Chapter 7
Willow watches as James does not argue with the proposition that has been placed before him, figuring that it is as good as any, while Willow seems to be the only one to disagree. Oruo's team consists of Kira and a very young Cadet named Ben*. While Gunther's team includes Luke and Dita. Willow understands the advantage of having more Scouts together to take care of one another, however, she does not understand how the alliance of them all will play out when there is only one golden coin for them to bring back to the camp. Though she keeps her hesitations to herself, knowing that her words will fall on deaf ears.
Once they have agreed upon the alliance, they continue pressing forward to the hillside that lays before them. Willow looks up to see the top of the castle's tower in the distance. From here it looks so close, but she knows better.
They hear a zipping past them, and Willow looks up to see Levi fly past them. Her eyes meet his for a split moment, and she can see the dark look in his eyes. She recognizes that look, knowing that he is well aware she lied about her medical discharge, and she wonders how long he will let her venture towards her death before he intervenes.
"Do you think anyone has been eaten by a Titan during one of these expeditions?" Luke asks as they press forward. "I mean, why else would they have the Elites watching us like this? I would bet that they had an encounter with a rogue Titan, and that's why they have the Elites and the smoke signals for the Titans."
"Then why the hell would they let us out here if there were Titans?" Kira shrieks at the idea.
"To get us accustom with interacting with them in the worst circumstances," Oruo mentions and Willow glances back at him over her shoulder. "If we only saw Titan's on the back of a horse or with the comfort of a whole caravan of people, it loses the realization that these things are a danger to us."
"I don't think anyone disputes the fact that Titans are a threat to us," Petra scoffs at Oruo's comment.
"Of course not, but how safe did you feel when the Elites were fighting the Titans and you were sitting pretty on the back of a horse watching the show, surrounded by the rest of the caravan?" Oruo mentions in a pressed tone. "Didn't feel the heat until that Abnormal came charging for us. Then suddenly, you are the only one in its path, and no one else seems to be there to help," he says looking forward as he hikes up and Willow moves her attention forward. "That is what this mission is really about. Showing us that despite being a Scout and despite having a team around you, when you are face to face with a Titan… it's just you and them." Willow swallows the lump in her throat, feeling the weight of Oruo's words crushing onto her chest.
"That is ridiculous," Petra says as she hikes next to Oruo. "They are not going to release Titans on us to see how we respond."
"Why not?" Oruo asks her with a cock of his head downwards to her. "They sent us all out to watch Willow stab one of them. I am sure they didn't need all of us there to watch it happen. They are trying to desensitize us from the Titan threat. That way, when we see Titans, we are not crippled in fear; we spring into action. Just look at Malik and Hal, and even Levi. All of them jumped in and fought those Titans with ease as if they were fighting people. Hell, Malik Squad was laughing at the Titan. How many Titans do you think they have seen? How many Titans have they killed? How many of their own have died before their eyes in order for them to keep going without a moment's hesitation? To laugh the way they were laughing?"
Willow swallows hard at the thought, having her mind go in the same direction when Derrek was so willing to shrug off the death of his own squad mate. "He's right," Willow says looking back over her shoulder. "The smoke signals are probably just there to bring them here to witness how we handle the Titans. We should probably prepare ourselves to encounter a Titan, and not retrieve a stupid coin." She turns her head back to the direction her feet take her, wondering if there is even a point to make their way to the castle on the hill.
"No," Kira says increasingly disturbed by the idea that they have been placed in front of the Titans like food on the table. "How could they possibly put our lives at risk like this? Killing Scouts so eagerly? Don't they have an issue getting people to join the Scouts? Why would they put our lives in danger if they are hurting for bodies?"
"They don't need bodies in the Scouts," Oruo tells her, "They need soldiers," he says harshly. "If you are pissing yourself on the field, you're more of a danger to the team than you would be dead or nonexistent. So, might as well thin out the herd before the weak ones can put the rest at risk."
