An Expedition Beyond.
With the 38th expedition beyond the walls announced, the headquarters was abuzz with energy as preparations began in the wake of its announcement. With the end of the year 848 approaching, Cadets had long since acclimated towards the hellish nature of the scouting regiment. Squad Daveen and it's unorthodox scouts were amongst them.
"Alright kids," Daveen announced towards her squad, her forest green eyes serious as she paused to fix each of her members with a stern glare. "This'll be our first official position amongst the Support squads, smack bang middle of the left rear wing. Whilst it's not the front lines, we're responsible for stepping up should we suffer too many loses on the front wing.
"Despite mainly being stationed as Relay for these past four expeditions, I know all of you save Terrance have faced the front lines before, hence why I am confident you are all ready for this task."
Terrance shifted with heavy unease, his stance stiffening in parade rest. Lucas nudged the younger male with his elbow, throwing him an encouraging smile. Daveen's eyes sparkled as she gave the Fluffy black haired boy a small nod.
"You all know the drill by now," Daveen's voice softened as her stance dropped from her parade rest, a sad smile tugging at her features. "Meet here just before sunrise, I want everyone saddled up and strapped in. Do try to remember to put your foot in the stirrup when you're mounting up this time Lucas, the Captain looked just about ready to throw a fit when he saw you covered in mud before the last expedition."
"That's because the brat hadn't even bothered to at least try and clean himself." The Captain's voice sounded from behind the group, several startled, whirling around to send the superior a hasty salute. Timothy and Lily merely gave the dark haired man a nod in greeting.
"We were late enough having to haul his stunned rear onto his horse that I said cleaning himself would be a waste." Daveen's voice was laced with heavy amusement, Lucas shifted with embarrassment, attempting to hide his face in his jacket collar.
The Captain clicked his tongue, seemingly unamused as he shook his head at their squad leader, the woman letting out a chortle as she passed the comically shorter man. "Don't smile too hard Captain, your cheeks might get sore."
"You're a pain in the ass Daveen."
"You've clearly not had to deal with Lillian in your squad." The board woman shot the blonde woman a cheeky grin over her shoulder.
Lily scoffed at her superior. Setting off after the brown haired woman muttering to the Captain as she passed. "Be thankful she isn't your squad leader."
He scoffed himself in return, making his way towards the training field as the rest of squad Daveen passed back into the halls of Headquarters. They spent the rest of their free evening eating dinner with a spirited attitude, one of the few tables able to hold their morale in the dawn of a new expedition before one by one, they retired for the night.
Lily excused herself from the table, making her way towards her spot upon the ramparts of headquarters, later than she usually would. The crisp night air greeted her, playfully tossing about her loose almost strawberry blonde hair. Sucking in a deep breath, she allowed her body to relax before she leaned her frame against the rampart walls, her arms resting on the thick stone as she overlooked the landscape ahead of her, content.
A pair of footsteps -too light to be that of her squad leader- sounded from the entry into headquarters. By the way they had stopped so suddenly told Lily whoever they were had spotted her. She glanced over her shoulder, surprised to note it was the Captain who paused in the doorway, a strange look crossing his face.
Silence passed over the two, both either unwilling too or unsure how to address the particular situation. Lily relented first, her arm gesturing the ramparts beside her as she softly stated, "you're free to join me. That is unless you prefer standing in the doorway with a strange look on your face?"
Pulled from whatever far-away reality he was immersed in, he tossed her a slightly sour look at her joking jab, however he did join her upon the ramparts quietly, his eyes fixated on the horizon, the stars twinkling with their own greeting.
Lily returned to the horizon herself, eyes locking onto the many stars, still finding it a strange yet comforting sight. The constellations were all wrong, she couldn't spot anything that reminded her of the stars from her home. It was bittersweet, to gaze upon something so familiar yet so different.
A sigh left her lips. "After spending so long staring at the ceiling of the underground, it's almost strange to see the stars in the sky above…"
A scoff sounded from her left, and her gaze tore itself away from the twinkling constellations to the dark haired man beside her. A curious look in her eyes. "Tell me something. Do you still truly believe that we're just underground thugs?"
The Captain turned to her, leaning his right side against the rampart wall, his arms crossing over his chest as he fixed her with a firm set of grey-silver eyes. "Does my opinion of you three really matter?"
"Considering you're the Captain of the scouting regiment, I'd say yes." Lily paused however, her eyes darting over to the horizon before she spoke again, this time her voice was softer. "But, it's more than just that. Is it wrong for me to want to be seen as something other than just another thug from the underground? Is it wrong that I seek approval from someone else who's struggled similarly?"
