CHAPTER 21

Reaper's POV

We hardly spoke in the next few days, both of us scared of what we might say. Levi's demeanor turned back to one of boredom, his eyebrows constantly furrowed and creating multifaceted shadows in the inner corners of his eyes, his mouth never twitching, his arms nearly always crossed over his chest as if to block himself off from the world. And despite all of this I still caught his eyes turning to stare at me when he thought I wasn't looking. I always tried to pass it off as making sure I was "killing" the titan dummies correctly, but the way he looked at me was one which made me shiver with something both pleasurable and terrifying. I was sure he caught me looking at him, too, studying his handsome stoic features and short stature like an ancient Athenian sculpture. I would quickly turn away and slice a thick piece of condensed foam from the back of the dummy's neck.

When Sunday finally came the air was solemn. Some of the Cadets were excited, but it was obvious they had never been outside the walls and seen the wholesale slaughter of their friends. The more experienced soldiers hardly spoke, instead keeping their eyes trained on their own feet as they walked to the stables to receive their horses.

I was tasked with preparing the horses for the expedition, which meant picking hooves and feeding, giving them water and grooming them, spraying them with fly spray and giving them last-minute check-ups to make sure they were fit for the trip outside the walls. I was also given the task of pairing up horses and riders, a task I was surprisingly good at.

"Eren, you get Haymitch," I said. "He's easy to work with."

"I'm a fairly good rider," he told me. "Are you sure you don't want to give an easy horse to a less skilled rider?"

"Eren," I sighed. "You are arguably the most important member of the Scouts. I'm not taking any chances by giving you an ornery horse." At length he agreed and took Haymitch by the reins, mounting him in the courtyard and riding up to join Levi's squad. My heart gave a painful throb when I saw the solemn look in Levi's eyes.

I paired myself with the most difficult horse in the stable: Finnegan. Mounting him in the courtyard, I trotted up to my pre-assigned squadron – Hanji's.

"Hey, Reaper!" Hanji exclaimed, interrupting her own conversation with a Cadet in her squad. "How's it going?"

"I'm okay," I said. "Just incredibly nervous."

"Aren't you excited? You get to see the outside world for the first time! Well, the world outside the walls but not in your colony. Or maybe your colony is closer than we think. Where exactly do you think-"

"Hanji."

"Sorry!" she laughed. "I'm just excited I get to see some titans!"

"I can tell," I said. "I just wanted to ask you a favor."

"What is it?"

"If I don't make it back, tell-"

"Time to move out!" Erwin called, interrupting my request. We started moving out at his command, all in our assigned squadrons.

"We all saw you during your assessment, Reaper. You'll make it back."

"But if I don't-"

"I don't wanna hear it!" Hanji exclaimed. "You and Levi are going to make it back and have seven kids and-"

"Hanji, I'm not in the mood," I sighed. "Just… be quiet for a second."

She remained surprisingly silent for the remainder of the ride to the city. When we got to the city the majority of the citizens were in the street to watch us pass. It reminded me of how cars pull over on the side of the road for funeral processions.

"There they go," a villager grumbled. "Wasting our tax dollars."

"How many do you think'll make it back?" another asked. "Fifty, sixty percent?"

I gripped the reins tighter in my hands, my knuckles turning white from the force. As we proceeded through the city I began to attract attention with my black attire, and not necessarily good attention.

"Who do you think she is?" someone asked.

"I don't know. I've never seen her before."

"Why's she in black?"

"I hear they do that for some of the trainees."

"I've heard about her. They tried to execute her once but she escaped."

"How the hell could she escape from the Survey Corps?"

"I don't think anybody knows. That's probably why they recruited her."

"What is she called?"

"I think they call her Rita."

"No no no. It's Risha."

"I actually think it's Reaper."

When they said that name I froze in the saddle, Finnegan the only thing keeping me from falling over. I flexed my toes in my boots and regripped the reins in my fists, trying not to shiver at the sound of unfamiliar voices calling me Reaper.

