Hi everyone! A lot has been going on for me recently what with college and my personal life. But I do hope there won't be as many delays in future. Something short and sweet before the next dreaded chapter
As expected with the expedition approaching, Bláithín began to go harder on her squad in regards to training. She briefly mentioned the expedition in more detail to the newest editions of her squad, who were - understandably - less than pleased.
If she had a recording device, the amount of times Levi, Isabel and Farlan groaned, in unison from time to time, would be enough to create a symphony of unappealing moans and groans.
Not that it would be anyway pleasant. Ear-splitting would be the word, and this symphony - or perhaps, cacophony - would evoke shivers to run down spines if listened to relentlessly, day in, day out.
As per usual though, the soldiers would simply be lounging about the night before as what could be their last night together. Meat was served at dinner-time and beer was had. People shared jokes and stories and people seemed so happy. Almost as though this mess with the Titans didn't exist. Unfortunately, at the moment, Bláithín was on dish duty and couldn't partake in the fun for now.
Her hands were red-raw from the suds, but that didn't matter; that couldn't be used as an excuse. Even if the latest cuts running up her hand stung like hell, she bit her lower lip and carried on scrubbing.
Bubbles were splashing about everywhere. She plunged the final dish into the sudsy water and used the sponge to scrub off the grease or the crumbs.
She took out her hands, and retrieved a hand towel from the drawer beneath her. She was about to walk over to a table where Hange and Mike sat when she heard Isabel's voice.
"But, Levi, I want your horse that you're using!" she whined. Bláithín swore she heard her pound her fist off the table in frustration, probably. She corked a brow.
"Hah?" Levi squawked. Levi turned his chair around to face the red-head. "No, get your own."
"I have my own," she murmured, hands fumbling with the sleeves of her
"Then why the fuck are you whining?"
Bláithín placed the final dish down in the drying rack before sauntering over to her squad. Isabel passed her 'oh-my-God-please-defend-me' look. Bláithín nodded and pulled a stool out for her.
"Alright...Levi, why won't you give Isabel your horse, and, Isabel, why do you want Levi's horse?" she asked, plainly.
Levi was going to speak but Isabel beat him to it by slapping him on the head and stifling any noise to escape his mouth with the heel of her palm. After a few moments and a motion to continue by Bláithín, she quickly came to the conclusion that she had no valid argument at all.
"It's a...black stallion, and I want it!" she countered, trying to look triumphant with her horrible follow up point.
"Well, I called shotgun," Levi retorted, almost exclaimed. He lounged back into his chair only to receive a look from Bláithín. "What?"
Bláithín bobbed her head up and down, slowly, allowing her thoughts to pool in the bottom of the mind. She returned her gleaming blue- eyed gaze back to Levi. "Levi, you do not call shotgun for a damn horse," she told him, as if she was ashamed of him. "But, maybe he saw it first, Isabel."
"Oh, go away, you haven't solved anything!" Isabel grumbled, folding her arms. Isabel fell back into her chair, the stool almost giving way to the floor. With a yelp, she stood up again in a tizzy, causing the three others to try and stifle some laughter. "That's not funny, I could have hurt myself."
"Sweetheart," Bláithín jeered, "don't you hurt yourself on a regular basis?" She mocked, almost in a coo.
Isabel gasped, before snorting in slight disdain. Although, she couldn't deny that she was more than used to her squad leader at this stage. "I do not!"
"You do, Isabel," Farlan corrected with narrowed eyes.
"You're a shitty liar," Levi contributed.
Bláithín nodded. For the hundredth time this evening, Isabel let a pout curl at her lips. Bláithín rolled her eyes slightly. Isabel spoke again. "Squad Leader-"
"You can call me Bláithín, you know," she told them.
"Well, anyway," the red-head continued. "What's the beach, you know, way out beyond the Walls?"
Bláithín glowered at her though it spoke of bewilderment. Why in the Walls' names did she want to know that? She chewed on her bottom lip, rubbing her forearm as she rattled her brain for an answer or too.
"Er...It's this place...that's full of sand and there is usually a large body of salty water to go splash around in," she explained, though that was a pretty vague explanation. "It's very beautiful...Oh-! How about, I try draw you a beach since the chances of Humanity ever reaching one are slim, if you leave Levi keep this majestic stallion of his?" she offered.
