does not matter what age, all that matters is your experience. I decided upon this after seeing how you saved many soldiers lives today. You trained those recruits well."

"But Rivaille-" The blonde man cuts her off.

"Rivaille is now the Lance Corporal. The Scouting Legion needs people like the two of you to help command it. Both of you together work really well; you're like the best tag-team."

Lilith blinks and stares blankly at him. "Now tell me the bad news, sir." She finally says.

"A Titan taller than the walls broke the gate of Shiganshina today, and an armored Titan broke through to Wall Maria. This is another reason why I appointed Rivaille and you to a high position. At times it will be up to you to command the troops." Irvin says with a grave face.

"Are people being evacuated to Wall Rose?" Irvin nods. All of these things were shocking to Lilith.

"By river. There isn't enough room on the boats for everyone though. Many have already been devoured by the titans. That is all I know for now until I recieve another report. You now have your own office to do paperwork in, which there will be a lot coming, especially since Wall Maria has fallen."

"But Irvin, I should go fight!" She says to the older man.

He shakes his head at her. "Even the strong fall, Lilith. I will not have the newly appointed Colonel go into battle without us thinking up a strategy first."

"You're right." Lilith looks down at her now cold food, and she lost her appetite. "Where is my office?"

"Right across the hall from mine. Rivaille shares it too, so you two can split any of the work I give you. Now, if I can excuse myself, I need to go tell the higher ups about your new position." Irvin gets up and leaves.

Lilith walks faster than normal to her office. She opens the door, and Rivaille fixes his bangs as he props his legs onto the desk.

"Good evening, Colonel." Rivaille smirks at her and she takes a seat beside of him.

"Don't call me that, Corporal." She spats out "Corporal". Lilith sighs loudly. "I still cannot believe this is really happening."

"Me either. Imagine what it would've been like if we had traveled back here any slower. We would have been caught in that mess." Rivaille says to her, leaning back in his chair.

Lilith runs a hand through her hair and lies her head on the desk in front of her. "I don't think I could get used to being second in command."

"Just relax; everyone will now fear you more than before." Rivaille says now sitting down normally and patting the back of her head.

Lilith sits back up. "Right. I actually enjoy making others fear me."

"I've noticed."


Several months later in the winter, Lilith sat in her office reading a report that a messanger had brought her. Apparently the refugees from Wall Maria were to try and retake the land. With one third of their land lost, people were starving because there wasn't enough land to raise livestock and grow crops to feed everyone.

"There's no way that they could do it with no training at all. Screw what Irvin says, I need to go help them. At least I could save some innocent lives, even if the mission fails." Lilith says to herself quietly. Rivaille enters, and he stares at her with annoyance.

"There's no way that you could make it all the way there before all of those people fighting are killed. They've probably already retreated, Lilith." He says and takes a seat beside of her.

Lilith facepalms. "I'm an idiot. I didn't even think about that."

"You're always worried about others and not yourself. Don't worry so much about it, we'll get our chance to fight soon." Rivaille says. His greyish eyes examine her long black tresses that seemed to get in the way every time she moved. "Do you ever burn up with all of that hair?"

Lilith glances at him, then she runs a pale hand through her hair. "Most of the time I do; but I do not find it a problem as long as it's a few inches above my gear. If it was any longer, then whenever I fight, it would get caught in the gear as it is spinning."

"Then why don't you pull it back like most other women do?" Rivaille asks, though he didn't know anyone else in the Scouting Legion with hair as long as her's.

"It would probably whip me in the face whenever I do flips." Lilith snorted. "Hmm, you should braid my hair, then. How about it, Lance Corporal?" The Oriental smirked.

"You expect me to know how to braid hair?" Rivaille asked bluntly.

"It's too complicated doing it on my own." Lilith's eyes glaze with sadness, and she pouted at him.

Rivaille hated that look. Though he knew she was faking, he couldn't help but to tell her that he would do her this favor. But, he said that she owed him, and that next time she wanted her hair braided that she would have to find someone else to do it. Lilith smiled as he braided her hair; and right after he was finished a knock came at the door.

"Come in." Rivaille says and Irvin walks into the office.