"I suppose not." Another pause passed, the pair content on letting the silence fill the air momentarily. "I trust you. You actually seem like you've got your wits about you. The other two I can't say the same for."
"Are you telling me you don't believe Tim and Josh have any wits?" The Captain leveled Lily with a knowing stare, to which the blonde woman let out a laugh, a small smile gracing her lips as she turned back to the horizon. "Yes well, they certainly do have their moments."
The pair sat in silence for a little while longer, content on enjoying their shared company before the biting chill in the air caused Lily to cringe her arms crossing over her figure in a vain attempt to warm herself up, with a quiet farewell to the Captain, she retired for the night.
The pounding of hooves hitting the damp earth mirrored the beat of her heart as the scouts swiftly assembled itself into the long-range enemy-scouting formation. The air was thick with tension, all members of Squad Daveen were on high alert with their new station amongst the rear wing. Hands rested on the triggers of their smoke guns as a heavy silence weighed the air, snorts and nickers the only sounds accompanying them.
"How will we know when we've lost part of the Forward wing?" Terrance called above the din, his expression stricken with obvious fear, skin turning a sickly white as his eyes darted between their left flank and their squad leader.
"We'll likely see titans if the forward wings sustain heavy casualties. Though we should be avoiding titans, not engaging." Daveen replied, her voice confident and reassuring as she glanced over her shoulder. Lily rode alongside Daveen's Left, her golden eyes searching the horizon as she willed her body to relax. Her gaze flickered over the youngest member of the squad, noting his tensed posture with a slight frown.
"Terrance." Lily called over her shoulder, her gaze firm as she caught his eye. "Calm yourself, you're as rigid as a plank right now. We'll never know what's going to happen when we leave the walls and whilst we should always be prepared, worrying yourself into a panic will only serve to put you in an early grave."
Terrance gripped his reins tighter, teeth gritting as he silently willed his body to stop shaking like a leaf in the wind. Joshua, who had been riding to his left, clapped a hand on his shoulder from his own steed. "Lily may be blunt and harsh at times but she has a point, you won't be able to move half as well if you're all tensed up. Relax kid."
Terrance let out a long sigh, his body forcibly relaxing upon his drawn out breaths, he turned to give Joshua a firm nod, refocusing ahead as the group pushed forward. Lily returned her own gaze towards the horizon once more, a sigh passing her own lips as she rolled her shoulders in an effort to release the slowly building tension.
They passed by a forest of giant trees, the dappled beams of light dancing before them, almost luring the group into a sense of awe — had the threat of titans not been lurking around every corner. Lily always believed the forests were a double-edged-sword when it came to the scouts. The place was often an ideal environment for their gear, yet the smaller, nimble titans could be hidden more easily amongst the trees, meaning moving on the ground on horseback was just as dangerous as the open fields.
It seemed some titans had become aware of the on coming scouts, red smoke trails spiraled into the air, several of them dappled the horizon with crimson clouds. Lily let out a curse, realizing that the titans must've drawn near when they had passed into the forest, and only now intercepted the formation once they passed out of the tree-line.
"Just our luck," Daveen hissed, her focused stare looking past Lily and onto the ominous horizon. "Just when I thought we might be lucky and have an easy expedition, they had to show their ugly mugs."
"Better late than never!" Joshua spat sarcastically, his outburst causing Timothy to laugh despite the grim situation. Joshua threw a glance over his shoulder towards the tall blonde man. "What?"
"Figures you'd be the one to be sarcastic in a situation this bad." Timothy's tone hinted at his amusement as he shook his head at the brown haired man.
"Corporal," Lily addressed, her head turning in the direction of her squad leader, holding her green eyed stare.
"What's on your mind?" Daveen asked without missing a beat, her full attention on the shorter woman.
"We should send a messenger towards Command, inform them of the situation amongst the left wing."
"You believe it's that bad?" Lily's grip on her reins tightened, a stormy feeling welled in her gut as she gazed at the horizon. Something about the startling amount of red smoke and the sudden lack of anything else gave Lily a serious spine-chill. Like she was staring her impending doom right in the face.
"Aye-"
A singular black smoke smoke trailed into the horizon, the lone streak of ominous noir greeting the sky. A heavy stone dropped into the pit of her stomach, her throat threatening to close as anxiety fuelled adrenaline rushed through her racing veins.
Daveen was quick to act, her arm shot into the air as she let off a black smoke signal of her own, the dark tail reaching for the heavens before she whirled around, directing her horse towards the devastated flank.
"Timothy. Inform command we've lost the left wing to an abnormal. Request assistance and then return back to us."
Timothy nodded, pulling the reins on his steed, heading in the opposite direction with great haste. Lily watched his form retreat into the distance before she focused her attention forward once more. The pounding of hooves grew loud in her ears as each of her senses flared into high alert.
