And yet Eren was right, before the group could even blink without the large female titan being on top of them barely a few strides behind the group. They barely had enough time after the black smoke was signaled to draw their blades. The sight of the titan seemed to set nearly everyone into a panic as some of the squad started to call out to the captain. Blades were drawn, everyone was ready to fight. Alex was no exception either as she had her own blades drawn as she continued to encourage her horse onwards as fast as the poor thing would carry her. It was hard for herself to even remain calm as she listened to the panic in her far more experienced teammates. Breathing felt difficult as everything felt like it was moving too quickly, the team was screaming, Levi was not answering anyone just allowing them to panic. What was he planning? Surely he had a plan.
"Everyone cover your ears," came the order from the captain. It was a bit hard to properly cover her ears completely with her gear still in hand but she was at least able to cover them well enough as she watched the captain whip out his own glare gun. But it didn't have a smoke signal like normal. No it contained some high pitched ring that shot out when it was fired. The volume still had her ears ringing softly as they rode. She almost didn't even hear Eren ask if that was an acoustic round or the fact that the captain reminded of their mission was to simply keep Eren alive no matter the cost. Engaging the titan in battle when they were not completely forced too was not the mission. Running and keeping Eren safe while others tried to take her on was their job.
Alex didn't like it and it was easy to tell the team would have rather taken her on in the moment but they were quickly reminded of what their mission was. Levi's words had not just been for Eren but the team as a whole. But of course the team had no issues with their mission and doing as they were told but Eren had to talk back and question the captain. If they were not in a do or die situation she would have rode over and smacked the boy as he tried to convince the squad to stop the female titan.
"Another one! Damn it he didn't need to die. Come on there's still one left. We can save him before it's too late!" Eren was rambling on about the squad being able to kill the titan and if not who would and his needing to save his fellow scouts.
"Do not think about the soldiers that are dying Eren. Our job is to follow the captain's orders. And that's simple, look forward and move. Stay alive," Alex yelled at Eren forcing his attention from over his shoulder to look over at the blonde beside him who was riding for all she was worth. Maybe it was easy for her to tell him to keep going, it was easy for her to run. She knew she wouldn't survive if she turned and tried to take on that titan.
"But we could do something? We could save them," Eren cried back at her.
"We can not save everyone Eren. They know their jobs, they know the risks. Keep riding," Alex barked back. She may have sounded cold scolding Eren for wanting to save the scouts doing their jobs and dying. But now was not the time to think about it and allow their emotions to run the show.
Petra was quick to jump in and also yell at Eren to forget his comrades; they can not save them all. Even Oluo was quick to tell Eren to not to ask the reason why, ask but to do and die before calling him a useless greenhorn. Wow Alex almost wanted to praise the man for his smart choice of words to the boy. Though she imagined in the heat of his panic the meaning to Oluo's words probably didn't reach Eren. Alex was watching Eren closely as the boy seemed panicked, still unhappy with the knowledge that people were dying all around them as their horses thundered on. She watched him then start to sheath his blades. What was the moron thinking? She watched as he raised his right hand, the look in his eyes seemed less panicked as he seemed to be contemplating his options.
"No. Eren stop!" Petra and Alex yelled at the same time as they watched Eren open his mouth about ready to clamp his teeth deep into the soft skin of his hand. His thumb was in between his teeth when he froze hearing the two female voices call out.
"You're only permitted to assume titan form when your life's in extreme peril. That was the agreement. You took an oath," Petra was quick to remind him of what he had agreed to and how his life was not currently in extreme peril if they could outrun the titan. When he didn't answer her right away Petra called out to him. But it seemed the captain would be the one to reach the boy with his words.
"I wouldn't blame you. Do as your conscience dictates. But Eren, listen. You are not inherently evil, your ability to change doesn't make you a monster. That said, it could be the other way around. How're you supposed to know where to draw the line? Whether you lose control or freely give it up, maybe it's the same," with that the captain gave a pause as if allowing Eren to think over his words before he continued. To be honest Alex was surprised the captain was talking so much. That was probably an entire day or two worth of conversations from the quiet man.
"Look, Eren. We don't agree because our experience brings us to opposing views. That's life. At the end of the day, there's no reason to go against how you see it. The choice is yours. You can trust yourself or you can trust the people willing to put their lives on the line for you. I don't know which way is better. I never have. Should I act on my own instincts, or put myself in the hands of my comrades and trust them? Either way there's no guarantee. In the end, you choose what you choose. If afterwards your regrets are at a minimum, good for you," wow the captain was getting philosophical on them. She didn't even know he had it in him to actually try and reason with another human being so much. But Eren still seemed so unsure with his hand still up against his lips.
"Eren! Trust us," called out Petra. This time Alex sat back and watched curious to see if the team could convince Eren. He may have trusted her and if she spoke up and told him not to, he would listen to her. Well probably. But what good would it do if Eren only listened to her? He needed to learn to trust the team as well. He needed to learn to trust the team just like the team still needed to fully learn to trust him. But everyone was well on their way but still the tension could snap the small bonds they had all managed to create at this moment. Still Eren seemed so unsure of what was the right decision.
