"...Don't ever piss of a medic...they hold your precious life in their hands...it may the last thing you ever do"-Edith M. Brown Diary, 850
Spring 850
Titan Forest, 57th Exterior Scouting Expedition
"After making a sudden reappearance, the Female Titan wiped out the Levi Squad's most elite soldiers one by one...Blaming himself for their deaths, Eren Jeager turned back to face the enemy, launching a furious assault in his Titan form. Yet for all his rage, Eren was defeated and taken by the Female Titan...The pursuit of the Female Titan by Levi Ackerman and Mikasa Ackerman was filled with a longing for revenge...for the ones they had lost and the ones they didn't want to lose..."-Titans Through the Ages: Female Titan, Geoff Bramwood
Dodging a strike from the Female Titan, Mikasa followed after her retreating form only to be picked up by Levi who had just arrived. "Stay back for now" He ordered as they flew parallel to each other, "Maintain current distance. She's slowed down a bit, that fight wore her out too. It looked like she may have bitten the entire nape off, it's unlikely Eren survived"
Mikasa narrowed her eyes and grit her teeth at that. Who was he to suggest that Eren was dead? He didn't know Eren, didn't know what he was capable of. Not like her. "He's still alive in there, this Titan is different. It acts with purpose, if she wanted Eren dead, she would've simply crushed him like the others. No, she needs him for something"
Her thoughts drifted back to a few moments earlier when she had watched the Female Titan rip Eren from his Titan form. "...But she also needs her hands to bite, so she's been holding him on her tongue"
"It is possible she just wanted to savour her quarry" Levi argued, "In that case, it's likely that he's already been swallowed. If so, he's dead"
"He's alive!"
"...Someone's optimistic"
"If you had just done your damn job and protected him like you were supposed to, we wouldn't be having this conversation!" Mikasa snapped. Levi swung around to face the raging rookie speaking to her as if she were a young child. "I see now, he's your childhood friend, right? Suddenly this all makes sense" he muttered as the pieces fell into place, "Right, for the sake of argument let's say Eren's alive. First, we forget about taking her down"
"No way! She's killed too many of our people for that! She's dead!" replied Mikasa her rage blinding her.
"She's got defences that neither of us have been trained to deal with. I'm telling you, it's a lost cause. Instead, we'll act on your assumption that Eren is alive and focus only on retrieving him before she exits the forest. I'll handle all the cutting, you find a way to distract her"
"Right"
The two Ackermans continued to pursue the Female Titan, each with a promise of murder and fury in their eyes. However where Mikasa was boiling hot rage and emotion, Levi was cold hearted anger and action. It was fair to say that these two had some hell to wreck on the beast.
While Mikasa swung low under the Female Titan's feet, ultimately gaining her attention, Levi flew high, aiming for the nape of the Female Titan. The glint off of his blades alerted the Female Titan to his presence as she spun around and launched a right hook straight towards him.
Acting instinctively, Levi flipped end over end, carving a line right up to the shoulder making blood fly as he spun. Next, he leapt forward burying his blades deep in her skull and disengaged the blades where they sat snug in her eyes.
Redrawing his blades, Levi spun around the Female Titan, slicing her up in any which way he could; aiming to cut and cut deep. He was like a one man army. The beast collapsed against a nearby tree, clasping tight to the nape of her neck so as to protect it from the next logical strike.
He's fast! She can't react! Her skin won't harden in time! Mikasa exclaimed as she watched the events before her play out. Levi rebounded from a nearby tree and returned to hacking away at the hunched form of the Female Titan, for once letting his emotions run wild. And then it happened, the moment they had been waiting for. The beast's arm fell from her nape and hung limply by her side.
Huh! Her nape! Mikasa swung around the back of the tree that the Female Titan was leant against, It's wide open! It looks like her whole body's gone limp, now's my chance! Mikasa latched a wire into the shoulder blades and came down hard despite Levi's protests.
"DON'T DO IT!" Levi called with wide eyes as he saw what Mikasa was about to do. She was within arms reach when shit hit the fan. The Female Titan covered her nape in glistening crystal at the same time that she raised her right hand up to swat the girl from the sky. Mikasa was looking death in the face when Levi quite literally swooped in and pushed her out of the way.
