A/N: WHERE ARE MY REVIEWS?! I NEED MY REEVIIEEEWSS!
The 57th Expedition: The Female Titan Attacks
The Female Titan stood at a terrifying 14-meters tall, and it was fast.
"Go!" Levi ordered, and the squad immediately picked up pace as the Female smashed through a tree beside where Eren was seconds before, reaching for him, as it missed it slid to the side, planting its feet before moving to run right behind him.
"It's too fast!"
"And we can't evade it!"
"Captain! Let us switch to ODM Gear! We'll be wiped out! Captain!"
Suddenly, two scouts appeared from behind the Female Titan. "Reinforcements from the rear!" Petra said with a small measure of relief.
"We won't let you get away!" One of the scouts shot straight for the nape, only for the Titan to jerk it's head to the side and grab the missed wire before slamming him into a tree with her shoulder. The other tried to escape, but was grabbed by his wire and pulled into the Female Titan's hand and crushed.
Everyone in Levi's squad except Levi watched the carnage and bloodshed with horror.
"Captain! Orders?!" Petra screamed,
"Come on bro! We need you!" Isabel shrieked,
"We need to kill it!" Oluo shouted, "It's too dangerous to be left alive!"
"Captain, what are your orders?" Evangelica asked calmly,
"Everyone, cover your ears." Without further warning, he pulled out an unmarked flare, and fired an acoustic round.
The ringing was intense as Alto watched from the canopy. He couldn't hear what they were saying, but it appeared that Levi Squad was in confusion and Levi hadn't given any orders.
'So I was right...Erwin did deliberately leave most of the Scouts out of the plan. Even those of Squad Levi.' He thought,
"Tell me, what is our job?" Levi asked calmly, "To follow the breeze and be swayed by whatever is happening in the moment?" He didn't let them answer, "No, it isn't. It's to keep-" He nodded at Eren, "This little shit safe, even at the cost of our lives." He looked back ahead, "We keep moving forward? Got it?"
"Yes sir!" The rest of Levi squad replied
"Keep going? But for how long sir? And it's right on top of us! If we don't help the reinforcements will get wiped out again!"
"Eren! Eyes on the road!" Gunther yelled at him,
"Maintain your speed!" Eld shouted,
"But why?! If we don't kill it here who will?!"
Another Scout charged the Female titan, only to be slammed into a tree nearby.
"That's another one dead! Are we just going to watch them all die?!"
The final Scout weaved through the Female Titan's arms, trying to find an opening to cut.
"One is still alive! Maybe we can save him!"
"Eyes on the road Eren!" Petra shouted at him,
"So you're telling me to ditch my comrades and run?!"
"Exactly! They knew exactly what the hell they were getting into! That was their choice!"
"I don't understand why we need to leave them to die?! Or why Captain isn't explaining anything!" Eren thought for a moment, 'Hold on. I can fight on my own…' He looked down at his hand 'Why am I relying on others?' He raised his hand to his mouth and-
"Eren! What are you doing?!" Petra shrieked, "You're only allowed to shift when your life is in danger! You promised us!"
"He isn't wrong." Evangelica said at last, "At one point or another, the only thing one can do is rely on themselves."
"E-Evangelica?" Petra said,
"She's right." Levi agreed "If you want to, then do it." He turned to Petra "He is a real monster. And it has nothing to do with his Titan power. No matter what power you use to suppress him, he will never submit." He turned back to Eren, "Eren. The difference between your decision and ours will be experience. But at the end of the day, as Evangelica said, sometimes the only thing you can do is trust yourself. So choose, believe in me and the Scout Regiment, or trust yourself. I can't tell you which is the better choice because I don't know which is the better choice."
Eren looked down, 'That's right...I'm selfishly blasting them for not helping, and not realizing that they likely want to help too. But are counting and trusting in Levi and I to make their comrades - and their own - sacrifices worth it.'
"You're taking too long! Decide!" Levi ordered.
Eren inhaled, and yelled "I'll put my faith in Levi Squad! I'll trust you!" He looked back to watch as the final scout died, 'I'm sorry!' he thought quickly.
The Female Titan began to move into a severe acceleration, bending forward as she rushed the Squad.
"We'll outrun it!" Eld said at last,
'No...it's too close and too fast! We'll be crushed flat!' He closed his eyes, 'But...if everyone is putting their faith in Captain Levi. Then I will as well!'
He opened his eyes only to look around wildly as he noticed all the restraining cannons emplaced around them, as Levi squad passed them, the Female Titan wasn't so lucky, and stepped right into the firing zone.
"FIRE!" Erwin screamed as hundreds of Titan harpoons were fired and descended on the Female Titan, hooking into every possible nook and cranny possible, the Titan barely had time to place both hands on her nape before she was almost completely immobile.
Alto watched in quiet amazement as all the cannons fired, 'Seems like Erwin had a plan after all.'
The Titan had a seemingly permanent grimace stuck on her face. Another two barrages followed, further pinning the Titan in place.
'I don't trust this…' Alto thought, 'If I was in that situation, I'd be kicking and struggling right now.'