"And the ODM gear," Gunther mentions as the conversation starts to make more and more sense. "Why give us ODM gear if we are supposed to learn discipline hiking up a hill and getting a coin?"
Petra's face turns downward in dismay as the realization begins to hit her as well, with everything making sense, she suddenly feels like she is being watched. She looks up in the trees that loom over them, feeling smaller than she ever has before. Wondering how long the Elites will keep them in the woods before unleashing the Titans.
Hours pass and the group decide to make camp. Oruo, Willow, Ben, James and Luke go scouting for kindling while Petra, Kira and Gunther set up the campsite. No one speaks to one another, feeling a dark cloud over them since they discovered the true purpose for their being out here. They are hyper aware of the presence of Titans, and wonder if any of the rest of the Scouts have come to the same conclusion as they have, or if they will be blindsided by the approaching giants.
Willow presses her hand against a tree for support as she hunches over looking at the ground. She can feel her insides falling apart with a crippling ache that stabs her every time she breaths. She begins coughing as filaments of mucus and blood latch onto her lips and cheek, while a puddle pools at the base of the tree she leans against. She groans as she wipes the blood from her face, and wonders how much longer she will last in this state. With the possibility of fighting a Titan in the foreseeable future, she figures she will soon become the burden to the team that Oruo mentioned before.
She sighs, trying to bury the pain and takes hold of her pile of tinder, not allowing anyone to see her hesitate. She kicks dirt over the pool of blood and follows the rest of them back to camp. She notices James staring at her and when she looks over at him with a snide glare, he returns with "If you're going to hide that you're coughing up blood, make sure you wipe it all off your face."
She notices that there are no inflections in his tone that shows concern with the fact that she is coughing up blood, and figures that he doesn't care much about the state that she is in. It is clear he cares more about her ability to pull her own weight. She sighs heavily, using her shoulder to wipe up the remaining blood from her cheek and continues down the mountain to join the rest.
She hands the tinder to Gunther, and he takes it from her, noticing how cold her skin is when her hand brushes his. He looks at her with a hard-pressed gaze, but she turns from him before he can address his concern.
Willow sits down and props herself against a tree while the others circle around the fire. She is not far from them and can still hear and interact in the conversation if her voice is needed. She closes her eyes and begins decompressing her back and body, allowing her limbs to go limp as they relax against the tree. She hears the muffled sounds of their voices, but allows herself to fall deeper in her rest as the pain begins subsiding for the first time in the day.
"She doesn't look good," Willow hears Petra mention, undoubtably speaking of her. Willow keeps her eyes shut, allowing the team to believe she is asleep and free to speak their concerns.
"Argh," Oruo groans with disgust. "She is going to slow us all down," he says with spite in his tone. "I say we leave her here, give her the emergency signal gun and let the Elites pick her up. She is just dead weight for us."
"I don't know you guys…" Kira says with hesitation in her tone. "What if they don't come get her and a Titan comes?"
A hush falls over the group and Willow strains her hearing to listen in on what is being said, but does not hear anyone speak up to defend her.
When Willow opens her eyes, she realizes that it is daytime. She is shocked to see that she slept the whole night propped against the tree in the awkward angle that she placed herself in. She lifts herself slowly to her feet as they wobble at her weight. She digs in her bag and grabs a piece of jerky to snack on while she patrols the camp area. They are sustained on a hill that overlooks the fields approaching the back of Wall Maria. Her eyes scan for any Titans in the area from this vantage point and she sees none so far.
She notices a small group of Scouts just north of them. There are six of them traveling together, and they seem so small from her vantage point. She sees they are on the move and figures they themselves should get a move on.
She turns back at the camp to see a few of the others stirring as they rise for the morning. "Anything?" James asks her, seeing that she surveyed the area.
"Nothing to the north," she says returning to the camp. "A few other Cadets are located just northeast of us. They seem to be moving slowly."