"There ma'am!" Terrance cried, his trembling arm pointing to the devastated battlefield below them, the squads from the forward and some of the rear wing were scattered, many just fighting desperately to survive as the hoard of Titans descended upon them.
" Shit," Daveen cursed, her fists white-knuckling her reins as she froze momentarily, unable to respond to the cries of her squad. Lily surged forward, her eyes trained on the nearby six meter titan who seemed to entertain himself chasing after a hysterical scout.
"Daveen, now's not the time. We're trained for this." Lily's harsh tone seemed to snap their squad leader into action, her eyes alight with an anxiousness that gave the blonde woman pause. She's barely holding together.
"R-right! Move out squad, assist those you can, work in pairs. Let's show them what humanity has to offer!" Daveen ordered, her arm outstretched like the commanders often was, although there was an evident shake in her arm that suggested she didn't even believe in the words she spoke.
Terrance and Lucas caught onto their superiors' fear almost immediately, they stared wide eyed at the battlefield below, stuttering their objections.
"There's no use, they're dead anyway! We should return to the formation and just ride back to Wall Rose!" Terrance shrieked, his hands fumbling with the reins as he spurred his horse in the other direction. Daveen whipped around, mouth open and ready with an order.
But the order never left her lips, as Lucas' scream filled the air alongside the shrilly neigh of Terrance's Horse as a quadruped titan snatched the young boy from his steed and clamped down onto the small boy's frame.
"Terrance!" Joshua called, startled by the sudden appearance of the scarily quick titan.
"Abnormal!" Daveen cried out, fumbling with her gear for a moment before she took off after the titan, her wires whirring loudly past Lily. The short blonde woman startled with realization, her hands snatching up her own handles, fingers working at the triggers as she leapt off Kahavi, anchors burying deep into the titan's hide.
"Daveen wait, it's too fast!" Her words fell on deaf ears as she watched her Corporal swing closely to its face, her blades digging into its mouth as she screamed Terrance's name.
Lily saw it seconds before it happened, the Abnormal had raised its arm into the air in an attempt to swipe her squad leader away. Lily was quicker, her hands deftly slicing its palm into shreds, sparing her superior a brutal death. "Daveen, Stop, you're being irrational!"
Catching Daveen's eyes, Lily was startled to find the shadowed look upon her features, the woman's eyes glazed in a concoction of hatred and fear. Daveen seemed to vaguely acknowledge the blonde woman, adjusting to attack the titan's sides. She swung by its face, her blades poised for its eyes.
Only one blade hit its mark, blinding the titans left eye.
The titan reacted quicker than Lily could anticipate, and with a vicious snap of its jaws Daveen's torso, and outstretched arm tumbled to the floor. Her expression locked into a petrified state of terror. Lucas stilled a few feet away, his eyes frozen on his now-dead squad leader, features twisted into despair upon his realization.
"Lucas! Move it!" Joshua had swung into action seconds before the quadruped titan's jaw's snapped. The brown haired man had grabbed the shorter boy as he passed by, causing the titan to bite down on nothing but air.
Lily took this opportunity to devastate its form, her blades carving up vital spots such as arm ligaments, back of the knees and finally when she was sure its erratic motions were less of a threat, she spun her right blade behind herself and dived down for the finishing blow, a vicious scream tearing itself free from her throat upon the action.
The chunk of flesh from the titan's nape landed besides its own falling form. Lily landed a few seconds after it, her voice coarsely calling out. "Lucas? Joshua?"
She passed by the suffocating titan steam, her nose wrinkling at the god awful smell as she hastily swiped off its crimson blood from her hands and blades. Her gaze found the pair a few feet away, Lucas trembling like a leaf, completely unresponsive as Joshua attempted to get through to the boy.
"C'mon kid, it's okay now it's over. Titan's dead. Lucas!" Joshua shook his shoulders, but the smaller boy seemed to barely register it as he stared into the space beyond Joshua. Lily bit back the rising sense of panic, the squad was all but in shambles and with Daveen's abrupt death their lives now rode on her next orders.
She took a deep breath, and harshly shoved the tempest of swirling emotions to the depths of her being. Now was not the time to break, she had to be strong.
"He's in shock," Lily stopped before the pair, her eyes scanning their location for any more threats before she kneeled down. She gently tapped his cheek with her palm, the action firm enough to bring him down to reality. His eyes welled with tears as a sob broke free. "Lucas. Lucas, listen to me."
Lily grabbed his hand, squeezing it firmly as she took a moment to steel herself also. "You can't break, not right now. You need to stay strong. I need you to help the wounded, I need you to stabilize them as best you can and fend off the titans. Joshua and I will handle the killing, you just stay alive ."
