Happy Easter! I hope you enjoy this chapter.
POV/ARMIN
The sun blared down on them as they came up to the gate of Karanes district, the Scouts stood before the wall all on horseback and as usual, many citizens had come out to see them off. Around him were the Scouts he and Eren looked up too and now they stood and fought among them.
Commander Erwin led from the front, beside him were the other squad leaders and Captain Levi who rode his black stallion, which happened to be the only black horse in the Scouts. Levi had been given it just as Erwin had got the white mare but unlike Levi's mount, it was tradition for the Commander to ride a white steed.
"COMMANDER!" The shout came from atop the wall, where a dozen members of the Garrison sat.
"WE'RE ALMOST READY! WE LED THE TITAN'S SOME DISTANCE AWAY! THIRTY SECONDS TILL THE GATE OPENS!" He called down. Erwin made no reply.
The countdown began. Thirty seconds till they leave the walls, thirty seconds till they venture into Titan territory, where thousands had perished trying to push back the Titans in a never-ending war.
"THIS IS IT!" This time the shout came from Gunther of Levi squad. Gunther was up ahead, next to his squadmates who were all silent.
"NOW THE HUMAN RACE TAKES ANOTHER STEP FORWARD!" SHOW ME WHAT YOU'VE LEARNED!" Gunther shouted, raising his blade.
Around him, the newly made Scouts shouted in unison, their voices filling the streets.
The gate opened revealing the abounded town which lay ahead of them, filled with countless Titans.
"ADVANCE!" Erwin screamed, charging forward. His shout was followed by the cries of the Scouts who charged forward after him, the people who came to see them off did not shout or scream, as they knew many who went out would not return.
The Scouts charged out the gate by the dozens, their horses moved swiftly passing houses with ease, and were unfazed by the sudden shaking of the ground, as a Titan ran towards them.
Its eyes filled gleamed red with bloodlust as it ran at them, the support team followed it, their blades at the ready.
Just as the Titan neared them, the support team engaged the Titan, the Titan thrashed wildly as the duo tried to kill it. Eyes filled with madness, it continued to swing its arms violently trying to kill the team.
Finally, one of the Scouts flew up to the sky and shot her grapples into the Titans head, he shot down at it and struck down on its nape, her blades cutting cleanly through its flesh.
It only took them a couple of minutes to leave the Titan-infested town, as soon as they left the town, they left the protection of the walls and Garrison, who didn't go further than the town which was once inhabited by several hundred civilians.
But after another couple minutes of riding, they once again stopped, this time to get into formation. The newly made formation had been made by Commander Erwin, after his promotion to Commander.
Named the long-distance enemy scouting formation, it allowed for the Scouts to avoid Titans with the use of flares. The red flare indicated that a mindless titan had been spotted and a black flare would mean an abnormal had been spotted. After the flare has been sent, the Commander would then fire a green flare and the formation would change direction, which would allow the regiment to avoid titans.
He, Mikasa, and the rest of their squad looked on as one of the Scouts explained where they would be in the formation.
"Your team is here," he told them, pointing at the map.
"On the right nine columns back. Remember if you see a Titan fire a flare, or this whole operation could be compromised," the Scout continued to explain.
He and the others continued to watch on, but a voice called out to them suddenly.
"Hey!" Eren shouted out to them.
"Eren?" he asked, turning round to see Eren, who was walking away from Levi's squad.
"It's been a while," Eren replied, casually.
Mikasa rushed forward, grabbing Eren's arms, and pinned them to his sides.
"Have they hurt you at all? Did they give you some sort of invasive examination? Did you suffer from any mental illnesses?"
"No. Nothing like that," Eren replied.
"That shorty is too full of himself. One of these days, I'll take him down a peg," Mikasa told Eren, who still seemed very relaxed.
The rest of the new Scouts surrounded them, a look of relief on their faces.
"So, you all joined the Scouts," Eren stated, he quickly looked at the faces which surrounded him, and a look of confusion came to his face.
"Where's Jean?" He asked.
"Jean and Marco joined the Military Police Brigade," he told Eren, who looked relieved by the news.
The new Scouts quickly broke up, all of them heading towards their squads but Krista stayed next to Eren.
"Kri-" Eren looked to Krista and opened his mouth to speak but was cut off.
"EREN!" Eld shouted at Eren. "C'MON!"
Eren glanced over it to his squad before turning back to look at Krista.
"I'll tell you later," Eren told her hastily, he then left them and walked back over to Levi squad who were all mounting their horses.
Krista only nodded in reply, watching on as Eren walked towards the famous Levi squad.
He looked at Eren curious about what he wanted to tell Krista, after all, they didn't talk much right?