"I have gathered all able-bodied soldiers in the main hall. Colonel Ackerman, go pick your team, because next year you will go to Wall Maria to examine the situation."

"Yes sir!" Lilith stands up and walks past Irvin, but before she left Rivaille spoke.

"Am I not allowed on her squad?"

"I never said you couldn't be." Irvin tells him. "It's up to Lilith."

"Come on Rivaille. I'll need your assistance." Lilith says and tightens her scarf before the three of them left the office together to go to the main hall.

The Commander, Colonel, and Corporal stands in front of the crowd of tired looking people. There was no doubt that the titan's breaching the walls were putting stress on them. No more normal daily lives for them.

"Colonel Ackerman is here today to hand-pick her squad that will tour Wall Maria in the spring." Irvin's booming voice rang through the room.

Lilith let's her cold gaze sweep over the crowd of people. She remembers some of the top-ranking soldiers from the list she was givin, and she chooses them.

"Hanji Zoe. Erd Gin. Petra Ral. Auruo Bossard. If you are here, come to my office immediately. That is all." Lilith says to them, and she takes her leave.

She wasn't waiting in her office for long whenever the four people she requested for came in. She knew three of them personally, since they were some of her few friends, but Auruo Bossard she did not know at all. This Bossard guy pissed her off as soon as she sees him. He had a smug expression on his face, but she put up with it because out of the squad she had chosen, he had the most solo kills. If push came to shove, Lilith would teach the man a lesson, despite him being older than her.

"Take a seat. Rivaille should be here any moment now, and we are going to assess the situation at Wall Maria in the spring. Any questions?"

Hanji, of course, was the one that asked her something before the others did.

"How are things between you and Rivaille?" Lilith keeps calm, though she glared at Hanji. Lilith did notice how Petra looks down at her lap with a sad look in her golden eyes, and Lilith remembers that she also cared for Rivaille.

"Listen here Hanji, nothing is happening between us, and I don't know why you won't just let it go." Lilith says, and Petra looks back up. The pretty woman's expression seemed to brighten a bit as Lilith said those words.

"But you two are always-" Hanji was cut off as Rivaille walks in and punches her in the face so that she would shut up.

The hyper persona she usually had went away as she rubs her cheek soothingly. It was swelling quickly, and Rivaille walks behind the desk to take his seat next to Lilith.

"Don't talk about Lilith and I like that. We are friends is all." Rivaille lies through his teeth. He hates the fact that he and Lilith never had the chance to tell each other how they feel. Rivaille knows that they are more than friends, but not lovers. There is no time for them to be so either, but if the situation was different, then he wouldn't mind at all to leave the Scouting Legion with her and settle down.

'What the hell am I thinking?!' Inner Rivaille tells him to stop thinking that way, since it would never happen. The Scouting Legion was their top priority until they die.

"Whatever Rivaille, but I know the truth whenever I see it." Hanji mutters, but says no more.


Spring came quicker than Lilith would have liked. She missed riding Nightmare through the snow every night once she was off duty. But now she was riding Nightmare to the Trost District, and behind her was her squad. She sped through the towns on the way there, and people made way for them and seemed to brighten as they rode past. Whether seeing the Scouting Legion's strongest made them have new hope, or they were just glad to catch a glimpse of the Colonel and the Corporal was beyond her.

Once arriving at the gate of Trost, Lilith jumps off of her horse and speeds up the wall, preparing to see the worst on the other side. She makes it to the top before the others did, and the Stationary Guards that were firing canons at any titans that got too close saluted to her as she walked by. She took a seat at the edge, letting her legs dangle over as she gazed through the destoyed towns of Wall Maria. It wasn't that long ago whenever she traveled through there on their last expedition, and it seemed like a dream.

"I take it that this is your first time seeing the devestation, right Colonel Ackerman?" A bald man with a grey moustache asks her.

She nods. "You are Commander Dot Pixis, am I correct?" Lilith asks.

"Don't call me Commander, young lady." Pixis says to her with a smile on his old face. He takes out a flask and takes a gulp, then hands it towards her.

"Want some?" He asks.