Despite Lucas' trembling form, he nodded his head fervently, swiping the sleeve of his free arm across his face in a hasty attempt to rid them of his tears. Lily nodded once in return, before she rose to her feet, her gaze turning to Joshua's soft brown eyes.
"We don't have much time but the longer we linger the more will die. We'll run a tag-team. I'll strike first, low and fast while you focus on saving anyone from their grubby hands."
"Good idea, I'm stronger but you're way faster." Lily nodded in response to Joshua, turning back Lucas one last time.
"Right. Lucas, I'm counting on you. Don't let them down." The younger man nodded his head, clearly not trusting this voice. He stood firmer now, the trembling slowly ebbing away with each firm and reassuring word from herself. Lily only hoped her bravado was enough to give him some confidence, she knew she couldn't let them see herself panic. They needed her to be level-headed.
Lily gestured to Joshua, racing down the small hill the squad had been on top of and straight for the six meter titan form earlier. The scout it had been chasing previously was gone, now it's beady black eyes were upon an injured man, clutched between large fingers as the titan opened its mouth.
"Joshua. Jaw-Buster!" Lily didn't waste any time, launching her anchors into its neck and soaring past its face, her blades biting into the flesh of its mouth, rendering the muscles useless. It's jaw hung open limply as it's eyes now followed her movements.
Joshua followed behind her swiftly. His arms swung down with incredible force, severing the titan's grip upon their fellow scout. The board man landed, half carrying the scrawny short haired man who just fell from titans grip.
Satisfied that the scout was free, Lily flipped herself around, allowing her swords to deliver the killing blow, a shower of crimson titan blood splashing onto her with a sickening squelch.
"What's your name, kid?" Lily asked softly as she trotted over to the pair. The lanky man stood leaning on Joshua, his limbs shaking and face a ghostly shade of pale as he regarded her.
"T-Travis Long Ma'am." His voice was croaky, from what Lily assumed was screaming for too long. His eyes were unfocused as he searched around the place. "M-my squad… they're all dead…" his voice fell into a whine as his shoulders started to shake.
"Long. Snap out of it. Can you make it towards Cadet Lucas over there?" Lily snapped abruptly, her tone softening at the end. She raised an arm and pointed out her squad-mate. When Travis nodded she sent him on his way.
Joshua and herself traveled quickly, the edge of the tree-line providing enough movement to continue their fight against the remaining titans. As the horde was reduced to stragglers, Lily allowed Joshua to assist the wounded, moving them into a more favorable position.
She spun her blades in her hands, flicking herself off a tree and narrowly missing the snapping jaws of a titan. She latched onto its neck with quick movements, driving all her strength into her swing with a ragged shout. The hunk of flesh collapsed to the ground with a thud, Lily's form landing on its head, ejecting her broken blades in favor of a new set. She took a moment to scan her surroundings. The casualties were immense, bodies littered the place, all torn, bitten, shredded, Some of them you could barely recognize as human .
Lily felt bile crawl up her throat, one hand still holding her blade rose to cover her mouth in a weak attempt to hold her lunch. Her eyes shifted to her hand, the near-searing hot titan blood didn't irritate her skin as much as it had at the start, the steam swirled into the air with a horrid smell that only worsened her nauseous feeling. She retched, swiftly flinging her arm away from her face as she grimaced.
Her eyes found Joshua and as she approached the board man looked up at her, tears in his eyes as he cradled a smaller body in his arms. As he cradled half of Lucas' body.
Like someone had splashed a bale of cold water onto her form, her stomach dropped at the sight. Half of Joshua's body was covered with blood as he lamely held Lucas' still bleeding from. Lily's mouth went dry, words escaping her as she silently battled with her own inner emotions. Tears welled in the corner of her eyes as her core set alight with a raging Wildfire of anger towards the titans.
She collapsed onto her knees, hands forgoing the hilts of her swords to grip onto the grass under her palms with white-knuckled force. "Josh… I'm so sorry."
There was no response, her arm reached out as she pulled at his side, silently willing him to step away from the body. "Josh he's dead…"
"We can't leave him here!" He snapped, his face contorted with anguish as he gestured to the younger man. "He deserves to go home."
"Josh, we can't-"
"Yes we can, we have too!"
"Joshua." Lily asserted, her tone firm despite her shaking hand. She gave the man a hard stare, loathing herself to be the one to say what she had to. "We can't . The living still need us, Lucas did his best for us and to stay here any longer then we need to will put us in further Jeopardy. He died so we can keep fighting, don't let that be in vain Josh."
A pained whine left his mouth and Lily could immediately understand why. They had left Lyra behind all those years ago, and now they had to do it with another friend.
