"9 meter titan! East!"
"I got it"
After saying it, the person with silver white hair swooped down in an almost arc to the nape of the titan, slicing two parallel lines on it.
She stares down and smirked at her kill while floating down and landing gracefully at the grass.
She raised her bloody blade and swung down at the air forcefully to attempt to remove dripping blood. The blood on her cape was slowly dissappearing in a cloud of smoke.
"112..." She muttered
"Rie...!" Hearing her name, Rie turned around and saw her friend and comrade, Petra Ral, coming over to her with an extra horse on her right.
"Thanks" Rie said to Petra and proceeded to climb on her horse. Petra sighed quite loudly but it did not bother the young girl...well,she is not a girl anymore.
It's been two years since her arrival in the Survey Corps. Five years after the Wall Maria fell. She did say, she just turned 18 so she is now a young lady.
'Although, Captain says she got older but her mind and personality didn't'
Petra thought and couldn't help but agree. Despite Rie getting older and getting used to the Survey Corps, her almost child-like personality remains.
She still kept playing "pranks" and doesn't end the day without at least annoying a couple of people(Levi) , She still refuses to work with anyone although being able to with us,her squad (Other soldiers[and slaving,undermining,threatening them]). Refusing orders because she felt like it (Erwin) and confusing others by her constant mood changes to cold into playful and then vice versa.
Petra observed the girl who was ready to go back into the field and remembered earlier events.
"Still counting your solo kills again?"
"Anything just to raise it up and brag it to Levi's face"
"...Well, at least..I'm not hearing Oluo's bragging anymore..but"
"Rie, I know you want to get your solo kills as high as possible but please..! At least, don't leave your horse on the field! What if it runs off? Or gets injured? I'd be hard to find another good horse like this again!" Petra told her off but the whole time she was looking at her, She felt her vein almost popping.
The blank look and the silence she was giving off convinced her that she wasn't listening at all. Her eye twitched in annoyance at her attitude.
This girl... Petra really thought when Rie suddenly confirms her friendship with her at that day, she thought she was going to be a little more nice.
Well, she did really. She trusts us now.
but she thought she was going to see a new side of her. A Rie that has a nicer attitude .She expected her to smile whenever she talks to them or just be a normal friend that do normal friend stuff.She didn't know why she expected her to be a clingy friend who favors her friends over anyone else.
'But that's just impossible,huh? I mean it's Rie. Cold yet playful Rie. A girl who looks down on others even if they are a higher position than her. A girl who wouldn't hesitate to tease and annoy someone if given a chance...'
'A Rie who is clingy and her whole personality just changes in a flash when a friend is near? A Rie who is , I don't know, so overlyprotective and overly nice to that friend?...Can't see it happening...ever'
"Petra, You've been thinking to yourself for a while now. Kinda creepy with that nodding and snickering ya doin'. Cut it out" Rie interupted Petra's thoughts and looked at her with a mixture of fear and disgust in which Petra hung her head low dejectedly.
"Yep.Really Impossible" She muttered.
•At the same time...•
"The Trost gate has been breached! I repeat, this is not a drill. The Trost Gate has been breached! Escape the citizens!"
"The Colossal Titan appeared!"
"It destroyed the gate"
"Hurry! Assemble the military!"
"Make the Trainees join too!"
•••
For now, The Survey Corps are camped temporarily at a small forest with a few trees,enough to hide them from titans and enough to see them approaching.
Rie just returned from her watch duty which she always volunteers for. She joined up with the Special Ops squad and headed to Erwin and Hanji to discuss further plans, well only Levi. The others are ordered to rest for the meantime.
"Rie"
"What? Levi?"Rie looked to her left,realizing her mistake of calling him by his name when soldiers are around. He stared for a moment before speaking up.
"Why're you so far away?" And Indeed,Rie was 2 meters away from the group.Rie blinked.
"I'm keeping my distance from such an awesome and talented group. I feel like an outcast with my useless and weak self" Rie said in a monotonous voice.
"What the hell are you spouting? Come over here and-"
WOOSH* *thud*
Just then, a sound of something falling and a soft thud was heard below. Levi looked behind him to see Petra, Eld and Gunther looking at what seems like a deep hole.They stood there shocked because someone fell in.
"tsk"Hearing that from the girl who was 2 meters away, Levi had a pretty accurate assumption of what happened.