Levi's eyes widened before snapping his obsidian eyed gaze over to Farlan then to Isabel. "Goddamn, let her draw a masterpiece and-" he paused when another thought came to his mind. "Can you even draw? Let alone colour in a picture?" he asked.
Bláithín gaped at him, clearly offended by this. Her brows creased together in disgust for the man sitting next to her. "I can draw very well, mind you!" she cried, defensively.
"And I guess that means you can't draw for shit." Levi muttered shortly after, directly looking at her.
"Pfft," she scoffed. She brought a snow white coloured napkin over to her and withdrew the pen that had slotted between her head and left ear. "I can fucking draw, I can fucking draw a fucking beach." She grumbled to herself in a huff.
"Your pouting contradicts everything you just said there." Levi told her with a deadpan.
"I am not pouting." She retorted with a pout on her face.
"Oh, really?" Farlan queried, feigning innocence and amusement in his tone, though it overall condescending. He brought his two index fingers and forcefully pulled his lips into a frown. "'My name is Squad Leader Bláithín, I never pout, blah de blah de blah'. You pout all the time."
"You guys are so mean to me today, what the hell did I ever do to you?" she complained as though she was pretending the many hours spent training or the chores they were assigned never actually happened.
Isabel and Farlan looked at each other, before in unison, crying, "A lot!"
"Ah, well..." she drawled, continuing with her masterpiece. When finished, she placed her pen down with a force. "See? I think that's the greatest drawing of a person I've ever done."
Levi got up and examined the drawing. His eyes narrowed, examining every corner. "...It looks like a stupid pear," he remarked.
Farlan got up beside him before batting him on the head. "At least give her some credit. It looks like...a snowman, without a head, that has the body of a pentagon."
Bláithín shook her head, glowering at the two males before sitting down at the table again. She took away the napkin before tearing it to shreds. Farlan and Levi began muttering to each other, Bláithín hoped it wasn't about her pear-cone-snowman. "Are you guys ready for the expedition tomorrow?" she asked her squad.
"I guess so..." Isabel murmured.
It wasn't long before Bláithín retired to her own room. She lit a few of the lanterns in her room, creating a dull, amber glow. She looked over to her desk, noting that in a few days, it would be overflowing with paperwork. She sighed heavily and she leaned her back against the door to push it back only for it to stop moving when it was merely open ajar.
"Hmm?" She stepped back and opened the door to see Levi. "Can I help you, Levi?"
He glared at her fouly and clicked his tongue.
"Don't do anything stupid tomorrow like what you did the last expedition," he warned. It seemed like he was holding back. "Nothing pisses me off more when I see a person who had everything growing up resign themselves off to death."
He left soon after he had spat those words at her. She brought her hands up to her head and clenched the blonde strands of hair and removed her hair from its ponytail. To say she was taken aback was an understatement. Any other squad leader would have punished the soldiers for such insubordination, but Bláithín just stood there, inhaling shakily.
Levi stood at the end of the hallway, hearing her whimper and almost turned around.
But he didn't. He retreated to his bedroom.
Levi's language was always colourful and painted with swears, but it was not often that his words would affect on such a profound level. She couldn't pinpoint what it was she felt but the best way she could describe it was guilt.
She felt guilt for feeling the way she did and for purposely acting reckless on the battlefield just for the demons in her head to stop haunting her; just so that Sven no longer haunted her, coupled with the pain she has felt from losing her parents and being away from Elise and now, her niece too.
Yet she also felt guilty for being alive at times, dare she say, for her whole life she was convinced - or even convinced herself too - that she was an inconvenience.
Sven's abuse.
Kicked out of home to live as Titan bait in the Shiganshina District.
Losing countless friends along the way...
She shook her head before her mind became too busy and walked towards her bed after locking the door. She buried herself under the covers. A part of her would have given Levi a piece of her mind, but she couldn't because… well, what was there to say anyway?
Especially when Levi was right about everything.
The next day, the Survey Corps gathered outside the Shiganshina District Exit. Some of the newest soldiers - bar Levi, Farlan and Isabel - were as excited as a swarm of buzzing bees.
Bláithín shook her head in disapproval, questioning their innocence. They certainly wouldn't be this hyper beyond the Walls, that's for sure.
"Oh, I'm so excited to see the outside!" beamed one soldier, which was enough to snap her out of her trance.