This world laughs at our suffering. She thought bitterly.
She held her hand out to her dear friend, a brother to her now. He took her outstretched hand with his own bloodied one. Lily grimaced as she pulled his much larger frame up. The two made their way over to the remaining survivors.
"They're leaving us behind?! Are they mad!?" A young voice shouted, their form visibly irritated as he postured at a lanky man who had their back facing both Lily and Joshua.
"I say we take what horses we can and run, we might catch up to the formation!"
"What about the wounded? And not everyone has working gear, should a titan attack they're defenseless!"
"Fuck the wounded, its every man for himself!"
"What the hell is going on here?" Lily's stern tone startled several of the younger soldiers, many of them whirling around towards her, varying degrees of terror on their face as an anxious atmosphere hung heavy around them all.
"Finally, I was wondering when you'd show up." Timothy greeted, his tone flat however his expression relaxed in relief. "The formation is retreating without us, and we've only got eight horses . There's twenty of us and absolutely no conscious superiors."
Twenty survivors total, eight able horses, and the formation has already left without them. The situation was incredibly grim. With the clear lack of rank structure, the younger scout began turning on each other, spewing out ideas and insults alike. Lily took a moment to glance around, spotting three without their gear, presumably lost during battle.
"How many of you don't have working gear?" Lily spoke up, the arguing had paused for a moment as people began to glance around. Five people raised their hands, looking nervous as they did so.
"That includes the wounded too." Travis spoke up, his face shadowed as he nursed his arm. "Seven of us have working gear in total. There's eight injured, three unconscious. Two of them are our officers. We won't know what to do without them waking up."
"We should leave them behind-"
"Enough." Lily snapped, her eyes locking onto the short rowdy boy. His unruly dirty blond locks swishing with his movement as his head swung towards her direction. "We're not going to leave the wounded behind."
"They're only going to slow us down. They'll probably die anyway. If we don't hurry now we'll be shut out of the wall." He retorted back, puffing up with anger as he attempted to intimidate her.
"And with hasty decisions like that, you'll likely die with them." She glared at the young boy harshly, scoffing as she continued. "Like it or not, the formation is gone and we've only each other to rely on. I know most of you have only been in the scouts for a year but prior to that you spent three long years training for this.
"Night is approaching and while the formation is far too gone for us to properly catch up, it's likely they've drawn most of the titan's attention. I suggest we take some time to recuperate, and once dusk reaches us we make a push for the wall. Titan's become lethargic with no sunlight so it's possible we could slip by with a smaller group."
Silence fell amongst the group, each person mauling over Lily's suggestion. A young brunette girl stepped forth, her face finding a resolve she hadn't had prior. "We're roughly an hour's ride from the wall.. with the wounded and limited horses, it'd take us most of the night… unless we ran. Even then that's three hours of running, anyone would be too exhausted to fight if a titan showed up..."
Lily nodded thoughtfully, her hand coming up to tug at her blue scarf idly. She looked back up at the brunette with a curious look. "What's your name?"
"Lena Johnson, Ma'am." The young woman saluted. Lily startled somewhat, raising her hand to stop the woman's salute.
"I'm not a superior. Just acting Squad leader of Squad Daveen for the moment." Lily shifted, the surprising amount of attention she was receiving was becoming abundantly clear to her.
"At this point, you're the closest thing we have to any form of superior." Lena summarized, giving the blonde woman a weary smile before dropping her salute. Lily heaved a sigh, relenting to the brunette words, frowning inwardly at the heavy weight upon her shoulders.
"Right, well. Most of us could ride double on the horses, so as long as we keep a decent pace we should be alright heading towards the wall. If we rotate in shifts, it should help alleviate the exhaustion from running such a distance. Those without working gear will be responsible for the injured and unconscious. The rest with ODM will take shifts on riding and running. Any objections?"
Murmurs ruptured through the group for a moment before it settled. Most if not all shook their heads in the negative. Joshua slapped Lily firmly on the back, the force causing the shorter woman to take a step forward to balance herself, she shot a look over her shoulder at him.
A smile had curled his lips slightly as he gazed at her proudly. "If there's anyone who can get us through it, it's you Lil. You've always had a knack for getting us out of a tight spot."
"You know what? for once I agree with him." Timothy rose from his seated position, a smirk on his features as he glanced at Joshua.
"Piss off, shithead. Way to ruin the moment." A quiet laugh bubbled in her chest, a small smile pulled at her mouth as she nodded her head firmly.
"Alright, those of you that can move, gather up anything useful. That includes any spare gas tanks, we're gonna need it." Lily clapped her hands together, startling the survivors into gear.