"She's a waste of money, in my opinion."

"Scrawny little thing. Probably going to die today."

"Pretty worthless-looking anyway. Not much of a loss."

It took everything in me not to get off my horse and knock their lights out.

"Don't let it get to you," a familiar voice said beside me. Turning my eyes I saw that Levi had come to find me.

"Shouldn't you be up at the front with your squad?" I asked without moving my head.

"You're the talk of the town, and not in a positive way. I wanted to make sure you were okay."

"Well aren't you sweet."

He chuckled. He fucking chuckled.

And then the rumors started back up.

"Look at those two."

"Isn't that Corporal Levi? I thought he never talked to anyone."

"What the hell is he doing with that little girl?"

"Do you see the way he looks at her?"

I looked back at Levi. He had turned his head back to the front. I smirked.

"How do you look at me, Corporal?" I teased.

"Tch."

I could have sworn I saw him blush.

When we finally reached the wall the gate was lifted, and all was silent except for the creaking of the chains. It was then that I got my first glimpse at the world outside the walls. It was beautiful, with rolling green hills and tall trees in the distance.

"I have to go now," Levi said, weaving back through the wall of horses back to his squad.

"Move out!" Erwin said, signaling us to leave behind the safety of the walls and enter into the unknown.

Levi's POV

The gates open and we poured forth.

We raced down the hills like a green-caped wildfire, the clomp of galloping hooves echoing across the countryside. The two formations beside my squad broke off and dispersed, leaving my squad to lead the way. I used my left hand to signal my squad to disperse, still keeping one hand securely gripped around the reins.

"Two-meter class, one-o'-clock!" called Petra.

"I've got it!" Gunter yelled. The yell was followed by the whizz of 3DMG wires as his grappling hooks found purchase on the body of the offending titan. I kept my eyes trained in front of me, a bored expression plastered over my face. A large thump indicated the titan was slain, and Gunter found his way back to his horse and got back in the formation. We moved on.

I think we had only lost one soldier as we galloped through the open plains towards the forest of big ass trees. Once we finally reached the woods my squad clumped back together, Jeager in the middle to protect him. Petra and Auruo took down another titan and found their way back into the formation. Everything was going extraordinarily well.

Until we encountered the abnormal.

My squad and I were secluded from the rest of the Scouts, so they couldn't warn us about the abnormal which walked by gently placing its feet against the ground, therefore creating little to no sound. It suddenly pounced on us, spooking the horses.

My horse reared. Unlike Reaper I was unable to stay on, and I tumbled to the ground as I watched helplessly as my horse galloped away from the abnormal and back towards the rest of the Scouts.

"Corporal!" Petra called.

"I'm fine!" I called back. "Go on with the mission!" She gave me a forlorn look but followed my orders, leading the Special Operations Squad past me and farther into the forest, avoiding the abnormal completely. I was completely alone.

Except for the abnormal.

It looked down at me with a wicked grin stretching its lips, bloodlust in its dead eyes. It bent down and reached for me, but I shot my grappling hooks into its shoulder and catapulted myself onto its arm, racing up its turned tricep and slashing at its neck. The titan fell. Suddenly a giant hand swept down and crashed into me, sending me flying through the air and into the thick trunk of a tree. I felt my leg break and I cried out, applying pressure to my calf in a vain attempt to ease the pain. The titan looked down at me with a shit-eating grin and let out a great yawp, presumably to call other titans to me.

I couldn't move without subjecting myself to incredible pain; I couldn't even move my hands from my leg without being enveloped in it. I vaguely wondered if this was what Reaper experienced as those bumps grew on her back. Unable to release my leg to grab my maneuver gear, I was completely helpless in the middle of what was now a ring of grinning monsters.

I had just resigned myself to death when I heard the clomp of hooves against the dirt.