The Scouts rushed forward swiftly, dozens of horses splitting up moving across the fields.
"LONG-DISTANCE ENEMY SCOUTING FORMATION! DEPLOY!" Erwin shouted out to all the Scouts, who at the command spread out across the fields all of them falling into formation.
Riding on his left was Reiner, and on his right Milieus, and in front and behind of him were senior members of the Survey Corps who had been on expeditions like this a dozen times before.
After barely a minute of riding forward, a red flare was fired up into the air, from two squads over. A Titan appeared that quickly?
He watched on as Dita Ness pulled out his flare gun, quickly attaching the red flare and firing it, alerting the nearest squads to the approaching Titan.
He continued to watch as flare after a flare was shot up until finally, Erwin's green flare was fired, barely visible from where he was, signaling the change in direction.
Doing as they had been taught mere hours earlier, they followed the squad ahead of them, who was slowly turning right.
The formation continued moving forward and for a time, there were no more flares shot. But suddenly over near a small patch of trees, a black flare was fired, by Dita who was riding after a Titan.
An Abnormal Titan?
As the Titan neared him he grabbed his flare as fast he could nearly dropping the gun in the process, quickly attaching the black flare he pointed the gun up and fired it, sending black smoke billowing into the air.
Dita jumped off his horse and fired his grapples at the Abnormal's neck, pulling the triggers on his ODM gear he was thrown forward at the Titan, who still ran forward ignoring its attackers.
Dita swung the ankles of the Titan, his blades cutting cleanly through the flesh and muscle with ease.
As soon as the Titan put weight on its nearly severed foot, it collapsed. Steam rose from the wound as the Titan tried to stand, but the Titan had to wait until its injury had healed, which would take several minutes.
Before the wound had a chance to heal, Dita struck down on the Titan's nape, killing the Abnormal.
Dita's horse returned to him, and now with the Abnormal dead, they rode on forward.
But their victory was short-lived as another Titan came into view.
Another Abnormal!
The Titan was different from any other he'd seen. It was skinless, with only muscle covering it, and had shoulder-length blonde hair, and it stood fourteen meters.
But what made this Titan unnatural was its chest, the titan had breasts… Would that make this Titan Female?
The Titan continued rushing forward, with speed no other Titan had.
Within mere moments the Titan was on the older Scouts, who looked shocked to see the Titan moving so fast.
Barely moving out the way of the Titan's feet, both Scouts fell back and jumped from their horses.
Both fired their grapples at the Titan and swung in ready to kill it with one swift stroke.
The Titan grabbed the first Scout as he swung at her, crushing him in her hand and spraying his blood across the field.
Dita was still in shock when the Titan grabbed his wire, ripping the grapple from her neck, she swung it down, smashing him into the field and spraying his blood across the grass.
She killed them both, without breaking a sweat. How easy was it going to be to kill him?
It's not… That's not Abnormal!
The Titan neared him, his horse barely able to stay ahead he gripped the reins as hard as he could. The realization of what it was, finally coming to him.
What should I do? It's not normal or Abnormal. That one… is intelligent! Like the colossus, and the armored… Like Eren!
It must be a human in the body of a Titan! B-But who? Why? Why would anyone do this?
I'm going to die, too. It's going to kill me.
The shaking of the ground stopped as a shadow appeared above him. Looking up he saw the Female Titan in the air and descending on him.
Its foot crashed down, throwing him from his horse he hit the ground hard, his body going limp upon impact.
His horse shrieked in terror and ran from him. Leaving him alone with the fourteen-meter Titan.
He tried to stand up, but his body collapsed, too weak to move.
The ground shook as the female Titan came to its knees and looked down on him.
He managed to make it to his knees, as the shadow of a hand fell upon him. The hand grabbed his head and lifted it gently.
His hood fell back and the Titan looked into his eyes, it's eyes were filled with sadness, maybe even regret. But did nothing more, in stood leaving him on the ground helpless.
The Titan then ran, going deeper into their formation.
You're not going to kill me? It grabbed my hood… Was it… Checking my face?
He heard the sound on hooves, as a horse came nearer and nearer and finally a voice shouted out his name.
"ARMIN!" The voice of Reiner surprised him, turning around he saw Reiner leading his horse by the reins.
"Reiner?"
"Hey, can you stand? Never mind… let's get you on your horse. There's no way you're going to survive without one," Reiner told him.
"We have to hurry," he told Reiner, getting on his stead.
"I saw the flare indicating an Abnormal. That it? The one with a nice ass? Reiner asked as they rode after the Titan.
"That's not an Abnormal… It's a human inside a Titan body," he told Reiner, who looked shocked by the news.