All five of them peeked deep inside the hole to see Oluo, sitting on the end and coughing.
"Dammit Rie!! Is this your doing as well???!!!" Oluo coughed out. Despite Rie's pranks aimed at a certain midget, the victim was always Oluo. Even the Tea Rie made back then,Oluo was the one who ended up drinking it and getting stuck in the bathroom for weeks.
"Rie...when did you had the time to dig this up?" Petra sweatingly smiled at the young lady. A hole this deep could take her at least two hours but they just arrived here and she was on watch duty!
"Oh. I dug this up a long time ago, back when I was still roaming outside. I put there all of the corpses I found outside,their ashes are probably there and some small bones or something just so I could give them a grave" Rie suddenly increase the volume of her voice,making sure the person down there can hear it.
Rie almost snorted at the pale faces of the three,Levi is still boring with his ever-so-present grumpy face. She didn't really put corpses there, She just put whatever dirt or filthy stuff she can find and put it all in there figuring the clean freak would go berserk if he fell in.
"R-Rie! Damn you!! Get me outta he-GAH" The five peeked in at Oluo to see his tongue outside and blood seeping out of it.
"He bit his tongue" Gunther mentioned.
"Kuh." A snort followed by snickering was heard.
"Seriously, you're not even riding a horse this time and you still managed to bit your tongue" And ta-daa, Rie's annoying smug face has shown itself again. There were so many victims to that smug face that just by looking at it, her previous victims still find it annoying even if it's not directed to them.
That is why, Levi also pushed her in.
"Wah! " She hit Oluo with a thud and the guy suddenly went unconscious.
"Levi! You bastard!" Rie screamed and other soldiers seems to hear the young lady's distress but seeing the look the Captain was giving to them, they chose to ignore it.
"Let's go"Levi said and left,his footsteps fading away. The others reluctantly tried to leave.
"Petra, wait!" Rie shouted for Petra.She looked up at her and closed her palms in a begging manner.
"Help me get out please.You're my friend. It's kind of dark in here and I'm alone with a man. Who knows what kind of things might happen" Rie pleaded with her most convincing voice.
Petra stared at her for a moment then her expressions changed to shock but then to disbelief but then turned to doubt to realization to disgust to pity and finally fear.Her skin tone getting paler and paler with each expression.
"Wait there!" Petra left in a hurry and the two men was left there.
"...Rie, I thought you don't know about those kind of stuff" Eld peeked and said to Rie who only blankly stared at him
"...what stuff?" She tilted her head in confusion. She was only taught by Angelica that a man and a woman must not be alone together in a dark place with no romantic relationship at all. Even if she does not know the difference between romantic and familial or friendship, she can assure herself that Oluo and her has no relationship that can compare to the relationships she has with her friends which then brought what Angelica taught her to her mind.
"Here, Rie! I found a rope!" Petra came back and threw down the other end of the rope while she held on tightly on the other end.
"Thanks, Petra" She smiled but to the two men, it was a sly smile. It was kind of scary how this girl's mind works without even knowing a thing and using it for her benefit.
As Rie climbed on the rope, she can't help but be confused at the success of plead. She doesn't really know what happens when a man and a woman are in a dark place...They fight to the death? or do they go rabid? and it's not like Oluo can do something..He's unconscious. She's not really sure what went on Petra's mind when she said that.
She finally got out of the hole and patted the dirt off of herself and stretched.
"You should have brought Oluo" Eld mentioned,feeling sorry for the unconscious guy that was still below.
"I can't carry a man. I'm a frail woman" She spoke to them which lead the three to look at her in a strange way.
"Well, I can't carry him also" Petra mentioned and the other two men also looked away.The four of them stared at Oluo...
"We'll just wait for him to wake up" With that, they left.
•••
~Meanwhile~
"A titan that kills other titans?"
"You! Prove to us that you're not an enemy of humanity"
"I'M A HUMAN!!"
"I have a plan. If we use his power, He can pick up that boulder to cover the breach at the gate then maybe..we can take back the land that was stolen from us by the titans...for..the first time for humanity"
•••
"Hey, why are we retreating back to the wall suddenly?" Rie asked her squad, specifically Levi but the guy keeps ignoring her.
Knowing she won't get any answer, she speed up the pace of her horse to reach the front of the formation,where Erwin is.
