Chapter 6: First Blood

It was cold out. The morning mist clung to the ground desperately, intent on never letting go to release the light of day. Silence filled the barracks, it was too early for the soldiers to be awake, they needed every ounce of rest they could get before embarking on their mission. All except one soldier of course.

The faint clang of china hitting china echoed throughout the immaculate office. Levi had slept his usual four hours and had cleaned every inch of his office to within a degree of its life. There was nothing more he appreciated than returning from an expedition to a clean office, where he could simply sit, drink his evening tea in silence, and come to terms with the casualties of the day. Today was the day, the first expedition for the new recruits and the first expedition of the Survey Corps in a while, he knew the pressure on them to bring back success was enormous, one which Erwin was feeling greatly. A sudden knock at the door interrupted his thoughts. Who was that, at such an early hour? Erwin? Or even worse, Hanji? The thought made him shudder.

"Come in."

The heavy wooden door slowly began to open as a body soon emerged through it, desperate to see who it was, he craned his head slightly to get a better glimpse. At the realisation as to who was standing before him, his mood instantly changed.

"Why are you here?"

Levi looked glaringly down into the face of Eren Yeager. Eren cowered slightly at the intensity of his stare and the harsh tone of his voice.

"I wanted to speak with you, sir, before we left for the mission and before everyone else was awake."

The boy's eyes looked lost as he tried to match Levi's glare.

"About what?"

What could Eren Yeager possibly want, with him, at a time like this?

"I wanted to talk to you about Mikasa, sir."

At the mention of her name Levi's whole body suddenly went stiff. Why was Yeager bringing her up to him, he hoped fiercely that the boy didn't see him as an older brother figure, one that he could talk about feelings and girls with. The idea made him feel quite sick.

"What about her?"

Levi tried as hard as possible to maintain his composure and usual bored expression.

"Well, I know she will be riding in your squad with you, far away from me and my other comrades. So, I just wanted to ask you, if you could look after her, please?"

A mixture of emotions flooded throughout Levi's body, one half of him wanted to slap the boy silly for bringing up such a useless statement, of course he would protect her, it was his job as squad leader. Yet, the other half of him, felt the worry in the boy's eyes, as he too felt the same worry for her, hoping she would be alright.

"Of course, she will be looked after, what do you take me for? The shittiest squad leader around?"

Eren's body relaxed slightly at his words. Levi simply frowned at the stupidity of the boy.

"Thank you, sir, it's just, as I'm sure you've come to realise, she is incredibly protective over me. Scarily protective. I know she would happily give her life for mine, any second of the day, however I don't want that. I know I could never match her skill level or strength. I'm not that even good a soldier, but I know if she sees me struggle in any way, she will come running and most likely disobey orders to do just that. So, please again sir, could you at all costs prevent her from doing that. If I die, so what, it will be my own fault, but I could never live with myself knowing she died to protect an idiot like me."

Levi was stunned at what he had just heard, he quickly took his last thought back. Yeager was no dumb kid. He knew alright, fair and well what his situation was. It almost made him feel pity for the boy.

"Yeager, I understand where you are coming from and I can assure you I have already had a word with Ackerman regarding this issue. You have my word that I will not let her do anything reckless or put her life in danger unnecessarily."

Eren's eyes lit up at the Captain, it was the first time Levi had spoken in a calm and relaxed tone to him since he first met the kid.

"Thank you so much sir! Good luck, today!"

Yeager leapt out of his chair and began making his way to the door, stopping only briefly to give Levi another smile and nod in appreciation, to which Levi did not return.

"Hey brat."

Levi called out to him before his hand reached the doorknob. Eren turned around in a flash to face the captain, eyes still wide with hope and gratitude.

"Don't die out there, okay."

Eren simply nodded and smiled again before darting out of the room.

"Tsk…stupid brats, what are they doing to me? Turning me soft. I hate it."

Levi mumbled to himself quietly whilst preparing his things for the day ahead.

The air within Wall Maria felt different, foreign. Eren hadn't ventured to these parts since he was evacuated the day Shiganshina fell, the worst day of his life. It felt odd, to finally be on an expedition for the scouts, something he had only dreamt of, finally he was about to get sweet vengeance on the monsters that destroyed his family and world. He could almost taste the satisfaction. Armin rode quietly beside him, hood up and eyes forward, reciting the battle plans quietly to himself.

"Hey, you alright buddy?"

Armin's head snapped around instantly to face him, his eyes wide with panic.

"Yes, just going over the plans once more, just to be sure."

"Armin, you could recite them a thousand more times and it wouldn't make a difference. You are a capable soldier, you need to believe in yourself more, now more than ever! You wouldn't be here if you weren't capable. Look at how you used to withstand that awful bullying as a kid, not once did you let them take control of you, because you have the strongest mind I know! Use that as your tool!"

Armin's eyes lit up at the sudden praise from his best friend.

"Thanks, Eren, I needed that. Do you think Mikasa's alright?"

"I'm sure she's fine, she is in the most capable hands after all."