He nods and moves to take down the shelter they set up the night before, while Luke snuffs out the last of the fire's ashes. Slowly everyone starts waking up with the feeling of unease in their chests. Titans sleep at night as they do, and if the Titans are indeed intended to attack them on this excursion, it can happen at any moment's notice.
"I have been thinking," James begins, "And I think we should set up some people to scout in front of the group using ODM gear in search of Titans," he says looking at the others. "That way we are not blindsided when one appears. The lookouts can come back to the rest of the group and inform them of the pending attack."
"We don't have that much gas to be on ODM gear the entire trip," Petra mentions.
"We can take turns on who acts as a lookout," James says. "We can start in groups of two, that way we reserve the most amount of gas."
"I'm in," Gunther says. "I can take first shift with you, James if you're up for it?" he nods and they begin gearing up.
"So, what do we do when we encounter a Titan?" Kira asks.
"Gunther and I will ride the tree lines and look ahead. If we see anything approaching you guys, we will fly down and take it down like a team. Like Malik Squad," he says with a smile on his face, remembering how coordinated the team was in their attack.
Everyone agrees and the two Scouts zip into the trees. The rest of the group continues walking with a heaviness in the air. "Anyone else feel like they are food waiting to be eaten?" Kira asks with a nervous disposition.
"Isn't that everyday within the walls?" Ben asks with a pressed laugh, trying to make his terrible joke funny.
"Not for me," Kira says with a whine. "I grew up in in Mitras within Wall Sheena, it was never a thought for me."
"You grew up in Mitras?" Petra asks with the same shock that Willow feels. "Then why… why did you join the Scouts?" she asks not understanding why someone coming from such privilege would choose a life like this.
"I wanted to get as far away from my family as I could," Kira says distantly, with sad eyes fixated on the ground, not allowing herself to divulge any further information, making Willow's mind run rampant at what they could have done to the girl to make her believe that joining the Scouts was a better life for her.
Willow coughs quietly, bringing her hand up to her mouth. She notices blood coming from her lips and she looks around at the others, wondering if they saw anything. Seeing that no one saw the blood, she wipes her mouth with the back of her hand and continues on with a wince.
"What about you, Ben?" Petra asks looking over her shoulder at the young boy, "Why did you join the Scouts?"
"When I was a kid, I remember seeing the Scouts going out on their horses. I always wanted to explore beyond the wall and not be trapped within it. This was the best way I could think of doing that."
The best way? Willow wondered how this could have possibly been the best way for the boy to think of seeing life outside the walls. She figures he must not have seen a Titan before enlisting in the forces. Willow looks over her shoulder at Ben. He is a young kid, no older than fifteen. She frowns thinking about his lost childhood now that he has joined the Scouts.
"When you were a kid?" Oruo mentions with a huff, "How old are you? You're still a kid," he says in an unintended harsh tone.
"I'm fourteen," he tells Oruo and Willow's face grows visibly grim. Ben is only five years younger than Willow, as she stands nineteen herself. She thinks about herself at his age, unable to imagine seeing the horrors of the Titans at such a young age.
"What about you, Oruo?" Ben asks, speaking over the grim silence that befalls the young boy telling them his age. "You seem like you're hellbent on killing all Titans," he says with wide eyes.
Oruo shrugs, "eh, I just wanted the green cape," he says, and Petra elbows the man in the ribs, causing him to bite his tongue as he calls out in pain. Everyone erupts in laughter, even bringing a smile to Willow's lips.
Before another word can be spoken, the team jumps at the sound of a gun firing. Their heads shoot to the sky as they see a stream of black smoke only yards away from them. "Black smoke," Petra calls out, "There's a Titan ahead!"
They hear zipping as Gunther and James return back to the group. "12-meter class up ahead. It's hit that team Willow saw this morning!" Gunther calls out from the tree line.