"Rie-" She heard Petra called out but she was already far ahead. Other soldiers stared at Rie used to her breaking formation whenever she wanted.
Erwin noticed her and slowed his horse down a little so Rie could reach him.
"What is it, Rie?"
"Why're we retreating so suddenly?...and in a hurry?" She asked him in between long breaths from the fast pace she put on her horse.
"Levi didn't tell you?"
"He's ignoring me"
"A messenger reported to us something urgent. The Colossal Titan appeared and made a breach to the Trost gate. For now, the Garrison are doing their best in handling the situation but they still need us" Erwin explained,looking in front, in which Rie blankly stared but it was evident she was listening.
"Ohh.Trost gate got breached" Her monotone voice drawled on.
"...Seems like you are not alarmed nor worried" Erwin glanced a look at her.
"..Am I supposed to?" She replied,looking in front of her.
"...No.I guess not. Knowing you, I should have expected that" He let out a small smile in which Rie did not fail to notice and could not help but let out one too...secretly.
"...Saying that, As if you knew me for a very long time"
"Two years can say a lot"Rie hummed ,implying that she can agree on that. She did learn about some of them in just the two years that passed..but not all of it.
"Well..are you?"Rie asked in which Erwin looked at her with a confused glance.
"Ya alarmed...or worried...?...because the Trost gate got destroyed.."Rie asked but was met with silence
"...I would say because humanity needs us that is why I am alarmed of this situation"
"Hm. But the interesting part is the Colossal Titan. Why did he suddenly appeared after 5 years? Why now? And only the Trost gate?...is what your mind is thinking, I presume?" She smirked at Erwin but the man only stared at her and replied with a small smirk and looked in front of him again which dissapointed the silver white-haired girl.
"...But really, The MOST interesting part here is the garrison doing the best they can to handle the situation.Huh. What are they doing, I wonder" She smirked.
•••
"Mikasa! Eren's awake! He is doing his part! Let us see Eren to the gate and victory will be assured!"Armin exclaimed to Mikasa and the leader of the group.
"GUARD EREN WITH YOUR LIVES!!" The leader shouted.
"We will protect Eren until he reach the gate even if it's the last thing we do!!"
Soldiers started using themselves as bait to remove the Titans that is standing in the way of Eren. His titan form is carrying the big boulder and is heading his way to the breach.
"Mikasa, Armin! Join with Eren! That's an order" The two were surprised but nonetheless followed.They followed Eren.
A titan blocked Eren's path and Mikasa acted quick and killed it.
Eren was nearing the breach.Only a few more steps.
"GOOOOO EREEEEEEEENNNN!!!!!" Armin screamed and a resounding roar followed. Eren dropped the boulder on the breach...The breach is covered.
It's a victory for humanity.
"Today...for the first time...Humanity...had the upper hand..." Rico Brzenska fired a yellow smoke flare signalling the operation's success.
There was a moment of silence but then Rico noticed other titans closing in on Eren.She acted quick.
"The other titans are coming! climb up the wall!" Rico ordered.
"We'll retreat as soon as Eren recovers!" Mikasa said and headed for Eren and Armin.
Armin pulled Eren out from his Titan form but his lower body was still stuck on the nape.
"He's stuck!"
"No choice, we have to cut him out"Rico readied her blades
"Wait just a moment!"Mikasa tried to intervene but Rico wasted no moment to cut his arms off.
Armin,who was holding Eren, fell down.They only noticed the two titans closing in.
"Eren!! Armin!!" Mikasa shouted
Armin tried to run but gears were heard. A person swiftly killed the two titans in one motion.Eren managed to peek an eye open.
"These are..."
Levi's cape fluttered in the wind.He stood over the two titans.
'The Wings of Freedom...
"Hey...you brats. Mind telling me what the hell is going on here?"Levi spoke to the three.The two was silent and stared in awe, Eren finally lost consciousness.That's when another person wearing the cape appeared.
"Levi, this area is cleared.The others are searching for any Titans in other areas. Also, Erwin expects you to report ...something interesting back to him"A female voice spoke to the Captain with such a carefree attitude that it surprised the two trainees.
'Silver hair...?' Mikasa stared at the just arrived person who was talking casually to Humanity's Strongest.Her hair...is just like..
'She can't be...'