"Defeatist." Kyren called,
"More like pragmatist." Alto replied
"Hey...Mina...Did you hear something like.." Historia began
"Yeah. Cannons." Mina nodded
"But there weren't any with the supply convoy. So unless they brought them in advance…"
"Bloody hell." Jean swore, "They're climbing, and getting better at it too. Look-" He pointed at a particularly nimble 8-meter, "they're getting better at it too."
"Scariest part is that it shows they can learn. Although some may be better than others.
"So wait! I can get why he won't tell us newbies, but not even inform Levi Squad when you guys have been with the Corps so long?" Eren wondered
"A-Are you insinuating the Captain and Commander don't trust us?!" Petra yelled at him,
"That is what this means though-!"
"Knock that brat's teeth out!" Oluo said indignantly.
"Eren's right." Eld said from a perch nearby, "Whether we like it or not, it's almost certain that there's a titan shifter - or a spy helping them - among us. Perhaps even multiple. I'd imagine the only soldiers who knew about this plan are the ones who've been in the Survey Corps longer than five years."
"Yeah...That makes sense." Petra said, sounding relieved. "He assumes that when Wall Maria fell five years ago a spy infiltrated our ranks and narrowed down the suspects according to those parameters."
"Then the spy killed Sawney and Bean."
"Now that I think about it, the Commander posed a really weird question." Petra said thoughtfully, and Eren gasped as he remembered the Commander's question
"What do you see? Who do you think the real enemy is here?"
"Huh?"
'So that's what he meant…' Eren thought
"Of course, I saw right through this little game." Oluo bragged,
"Fall off the tree Oluo." Evangelica called down,
Clang! Clang! Alto watched as Levi and Mike attempted to slice through the Female Titan's hands, he looked over to where Erwin was standing,
'Are they going to use the cannons to try and blow off it's hands?' Alto wondered. He kept watching as Levi landed on the Titan's head.
"Knock. Knock." He stomped on the Titan's head, "We know you're in there. Why don't you come out and make things easier for everyone? After all, you can't gain anything by stalling. If you think we'll let you go we won't. If you're thinking about escape, don't. The only thing you should be thinking about are the good men you killed today." He paused, "You know, I think we can find common ground. You know, since we both like killing. Of course, I like killing Titans, and you prefer Humans. Oh and is it okay if we cut off your limbs? And by that I mean your real body, not the Titan's. They'll grow back anyway, like a fucking lizard."
That did it, suddenly, the Female Titan unleashed an earth-shattering shriek. Alto had to cover his ears, 'What the-? What is this?!' He wondered,
The scream echoed throughout the entire forest. Mina covered her ears, and waited until it stopped, 'What was that?!' she asked of nobody in particular.
And then the Titans who were scratching at the bases of the trees began to run into the forest.
Alto looked and watched as dozens of Titans approached from the East.
'No way...did the Female Titan draw them all here?!' Then he watched as the Titans completely ignored several Scouts who tried engaging them
'What the- are they all Abnormals? No, there's too many. This has to be the work of the Female Titan!' He then watched as one broke through and bit into the Female's leg. 'They're eating it?!' Then Alto realized what this was: 'She's likely having all the Titans eat her body, then plans to escape with ODM and retransform later!'
He continued to watch the scouts desperately attempt to defend the Female Titan 'She's drawn every Titan bordering the forest too her, there's just too many of them…' He sighed, and was relieved when he heard Erwins next order,
"Retreat! Back to Karanes!"
"Hey...Alto." Annabeth asked, "Why didn't you intervene?"
"There was no way I could've broken through in time. It wasn't worth it."
"Alright! Get the horses and let's call it a day!" Gunther ordered
"Hope we get to see what the bastard inside looks like." Oluo yawned
"Wow...will we really get to see who was inside?" Eren wondered.
"Mhm! And it was because you decided to trust us." Petra nodded
"Oh don't spoil the brat Petra. All he did was whine and complain."
In response, Evangelica simply said, "August 21st, 848 remember?"
"What are you- HEY!" Petra paled,
"Why you bitch-"
"W-what happened then?" Eren asked,
"It was our first expedition then, and Petra and Oluo wet themselves." Eld called back,
"W-Well Evangelica was crying in the bathroom!" Petra said flustered,
"After the expedition." Evangelica muttered abashedly.
"Woah seriously! Did it like- rain down on everyone?" Eren asked curiously.
"I remember that clear as day!" Isabel chirped, "Petra was quivering in a tree, and when I asked her what's wrong, her face was all teary as she said 'I pissed my pants'." she laughed.
A green smoke flare went up some distance from them.
"Oh! That must be the signal from Captain Levi! All right, all of you shut up until we get to the Captain!" Gunther yelled, "And for the record, my shorts have always been dry!"
"Erwin...why'd you order Levi to resupply?"
"The Female Titan was eaten. But did we see it's user suffer the same fate?"
"You can't mean…!"
"Yes. If your original theory was correct, and they can still move after retaining human form and had 3DMG prepared in advance, it's all too likely that they're in our uniform right now."
"Hey! Who are-" Gunther was cut off by his throat being cleanly slashed out by ODM blades. The rest of Levi Squad gasped as Gunther hung limply
"GUNTHER!"