He himself, just barely missed being squashed as he rebounded off of the Titan hand with a grunt of pain as his foot gave way with the strange landing. Gritting his teeth against the pain, Levi sliced his blades along the beast's jawline, unhinging the mouth and revealing the prize inside. "EREN!" Mikasa cried elated at seeing her brother relatively unharmed and mostly alive.
With a quick twist, Levi returned to the Titan's jaws and retrieved Eren's unconscious form from the lolling tongue. "Got 'em, let's go" he stated landing on a nearby branch across from Mikasa and the Female Titan.
"Eren" Mikasa breathed finally setting her sights on her brother who hung limply in Levi's arms.
"He's alright, disgusting but alright" And he wasn't wrong. Eren was covered from head to toe in Titan saliva that had acted as some sort of sack, keeping him safe. "What did I tell you about trying to take her down? Now come on! We've got Eren, that means our job is done. Don't screw this up by making it personal, understand?" Levi glanced over at the steaming Titan, "We all get that you love Eren but that doesn't mean you get to act crazy"
"I know these expeditions take a lot of lives, but shit...I didn't think we'd have to bring back so many corpses" Ryan commented as he loaded yet another wrapped body onto the wagon that he and Edith had commandeered.
"I know, right? I mean, I know we were warned about all...this and I suppose Trost was kinda like a taster for this kinda thing, but still..." Edith replied letting yet another dog tag fall from her fingers as she wrote down yet another name of a fallen comrade. They had to have been at this for hours now, she couldn't really be sure seeing as the canopy blocked the view of the sky, so neither of them really knew what the time was by now.
The other rookies had been redirected to rejoin the rest of the ranks, where they had reclaimed their horses and had any serious wounds tended to; before being set to work in body reclamation across the plains. Thankfully of those who had survived, a minor concussion here or there was about the worst there was. Sure, their emotions were all over the show, but who could blame them?
"Any more?" Ryan asked after placing the last body in the bed of the wagon from their latest collection.
"Nope. We just need to check the last stretch of the main path and then we're all good to go" Edith replied tucking the list of names into her pants as Ryan jumped down from the wagon.
"Whelp, let's go. They're not gonna collect themselves"
"...That be kinda creepy. Zombie Scouts come to eat your brains!" Edith waved her arms in front her, imitating a zombie. Ryan smirked at his friend who was clearly trying to make light of the situation.
The duo didn't get far before the heard the sound of ODM gear pierced through the forest. They must've painted an odd picture, with Edith gripping tight to the body's upper torso whilst Ryan stood on the ground below, ready and waiting to catch the body that Edith was going to drop.
Instead, Ryan raised his blades, tensed to fight and Edith crouched next to the body now laid by her feet with her hands hovering over her own sheathed blades. The two didn't relax until the figures landed on the branches of the adjacent tree.
"Oi brats! What are you still doing here?" Levi demanded readjusting his grip on an unconscious Eren. Mikasa alighted a branch or two below them, keeping an eye on the group.
"Body collection" Ryan stated as Edith joined Levi on the branch and relinquished Levi of his charge. Levi was all too happy to let the medics do their jobs...just maybe not right this second.
By this point, Mikasa had joined them in the same tree, making it rather crowded as she hovered close to her brother. Ryan could almost see that moment that Edith was about to snap at Mikasa and his first thought was You don't deserve that medal, cause you're an evil prick! as he watched Satan flash across her face.
However instead of the tongue lashing that he thought Mikasa was going to get, Edith paused in her examination. Her head snapped to the right and her eyes narrowed as her eyes roved over the surrounding forest.
"Edith? What is it?" Ryan asked noting the change in her behaviour. All eyes snapped to the short girl who sat tensed at their feet and at the serious tone her fellow medic had used. Without giving a reply, Edith rose to her feet and scurried higher up the tree like a squirrel. Once she had found a higher perch, she surveyed their surroundings through narrowed eyes once more, looking for whatever had caught her attention.
"Ed?" Ryan questioned again, unwilling to raise his voice just in case. There! Something glinted unnaturally amongst the canopy across the clearing from her.
"What is it, brat?" Levi grit out as he heaved himself up onto the branch next to her. Not that he would readily admit it, but his foot hurt like a bitch. Edith's eyes widened as she realised what was creating the unnatural glinting in the canopy across from them.
"Down!" She called shoving Levi down into a crouch and shielding him from the bullet that whistled towards them and pierced the bark where their heads had been not a second before. Levi let out a hiss of pain as he pushed himself up, his ankle flaring painfully at the sudden movement.