Within moments, she witnessed the group of arguing soldiers form themselves into coherent groups. Those without maneuvering gear aided the wounded or scavenged what spare blades and tanks they could. A few with gear began to pull security, perched on tree branches as their eyes scanned the horizon. Others set about handling the horses as those equipped with the knowledge began to properly tend to the stabilized soldiers now they had the time to properly suture wounds.
"Ma'am?" The rowdy blonde from before called to her, his posture seemed to shrink in her presence as Lily eyed the young boy. "Do you really think we'll get out of this?"
A frown made its way onto Lily's face. She knew what they were faced with seemed almost unheard of; besides the dedicated operations which were conducted just outside the walls. However they were much further out then any-known small scale expeditions. It didn't mean the odds were entirely out of their favor, but it'd be impossible without the full cooperation of those around them.
"Honestly? We have a chance, that should be enough." Lily finally stated, aware several pairs of eyes turned to her direction. She suppressed the bubbling anxiety, refusing to sweat in their presence. "But that chance will only mean something if we all pull our heads together and cooperate . We won't make it unless everyone pulls their weight."
It seemed her words had fueled more resolve, as she leveled her gaze to the blonde boy. "We're about to commence on a journey unheard of; returning to the wall after being stranded outside and out of sight of the walls. If you want any chance at surviving this, you need to keep your composure. You need to not panic ." Her tone had taken a sharp dip at the end, her gaze stormy as she asked — no, commanded them to stave off their fear.
"I trust you, Ma'am." Lena announced, her face pulled into a determined expression as she raised her chin. "We'll show those Titans it takes more than that to keep us down."
Lily nodded her head firmly, her face serious as she glanced at the sun, noting the orb had just begun to dip into the horizon. "How's everything looking? Stat rep?"
"We're all set and ready to go. We'll need five minutes to get the wounded situation on the horses however, other than that just give us the word." Travis piped up, his arm in a sling as he mirrored Lily's stern expression.
Lily took a moment to steel herself, her gaze dropping as she closed her eyes, taking in a long breath before she felt her body harden with resolve. "Get the wounded situated. We'll move out the moment they're ready."
"How're we going about this?" Joshua rested a palm on Lily's shoulder, the older man surprisingly serious as he held her gaze.
A pause passed as she regarded their group. "Most of the wounded will run center-formation. Those running will take to running in the middle and finally we'll have those in ODM riding horseback spread out around the wounded and runners. We'll use them as forward scouts. Think of it like a small-scale version of Erwins' scouting formation.
"Josh, I want you leading the scouting group and coordinating with Tim about switching out with the runners. Tim, you'll deal with the runners. I'll run as relay and fill in any gaps. Are we all clear?"
"Sounds like a solid plan." Timothy remarked, nodding as he trailed over to the wounded. "We should hurry though, we're burning daylight and I sure as shit don't want to handle mounting up these guys blindly."
"That's because you're as blind as a bat whenever there isn't any form of light." Joshua retorted, joining the lanky man in assisting the wounded.
"Better than being light-sensitive like some of the Dwellers." Timothy rebutted, his face scrunching up in annoyance. "Felt like if I so much as touched a torch near them they'd bury me in one of those mine shafts for just trying to see ."
"Josh, you're one to talk. Apparently you can't tell when you're covered in dust. That or your memory is reminiscent of a gold-fish and you just happen to forget to dust yourself off." Lily interjected. The scoff that sounded in response had a small smirk pull at her lips as Timothy nudged his elder playfully.
"You three certainly know how to lighten the mood." Lena remarked, her face pulled into a weary smile despite the shadows across her face. "Not often people are able to bounce-back as well as you three do."
Lily glanced at the woman in the corner of her eye as she shrugged. "Wouldn't be our first life-threatening encounter."
"So you guys have been in the rear wing for some time then?"
"Outside of this time, we've only assisted the front lines once before. But I wasn't referencing outside of the walls." Lily left her words to linger as she pushed forward, her hands finding the reins of her golden stallion — Kahavi, ever the loyal steed had returned to her.
"We're set here if you wanna get moving." Joshua announced, patting the side of a chest-nut horse affectionately.
"Yes, let's . " Timothy interjected, his tone almost whiny as he and the small group of runners formed themselves around the wounded. Some tapping their gas tanks, checking their gear.
Lily huffed a breathy laugh at her younger brother, shaking her head as she shifted Kahavi into place at the "head" of their little formation. "Right, let's not waste anymore time. Move out!"
The resounding cries of affirmation sounded behind her as horses were spurred into action, others jogging behind as the scouting-group spread themselves out, careful to keep themselves in sight of the runners and within earshot of Lily. "We'll avoid the trees — the lack of vision will only hinder us, those without ODM will be stranded."
