This was it.

If freedom was supposed to be exhilarating, you felt none of it. You were past the point of no return - what had to be done, would be done with no exceptions.

You leaned forward and urged your horse to move faster. Before you lay desert land, bordered on the left and right by two separate forests. You took the route leading to the rightmost forest, the one where the group of Titans was supposedly lying in wait. For a brief moment, you assumed that the Scouts would come stampeding after you but a glance over your shoulder proved that you were alone. Of course. They wouldn't risk the success of their mission by going after a rogue Scout. The thought pained you, as it proved that you really were alone in your endeavors.

But there was no time to reflect on that. If you lived through your ordeal, then you would return and accept whatever punishment the government would hand out to you. But, really, there would be no greater punishment than losing the relationship that had been built between you and Levi.

The thought of him made your eyes smart and you shook your head. No, no time to think of him now. But a part of you wondered if you had been foolhardy, if your self-appointed mission had been born out of the thought of proving yourself worthy to him, maybe even spiting him. Yes, you strove to be a worthy strongarm of humanity but, at the same time, the part of you that loved him still wanted to impress him, to show him that you were more than a camp cook or Watchtower. You wanted to be worthy of Levi's affection, to stand out to him, even. And this was your only weakness. In this case, your fear of failure was bound to a sense of vulnerability. You could not, under any circumstances, let this insecurity guide a futile hand.

So you abandoned all thoughts of him. It was you versus the hand that you had been dealt. And you would play the game like the ruthless savage that you were. No Titan would stand between you and your warrior's glory.

You stopped just before the creeping edges of the forest and climbed off of your horse. You tied it to a stooped tree and pat its back. Taking it any further would for sure put it in danger, and you weren't willing to sacrifice the life of such a noble beast. You clutched its snout and kissed it, saying as you did so, "you stay right here. I'll be back."

You looked up at the treeline and mapped out your course. The morning sun was slanting through the branches. This was a slight disadvantage for you, as you would no doubt be blinded by its lights within certain sections. No matter, you'd just have to be quick and steady with your movements.

There was a sharp hissing noise as the ropes of the ODM gear sprung forward and lifted you into the air. You landed on the highest tree and immediately bounded to the next, moving deeper into the forest as you did so. Minutes turned into hours as you bounded from tree to tree, always looking out for signs of Titan activity. The height that you had chosen would have made an inexperienced Scout dizzy, but you were good at this, and proud to be. You landed upon the topmost branch of another tall tree and surveyed the ground beneath you. If you fell, you would easily break a limb or your neck. You leaned against the trunk, panting, and furious at not having seen any signs of the Titans. How embarrassing it would be to have to return to the city, only to admit defeat at having attempted such a daring mission.

"Come on!" You yelled and your voice echoed along the whispering treetops. "Where are you, you bastards?!"

Everything had fallen silent. Too silent. Your body tensed. You knew that a silent forest was a watchful forest. Which meant that something had caught the attention of the hidden wildlife, and you were willing to bet that it wasn't your voice.

The trees began to quiver. The ground below you seemed to shake and you heard a distant rumbling coming closer. Your heart leaped in your throat but you smiled. Steady, you reminded yourself, this is what I came here for.

You reached behind you and pulled out a handful of arrows. You quickly wrapped the individual tips with a patch of straw-laced cotton, leaving twelve behind to act as the Blinders. You chanced looking up and saw there - at some distance away - a disturbance in the trees. Titans. And they were coming fast. You took a Blinder arrow and set it against the notch in the bow. You clambered around to the other side of the tree to face the incoming beasts. You'd have to be quick and blind them as they approached. If they passed you without being blinded, they would no doubt scatter, which would prove difficult for your aim.

The first Titan appeared within your line of sight and you shot one arrow after another into its eyes. It stumbled and fell at the feet of the rest. But you had no time to celebrate your initial victory. Quick as a well-oiled machine, your arm whipped back and forth as you grabbed your Blinders and shot them at the Titans. Another one fell, and another, bringing your number up to four. There were four more left that you could see - two more than you had anticipated - and you quickly realized that you had to spare only one arrow per beast.

The Titans had begun to run in a haywire fashion, and you were forced to abandon your tree to stay ahead of them. Lines shot out from your gear and you were swung into a tree a few feet away. As soon as your feet touched the branch, you grabbed your arrows and shot them at the eyes of the remaining Titans. They were only partially blinded, but that couldn't be helped. By this time, the Titans had become aware of your presence and were circling the trees in a frenzied fashion. One of them, a female by the looks of it, roared and slammed herself into the tree that you were on. You wobbled and would have fallen to your death had not you caught a branch just in time.

"Tsk," you hissed. "Bastard. You die first."

You quickly took stock of the situation. Only six Titans were accounted for, four of which were only partially blinded. You cast a quick glance behind you and saw that the other two were a ways off, searching for you amongst the trees. Their large hands groped wildly at the branches and then tore away whole trees in frustration. A small Titan sprung onto your tree and you swung yourself onto another. The tree that you had been standing on crashed to the ground and you watched the Titans descend upon it with a ravished curiosity. Good. They were distracted.

You pulled out an old matchbox from your coat and struck one against the tree trunk. Quickly, your hands cool and steady, you lit the tip of an arrow and set it against the notch in your bow. Four of the Titans had their backs to you, including the female Titan. You shot the arrow but she looked up right at that moment. She sought you out with her good eye and roared. Your arrow had missed and she was coming for you now.

You jumped from the tree and landed on her back. Without thinking, you unsheathed your sword and sliced her neck. She fell dead upon the ground and you leaped away just as the other Titans descended upon her. Good, you thought to yourself, one dead Titan, three partially blinded, and four completely blinded.