"Is there any purple smoke? Any Elites?" Ben asks looking up at them with widened eyes.
"No response," he returns, and everyone grows worried.
"We have to help them!" Ben calls out and everyone looks at him as though he were crazy. "A 12-meter class, they cannot take that out on their own," he explains seeing the hesitation in their eyes.
Oruo scoffs, "You think they would have done the same for us? I say we continue on and keep our heads down until the time is up."
"No," Ben says shaking his head. "I am going, and I am helping them," he says triggering his grapple to the tree and propelling him in the air.
Willow sighs heavily, knowing that he is right, and the best way to take down these Titans is as a team and not against one another. She propels herself next to Ben, groaning as she lands on the tree branch. She looks at him with presses brows and nods once, telling him she is with him. James watches her carefully, knowing that she is no shape to take on a Titan, with or without her puppeteering trick.
"Let's hope you're not wrong about this," Luke says with worried eyes.
Oruo rolls his eyes and figures he cannot be the only one who doesn't go, but decides to join them as they all make their way towards the Titan. The team being attacked by the Titan is scared, with half of them not even having their ODM gear on. Luke, Gunther, and Ben all come soaring in at the Titan similar to how Malik Squad zipped in front of the Titan like flies on Willow's first mission. They propel from one tree to another circling around the Titan to disorientate it. Dita and Oruo work on slashing its heels to keep it from moving while Kira and Petra try to get the other team of Cadets in their ODM gear and to safety.
"Oi Willow!" Oruo calls out, noticing the girl looking up at the Titan. "You want to do the honors of taking this bad boy out, or will you be gracious enough to give us lowly Scouts the opportunity to kill one?"
Willow zips over to the heels of the Titan and attaches her grapple to its calf. She looks down at Oruo as he struggles to slash at the moving feet. "He's all yours," she says in a condescending tone, and he nods at her once, communicating to her that she can take over stopping the Titan's steps. Willow looks over at Dita and they nod at one another, coordinating an attack at its heels.
The Titan roars at their attack and kicks its feet upward, sending Willow flying upwards. She releases her grappling hook from the calf and reattaches to its hip so not to go flying too far. She feels her body screaming at the harsh movements of using ODM gear. She launches herself to the ground, running from the momentum of her hard landing until she falls to her hands and knees and begins vomiting blood again. She winces as she spits out the remanence, thankful that no one sees her.
She moves back to its heel, coming in with raging speed as she slashes the heel with vicious force, practically cutting it off entirely. Her swords break on impact and the Titan falls down on its knee.
Willow removes her broken blades and replaces them with new ones. She looks up at Oruo, expecting him to have slashed the Titan by now, but instead sees him looking for the spot on the nape that will render them paralyzed to their own movements.
"Just take him down Oruo!" Gunther yells, seeing the Cadet hesitate as he looks for the spot. The Titan begins swatting at the flying Cadets, putting them in peril.
Oruo drives his sword in the Titan, and it swings its head back with a deafening roar. Willow's heart races, knowing that was not the correct spot. She holds onto her swords tightly, getting ready to attack. Oruo pulls his sword out and drives it into another spot, missing the target again. This aggravates the Titan even more and it reaches back for Oruo. Willow's heart thumps wildly in her chest, and she begins running towards Oruo calling out his name with primal fear rasping in her voice.
Oruo looks up at the reaching hand, completely crippled by fear as Willow attaches her grapple to the shoulder of the Titan, but she is too late. As she launches herself towards him, the Titan grabs onto Oruo in its grip and sends him flying across the field. Willow releases a battle cry as she propels to the Titan's nape and slashes it deeply, killing the Titan instantly.
The Titan falls to the ground in a cloud of steam while Willow launches herself towards Oruo, only to be greeted by a mangled mess of bloodied limbs. Willow approaches his body slowly, giving her time to come to terms with his death. But when she approaches him, she is shocked to see that he is still breathing.