"Shit!" Edith cursed as she pulled the hot bullet from where it was lodged in the tree. She hissed at the hot bullet that she rolled around in her hands as she examined it and the hole it had created, "We're not alone"
The fact that the group had only been shot at once told them a few things. Either these new enemies knew what they were doing, they had few resources (which out here was quite possible) or it had just been a lucky shot. But if the engraving of a goat was anything to go by, then these guys meant business.
"Well then, what do we do now? Do we move?" Mikasa asked, worried about her brother and the short Captain who was trying to hide his injuries.
"With two injured and a body? No, we'd be more vulnerable in transit; make ourselves bigger targets" Ryan replied crossing his arms.
"Which means we'll have to deal with them here and now" Edith added pulling the familiar pistol out from its hiding spot, "I've got six, what about you?" she asked checking the filling pin.
"Me too" Ryan replied checking over his own.
"What are those?" Mikasa pointed to the pistols in their hands, well aware of the pointed gaze the Captain was sending towards the medics at the sudden revelation of the firearms.
"M9 pistol, standard issue" Ryan replied flicking the safety off.
"That's not gonna do much damage at this distance" Levi scowled.
"Not like this" Edith smirked.
"In the meantime, how do we draw them out? We can't very well fire aimlessly into the canopy" Ryan stated. Edith bit her lip in thought, before her gaze rested on a branch that was relatively the same length as Eren.
"Yeah that'll work" she muttered measuring the length of the branch she had snapped from the tree against the height of Eren. Next, she laid the broken branch at her feet and performed a small feat of alchemy. Whilst she specialised in alkahestry, she still knew at least the basics of alchemy. Her mother had seen to that.
The others watched on as the broken branch at their feet slowly morphed into a wooden puppet, one that partially resembled Eren. The leafy hair had even been turned brown. Edith then pulled off her Scout jacket and shoved it onto the puppet before turning to Mikasa. "There's a medic wagon at the entrance of the forest, it's not too far away. I need you to take this body double with you and you need to act as if you're in a hurry" she instructed.
"There's no way they're gonna believe that's Eren! It doesn't even look like him!" Mikasa protested.
"Not up close, no, but we're not gonna let them get that close. Besides, anyone whose ever known you, knows of your...relationship with Eren. Trust me, it's believable"
"...But he could get hurt!" Mikasa seemed to be grasping at straws by now; anything really to let her stay with her brother.
"No more than he already is, now go" When the girl didn't move, Ryan stepped forward until they were practically nose to nose.
"Ackerman, go" he ordered quietly. With her lips pulled back in a growl, Mikasa hoisted the puppet and fled.
With that sorted out, it didn't take much convincing to get Levi hidden further up the tree with the real Eren clutched to him. Once they were safely hidden higher up in the canopy, Ryan turned to Edith who was putting the finishing touches on the rifle that she had transmuted from her prosthetic and pistol. "Just so you know I hate this plan!" he complained.
"I know you do" Edith chuckled.
"Don't die"
"Yeah, you too"
A few moments later, Edith had situated herself on a large branch overlooking the main path, hidden by the large overhanging canopy. Her rifle was the only thing that made her stand out against the foliage, something which she could not change much to her chagrin.
Off to her left, Ryan stood guard over Levi and Eren where they were hidden further up on a tree. Edith took a deep breath in and settled her sights on the target she saw racing after Mikasa who just passed below her. Breathing out and using the scope to guide her, Edith trained the barrel on the unknown enemy who was fast approaching.
All it took was for that one bullet to hit its target before the others started coming out of the woodwork. They were like rats fleeing a sinking ship or a pack of wolves defending their own. Two came from the right whilst a third came from the left, each brandishing their own weapons.
Normally, if she were to face these three in a fight, Edith knew she'd probably end up dead. But up here from her vantage point, it was easy to pick them off one by one as the bullets found their marks. They fell like dead flies, hitting the ground with a sickening thud or banging against the trees as they got entangled in their ODM gear.
When all four were taken care of, Edith pulled her eye away from the scope and sucked on her lower lip as she looked down on her kills. It may not have been her first ones, but that didn't mean she had to enjoy it. Which was probably a good thing, in hindsight.
