Happy Holidays everyone! Enjoy the new chapter, and more plot development ;)

I've never looked so closely at a titan's as I had when I saw it close in on Mika's horse. Its hair was long and faded. Its eye had a gleam in them. Something like an animal when it goes in for the kill. Its mouth turned up in a perfect grin. Like it was mocking us. Its eye flicked over to me, and I cringed.

"Mika!" I yelled.

She looked back, frightened, and tried to speed up her horse. Panicking, I readied my gear, recalibrating my lines.

"Don't. It's too dangerous to jump off, and you'll just get yourself killed." Levi warned me.

"Tch. You should know by now, I will take risks for my friends." I replied, smirking.

Leaning back, I shot a line straight into the titan's shoulder as it reached out for Mika. It looked at me, its big eyes hungry.

"Wait, Michelle!"

"Don't wait up for me!"

I flew backwards, scraping hard against the ground, before kicking up, and at the titan. My leg hurt like hell, but I had to withstand it. My titan's hand reached out for me. I glanced back quickly, seeing they were still continuing on. I smirked.

"You're going down for even trying to kill my friends." I pointed my sword at it.

I dug into its shoulder, ripping it up, before releasing my line, seeing a nearby patch of trees pass by. My line hissed as I shot it into the tree feeling the tug. Steam flew everywhere, and as I was pulled back, I cut its nape out in my swoop, letting it fall to the ground. But I was suddenly ripped to the ground by a hand.

"Damnit, more?!" I cried out.

I hit the ground hard, breath leaving me. My line clattered to the ground, retracting back into its holding area. Steam surrounded me, and I tried to get out of its grip. I realized it was the titan I had killed, as the skin seemed to disintegrate away. It burned my arm a bit, feeling small stings under my jacket. Small beads of blood ran down my face, as I felt a cut on my forehead.

"Great."

I made my way back to the tree, and landed roughly on a high up branch, stabilizing myself on the trunk, when I suddenly felt the pain in my leg from earlier. I touched it, feeling wetness, and my hand was coated in blood. My pants had been torn, luckily my belts held up, though it put more pressure on the large gap and scrape going across the outer part of my thigh. Blood was seeping through it.

"Shit." I hissed.

I heard a whinnying from below, and I caught sight of Lily.

"I knew you would be following behind. Stay still girl!" I yelled.

Jumping from the branch, I landed with a thud onto her back. She reacted, trotting a bit, before stopping to look back at me. Her eyes looked scared.

"I'm fine, girl. Just catch up to the others." I replied, petting her mane.

She whinnied again. I chuckled, gripping her reins. She took off full speed, as I saw up ahead, the group had stopped in a line of trees. I waved at them, and they jumped on their horses, to catch up to me.

"Michelle! Are you okay?!" Mika yelled, coming up next to me.

"I'm fine. There's no time to stop. We need to keep moving." I yelled.

Hanji nodded to me, and signaled the rest to keep going.

We returned to formation, picking up pace. No more titans seemed to be close to us, so we were safe for now. I couldn't keep my mind off the pain throbbing from my thigh. It stung like a bitch.

The sun beat down on us, the wind blowing through the grass softly. It was nice weather, that's for sure.

"Seems this is the perfect time to scout. No titans around." Christopher joked.

"We still need to keep our guard." I warned.

"I know. I'm just glad no titans are around." He replied.

"You know your forehead is bleeding, right?" Raoul asked.

"I'm fine."

"Keep up. Michelle. Are you okay? You seem to be slower." Jonathon asked me.

"I said I'm fine. Just leg hurt from landing." I chuckled, trying to mask my pain.

"We're coming up on the giant forest. We will rest along the outskirts of it until we get a flare." Levi instructed.

"We'll rest in the trees that way, no titans can catch us off guard." Hanji added.

"Thank god." I said under my breath.

As we kept riding, a giant forest came into view. The trees looking as tall as the walls. Probably taller.

It was magnificent. I tried to keep my eyes focused ahead of me, but my vision started to blur.

"Damn, blood loss. I need to hold on until I can get up to a branch." I hissed under my breath.

"Michelle. There's something running down your leg, and it's covering the side of Lily. Oh god, its blood." Mika cried out.

Everyone head snapped to me. I cringed, gripping the reins.

"I'm fine. It's a scratch." I huffed.

"Stop, right now. We're going to wrap that up." Levi commanded.