And so they travelled forth, the sounds of hooves accompanying them as she set a brisk jogging pace for the make-shift formation to follow. Her heart thundered in her chest as her keen golden eyes scanned the horizon. She wondered for a moment if this was how the other officers felt whenever they were in charge of the formation.
Certainly Lily was aware as Daveen's second-in-command at some point she'd have to step-up and lead in place of her squad leader but she wasn't expecting her first expedition as said second to be the moment she had to. It rattled her to her core, the responsibility feeling heavy on her shoulders and yet despite it all she had to stay firm and calm. She couldn't afford to panic — not when the others were feeding off her own steadiness.
Daveen…
The woman had looked a step from utterly plummeting down the deep end. The shadowed, almost frenzied look on her face haunted her like a ghost, her gut twisting at the thought. The squad leader's cracking fortitude in the face of devastation leaked into her subordinates within seconds. What was once a coherent, organised squad descended into chaos within moments, and Daveen's lack of awareness meant her life and maybe in a much more bitter sense, it had meant Terrance's too.
Lily dug her fingers into Kahavi's reins. Now was not the time to ponder the recent events, her swelling storm of emotions needed to be pushed back until it was safe enough to even begin dissecting them.
A shout from her left called her attention and within the dying light of dusk she could make out the form of an eleven meter titan meandering towards her formations flank. Lena looked pale and seemed to freeze as it's large brown eyes locked onto her form.
"Continue forward!" She heard herself order, her tone blunt, clear and almost vicious.
Lily spurred Kahavi forward as she leaded his reins towards the Titan. A shout called from behind her, someone called her name but she was too hyper-focused on the titan to heed. She lifted her from onto Kahavi's saddle as she felt her body coil like a spring.
And just as she lined up her shot, her mind fell into a complete utter calmness, body falling into a rhythm of its own as she danced with death. Her anchors latched onto its forearm, already outstretched towards her approaching form. She leaped her body suddenly surging forward as her gear thrusted her forward.
As the titan's opened palm seemed to reach her, she let her anchors drop as her body twisted out of its reach, a jet of gas propelling her past its limb. With her torso already facing its nape, her anchors launched out once more and latched into its flesh, she swung herself with a ferocious momentum, her wires reeling in as her hand spun one blade backwards for a vicious slice of her blades.
Kahavi already seemed to sense the battle was over, the mighty stallion snorting adamantly as he pawed the ground, seeming agitated at being so suddenly parted from his owner. Lily reunited with her steed, patting his shoulder affectionately as she hushed the nickering horse.
With a click of her tongue she led Kahavi into a gallop, slowing herself down to ride alongside Lena once he arrived at her mare's side. The chest-nut horse snorted in greeting as the two steeds trotted next to each other.
Lena's startled gaze finally met with Lily's thunderous expression. The woman seemed to shrink away from Lily's hard glare as she squeaked out an apology.
"Apologies won't save the dead." Lily bit out harshly, her grip on Kahavi's reins tightening with suppressed anger. "You freeze up like that again and it could be more than just you that dies out here today. You want to make it back alive? Then you force yourself into gear."
"Lily!" Joshua shouted behind her, his expression that of shock as he regarded the blonde woman. Lily leveled him a stern gaze.
"We can't afford to coddle each other. I'm not asking you to kill every titan you see, I'm not asking you to ride into death. I'm asking you to survive . And that means not freezing up." Lily's gaze returned back to Lena's wide-eyed stare. Her tone lost its previous harshness, instead adopting a more stern tone. "Pissing yourself can be done once we're safe behind the walls, got it?"
Lena licked her parched lips, her spooked expression lessening slightly as she nodded her head fervently. Satisfied she nudged Kahavi forward, retaking her position at the head of the formation.
"That titan was lethargic, I'm going to assume they're already beginning to feel the effects due to lack of sunlight, but that doesn't mean we let our guard down. We certainly don't know enough solid facts about titan behavior to let ourselves become complacent. Smokes are useless at this point if you have an acoustic round, launch it when we have an abnormal."
Lily felt her throat sting with the effort she put into her orders, having to raise her voice far above the usual softer tone she adopted. Her gaze flickered over to Lena's pale form, the woman seemed more alert but her recent scathing remarks may have shocked the woman too hard.
"Lena, got an ETA on our arrival to the wall? You seemed most attentive to our whereabouts."
Lena startled at her question, her eyes widening before looking around, taking in her surroundings. With her face pulled into consideration, she glanced back at Lily with a more firm gaze. "Roughly forty-five minutes till we reach the outer gate. We can't see the wall right now due to how dark it is."
Lily nodded her head, eyes darting forward as she searched the dark horizon. "Let's switch out our runners with the scouts. It's been long enough now and there doesn't seem to be any other titans."
