The rumbling of hoofs was dulled by grass and dirt as the new reincarnation of the Special Operations Squad dashed forth through the darkness. They have long got down from the uncomfortable kneeling position used for high speeds and were now sitting on the horseback, though their thighs still ached from clutching the saddle and the constant rocking motion.

They had to slow down from the initial pace quite soon after their departure because the terrain was no longer a barren grassy plane and instead gave place to various terrain deformities such as small rocks, streams and groups of trees.

Just enough was visible in the light of the stars and the moon crescent, but nobody wanted to risk breaking his horse´s leg by accidentally stepping into an unseen hole in the ground.

The dim moonlight was sometimes covered by an occasional cloud and then they had to rely on the even dimmer light from their lanterns.

Running through the darkness was a strange and unfamiliar feeling. It was calmer because the risk of a titan attack was significantly lower and yet it was more frightening because they had practically no chance of seeing a titan until they ran directly into him.

A flash of light on the right of Levi´s peripheral vision caught his attention. A bright red flare shot up into the sky, slowly dispersing. It meant that one of the vanguard groups have encountered a group of titans ahead that haven´t fully fell asleep yet and could therefore pose a danger to the expedition.

It was another of Erwin´s ideas to use flares instead of smoke signals, because they wouldn´t be visible during the night.

More red flares rose in the air soon after from the relay positions, alerting the entire legion of the threat.

"Eren, you fire it," Levi ordered.

"Yes, heichou." With fingers chilled from the cold, Eren fumbled for a red flare, shooting it up and relaying it to the left side. Soon, from up ahead, where Erwin´s place was on the commanding position, shot up a green flare pointing to the left, soon followed by all other flares.

Levi, who rode in charge of the group, directed his horse in the direction the green flare signaled. They rode in silence for a few minutes, until they saw a white flare appear, again on the right side of the formation.

"Shit, that´s an Abnormal," Levi hissed, eying the flare in disgruntlement. Shit hit the fan. Eren fired the flare again, not needed to be reminded.

Levi continued. "It´s probably the type that doesn´t need much of Sun´s energy to function. And is able to sustain itself only from the sun rays reflected from the Moon. Troublesome fucker. There´s no going around them, they need to be taken down."

There was a distant sound of giant feet hitting the ground and the tremors traveled through the soil.

Levi could almost feel the gears grinding in Eren´s head, trying to weigh his possibilities. Soon came what Levi dreaded. "Heichou, can´t we go help them?"

Levi mentally sighed and prepared to answer, but Jean beat him to it. "No. They knew the risks when they joined the Survey Corps. We were tasked with protecting you, because you are an important asset. If you die, you would indirectly kill far more people than you tried to save."

"But can we just leave them to possibly die?" Eren asked, his voice full of anger.

"No, he´s right," Levi said from the front. "I´m sure you remember what I told you last time. After all, it´s the reason why this squad has all the new members. I cannot predict the outcome. Do what you won´t regret. But are you prepared to shoulder the responsibility of possibly dooming all of humanity for the sake of a few individuals?"

But Eren had already decided. He slowly brought his palm to his mouth.

Just then, a blue flare rose approximately from the place where the vanguard encountered the Abnormal titan. It meant that the threat had been dealt with. Eren slowly lowered his hand and clutched his reins again. Levi breathed a sight of relief. He wouldn´t have to incapacitate Eren´s titan form if he went on a rampage on the nearby sleeping titans.

"You were really ready to do it?" asked Reiner, guiding his horse closer to Eren´s. "To go all out and possibly compromise the mission?"

"I would. I didn´t do it during the last expedition. People died. People died, and I could´ve saved them if I trusted in my own ability. But I placed my trust in them and then they died. So I swore to myself that I won´t let more people die if I can avoid it."

"Don´t forget the part where you got yourself be captured and Mikasa and I had to drag your filthy, spit-covered ass from the Female Titan´s mouth exactly because you let yourself be consumed in anger and desire for revenge," Levi remarked with his back facing his squad.

Levi felt delighted when Eren shut up after that. After all, one couldn´t place himself before the good of most. And placing your values before other´s included saving others for your good feeling.

The rest of the journey was spent in silence barring an occasional order to someone to shoot a flare. As the night progressed, there was less need to avoid titans because even the more active ones went to sleep few hours after the sun has set.

They arrived to the edges of the designated forest just as first sun rays showed over the horizon. Inside the forest was an old training camp, used for training new Survey Corps recruits back when they still had Wall Maria. Now it would serve for an impromptu base of operations.

The trees were high and strong and provided a natural barrier. During previous encounters, the Survey Corps observed that the sense the titans use the moat is their sight, meaning they wouldn´t sniff them out. Besides, not many titans naturally wandered off into a forest, preferring the open planes, and the patrol could take care of a few stray titans, the trees also providing them with perfect environment for the use of the vertical maneuvering equipment.