You landed on another tree and struck a match. They ran around frantically, trying but unable to see you with the arrows embedded in their eyes. You lit the tip of an arrow, aimed it, and caught your mark. The arrow dug itself into the nape of another Titan's neck and erupted in flames. The Titan screamed, distracting the others, and you took the opportunity to wound four others. You were delirious as you leaped from tree to tree, your ODM gear never failing you, aiming and succeeding in setting the Titans on fire. They were driven mad by it, so mad that they seemed to have forgotten you completely. You watched with joy as they wriggled and scampered about in a frenzy. Smoke was beginning to curl amongst the trees but you didn't care. Your plan was actually succeeding.

Well, the first part of it.

Now came the hard part: slicin' and dicin' 'em while they were distracted. You only had a slight amount of time before the fires on the Titans' bodies either a.) went out or b.) engulfed them completely, making it impossible to reach their necks. You'd have to lay out a course between all seven of them and follow it with cutting speed and some levels of dexterity. This was to be your true test on how well you could handle your gear. You pat the boxes on your hips, unsheathed your swords, and then bent your knees.

You would go in five, four, three, two -

You were airborne.

You flipped upside down in midair and slid your blades along the necks of two Titans standing next to each other. Your foot braced against a nearby tree and for a moment you were standing horizontally until you pushed off. You landed on the shoulders of one Titan, made quick work of it, and bounded onto the next. That was five dead so far. But you didn't have time to celebrate. The remaining two were chasing after you, having been alerted by the sound of your gear. And one of them still had partial sight.

Its giant hand swept out and caught you midair. All of the breath was squeezed from your lungs as it held you aloft. You saw a flash of its monstrous face before it placed you in its mouth. Without thinking, you grabbed the hilt of your sword and swung upward. Blood and spittle erupted from the roof of its mouth and it roared, affording you just enough time to clamber bodily over its teeth and drop to the ground. The sudden impact on the earth sent a jolt of lightning up your leg and you winced. You saw the glint of your sword in the Titan's mouth as it reared upward. A sudden thought occurred to you. In a quickness that would have rivaled the best of the demigods, you lit a match, set a sheathed arrowhead aflame, aimed, and shot it into the mouth of the beast. A fire sparked out over its tongue and it crashed to the ground. The other was coming toward you, quick. You leaped onto the injured Titans back, slid across the sweat-slickened skin, and slashed its nape.

The remaining Titan leaped onto its back and just barely missed you. You were up and in the air again. You glared down at it with a zeal born of vengeance. This one was was completely on fire from the earlier bout with your flaming arrows. There was no clear opening to its neck. Your hand caught a low-hanging tree branch and you stopped. You simply swung in the wind as you watched it gnash its teeth below you. It had become little more than a blackened silhouette of a giant doused in fire. Of course - wasn't that always how it went? The last challenge was sure to be the hardest.

There was no pity in your heart as you watched the beast burn. Your hands slipped slightly and you tightened your finger around the branch. Your hands were singed, again. But you barely noticed. No matter where you looked, fire was licking the Titan's body. If you were to mount it and go for its neck, you would surely be burned.

The smoke rising from the seared bodies of the Titans stung your eyes. Seven of them lay in smoldering heaps below you. Most of the fire had dwindled upon coming in contact with the Titan blood. You sneezed and subsequently let go of the branch, landing on your ass on the hard ground.

The Titan shuddered beneath the flames and stumbled towards you. "Come on," you said. You tried to move your limbs but they had gone still from the shock of falling. You aimed your last remaining arrow at the beast, knowing damn well that it wouldn't do shit. The creature fell to its hands and knees. You couldn't even see its face - that's how blackened it had become.

"Come on!" You screamed at it. If this was how you died, then so be it. At least it could be said that you didn't go out like a coward. "Come on! Come on! Come on!"

The Titan's shoulder crumpled. It gave one last pathetic whine before crashing to the ground where it lay still. You exhaled shakily and realized, upon looking around, that every single Titan was dead.

You had done it. You had won! All were dead...except...

There was a rustling in the trees beyond. You had just enough time to see the rump of a miniature Titan before it disappeared in the trees. Well, all the better. At least it wouldn't bother you.

You sprung up, suddenly vivified, and thrust your fist through the air. "I did it! Oh yeah, oh yeah, I did it! Look at me: Y/N, The Famous Titan Slayer!" You braced your foot upon the shoulder of a slain Titan. Its body shuddered and it let out a hollow roar before sighing its last breath. You jumped back and stared at in alarm before stooping down and picking up a rock. "Take that, you jerk! Take that, Levi Ackerman." You threw the rock at its seared body, but it didn't respond. You threw your hands in the air and gave a proud scream.

At first, you thought that it had been the echo of your scream that had come back to you. But it wasn't. Far, far off in the distance, you could barely discern a roar that could have only been issued from a large Titan. The hair on the back of your neck rose and you realized that it must have been the other Scouts.

So, you thought, they finally arrived. Good thing I made their job a lot easier.

You heard the distant roar again and suddenly realized the gravity of the situation. There was another Titan and thus another unexpected wrench in everybody's plan. God, but you were so tired. Taking down eight Titans hadn't been easy. But if you could lend a hand to your crew, and possibly kill another Titan (thus bringing your body count to nine) then there was nothing that could hold you back. You reached back and realized that you were out of arrows. All that you had left was a single sword and your ODM gear which was beginning to work at a much slower pace. So you decided to save its remaining power and force your aching legs to run as fast as they could towards the sound of the commotion.

I'm coming, Levi, thought as your legs churned, I'm comin'.