Several relieved sighs sounded from behind her as she continued to watch their surroundings with keen eyes. The sounds of shouting caught her attention, Timothy's voice loudest amongst the group.
Lily turned to see Timothy rushing at a smaller five meter titan. Within moments he had maneuvered himself into a wide arc around the smaller beast, before propelling forward, his wires reeling swiftly as his form deftly dealt its devastating blow to the nape of the smaller titans neck.
A disgusted sound left his mouth as he shook his blades fervently in a futile attempt to rid them of the steaming titan blood. Lily gave the younger man a raised brow as she stared in amusement.
"Not a fan I see," she stated, her amusement doubling with the scornful glare she received in return.
"Tch, like you can talk Miss clean freak." Timothy quipped, his tone blunt.
"I like things to be organized, doesn't mean I'm a clean freak."
"Lil, you hate dust." Joshua interjected with a flat tone, already standing in the runners formation.
"Dust makes me sneeze, what — am I not allowed to avoid that?" Lily's tone turned petulant as she tossed the broad man a mock glare. "Tch. Whatever, are we settled?"
The nod of affirmation she received satisfied her. Turning forward again she clicked her tongue, nudging Kahavi forward again as she set off slightly north-east of Trost's main gate. Undoubtedly there'd be more titans concentrated at the gates entrance and she'd rather not chance her meager formation an encounter with several titans at once.
"How do you plan on getting everyone up the wall? Even without any more titan encounters we'll be hard pressed getting the wounded up the fifty meters." Joshua asked, his mare riding alongside Kahavi.
"That's where I hope the garrison won't be too drunk to be able to assist us. I plan on one of us in ODM to rush towards the Garrison stationed on the wall. And while there's no point in waiting around they can either help kill the titans or at the very least help get the wounded up the wall while we handle the killing."
"We'll it's better than nothing. Not like I have anything to add." Joshua remarked grimly. "Who will you send to the Garrison?"
"Lena I'm thinking. But I'm unsure she's prepared to head straight into titan territory blindly ahead of us in order to get to the wall. Ideally I'd have someone sent ahead to hopefully get the Garrison ready for our arrival, but I'm unsure I want to run the risk of them dying out there."
"I can do it Ma'am!" Lena called out, her expression set in a grim determination as she regarded the blonde woman. Lily narrowed her eyes at Lena, hoping to see any cracks in her resolve, enough to ward the woman away from the mission. She found nothing.
Lily straightened up, her gaze hard as she nodded her head toward the empty space of her right flank. Taking the que, Lena led her mare beside Kahavi. "I'll give you this final chance to pull out, if you've any doubt at all don't do it. You're either all in or nothing at all."
"I won't let you down this time. You're right; we need to put in everything if we're going to live through this. I won't freeze." Lena's voice held firm as she spoke this, her gaze holding a large amount of respect as she regarded Lily.
With a sigh and a grim nod, Lily leveled the woman a serious stare. "Assuming you heard what I was saying earlier, you'll make a rush towards the wall, I'd stray a bit away from the gate in order to not rouse any titans. I need you to alert the Garrison of our impending arrival and have lifts ready for transport by the eastern side of the Trost wall. Can you do that for me?"
"Aye ma'am!" Lena saluted firmly, her eyes ablaze with a newfound purpose as their goal and possible survival seemed that much more obtainable. Lily felt her entire body go cold as she steeled herself.
The order left her lips, and so too did her desperate hope. Her desperate hope that Lena would survive. "Lena, Move out!"
With her order, the woman spurred her mare into a thunderous sprint, the horse reflecting the pure determination it's young owner seemed to radiate as she two parted from view and into the depths of the unknown night.
Joshua reached out a hand, his palm clasping her upper arm in a light squeeze before he retracted his arm back to his reins. "She'll be okay."
"I hope so Josh, I really do." Lily replied quietly, her golden eyes fixated on the darkness ahead, where Lena had disappeared into.
Author's note:
Apologies for the late upload, I've been suffering a rather debilitating bout of depression.
I'm still adjusting to living away from my family and learning what it's like to live away from a highly toxic environment whilst also handling a plethora of mental heath issues in its wake. But that being said writing this helps prove that I can stay focused and motivated. Writing Lily is a nice break from thinking about life. being able to immerse myself into a character who thinks far more straight forward then I do is refreshing.
Regardless, I hope you enjoy this chapter, I hope to see you next week!
P.S. please feel free to leave a review, I adore reading your thoughts and I'm always down to ideas or suggestions.
If you'd like to see some art of Lily, her family and her endeavors, feel free to check out my Deviantart at: SShaye
Sincerely, enjoy.
- OfMelodiesUnsung
