The latest chapter everyone! Like I promised, I will be doing some quick updates during this month to make up for the long absence. I hope all you readers enjoy the latest chapter. Please leave a comment or a criticism!

Saph's PoV

I was going to kick the damn horse in the face if it tried to bite me one more time. This was my first time on the mottled gray stallion and it wasn't being a helpful companion to humanity at the moment. The thing kept throwing its head about, trying to unseat me from my spot on its back with various bucks.

Members usually had the same horse, but mine kept dying in tragic ways that were due to my constant, close interaction with Titans. The stable guy had finally given me the fastest horse in the hopes that it would stay alive longer than two expeditions. It also just happened to be the meanest most spiteful creature I had ever had the displeasure of sitting on. I had offered the beast to Levi, saying that since it was shorter, he would have an easier time getting on and off of it. For all my kindness I only got a sharp kick in the side.

Now I was running away from two Titans that were right on my tail, and the horse kept turning around to try and take a chunk out of my leg. It's ears were pinned back against the black mass of mane. The only indication that it cared that two 10 meter Titans were closing in behind us was the occasional kick it sent out in their direction. A halting movement that made me have to shift in the saddle to recover, but I kept the terrible beast sprinting towards safety. My only goal was to get underneath the cover of the trees, so the rest of my squad could capture at least one of the monsters. Apparently, being on the fastest horse meant that I was bait for such a crazy experiment. Only one person would have such an insane idea to actually keep one of those things alive, Hanji.

Her arms were waving wildly as she jumped up and down on the limb of a tree. The woman was shouting instructions, but I couldn't hear anything over the pounding of the naked feet on the soft earth behind me. My knuckles were white as I gripped the reins between my finger tips. The leather dug into my calluses , and I knew my muscles in my hands were going to ache quite a bit tomorrow. Relying on my team wasn't a concept I was entirely comfortable with, but at least I had humanity's strongest soldier on my side. The sound of metal cables cutting in the air reverberated in my ears as I pushed forward. Clots of dirt flying as hooves kicked them up.

"Be careful!" Hanji's yell could be heard clearly now with the Titans immobile. Each one struggling with the wires attached to their limbs. Mike was slowly approaching the smallest one as it opened its mouth, tongue lolling out. The other one was to big to bring back with us, so Ruby cut into the back of its neck. It swung slightly between the wires. All the weight supported now by the wires stringing it up. Steam rolled up into the sky as the Titan decayed.

I was helping with getting the wires when the other Titan suddenly snapped loose. Headed straight for Mike, it's fat little hands reaching out towards the man who was soaring up into the air. Realizing that the prey had escaped, the monster turned around. Its eyes settled on a small girl that couldn't have been more than a year older than me. Her expression morphed into fright as her body froze.

Get away, I mentally screamed as I clambered up a trunk. Turning around, I prepared my swords for combat. My nerves settled calmed down just a bit like they always do when I start to hum. The vibrations in my throat ceasing the noise in my mind.

"Just incapacitate him!" Hanji was throwing stones at the creature as she desperately tried to distract it.

Her efforts to save the creature were futile as Ruby was but a blur as she sliced the vital point of the back of the neck. "I'm not risking a subordinate's life because you want to do some experiments with it," she stated after she had landed. Her short red hair blowing gently in the breeze.

"Sorry Hanji," I stated as I walked up to the distressed woman. What a state to be in after the death of a Titan.

Her fist were pounding the ground, as tears streamed down her face. "I was going to name him, Jerry! His name was going to be Jerry!"

Uncomfortable, I began to step backwards. At least I wasn't being blamed for it's death. Hanji could be quite vicious when it came to her experimenting. Without a way to comfort the hysterical woman without risking my own safety, I walked back to my irritated horse. His ears flicked back at the sight of me and he snorted while pawing the ground.

"Good boy. You're a good boy," I said as I cautiously approached the annoyed beast. His sides were slick with sweat, and each breath he took shook his whole body. "Don't worry, now. We are going to head back. You'll be able to rest up soon."

"You talk to your horse more than you do so with people," Ruby said.

I patted his nose, happy that I could at least grab the reins without being attacked. "Animals are nicer than people," I sweetly replied while nuzzling the soft neck of the horse with my nose. As if trying to prove my statement wrong, the horse began to act up, his head smacking my own with a force that made me stumble away and let go of the reins. The horse walked off with his head held high.

Rubbing my pounding head, I sniffed as if indignant. That thing had one hard head. Sniffing as if indignant by the action, I gave a small smile to amend my answer. "I guess I should say most."

Ruby's expression didn't lighten. "If you hang out with people like him," she pointed at thumb to Levi, "then I can see how you believe that."

Ducking my head, I giggled a little. Guess she didn't like Levi. Few people did in the corps, but that was understandable. Levi only listened to Erwin and just seemed to take Mike's orders into consideration. Not even the commander tried to get him to do what Levi clearly didn't want to. Ruby was a someone who took orders seriously, and she found it intolerable when people couldn't get along. Levi had the exceptional ability to piss most people off with his poop jokes in under five minutes. Ruby was never amused.

"He seems to get along with Hanji at least."

We both turned to see Hanji trying to grab Levi's hand. Probably to see how his different handling of the blades affected his hands. Levi was having none of it though. He kept shoving her away, hard. The woman was persistent. Sometimes I thought Levi just wanted to capture a Titan to get Hanji off of his back. If she wasn't focused on the monsters, she was enamored with humanity's strongest soldier.