"Me too!"
You seriously have no idea how wrong you are, was what she wanted to say. Bláithín looked around at the group of soldiers. Levi, Isabel and Farlan were behind her. She looked around at her 'tching' civilians who got up at the crack-of-dawn to watch them leave. The sun shone dimly from behind the houses and some of the townspeople stood in the night-wear. They usually came along to talk shit about how much of a disgrace the Scout Regiment was, meanwhile some to looked up to their bravery. Some parents were there with despair written all over their faces for they might not get the chance again to bid farewell to their children.
Her eyes fixated on a young brunette boy, teal green eyes, with a large smile plastering his features. Beside him were two other children. The person on his left had jet black hair, beautiful really, and matching eyes. She wore a maroon coloured scarf tightly wrapped around her neck. There was another boy standing next to him, blond hair framing his face, large blue eyes. In contrast to the boy in the middle, they both wore worried expressions whereas the brunette admired the soldiers about to put their lives on the line.
"OPEN THE GATES!" Shardis bellowed at the top of his lungs, ceasing the murmurs from behind him.
The steel gates slowly rose, sedimentary rocks falling like water droplets.
"Today we will take another step forward! Let the results of your training show! Make them realize the strength of humanity!" he continued. The gates continued to rise slowly. The anticipation was killing Bláithín.
"EVERYONE! GO!"
Everyone snapped the reins of their horse, and with a loud neigh they took off at lightning speed. Kind of. Nope. Bláithín briefly looked out at her squad. They'll be fine, Bláithín, she told herself, or berating herself rather for thinking such things and doubting her squad's capability. She, as did possibly everyone else, inhaled sharply, taking in the clean air that the Outside World had to offer. It was magnificent. It stunk like shit. She theorized that whatever stone the walls were made out of was the source of the smell; possibly because the stone absorbs the harsh chemicals, thus making the inside stink like a cistern.
"Amazing!" she heard Farlan comment.
"Not bad," was Levi's response on the breath-taking scenery.
She smiled softly - it certainly didn't take that much at all to impress them. They were deprived of sunlight most of their lives and it was nice to hear a positive response from each of them.
"Ha...this is the worst...we actually got outside the walls. If everything had gone according to plan, we would have an example of that thing by now. Just where exactly is Erwin hiding it?" Farlan asked.
"Don't worry. I'll deal with the Titans somehow." Levi told him.
"No matter how many titans you face-" Farlan tried to say, but Levi cut across him.
Levi snapped his head around, narrowing his eyes at his fellow comrade. "Are you saying you don't trust me?" he pressed, almost threateningly.
"No, that's not what I meant..." he sighed like a defeatist.
"Hehehe. Are you scared, Farlan?" Isabel jeered, her eyebrows furrowed, whilst wearing a cheeky smile.
He gaped at the red-head. "Hey! I'm not scared!" he protested.
"Just leave it to me, Farlan! It will be easy. I'll get rid of those nasty titans for you!" she chimed, or boasted rather.
Bláithín heaved a sigh and shook her head. "Guys, we're not at the park enjoying the fresh air! We're outside the Walls and-" she tried to yell, but once Isabelle cut across her, she realized she spoke much too placidly.
"Hey," Isabel interjected, rather coolly, unlike her passionate personality, "you can say whatever you want. If I defeat a titan-" he retorted.
She scowled back at the squabbling soldiers, which was enough to shut them up.
Sometimes, she truly felt like a mom with three young kids.
She looked at him with a calm expression. "Quiet, Isabelle, otherwise you three will not be allowed to take part in the training of the new formations from now on! Don't throw the formation out of order since we don't know when a titan is going to appear!"
"TITAN!" a soldier hollered.
Bláithín gasped and immediately averted her gaze away from the soldiers in tow behind her, and set her eyes on it. This was it. Her brows creased against each other in determination. Right, Eyebrows. Let's see if your 'human radar' works, she said to herself.
"On that left side of the forest, a fifteen meter class! It's coming our way!"
"Don't stop! We will fight it! Front guard, follow me! The main force will continue without chance to the supplies at the place of our destination!" Shardis ordered.
As the front guard went in to attack it, there appeared to be another one behind it. The trees kept it obscured.
"There was another one hiding behind it!"
"It's headed straight for us! Rear guard, break away from formation and attack!"