"WAIT!" We've got to fire off a signal flare," he told Reiner, grabbing the flare gun from the horse's pouch.
"H- We have to hurry. This is an emergency. We have to let them know," he explained hastily.
But just as he was about to fire, a flare was shot from behind them.
Milieus?
"Look's like Milieus already fired one-off," Reiner said, explaining the obvious.
Milieus rode up next to them, all of them slowly gaining on the Titan.
"Part of the right flank enemy scouting team has been wiped out, Milieus explained. "A bunch of Titan came out of nowhere… And lots of them can run pretty fast too. We're holding them off for now, somehow. But we can't do any more Scouting. We suffered major losses and at this rate… We'll be wiped out."
"That's the same direction which that one came from. Don't tell me that one led the other titans here?"
"Which one?" Milieus asked, before quickly noticing the Titan. "What the hell is that Titan doing over here. Is it Abnormal?"
No, It's not… It's a human in a Titan's body. Someone with the same powers of Eren."
"Armin… What makes you think that?" Milieus asked, staring at the Titan who didn't seem to notice them.
"All titans do is eat humans. Humans die as a result, but their goal isn't to murder us. But as soon as the two soldiers I was with attacked her weak point, that female titan killed them both. She killed them to kill them, not to eat them. That kind of behavior sets her apart from other titans." He explained to Milieus, taking a breath before continuing.
"When the Colossus Titan and the Armoured Titan broke through the wall, she must have been the one that led the others to the hole. Her purpose seems to be to attack the human race. But on the other hand, I have a feeling she was looking for someone… And if that's the case, I can bet the person she is looking for, is Eren."
"Eren?" Reiner asked. "Eren's in squad Levi, which is leading the right flank, where that Titan was.
"The right flank? According to the operational chart I was given, he'd supposed to be stationed near the back of the left flank," Milieus told them.
"The copy I received has him positioned up on the right flank," he told them.
That thing commander Erwin was looking for… It's got to be… Traitors.
"All right. Then where the hell is Eren?" Reiner asked him.
"They'd put him into the safest place in the formation… So, he's in the center towards the back maybe," he answered.
"ARMIN!" Milieus yelled. "We don't have time to think things over right now. If the flare reaches the Commander's squad, and we're ordered to pull out, we should be able to avoid the group of Titans of the right… But even if that one is a big threat as the Colossal or Armoured Titan, were not prepared to relay complex info like that through flares… And if it crushes the Commander's squad before the flare even gets to them, the entire formation will split apart, and we'll all be annihilated," Milieus told them.
"What are you trying to say?" Reiner asked him.
"What I'm saying is… That from this distance, it may still be possible to draw its attention. Maybe the three of us can by some time until the order to retreat is given…"
Silence held them for a moment, as they all knew what could happen to them if they fought the titan.
"Like I said that one is intelligent. From her point of view, were nothing more than insects... if she swats us we'll be crushed to a pulp,"
"Well… If this thing is going after Eren, someone's going to have to save his ass," Milieus said.
"Put your hood on. That way she can't see your face. As long as she doesn't know who you are, she shouldn't kill us," he told his comrades.
"I see… She won't murder someone who could be Eren. That gives me some peace of mind. Let's hope her eyesight is bad to boot," Reiner said pulling his hood up.
With all three of their hoods up, they finally caught up with the Female Titan, he and Milieus sped around the side of the titan while Reiner stayed behind it.
She's a lot slower than when she first came from over there. Is she tired? It doesn't matter, either way, we can't kill her… though maybe Capt-.
His thought was cut short when the Titan turned around on one foot with incredible speed, the Titan then lunged at him so fast he couldn't even scream. It grabbed his horse which threw him off it. It then threw his horse at Milieus who barely avoided it.
He slammed into the ground, his ODM gear breaking underneath him in the process.
The Titan kneeled down in front of him and reached out towards himhim, but Milieus attacked her blades drawn and screaming in rage. His grapples shot into her lats and he fired himself at her with incredible speed.
The Titan swung her fist at him, barely missing. Milieus continued to swing around her, trying to find an opening to strike her nape, but the titan had her nape covered with her hand, stopping Milieus from killing her.
He knew Milieus couldn't last much longer, all it would take was for the Titan to grab his wire and he would be dead.
"MILIEUS!" He shouted desperately trying to distract the Titan. "GET REVENGE FOR HIM! GET REVENGE FOR EREN!"
The Titan stopped when it heard him, it even ignored Milieus who was swinging around her confused by his plea.
With the titan unmoving Reiner shot at her, his blades ready and aiming for the nape. He might be able to do it. He might be able to kill her.