"Speaking of Interesting stuff, Is this the Titan earlier? That was carrying that boulder and covered the breach?...What the hell was that?..amazing" Rie muttered the last part. She poked the disintegrating Titan form of Eren Jaeger with her blade,carving small slices.
"That's what I want to know" Levi returned his glare to Mikasa and Armin who was still holding the still unconscious Eren
Rie,noticing he was staring at something behind her, turned her head to see what it was or who it was.
Her calm and bored red eyes slowly widened at the sight.Her lips slowly broke apart but no breath came out. She was speechless and was so shocked , she didn't have time to breathe properly.
"...Mi..Mikasa?...Armin..? and...Eren?" She managed to say. Seeing Rie's reaction, Levi stared at her. He took notice of the change in her usual bored and smug expression.How her eyes softened when she saw those three. How her lips quiver and open and closed. Her short gasps.
"..No way...Rie?...Is...Is that...really you?" Mikasa was no better. Her calm expression was no longer evident. Her face looks like she wants to cry.
"You're...alive" Both of them said to each other.That confirmed it for Rie. She dropped her blades in a flash and ran her way to the three.
Reaching them, she crushed Mikasa and Armin in a tight hug.She did a sharp intake of breath.Her hands touched every part of their back and even their hair, confirming they exist.
"You...I...I thought you guys...died" She said,closing her eyes. As the situations calls for her to cry, Rie simply was just too glad and relieved that all she can do is just show a true peaceful smile.
"We...We thought that too but...Eren...really didn't believe it and..we did too and..I... am glad it isn't true"Mikasa hugged back,letting a few tears trickle down her face..
They stayed like that for a few short moments...
"Speaking of Eren, What is happening?" Satisfied with that, she tried to go into a serious mode for now.She lifted Eren and took notice of his arms that has no hands and smoke coming out of it.
"We just only knew this now but Eren has the ability to turn into a Titan." Armin started explaining, still was a little shocked from the events.
"Ya mean, Eren's the one who carried the big boulder over there?" She pointed at the boulder that covered the breach on the Wall.
" Yes, He didn't know in the first place he can turn into one. We, him included, only found out when after the Trost gate got destroyed and they send us to help but he appeared in his Titan form and killed other Titans and saw him coming out from the nape of his Titan form" Mikasa followed the explanation in her serious face. Staring at Mikasa, Rie can't help but admire how beautiful she grew up to be.
"So after all that, what made you do this plan?" Levi finally butted in after the heartfelt reunion of the four. He was unable to speak because of various reasons anyways.
"The Garrison find out about Eren and was about to kill us but Commander Pixis stopped them and made us do this plan" Armin answered diligently and saluted to Levi.
"More like, Armin was the one who proposed this plan and Commander Pixis only helped us to have the other soldiers fight with us..."Mikasa said and Armin shyly smiled.
"Although, I'm pretty sure...Eren will be taken away by the Military Police and be taken to court" Armin ended the conversation there.
"and that's it" Rie looked above ,because she was kneeling and Eren was on her lap,to stare at Levi. Levi,with his ever-grumpy expression, walked to the direction of the HQ.
"That's the situation. I'll report back to Erwin. Rie, leave the brat and go back too" Levi ordered walking away
"I'll follow!" She managed to say loudly so that the shortie can hear it and was satisfied with that.Armin and Mikasa stared at the faraway figure of Humanity's Strongest and stared next to Rie.
"What?" Seeing their gazes, Rie assumed there is something on their mind.
"Rie..you joined the Survey Corps?? but...how can that be? If you survived, you shouldn't be in the missing list and if you plan to join the military, you will be put in military training together with us..." Armin looked at Rie but then realized that she will just stay silent. She was gone for so long, he forgot her personality.
"...I didn't survive inside the Walls. I was outside for 3 years.That's when the Survey Corps found me and I joined. I didn't really went through the military training since all we had to do is find my records and change it's contents. They put there that I survived by hiding out and refusing to talk to people and applied for military training before you guys."
Armin was genuinely surprised. Rie told them something and she didn't just stayed quiet. She talked to them. He glanced a look at Mikasa and he can tell she was thinking the same thing.
"...Erwin told not to tell anyone of this even if I met someone I know to avoid the Military police and the higher ups to know I came from outside the Walls. They'll definitely kill me...like Eren..."