Eren's newfound confidence within Captain Levi left him feeling relieved and hopeful that Mikasa would be okay.

"Eren-look!"

Armin's voice suddenly shrieked as he pointed to the right-hand side. Red smoke flew through the air, lingering beside them. A titan had been spotted. Before he could even consider what, this could mean, another red flare shot up, even closer to them this time.

"Soldiers, we can suspect that two titans are approaching from the right-hand side, it is our duty to take them out. Mike and I will take care of it, you continue riding and make sure to keep hold of the spare horses!"

Hanji shouted back to the comrades who nervously nodded in response. Almost on cue, a titan burst through the nearby trees, aiming straight for them. It wasn't overly large, an eight metre at best, but still horrifying to the new recruits.

"That's a titan? But it's so human like?"

Jean was the first to sound his concerns, fear evident in his voice.

"Jean, they look harmless but believe me they are not, all they want to do is kill, there's no emotion there."

Eren spoke directly to him, normally, this sort of thing would have infuriated Jean, but he simply nodded at Eren in return, secretly grateful for the consolidation. The comrades watched in horror as the titan grew closer and closer to them. They all jumped slightly at the sound of Mike and Hanji's gas canisters going off as they swung towards it. Mike flew around the ankles, distracting the titan, whilst, Hanji made her way straight for the nape. In a matter of seconds, the titan fell to the ground emitting a vast majority of hot steam, as the two squad leaders flew back onto their horses.

"Nice one Mike!"

Hanji practically screamed in delight as she secured herself back onto her horse.

"Not too bad yourself, Hanji!"

"That was AMAZING!"

The two squad leaders turned around to see the faces of their cadets lit up in awe.

"Hanji, another one to the right, quick!"

It was Armin that had noticed the other titan sneak up to them, Hanji and Mike left again, immediately, to deal with it. Suddenly, as they left another red signal appeared, this time to the left, it was approaching fast as the signal closest to them was alerted a few seconds afterwards.

"Listen up you guys, this is it! All our training comes down to this moment, our squad leaders are busy saving our asses over there, so now it's our turn."

Eren suddenly took control and engaged the cadets as the titan suddenly became visible. It was easily twelve metres in height and physically bigger than the one they had just seen Hanji and Mike kill.

"Eren, what do we do?"

Sasha looked at him helplessly.

"Okay, here's the plan, Sasha, you and Connie will swing around the feet much like Mike just did then, use your OMD gear to latch onto its back once you've done. Jean, you and I will go for the nape, avoid its arms and hands at all costs, they can be extremely nifty with those, and if you're caught it will crush you to death or eat you."

The cadets gulped silently before nodding at Eren.

"Armin, you stay here with the horses don't let them get away, they're our only hope of survival out here."

"Yes, be careful you guys!"

"Right, LET'S GO!"

Instantly the cadets launched from their horses and headed directly for the titan. Sasha and Connie reached it first as planned and swung carefully around the feet as Mike had done previously.

"Jean, now!"

Simultaneously, Jean and Eren hooked themselves to the shoulder of the titan and swung around, moving stealthily through the air to avoid being hit. They reached the nape at almost the same time, but Eren, didn't hesitate to launch his blades into the air and slice across the nape of its neck, creating a deep slit. The titan fell to the ground instantly as the comrades leapt off to witness the fall. They stood silently, awe stricken, for a few moments as they watched the monster evaporate before their eyes.

"YES! WE DID IT!"

Connie leapt into the air, whooping and punching his fists as he did so.

"Eren, you just killed that titan…"

Jean stared at him in disbelief.

"Eren, YOU JUST KILLED THAT FUCKING TITAN!"

His mood instantly changed as he leapt onto Eren, giving him a huge bear hug whilst letting out an excitable scream. Sasha soon joined in.

"Yeah…I killed a titan, well we all did actually, but I finally did it. My life-long dream just came true."

Tears filled Eren's eyes as he saw the remnants of the titan disappear into thin air.

"GUYS! QUICKLY BEHIND YOU!"

Armin's voice interrupted their celebrations as they suddenly turned to see black smoke appearing from behind the trees in the distance. Black smoke. That meant an abnormal titan, most often, the most dangerous kind, completely different in behaviour to the others, most often possessing a superior ability, like speed or strength.

The cadets jumped back to their horses but were still without squad leaders.

"Armin where's Hanji and Mike?"

Eren suddenly turned to him, fear apparent in his eyes.

"More titans came, they had to take care of them, they told me to tell you to keep riding, oh and they also said a huge congratulations on your first take-down!"

"What are we going to do about that abnormal?"

Armin looked worriedly at Eren.

"We'll keep riding until it becomes visible, we'll make a decision based on the feature it has."

Soon enough a ten-metre class titan burst through the trees running at a fast pace towards them. This was going to be a lot harder than their previous kill.

"Everyone, same formation as before but this time, take your horses with you. It's fast so naturally on feet we won't be able to do much damage. Armin, keep a safe distance but stay close in case we need horse back -up."

The cadets nodded at him as they had before, a newfound confidence settled amongst them.