"Eren! C'om! Make up your damn mind!" She watched the captain look back and yell at the boy. They needed to know what he was going to do.
"Eren?" Alex called out softly, finally watching the boy's head whip up to look at the captain before his eyes closed and it seemed he was finally going to make up his mind. She wasn't sure if she even heard him over the thundering of the titan behind them. But at least it seemed he had reached a decision.
"I'm with you!" Was the yell that Eren gave as he agreed to listen to them. Though she could see the anguish in his face. This had not been an easy decision for him to make. But she was incredibly happy to see he could or would put trust in their team. Alex breathed a sigh of relief she hadn't realized she had been holding during the entire minute Eren had been making his final decision.
All they could do now was keep riding as they had been ordered to, keep moving forwards till they could outrun her. Hopefully it would be before the horses tired and slowed down. She watched Eren's head roll back and look at the female titan as she continued to run after them while taking out any and every scout that tried to stop or slow her down.
"Don't look back Eren, keep your eyes in front of you," Alex yelled out at him, forcing him to look away from the titan and over to her as she rode beside him. Alex refused to look back, the cries of their comrades was enough to keep her focused on the path ahead of them. Looking back would only slow her down, and watching her fellow soldiers call would only cause her to doubt their decision to run.
"Target is accelerating!" came Gunther's cry of warning even though surely everyone could hear the titan speeding up as she ran each stride shaking the ground around her.
"Just keep moving we will out run the bitch," Was the captain's reply as the team continued to push their horses onwards. But it didn't stop the team from sweating as they all mentally struggled with the idea of having to run from the titan and try not to get killed as they obeyed their orders. Eren wasn't the only one who was unhappy with the orders but no one else would dare question their captain outright in the moment.
Suddenly something out of the corner of her eye caught Alex's attention but the team was moving so quickly she didn't get a full look but it had looked like crates or something had been set up hidden among the underbrush around the edges of some of the tree's. No they were grappling cannons the scouts had moved out into the forest. When the hell did commander Erwin get those set up in the woods? Did he set them up while Levi's team had been leading the titan into the forest? Were they in the supply wagons? Or did the commander plan that they would end up in the forest and had them set up days in advance? Alex was full of questions but now was not the time and by the surprised looks on her teammates faces when they too noticed what she did it seemed they wouldn't be able to answer her questions.
The sounds of the grapples being fired filled the air just as the female titan ran in front of them. So that was the commanders plan all along, he wanted to capture the titan not outrun it or try to kill it. Alex wasn't sure if she should be impressed or think Erwin was an idiot? Still this wasn't the time to question the commander or her captain as the team continued to ride away though now almost all eyes were looking back to watch the titan stop. Hands covering her nape and hundreds of strong wire grapples were dug deep into her skin all over.
"Everyone hitch your horses a bit further on, switch to ODM gear. I had to break away for a little while. Eld's in charge till I get back. Tuck Eren away somewhere out of sight of the female titan. And see to my horse," Came the order from the captain as the team no longer pushed their horses as fast as they could go. It was probably a good idea to give the horses a break and move about the forest with the ODM gear they had. But with that order the captain was quick to jump from the running horse taking to the trees with his ODM gear.
"Wait what? They're going to take her alive? Seriously?" Eren voices his surprise. Though he wasn't the only one having such thoughts. Alex was also surprised that the plan all along was to capture and take the female titan as a prisoner alive. Did this mean the commander knew that other people like Eren existed? Or was he acting on a hunch? If he was one lucky man, Alex didn't want to think of what could happen if his hunch had ended up being wrong and no human controlled titan appeared. But then again thinking about it, it made sense to think that Eren was not the only one who could take on a titan form, the colossal titan and armoured titan both seemed to have the ability to think and be more than mindless gluttons looking for humans to consume. Alex gave her head a shake, now was not the time to think this over.
"So what do you think of us now Eren? We managed to outsmart the damn thing," Came the bragging voice of Gunther as he rode behind Eren. He wasn't the only one to feel the need to bug Eren either.
"Let this be a lesson to you, greenhorn. Don't ever underestimate the scouts. Never again! Agreed?" Of course Oluo had to add in his own words as he told Eren to never underestimate the scouts.
"Agree," was the rather happy response Eren gave as a smile tugged at his lips, happy to see that he had made the right decision. Alex still wasn't sure. It was too early to be celebrating any sort of victory. But she wasn't about to say anything as she felt the wave of relief wash over the team.
"An abnormal? No she's more like the colossal titan!" Eren pointed out as he looked back as the team continued to put distance between them. Seemed Eren wasn't an idiot after all and he too was able to put some pieces together coming to the same realization as Alex that the female titan, like the colossal titan was human inside a titan body. Alex watched as the gears in the boys head turned and slowly he was piecing things together.
"Wait, so does that mean commander Erwin was," Eren never got to continue that train of thought as Oluo yelled at him to snap out of it.
"You can puzzle it all out later. Right now we need you focused on pushing ahead," Petra called out. Surely the entire team was full of questions but Petra was right now was not the time to stop and try and think through what had happened and what the commander was thinking. There would be time for that later.