"Like Eren...?"
"Eren is a Titan. The Garrison saw him, right? and tried to kill him...since he made such a big scene, He was put into trial and as you know,the people who are in there is rotten and will let fear control them...so you know what decision is popular in the court,right?"Rie stared at their pale faces and even if she did not meant to make them think that way, she has to tell the truth.
"As for me, The Survey Corps just sneaked me in and changed my records so nobody knows, I survived Outside which,by the way, will freak the fuck out of every citizen in damn Wall Sina if they knew. I guess if not for them, I would be put in the same situation like Eren is now."
'but not also for them, I would'nt be dragged into the Walls too'
She thought to herself and snickered...but she ended up joining for real, anyways.
"...Rie...So the Survey Corps. saved you-"
"Hah! Saved me? I was living peacefully outside there! They're the ones who found me and forced me to go back to these Walls that I hate...but I had a choice.. and I ended up joining them..and I learned things from them" Rie smiled. For Mikasa and Armin, her smile was rare and it only showed up once in a lifetime so to see her smile like this again...was really beautiful.
"Rie...you changed"Mikasa spoke to which Rie stared at her in confusion.
"I-in a good way but it's not that I wasn't satisfied with the you before but...you got better"
"...Did I?...oh..Mikasa, Armin. Both of you and Eren have noticed that I was different,right? I didn't really changed but I guess I'm still learning to understand what is normal..Not like I'm going to be normal..More than anyone,you guys know I am not and I don't plan to be...but they are giving me a reason to see them in the same light as you guys"Rie tried to explain but she also made herself confused at what she said.
"...Doesn't mean you guys are equal to them. You guys are my friends. You are in a top category where no one will replace you in me.Now that I think about it, my mindset as a child was really childish now for me. I guess as you grow older, you grow more mature..I mean look at you guys.."
Rie pointed at the both of them...
"Mikasa, you are still the same but you got more overprotective but supportive...Armin, You do not look like someone who gets bullied easily now and you even came up with this plan..and Eren, still the same stubborn brat but I know, his determination can take him places" He patted Eren's head who was still unconscious on her lap.
"...Really, I missed you guys." She smiled just before a Military police soldier arrived and took Eren.
Leaving her,Mikasa and Armin to catch up on things
•••
"Oi, am I seeing things?"Eld said,blinking a thousand times
"I think I am too" Gunther rubbed his eyes and looked at the scene again and rubbed his eyes again.
"What the hell.." Oluo narrowed his eyes at the scene
Petra? Oh.Petra. She's looking at the sky. Why?She's checking if there are Titans flying.
Because the scene they are seeing is unbelievable.Impossible to happen but it's right there in front of them.
What are they looking at?
Simply put, It's Rie.
"Mikasa! You guys are going to be questioned,huh? Be careful on what you say, say something wrong and It will be used against Eren" Rie clinged happily to Mikasa,which the girl didn't mind.More like she was happy.
"By the way, after that operation,you guys must be hungry! Eat at our Headquarters! I didn't put something gross this time since Levi isn't eating! So come on!" She dragged the two to the direction of the Headquarters.
Petra really can't believe it. The captain ordered them to get Rie since she didn't return since earlier and it was already evening. He also mentioned that she was with her friends and explained to us that it was her old friends so we got curious too but Petra really didn't expect anything out of Rie at all.
That's why when she saw Rie, clinging happily to the black-haired asian girl with the red scarf and even offering them a meal?? They were so speechless that they did not move an inch from their positions even when the three passed by them.
"Hi Petra.They're eating here. There's nothing gross in the food, don't worry, I won't do that to them."Rie said leading them to the table.The two saluted first before following after Rie.
•••
So,They met :
I tried really expressing the reunion into words that can make someone believe that they are really in an emotional state at that moment so I hoped.it turned out like that.
Maybe you'll get confused that Rie's personality and mindset suddenly changed. Like she was Dark Rie but now she's trying to be good Rie. To explain, Rie is not trying to be good, she is still Dark Rie..She is only caring to the trio and those who has a 'special category' but still she did not change.mostly.
So sneaky peeky: Rie will meet Eren next chap. and Rie's quirky?(wat no) sarcastic and (tsundere) I mean, MEAN self will show up since...
It's Rie and Eren.
So with that,see you next month~