It was a twenty meter Titan. Its hair was matted down and its nose on its bridge was flat. Its physique was in proportion, its stomach aside of which was enlarged.
"Lead it back it back to the forest, this way!" a soldier ordered. But to no avail, the titan gallivanted towards the formation. "Hey, you stupid Titan! This way!"
Bláithín snapped the reins, making her horse pivot sharply and gallop faster. Shit...an Aberrant, she said to herself. She corked a brow, eyeing every one of its actions and movements.
"It's an abnormal! Look out, it's going that way!" a soldier from the front guard yelled.
"It's no use, the squad will spread out! There's nobody around the cart! Squad Leader [F/n], when it comes closer, defend the cart at all costs!" she was instructed.
"Roger that!" she replied, and turned her head to her squad, really looking at Isabel, Levi and Farlan. "Don't let it get close to the cart!" she ordered. Damn...I wonder how the trio can handle an Aberrant since they've never gotten official training. Not only that, we're on flat land, she thought. She gritted her teeth and furrowed her brows. "NOW!"
With that command, three soldiers went in to attack, one soldier piercing its chest and the other two piercing its back. The Aberrant spiralled its fist and grasped a soldier, namely the one that pierced its chest. 'Shit..!' but she had no choice but to continue unless urgent. As the titan brought the soldier to its mouth, its jaw opened, but stopped moving entirely. It was as if it had paralysis. It stopped moving? Its nape was free to slice, so that's what a soldier went in to do. The soldier swung the blades over his shoulder about to slice but momentarily hesitated as it passed its eyes, but was enough for the titan to take a bite. Crap, she cursed under her breath.
"How can this thing be so huge?!" a soldier exclaimed in distress.
The titan peered down at the deceased soldiers it just killed in seconds, and continued on its run.
Shit! Now what?! Damn. We have to fight, regardless of our strength, she noted.
The trio galloped in front of her while she was in her momentary tizzy. "Don't underestimate the way we fight," Levi told her. "Isabel, Farlan, let's go!" he ordered, galloping at top speed.
Farlan began to utter a curse or two, along with other distasteful things indicating his annoyance under his breath. "If I knew we would face this every time, sipping water from a gutter would be way better!" Farlan complained.
"Farlan, stop saying that and get it together!" Isabel reprimanded before tailing behind Levi, Farlan included.
"Wait, you three!" she tried to shouted, but they were gone. She fixed her posture and fell back into her saddle from her more tense position.
It was only then when Bláithín decided to see if anything she had been teaching them was working. To see if they ever listened to her. One thing was for certain and that was that they worked extremely well together.
Levi stood up on his saddle after drawing his dual blades. He just ordered Isabel and Farlan to do something which she didn't catch, but she'd soon find out. He scowled up at the titan with his menacing and ice cold eyes before launching his grappling hooks into the titan's middle back area. Levi launched his entire body forcefully into where his hook was, before impaling his blades in the same spot. He withdrew his hooks and pierced them higher up, whilst flipping his body upside down.
"NOW!" he shouted.
"Let's go, Farlan!" Isabel shouted.
The two zipped under the titan's legs, as their horses ran off away from that particular site. The two pierced its legs, and did a spin attack while slicing. Those attacks severely knocked it off balance. Levi jumped up and landed on the titan's supposed shoulder blade and sliced, whilst using his grip of the swords. It was clean and it was deep, incinerating blood splattering everywhere staining their uniforms. Bláithín was left simply awe-struck. The three landed once again.
"You were very cool, Big Bro!" Isabel beamed.
Levi was tempted to let a smile tug at his lips, holding a relaxed and possibly proud facial expression. "You guys did well too." He acknowledged.
The three went back to their horses and snapped the reins.
"Very good, you three," she remarked looking back at them. "Let's just hope we won't run into anymore titans of that size until we reach the castle."
Next chapter will be out much sooner. Sorry that this wasn't anything good and mostly dialogue-heavy - whenever I'm away from writing, my, uh, "creative juices" are lacking. In spite of this, however, I would love to hear some reviews or opinions! What do you think of Bláithín? Or do you like how Blevi's (yes, I had to) relationship is developing? I would LOVE some constructive criticism, feedback or just general opinions! Thanks so much!
I hope you guys' 2019 will be awesome!