They regrouped the formation and entered the forest, finally entering the camp after a full night of riding nonstop. They led the exhausted horses to a nearby stream, where they wearily got down and began to greedily drink.

Soldiers sat in groups with silence roaming over them, some of them trying to catch some sleep, some of them starring into space with dull eyes, still processing the fact that all of them are actually alive.

Levi left a while ago, muttering something about getting orders from Erwin. Armin also wandered off in different direction and was now returning with solemn expression.

"I spoke with some of the soldiers," Armin begun as he sat down next to Eren and others. "There was only one casualty during the whole ride here. There never was such a low death rate on an expedition before. Looks like Erwin´s plan to ride during the night was a success."

"That´s good news then, no? Why you look so serious?" asked Eren.

"The one who died was Samuel. He was in the group that encountered the Abnormal titan on our way here."

"Samuel Jackson? From the 104th?"

"Yeah," Armin nodded with downcast eyes. None of them knew Samuel very well, but they had been in the same trainee squad after all.

Eren grimly chuckled, but there was no humour in the sound. His fingers absent-mindedly clutched at strands of grass, tearing them out one by one. "Yeah I remember him. He was at the Wall at canon cleaning duty with Connie, Sasha, Thomas, Mina and I the day when the Colossus titan attacked for the second time. He was knocked off the wall and Sasha saved him by piercing his leg with a grappling hook. I didn´t know he healed the leg."

The group fell into silence again.

Erwin approached the resting soldiers with Hange and Levi in tow. "We need to set up the perimeter to encounter any possible approaching titans before they would reach the camp. Divide the patrols between yourselves. Another group will take care of the horses. Others may rest for the meantime until they will relieve from duty those on patrol duty. After we have recovered a bit, we will proceed to the main objective of this expedition, which would be establishing supply routes. That´s all for now. Dismissed."

Levi walked up to his squad. "I´ll be taking the first watch. You should either rest, or can take up the patrol duty too, if you feel up for it," with that, he started to walk away again, towards the part of the camp he´ll be guarding. He didn´t feel tired at all, even after whole night spent awake, after all, it wasn´t all that unusual for him.

Levi shot a grappling hook towards the branches and rose up into the treetops. He set himself comfortably on the branch, a blade in his hand, his eyes scanning the ground under him for signs of any wandering titans.

He was joined by Reiner after a while. He acknowledged the other soldier´s presence with a nod and his eyes drifted back down. They were far enough from the base camp, but they still couldn´t see the edges of the forest. There weren´t any other patrolling groups in their field of vision, but Levi knew they were positioned in a way that they could guard the entire perimeter of the camp while using as little manpower as possible.

It was about 20 minutes since they placed themselves that Levi spotted a titan wandering through the forest. It wasn´t big, maximum 4 meter class, and it was just randomly walking between trees with a rather stupid expression on its face.

"I´ll take care of it," Levi whispered to Reiner. He turned away to face the titan, changed the grip on his blades so that they would point down in his signature titan-slaying technique and prepared to shoot the grappling hooks into the tree trunks above the titan´s head.

Searing pain shot through his midriff. It was so unexpected, so out of the blue, that he couldn´t stop a pained gasp from escaping him. He stared at the sword protruding from his chest in confusion, shaking from the pain.

The swords were promptly kicked out of his hands. He tried to look behind him, his head being able to shift only slightly. Back were staring Reiner´s cold eyes, devoid of any compassion.

"Sorry heichou," Reiner finally drawled out. He tore out the sword and Levi collapsed to his knees. "You are too dangerous to let you live. You are a nuisance to our plans."

Levi almost missed the words being said. Paralyzing pain was coursing through Levi´s frame, shooting to all of his torso. He realized he wasn´t feeling anything in the lower parts of his body. ´Bastard impaled my spine,´ he thought with a grimace.

Even if against all the odds he survived this, he wouldn´t ever walk again.

He tried to lever himself on his hands, which only made new waves of agony wash over him and he almost fell back down, white spots dancing in his blurred eyesight and dark edges were threatening to take over his vision. Blood pooled under him and was dripping down on the grass below.

He saw movement in the corner of his waning vision. With great effort, he pushed his head up, straining with the effort, panting heavily. On a nearby branch stood Bertholdt with tense expression on his face. He had Eren´s limp body hoisted over his shoulder.

Realization dawned on Levi just as his consciousness begun to slip away. He reached for his pocket, his fingers fumbling in search for his pistol. He slowly pulled it out, careful not to draw much attention to himself. He almost lost his grip a few times, the pistol shaking heavily. He pointed in the general direction of the sky and pulled the trigger. A flare shot up the sky and his hand finally let go of the pistol.

"Shit, you bastard!" Reiner shouted, kicking Levi heavily in the ribs. He coughed out blood, straining for breath, but he was already in the air and gravity was taking hold off him. He begun falling from the tree.

´I´m leaving the rest to you guys´ was his last conscious thought.

Then the ground rushed to meet him.

AN: Finelly we´re getting somewhere, as promised. Let me know what you think so far.