"If that's what being friendly with him is like, then I'm good."

"We are headed back to the walls. Everyone saddle up!" Erwin shouted as he mounted his horse.

After saying goodbye to Ruby, I jogged up to my horse who was peacefully gnawing on some grass. That is until I tried to grab the reins. Then he threw up his head and reared. His hooves began to lash out in my direction. Flicking his black tail from side to side, he bared his teeth.

"Easy there. Hey, you need to calm down." I was trying to sound reasonable, but my irritation was beginning to become evident in my voice.

Everyone was looking at me expectantly, but I didn't know what to do to get him to simmer down. They didn't teach us how to handle idiotic, panicked horses when we first arrived. To make matters worse, I didn't have Isabel's natural ability with horses or animals in general.

Jumping back, I narrowly avoided getting kicked. On the edge of my vision, I saw Levi jump down from his own horse. He hadn't spoken to me since my tease about him having a hard time getting on such a gigantic beast. Without a hint of hesitation, Levi wrapped the reins around one of his small hands and yanked the horse's head down.

"Here, or do you need help riding too?" his tone was stiff but amusement gleamed in the grey orbs. A twitch of the lips revealed he was holding back a smirk. Glad my humiliation and incompetence was entertaining to him.

If we had been alone, I would have snarled, but there were people watching. I could feel Erwin's icy gaze staring daggers into my back, not even the cloak could protect me from his stare. Those eyes made my insides tighten in fear. Even with the unveiling of our plans all thos months ago, hadn't made the shivers stop every time I caught Erwin's eye. There was no way for me to show my true nature without consequences, so instead, I gave a bright smile and thanked Levi profusely.

The horse bucked a little as I swung my leg over, but nothing I couldn't handle on my own. It would be just my luck to go splattering onto the ground to further show how I couldn't control my own damn horse.

Secure in the saddle, I took off with the rest of the corps. The pace was steady as we were in no rush to return. Our failure to capture a singular Titan was weighing heavy on almost everyone's shoulders.

"What do you do with the Titans once you capture them?" I asked Hanji who was riding her horse nearby. I regretted my show of inquisitiveness as soon as a maniacal grin appeared on her lips. Brown eyes showing a crazy light that somewhat frightened me, Hanji kicks her horse in a furious attempt to get closer to my own.

I could see Moblit shaking his head in sympathy before I turned my attentions to the barrage of speech thrown in my direction. Words came spluttering out from the overexcited Survey Corps member.

"So what I do is a variety of experiments to see how this Titan is different than the other ones. It's usually better to have two, so I could do a comparison right then and there. We always try to see if they have some way of communicating with us though since that would be a vital discovery. That would forever shape how the Survey Corps interacted with them! That is as long as we are given information if they did speak. Like why are they eating us? Where did they come from? Just those standard questions. I, of course, write all this down and put in the records. It's vital that we continue to collect data since there are still so many questions unanswered. It was actually due to research that we discovered how to kill a Titan by slicing the back of its neck. With that information in hand, we were able to develop the 3 dimensional maneuvering gear. Only with that discovery were the Survey Corps able to fight back that didn't rely on explosions. While it may be hard to believe, the death toll was actually higher before the use of 3DMG."

The answer to my question became lost as Hanji began to ramble on about the gear we all used almost everyday. While I kept my eyes on the babbling, smiling, woman, I turned my focus onto my surroundings. Everything was peaceful as birds flew overhead, and a variety of animals grazed on the green grass beneath us. Snatches of conversation could be heard over the rythm of the hooves, but nothing that interested me. Even my own horse seemed content to just run beside his brethren. My muscles stiffened and they begin to twitch with anticipation. It was the kind of instinct you begin to get when you've lived most of your life looking behind your back. The feeling in your soul, that you should get out of there, turn around, and leave. Hanji paused as she took in my panicked expression, her mouth hanging open as her jaw bounced with the horse.

"Do you think it's odd?" I questioned Levi, who was riding beside me. His own eyes were wide, and I could tell he was a bit tense.

Head whipping to face me, all sharp edges and ruthlessness, as his lip curled up into a grimace that eerily reminded me of a nervous animal. "It's probably nothing."

"What are you talking about?" Hanji asked as she looked around.

Ignoring her, I scanned the area around us, looking for any sign of what might be making my nerves coil and twist uncomfortably. I was ready to flee, but I didn't know from what. "We didn't survive that long Underground because we didn't listen to our instincts."

"Stop freaking out."

Hanji gave me a comforting smile. "Yeah, Saph, we are almost to the walls anyways."

"But we haven't seen any Titans since we started to head back!" I was beginning to feel frantic as adrenaline began to make my senses heighten. I was beginning to see fearful creatures in every shadow. My horse was also getting antsy, either from my own behavior, or because he was sensing something himself.

Levi was gritting his teeth as his eyes darted about. "I don't see how that's a bad thing."

"Something is still off," I said just before the walls came into view.

Even as I saw the concrete structures rise into my vision, my edginess didn't submit to relief, instead horror made me yank sharply on the reins. Levi and Hanji both stopped their horses alongside my own. Whinnies and sharp cries filled the air as everyone stared aghast at the scene in front of u. What had kept humans safe from Titans for centuries, now had a gigantic hole in it. Numerous Titans were crawling through to feast on the flesh that had been denied to them for so long.