My hands were losing their grip. I couldn't hold on for much longer. The trees were so close.

"I'm not weak." I hissed.

"Michelle. You're losing blood too fast. It looks serious." Hanji added.

Lily whinnied, slowing her pace down.

"Keep going girl." I tried, my voice losing itself.

The brush of the edge appeared, and Lily came to a stop.

"Made it…" I sighed.

Slipping off the horse, I fell to the ground, struggling. Two arms wrapped around me.

"Hang on. We'll fix you up."

I couldn't tell who it was, but the throbbing in my leg was too much.

"I made it this far. And I took down so many titans on my own. I told you I wasn't weak Levi." I chuckled.

Blurs turned to darkness, and I slipped into it as I felt the arms picking me up, and flying through the air.

**Levi's POV**

She was reckless as usual. Not letting people know when she was hurt or needed help. I jumped off my horse, running to her as I saw Cadet Adler had caught her. She mumbled something before passing out.

"Get her up high. Petra, grab some gauze and bandages." I commanded.

He nodded, carefully maneuvering his way up to a high branch.

"I can't believe we didn't notice. I thought of all people you would know her best." Shitty glasses came up behind me.

"Tch… It's not like I'm her keeper." I scoffed, getting ready for climb.

"But you are her friend. Her only true friend. I know you care about her. I can see how protective you are over her." Hanji exclaimed.

I stopped. My fists clenched, looking back at her. Hanji's was looked actually serious for once.

"Tch."

I shot a line up into the tree, it hissed, as I zoomed up, landing where Team Hanji had settled her. Michelle's face was so pale. Something hurt inside of me. Cadet Bayer had Michelle's head in her lap. Cadet Adler looked at me. His eyes narrowed.

What the hell is that look supposed to mean?

He walked towards me.

"Lance Corporal."

"Cadet?" I scowled.

"Stay away from Michelle if you know what's good for you. I don't care if you are my superior, or that you were her friend, but she doesn't need to prove herself to you to know she is strong." He said darkly.

Everything around me stopped. His words echoed through my head. I wasn't in the mood for an argument.

"You're not in charge of her. So, I hope you do best to learn your place cadet. That's how you get on my bad side." I sneered.

I turned, jumping to the next branch to talk to my squad.

"Those group of cadets are gutsier than I thought." Auroro scoffed.

"Don't let it bother you. It's scary when people we care about get hurt." Petra glanced over to them.

"Tch." It bothered me.

"Levi. We haven't seen a flare yet. Should we continue on?" Gunther asked.

"No. She isn't conscious yet. Once she is up, we will continue. If you wish to continue you on to the next point. Wait for us there." I replied, looking over to Michelle.

"We'll scout ahead, and watch for Erwin. We'll take those cadets with us. All of them don't need to be lounging around." Auroro decided.

"I can't see being able to pull Cadet Adler away from her. He seems too attached. Won't be good in the end." Eld added.

I sneered, thinking of Adler made my blood boil.

He's just some snob nosed brat who's too big for his britches.

"So, we got a plan?" Petra looked at me

I nodded, calling to Hanji. She came over to us.

"Go a plan?" she asked.

"I want you to continue on with my group, and bring most of your group. Scout ahead, and watch out for Erwin's flare. I'll stay with Adler until Michelle comes to. Got it?" I relied the information to her.

"Got it. You let us know when she regains consciousness so we can wait for you." Hanji smiled.

Hanji returned to the group, and from afar it seemed no one objected. I returned to them, leaving my group behind.

"Um, Lance Corporal? Would you mind taking my place? I don't want her head laying on the branch with this cut." Cadet Bayer asked.

I was taken aback. Surprised she was would ask me. I saw Adler look at me, eyes narrowed.

"Yeah." I nodded.

She moved, as I sat against the trunk, Michelle's head rested on my lap now. Her head was wrapped up, and her leg had a gauze wrapped around it, some blood seeping through. Her face looked so peaceful. Her breathing was steady.

"Take good care of her you two." Hanji winked at me.

"Tch. Just get on, shitty glasses. You're wasting daylight." I scolded.

She laughed, turning to the soldiers, and they continued on. I looked back down at Michelle. Her face was still deadly pale. It worried me. It actually worried me. Cadet Adler settled down at the edge of the branch, eyes on me. I sighed.

"Wake up soon." I said quietly.