For Your Life

Uma's POV

Tightening the saddle on my horse, Bess, I caught her turning her head to watch me out of the corner of her eye. I looked up at her, wondering if I'd see fear there. For an animal, she wasn't very keen at sensing ominous things. It was true that our horses were trained not to fear the Titans, but there was still plenty of danger waiting for them beyond the Wall. I think that if I were in Bess's position, I would be scared to go. I suppose she had no choice in the end, which made me the stupid one because I certainly did. Hopefully, the two of us would make it back from this mission alive and in one piece.

Winter had finally broken, allowing the Survey Corpse to continue running operations again without the threat of snowstorms and severe famine to encumber us. We had a couple months to spend training and helping out the Garrison. During this time, our enemy within the walls had been completely silent. It seemed that they too could not operate during the dead of winter. That in its self was a relief. However, we gained no further information on them since their first attack. We were still as ignorant as we were three months ago.

Though everyone hid their frustration well, it was clear that the long stall in the investigation was getting to us. Every time I saw the Commander, it seemed like the lines in his brow grew deeper and deeper, darkening his already serious expression. Levi began to grumble more and more how filthy things were around HQ, venting his irritability by giving his squad extra cleaning assignments. Still, in a game of patience, I knew I'd be the first to lose. However, if it were between Levi and Erwin, I can honestly say I couldn't be sure who would win out… perhaps Erwin. But then again, it would all depend on what was at stake. Regardless, neither of them showed any real signs of breaking, which kept me from becoming too antsy even though it was clear we were sitting ducks.

Now that we were able to commence another expedition, it meant that more than likely our enemy would be able to strike at us again as well. Maybe then we wouldn't have to wait too much longer. I don't know what was worse the anticipation of an attack, or the actual act itself. There was nothing more unnerving than an enemy that lurked in the shadows. Unseen, they hid their size, capability, and strength. This was a problem. I suppose we'd just have to let them lay-in-wait and until that time, carry on with this next mission.

The expedition would lead us through the Titan forest to the town of Verga, where we'd clear the area and set up another checkpoint on our journey towards Wall Maria. One day we might finally reach the other side of the territory, but for now we had to take small steps. It was a pain, but in order to create a clear and safe rout in which troops and supply lines could run through, we had to be as thorough as possible. This meant we had to move painstakingly slow. Who knew if humanity would even survive long enough for us to finally reach the other wall? Sometimes it felt as if we were doomed to fail. But what choice did we have other than to push forwards? To leave things as they were now would mean a death sentence for humanity. Everyone in the Survey Corps had that common understanding. If we had nothing else to bind us together, at least we had that one thing.

Once I had finished readying Bess, I took her out of the stable and joined my squad. Oulo gave me a sideways glance as he moved his horse over to give me room to squeeze into the formation.

"What took you so long?" He muttered with his usual air of superiority.

"What do you care? It's not like I'm late." I snorted, mounting Bess and sidling up beside him.

"Being on time already makes you late," he informed me, sounding like such a smartass.

I really wish I could just learn to laugh at his ridiculousness. At least I didn't let him bother me as much as Petra did. Now that was fucking ridiculous, especially since she was usually so mild towards everyone else. She'd always get so frustrated with him, to the point where she'd get embarrassed about it and turn beet red. Maybe a part of her knew how irrational it was… still she let him get under her skin all the same. I had my own theories about it, not like they mattered. They were probably wrong anyway.

"You ready?" He asked, referring to the mission. I could tell he was attempting to be intimidating, but it was lost on me, just as it was on everyone else who understood his game. It was a stupid question to ask, anyways.

I stifled a yawn before answering. I wasn't getting much sleep in the days leading up to the mission. In fact, I just might have been all out of sorts. But I couldn't think about that at the moment… not when we were just about to begin the expedition. I couldn't afford to.

"Not really. You?"

"Tch, of course I am." He snorted.

"Right," I muttered under my breath, a wry smile tugging at my lips.

His droopy, amber eyes widened then as he opened his mouth to protest, however, Levi commanded our attention before he could get another word out.

"Alright, fall into line, we're heading for the gate." He told us, curtly. We all knew the drill, so there was no point in making any speeches. Nudging the sides of my horse, I moved into formation behind Oulo. As I did, the world started to tilt off-kilter and it took me a moment of blinking my eyes and slow breathing in order to right it again. Shit… what the fuck was that?

"Hey, you alright, Princess?" I heard Franc call from behind me.

"Yeah, I'll be fine once we're out there." I said, waving it off.

The reality was, I didn't feel right at all, like I was living in a haze. Nothing felt real and it scared me. If I couldn't manage to focus out there, it meant that I probably wasn't coming home. I had to get my head on straight. There was no other option.

Looking ahead to Levi, I watched his back as he led us to the gate. I wondered what he was thinking- if he was numb, or nervous, or perhaps focused (as I should have been). Feeling a bit of a drip in my nose, I sniffed it back and continued to stare straight ahead, fixing my eyes on the gate's emblem. My heart was hammering against my chest, working double-time, and I refused to attribute it to anything other than nerves. There was nothing wrong and only thinking about it would make it worse. I was just fine and I'd come out of it alive… or so I kept telling myself.

AN: REVIEW FAVOR FOLLOW! Hello everyone! Sorry I took a bit of a hiatus, life's been very busy. I've been in a bit of a transitional phase and needed to get a couple big things out of the way before I started updating again. Anyways, this arc is turning out to be on of my favorites so far. Not only will there be a lot of action, but we're going to see a lot more of how the teammates work in the field. Hope you all liked this last chapter. I know it's short but I hope you'll all forgive me for that.