Suddenly a war cry sounded from above her, pulling Edith from her thoughts. It was only due to her quick reflexes that Edith was able to dodge the extended blade. Thankfully for her, the blade ended up embedded in the branch where she had been laying only moments before. Rolling off of the branch, Edith latched onto a nearby tree as she watched her assailant yank their blade from the branch and come forth once more.
Thinking quickly, Edith transmuted her arm once more, this time turning it back into its usual prosthetic as she latched her wires into the canopy overhead and yanked herself out of their reach; where she then tucked herself away in a small nook amongst the branches there.
From her vantage point she was able to get a good view of her assailant who sat nestled behind the green foliage across the clearing. Their large hunched figure appeared rather masculine as they squatted on the branch. From between the dancing leaves Edith could see that he was adorned in dark colours that encompassed the majority of his figure in various items and accessories.
Even from here, Edith could tell that this man's gear was of a high quality, one that hadn't seen much action. So either they were some high-classed interior hitman or they had been paid high dollar beforehand and had spent it rather willy-nilly.
As the wind blew through, Edith was able to get a glimpse of a symbol that garnished the man's bare left shoulder; it almost seemed like a branding. Unbidden, the memory of a scantily dressed nun pacing back and forth in front of a blackboard sprung forth.
A young Edith sat in the middle of the pew, glancing around the room as her feet swung back and forth barely scraping the floor. She was just one of the many girls who sat squished along the pews of this old church as they listened to their daily lecture. Though she couldn't be sure if they were in fact girls, everyone else's faces were blurry and blank, like they were wearing masks.
She pulled at the collar of her habit, annoyed at the fact that they were forced to button it all the way up. It was hot here squashed amongst so many others in such a small space. She was just happy that the skirt of the dress had a large slit up either side of it; effectively turning it into a loincloth.
"...This" the faceless nun stated slamming the wooden metre ruler against the blackboard making Edith jump as the nun gestured to the diagram on the board "Is the symbol of the Spriggan"
It was an odd symbol, in comparison to the branding of a split apple that was depicted on the left breast of all Faeries (such as Edith herself); the one decorating the board showed a large circle with two curved hooks sprouting from the head on either side.
It reminded her a goat if she was honest. Edith fingered at her own branding above her heart as she tuned back into the lesson. "...Do not be fooled by their charming demeanours, they are ruthless creatures and should be killed on sight"
A growl pulled at Edith's lips as the two stared at each other like two predators encroaching on another's territory. Foliage rustled in the passing wind and metal glinted in the sunlight, for a moment the forest seemed to hold its breathe.
That was before the man-the Spriggan-lost his patience and launched himself from his hidden spot. Edith propelled herself forward, but instead of meeting him in the middle of the clearing like he had intended, she used the trees as a springboard and bounded in a circle around where he sat suspended.
Twisting and turning, she clung to the wire that was still embedded in the foliage above her as she moved around the Spriggan, making sure that her wire entangled itself in his own. Due to this, the man in question was stuck hanging from his wire like a unwound yo-yo.
Many of the well-aimed bullets ricocheted off of her prosthetic, whilst Edith was able to dodge the others as she closed in on him. Eventually the two were pressed chest to chest as she ran out of wire to wrap around him; at such a close range the gun was no use and was quickly tossed aside in favour of hand-to-hand.
Ignoring the hand around her neck, she reached up with sharpened metal fingers and sliced through the combined wires, letting the two drop to the ground far below. Edith was lucky enough to still have one working wire which she latched onto a nearby tree, slowing her descent.
But she did not come out of the skirmish unscathed, what remained of her shirt now hung limply on her frame where at this point it was nothing but rags. She had also gained several large scratches across her chest that were weeping blood and her Faery brand was on full display.
The Spriggan however, was not so lucky, he unravelled from the twisted wires like a yo-yo before he hit the ground with an almighty thud. In his case, he had lost many of the accessories that had adorned his upper arms and thighs, some falling off in his descent whilst others were torn off in their skirmish.
Edith watched with wide eyes from the lower branches of the tree as the Spriggan clapped his hands together and slapped them against his chest. In the moment before he hit the ground and become a broken pile, his skin turned a deep navy blue and he simply bounced and rolled a few times before coming to a stop, unharmed.
"Is that all you've got, you Faery bitch?" He called stumbling to his feet.
"Why don't you find out, Spriggan?" Edith sneered dropping from the tree and rising from her crouch as she faced down her assailant. She disengaged her ODM gear, knowing that it would hinder her in the battle that was about to commence.