"LET'S GO!"

They galloped towards the sprinting titan and flew through the air towards it once they were within reach. Connie and Sasha began their attack to its feet, when the titan suddenly kicked out, catching Connie in the process, his body flew some distance and landed with a hard thump against the ground. Sasha's eyes widened in horror as she witnessed the body of her comrade lying there, not moving, but she pressed on when she saw Armin go to him. She managed to carefully swing around the feet and latch onto back of the titan, holding on for dear life as it writhed beneath her.

"Nice Sasha! Jean, go!"

The two boys dived towards the upper body of the titan, its arms were a frenzy, flying around trying to swat them like flies, desperate for the taste of human flesh. Eren, manoeuvred his way around the thrashing and landed on the shoulder of the titan. Jean followed him, hooking his ODM spikes into the other shoulder and reaching his entire body towards it.

Suddenly, he stopped in mid-air, why wasn't he flying anymore?

It took him a few moments to realise the extraordinary pressure he suddenly felt, wrapped around his entire body. He was trapped inside the hand of the titan. Its huge, grotesque eyes were staring down at him excitedly.

"JEAN!"

Eren screamed from behind the titan, ferociously trying to make his way to the nape but the titan was shaking its body trying to get them off.

"I'm going to die. NO! NO! PLEASE! I DON'T WANT TO BE EATEN!"

Jean's screams filled the air as the comrades looked on in horror, the titan was slowly lifting its hand to its mouth, with Jean inside.

"AHHHHHHHHH!"

A sudden burst of steam hit Jean's face and his vision was completely obscured, he was still inside the titan's hand, but where was its face?

As the steam began to clear, Jean realised he was no longer in mid-air, but on the ground, the titan's hand evaporating around him. Sasha came straight to him, worry plastered all over her face.

"Jean are you okay?"

"Yeah, what the hell happened, did Eren kill the titan?"

The two cadets both looked to the titan as they saw its body on the floor. Eren was standing to the side, next to someone else, their blades held out defensively. The two walked closer into view and it became apparent who was next to him.

"Armin?!"

Jean and Sasha both exclaimed in shock.

"This guy is the reason you're alive Jean. Out of nowhere he flew over, sliced the titan's hand off and then flew back towards its nape and finished the job, before I had even managed to scramble a few steps. It was incredible."

Armin blushed slightly at the words.

"I'm just glad you're okay Jean."

"Armin, is that true, you really did all that?"

"Yeah, I mean I couldn't just let you die."

Jean leapt to his feet and hugged the small boy in front of him.

"I honestly, don't know how I could ever thank you."

"Just please don't die today, any of you."

The comrades laughed as they whistled for their horses to return, Connie arrived on horseback, badly battered. As they climbed on board Sasha went straight for him.

"Oh my god, Connie, are you okay? Do you need to rest on me I can take over your horse if you want, or take you to the wagon?"

Connie smiled weakly at her concern.

"I'm fine, potato, just bruised, focus on yourself now that you're a titan killing badass."

Mike and Hanji were still nowhere to be seen, it concerned Eren that they had taken so long, he prayed desperately that nothing had happened to them.

"Eren…another black flare."

Armin pointed in the direction of the flare, it was directly in front of them this time.

"Okay, let's split into two groups so that the titan aims for the gap in-between us, then we can come at it from both vantage points."

It was Armin this time that led the group, Eren nodded, happy that his friend had finally found his feet. The group galloped on as a titan appeared before them, similar, to the one they had just defeated it was running at an increasingly fast pace.

"Everyone same again. MOVE!"

The cadets followed the same procedure and brought down the titan much to their delight.

The next few moments were hard to comprehend and recollect for any of the soldiers.

From what seemed like nowhere a group of three titans descended upon them at once. Severely outnumbered the group had no choice but to fight for their lives. They held their own for a significant amount of time with no casualties.

"EREN!"

Suddenly, a high-pitched shriek shattered the air, they all turned to see Armin hovering above the open mouth of a titan, his cloak caught between its fingers. Eren's eyes almost burst out of his head at the sight. Armin. His best friend from childhood, his old life, was about to be eaten in front of his eyes.

"ARMIN, NO!"

As Eren raced towards him, the titan let go of the cloth between its fingers and the comrades watched in sheer horror as their fellow friend fell into the titan's mouth.

"What the hell was that?"

Levi slowed his horse slightly as he turned back to see what the ground shaking crackle had been.

He was not prepared for what he saw. What looked like a lightning strike was retreating back up to the sky to an area of grey and red clouds; incredible amounts of steam were floating into the sky.

"What in the actual fuck is that?"

"EREN!"

Mikasa's voice suddenly screamed as she noticed which area the strike had occurred. Levi quickly realised it was the position of the new cadets and spun his head around to meet her stare, however, she was gone. All he could see was her back as she galloped off into the distance.

"ACKERMAN YOU GET BACK HERE!"

Levi yelled after her to no avail.

"Oh, for fuck's sake, Eld take control here."

Levi cursed under his breath as he followed the raven haired girl straight into the distance.