His hope was stripped from him as the Titan's hand shot up and grabbed Reiner just as he neared her neck.
She held him there for a moment staring deeply into his comrade's eyes. Then, she clenched her hand, shooting blood into the air.
"AAAH!" Milieus' scream was one of horror, as he watched one of his closest friends die in front of him.
But as all hope seemed lost the Female Titan's hand exploded, her fingers flying into the air, Reiner shot out of hand, covered in titan blood.
Reiner saw him and swung down picking him up and running as fast as he could from the Titan who still was unmoving.
"I THINK WE BROUGHT PLENTY OF TIME! NOW let's get the hell away from her! If she doesn't want to eat us she hopefully won't chase!" Reiner shouted at him while he lay limp in his arms.
The female Titan stood up suddenly as they were running and began running in the direction of the Eren and Levi squad, ignoring them just as Reiner had predicted.
NO…How does it know Eren's over there? It couldn't have heard us… right?
With only one horse they couldn't continue to attack the female Titan, which was now gone, too far away for them to catch.
Reiner wrapped a bandage around his head, which stuck to his skin with his blood seeping through the fabric.
Milieus whistled trying to bring his horse back to him, but no horse was coming, and if they didn't do something soon, they would fall behind the formation.
"How about using your vertical gear, Armin?" Reiner asked, finishing off on his bandage.
"It's fine... The fasteners detached properly, so nothing broke," he answered groggily.
"I see… Well, that's good," Reiner started. "But what are we going to do? We've only got one horse. If Milieus's horse comes back, the three of us will be able to move."
The Titan looks so familiar… No, it couldn't be A-.
"Hey! Armin," Reiner shouted pulling him away from his thoughts. "I don't think you're fully conscious yet."
"Yeh I'm still a little out of it," he admitted, still kneeling on the ground.
"I see… Well, we got a tough choice t make. It seems like one of us has to stay behind."
As soon as the words came out of Reiner's mouth he knew who it had to be.
"Wait… Before we decide that, let's try firing off a flare," he explained. "If the formation is still moving straight on, the third squad of the fourth column should be in the vicinity."
Milieus took out his flare gun and fired the emergency flare into the air, which left a trail of purple smoke in the air.
"That's the flare for emergencies, although I doubt they'll be able to figure out our intentions with it," Milieus said, leering at the signal. "We'll wait three more minutes. But we need to decide before then."
"I'll stay," he told them.
Both looked shocked by his willingness but he continued before either could object.
"But in exchange I want you to report something, and if possible only to commander Erwin," he explained.
He opened his mouth to explain but was cut off before he started.
"Hold on Armin. You can tell him yourself," Milieus said looking into the distance.
"It looks like someone's coming. And they're bringing two spare horses," Milieus told them, relief in his voice. "It's, Krista."
"You guys!" Krista shouted riding towards them.
She released the two horses before speaking.
"Hurry up and get on! The right flank is in trouble," Krista told them.
"Yeah, we know! This is just what we needed," Milieus explained getting atop the horse. "Hey, this is my horse."
"The poor thing was so scared, she ran all the way over to me," she looked around, his dead horse catching her eye. "…Were you fighting against a Titan?"
"Yeh, we were," he answered simply.
"Well, I'm glad you went out of your way to check out our flare," Reiner said as they started riding forward.
"Well, I was in the area anyway, and I had Milieus's horse with me."
"It seems you have an affinity with horses, not to mention rare selflessness," Reiner replied.
"Well, I'm happy that the worst didn't happen," Krista responded. "We better get back into formation."
"She's right", we've got to get back to our stations! The order to withdraw should be given soon," Milieus started. "Besides, she went in the direction of the commander's squad in the front for some reason."
"She?" Krista asked.
"It was a female Titan," he answered.
Krista looked at him questioningly.
"It had a women's physiology," he explained, much to Krista's surprise.
"Still, I can't believe we'll be turning around to go back not even an hour after going outside the walls… Things are wished out here than I imagined," Milieus admitted.
Barely a second after he finished, a dozen green flares were shot up into the air, meaning a change in direction. The mission isn't over. Not yet anyway.
"Green flares? Are they mad? Most of the right flank has been decimated… If we continue there won't be a Survey Corps by the time we get back," Milieus said, aggressively.
"Don't tell me that the Commander hasn't seen the flares?" Reiner asked.
"Even if they don't know, it's obvious what we have to do in this situation," he explained taking out his flare gun."
"We need to follow orders."
This chapter was longer than the usual one, so I hoped you all enjoyed it. The story will be moving away from the original storyline now, which I'm happy about. If you have any criticism then just tell me it, all questions which can be answered will be answered.
See you next Sunday.