They flew at each other, a mess of hits and kicks landing blows on each other that neither killed nor maimed the other, merely gauged where the other's talents lay in hand-to-hand combat. The violence picked up a notch as the Spriggan ended up latching a hand around Edith's neck and lifting her clear off the floor, mindless of her attempts to breathe.
"You're all talk" the Spriggan jeered bring her up to eye level. Edith didn't reply, merely clapped her hands and slapped them against his wrist giving him enough of a shock to let her go. "You're alkahestry's worth nothing when fighting me! Now it's my turn for fun!"
Edith rolled up onto the balls of her feet as she coughed and gasped for air. She knew that she couldn't lose this fight, not because he was a Spriggan (although for some reason that did factor in) but because she knew if she did, the others wouldn't stand a chance, not in the shape they were in.
Clapping her hands again, Edith made sure that her transmutation had reinforced her prosthetic before she aimed a punch at the oncoming hand, meeting him knuckle for knuckle. The resulting injury caused the Spriggan to back away, clutching to his hand.
"W-what? What the hell is this!" The Spriggan demanded inspecting his hand which no longer had the skin encasing it; all the muscles and nerves were on display, "What did you do to me, you little bitch?!" he demanded.
"No matter who or what you are everyone has it, no matter how much you might wish otherwise. Carbon's degree of hardness can be altered depending on the strength of its atomic bond. It can be the difference between a diamond and pencil lead" Edith smirked as she watched the Spriggan's navy skin reform over his hand. "Surely a Spriggan should know this?"
Edith leapt forward again this time, heading straight for the man's stomach. A clap of alkahestry to the stomach forced the skin to recede enough for her to land a punch on the exposed muscle there before she was shoved away.
Skidding to a stop and with sweat dripping from her brow Edith rose once more assessing her jeering opponent. "What a relief, I had feared this wouldn't be much fun! I feel better for gambling so much on you! Let's begin!" the Spriggan laughed as his skin regrew once more and he stood to his full height.
"Let's finish!" Edith cried transmuting her prosthetic into a lance, the blade reaching down to her knees as she took up a leapt into the fray once more.
They were a mess of limbs after that, each of them no longer playing with the other as they tried to find an opening that would end this once and for all. Edith had to give it to the man, he continued to taunt and jeer at her even while they fought, sure they were fighting for their lives but something could be said about this man's stamina.
Edith was lucky that a small opening showed itself as the man reared back to avoid roundhouse kick. Spinning on her heel quickly she used alkahestry to force the Spriggan's skin to recede again, leaving a large enough spot for her to attack.
She had been correct in her thinking when she had observed how quickly he was able to regrow the navy skin as she spun again to avoid another attack and lodged her lance though his chest, cutting through it like it was made of butter.
He sat on her lance arm for a moment or two, blood dribbling from his grinning mouth as he sat there like a shish kebab before Edith withdrew her arm and he collapsed to the floor at her feet. No one moved save for the heavy breathing from both parties. Edith knew that the wound she had given him wasn't fatal, but it was critical and if she left him here like this, he would undoubtably die.
"Who sent you?" Edith asked kicking the large man at her feet. She didn't receive any reply even as her foot met his injured side. Wanting to get this over with, Edith tried again. "Tell me, who sent you" Edith took his chin in her hands and yanked him up to eye level. "Tell me who sent you and I'll heal you"
"I ain't telling you shit, Faery cunt!" The Spriggan spat in her face and laughed as he watched the blood drip down her cheek.
"Then you're of no use to me, Spriggan scum" Edith calmly replied and moved to grip the man's head in her hands. With a quick twist and snap, the man fell lifeless in her hands before she let him drop to the floor at her feet.
She was soon joined by the others who landed quietly behind her. Levi was slung over Ryan's shoulders and Mikasa clung to the semi-conscious Eren who had woken earlier and had watched the fight play out through tired eyes. He'd never known Edith to be so violent, not even when watching her spar.
"...Did you know him?" Ryan asked quietly.
"No" Edith coldly replied turning to the others unbothered by her state of dress as she accepted the green cloak from Mikasa, "Let's go"
"But what about them?"
"Let them rot"
"Pro omnibus cura est, ibi sunt vias ad conteram quinque" (For every way to heal, there are five ways to break)-Medic Training: Unspoken Rules & Regulations, Lukas Norfolk