She falls to her knees, calling his name as she stops herself from touching him with shaking hands. Gunther and James come running over towards them. "Holy shit," James releases, seeing the carnage up close.
"He is still alive," Willow says as she begins frantically ripping her green cape for bandages.
"Barely," James releases with a wrinkled nose.
Willow grabs a nearby stick and begins creating a tourniquet for the wheezing Cadet, while the others stand and watch her with wide eyes. "Willow it's pointless," James tells her, "He's not going to last long."
"He is still alive!" she repeats herself with more force in her tone. "We cannot just leave him here to die."
Ben comes zipping down with labored breaths. "There are two more smoke signals around us. Looks like more Titans are on the way."
"Willow, we need to go, we cannot carry him," James says in a stern tone.
"I am not going to leave him here!" Willow calls out as her voice rings in the air.
"This is ridiculous," James releases under his breath. "I am not dying for this," he announces, tuning from them and making his way from the group. Willow begins dressing Oruo's wounds, focusing her eyes on him, but her ears catch as Gunther joins James in the retreat.
"Ben, set off the red smoke signal," Willow commands with a growing line pressing between her brows. "Use your ODM gear and find some help."
"Yes ma'am," the young boy says, digging in his bag and shooting off the red smoke signal.
Willow sniffs as Ben zips away from her, focusing on Oruo's wounds as her ears no longer catch the sound of anyone else. She hears Oruo groan in pain as she presses on his bloody wounds, saturating her hands in hot red liquid. She does not speak with him, unable to call on her voice to give him false promises of survival.
She hears a large thud shaking the ground around her. Fuck, she thinks to herself as she sees the top of a Titan's head appearing just above the tree line near them. She looks down at Oruo as she finishes tying his bandages and tourniquet. She looks down frantically at the Cadet, knowing that the Titan will attack them in no time. She knows that she shouldn't move him, and probably cannot with her own lack of strength and undoubtable internal bleeding and concussion. She knows that if she even attempts to move him, it will be a useless undertaking as the Titan gains footing on them. Her only course of action is to kill any Titan that approach them until they can get extracted safely.
She lifts herself to her legs and they begin wobbling, her vision tunnels, and she feels flushed of all energy. She takes in a deep breath, trying to gather her strength as the Titan pushes through the trees. "Oruo, you ass, you should have sliced its nape!" she calls out to herself between clenched teeth as she approaches the Titan.
She takes a few steps when her legs give in and she falls to her knees. Her head is screeching, and her hands ungrasp her swords as she loses control of her appendages. She begins hyperventilating as she crawls to Oruo, abandoning her desire to kill the Titan and moving to getting her and Oruo into the trees and out of its path. He groans as she laces her hands under his armpits and begins dragging him into the trees. She pulls on him, straining herself as he is too heavy for her on a good day, not to mention that she is falling apart. She puts him down as she falls to her knees, knowing that her dragging him is not good for either of them.
Willow swallows hard, looking around for anything that can help. She begins to panic, figuring that she can get herself out of here with her ODM gear. Though she is not in the best shape to travel with vertical maneuvering, she will still be able to get out of the woods while the Titan is distracted feasting on Oruo's mangled body. She shakes the idea out her head, not allowing herself to leave him here to die.
Willow looks up at the incoming Titan and takes in a deep breath. If she is unwilling to move without Oruo, then she will die with the man. She allows herself a moment to cry as she comes to terms with her life being over. She thinks about her sister and her niece and hopes that wherever they are, they are waiting for her, and they are proud of her.
She closes her eyes and takes in the moment. She removes the sound of Oruo's whimpering and the heavy thumps of the incoming Titan. She removes the sound of her wildly beating heart thumping in her ears, and she fixates of the sound of the birds singing to one another. She feels the rays of the sun beating on her and making her feel warm before the Titan can grab her. She feels herself finding peace as she allows herself to come to terms that this is her end.