"No." Lilith growls at him. The rest of her squad had the same idea as her, and they either stood or sat and looked out at Wall Maria.

"Suit yourself." Pixis says with a shrug and gulps down some more wine before putting his flask away. "What I would like to know is why a beautiful young woman such as yourself is doing in the Scouting Legion while you could be living the normal life."

"There is no normal life anymore, sir. I've always wanted to be in the Scouting Legion since I was a child. Now that I am, I've realized that humanity needs people like myself to help protect them from the fear of being killed by titans. That is how I became the Colonel in such a short time."

"Hmm, your nickname spreads fear through people." Pixis tells her.

"So even higher-ups like you knows about that. I cannot help that killing titans is fun."

"I don't see how it is." He comments.

"I doubt anyone would understand the rush that I get from it. I'll be taking my tour of the area, now." Lilith tells him and stands back up, and she walks over to her squad.

"Let's go." She tells them, shooting her grappling hook down the wall and she moves quickly to the nearest roof. Rivaille was right after her.

Lilith walks across the roof slowly, searching for nearby titans. She smirks whenever a deviant starts leaping through the air.

"One target is closing in, I'll take care of it." She warns the others and speeds off before they could stop her from going by herself.

The titan leaps onto a clock-tower and hangs onto it. It didn't seem to notice her as she shot her grappling hook to the building across from it, and Lilith glides through the air at an angle, digging her swords into the back of it's neck. She enjoys the sound of it's skin ripping apart and the nape of it's neck was cut out. She lands safely on the roof and looks for more targets.

Auruo takes off and kills two titans with ease before Lilith noticed them. What catches Lilith's eye was swarms of titans ahead, all coming towards her and her squad. Lilith unleashes her true self and goes crazy. Her senses became more sharper, and she became more stronger.

The girl glides through the air quickly, and angers a titan by cutting it's hand off as she shot past it. It glares at her and spins around to try to catch her, but she was just too fast for it. Lilith does a front flip, slicing the nape of it's neck out while she dived forwards.

She slows her movements to check on her squad. Rivaille was doing perfect, and all of them together were killing titans left and right. That was until Hanji decides to try to talk to one that was staring at her while she stood on the rooftop. Lilith's eyes widen slightly, and she travels over to her as fast as she can.

Petra beats her to the titan and kills it quickly, and she lands beside of Hanji who looked mad.

"Don't scare us like that!" Petra complains to her.

Lilith lands next to the two women. "I think it's time we should go back. There's no way we can get past all of those without running out of supplies." She says and gestures to another swarm of titans coming.

"Head back to the wall!" She yells loudly, making sure they all turned around and headed back before she did.

On their way back, whenever they were so close to reaching the wall, a titan comes running after them. Since Lilith was in the back of the group, she decides to distract it while the others climb the wall, and she turns and goes left to lead it away. Her actions caught Rivaille's attention, and he pauses halfway up the wall to safety to make sure that Lilith would be okay.

"Shit, at this rate I'll run out of gas trying to get away from it. I have to kill it and get back to the wall." Lilith growls and turns her direction back to the wall, and she disappears from sight as she dives down into the streets below, tripping the titan with her grappling hook. As it fell, she runs across it's back and slices the back of it's neck.

She launches back into the air, and hooks the wall right whenever she ran out of gas. She stood there shaking her gas tanks so she could get the rest of the way up. The tanks rattle and then she presses the button. A small burst of gas shoots out and she makes it back to the top, where Rivaille glares at her.

"You shouldn't have done that." He tells her.

"I led it away so you guys could escape." She hisses right back.

"You could have made it to the wall before it caught up with you, and look, now you ran out of gas." Hanji grins as the two argue just because Lilith left for a few seconds.

"Sorry Rivaille, I'll try not to do it again. I just like being in action." Lilith apologizes, and she stares down at her feet.

Rivaille sighs and he also apologizes for overreacting. Their tour was a succes, because none of them was injured. Lilith and Rivaille tell Irvin how many normal soldiers it would probably take to retake Wall Maria, and Irvin shares this knowledge with the man in charge of the three branches of the military.