Of Epic Proportions

by authorinprogress97

And I thought life was hard enough the first time. OC self-insert (because I'm that shameless)

18. Enemy

And I thought life was hard enough the first time.

OC self-insert (because I'm that shameless)

Re-watching this arc, I can't help but think that Reiner is one really suspicious bastard. I like Reiner, don't get me wrong but… some stuff didn't fit with him, man. It's horrible. I really like Reiner. Not as much as I like Armin or Eren, but I like him. He's a cool dude.

I know you guys want Dani to get off her but and change stuff, and I promise that will happen, but not until a couple chapters. I promise Dani will change some stuff. Promise. Really.

Yeah, so… school is starting soon, so my updates will be decreasing drastically. I'll try updating once a week, but things get harder once I catch up with the anime and start referring to the manga. Sides, you guys know how school is, yeah?

Guest – I am thinking of changing some stuff, but not too much. I'm sorry, I need more creativity, I know. I'm ecstatic to hear that you're still tuning in religiously to this sham of a fic nonetheless. Props to you!

-0-

Jean couldn't understand my overprotectiveness over Armin. Then again, he couldn't understand why Mikasa hung around Eren all the time either. Maybe he just didn't understand overprotective females in general.

I sucked my lower lip into my mouth, trying to chew it thoughtfully without biting it off. The Female Titan had left Armin alone, hadn't it? He'd be fine, for now at least.

We passed the area the second black smoke signal that I was sure Armin had discharged had come from, but there was no sign of him. Flutters of anxiety settled in my stomach as I glanced up at the dissipating smoke. I shouldn't panic. Panic would cloud my thinking. Maybe he followed after the Female Titan, hopefully not alone.

My horse brayed, responding to my agitation. He should have been here. My calculations must have been off.

"Keep it together, Dani," Jean barked. I jerked, almost sending causing us to topple over. "Don't you dare freak out on me."

"I'm not freaking out," I snapped back. My eyes darted forward once more and I nearly fell off my horse in relief. "There's Armin!"

"The fuck are they chasing?" he asked, squinting into the distance. Beyond Armin and another blonde figure that I assumed was Reiner (how had he already gotten there?), I could spot a much larger figure in the distance. Blonde hair glinted in the sunlight and I narrowed my eyes.

"Send up a yellow flare," I ordered, snapping my reins and pushing my horse to gallop faster for just a little more. Behind me, I heard a sharp bang as Jean sent up a yellow flare. "Armin!" I called, causing both blondes to turn towards me. "Are you okay?"

Armin blinked, nodding sharply. "I'm fine. Really."

He jerked as the sound of smoke pistols being discharged echoed, yellow trails of smoke mirroring the ones Jean had just shot into the sky cropping up.

"It came from the right flank," Reiner noted. "Does that mean we're so compromised we can't continue the mission?"

I stared at the back of Reiner's head. He seemed too… agitated at the possibility.

"Looks like the right flank recon squad was partially wiped out," Jean informed us as he drew up next to me. I bit back a gasp. That's horrible… "Titans… tons of them. I don't know why, but there are lots of fast ones. For now, we're holding them back, but recon is no longer possible." I glanced at Jean as he looked at his horse's mane, eyebrows drawn low over his eyes. "We've taken heavy losses and if we aren't careful, we'll be destroyed!"

A lot of fast Titans… I wondered where they came from. I stared at the Titan's back. It had had the power to summon other Titans, causing them to act abnormal, hadn't it?

"That Titan came from the same direction," Armin mused. His eyes widened as he looked towards the Titan running in front of us. "No way… was it leading the Titans?"

"It?" Jean repeated, finally looking forward. "Why is a Titan over there?" He glanced at Armin. "An abnormal?"

"No. It's a human in a Titan body," Armin answered grimly.

"Like Eren?" I answered, injecting the appropriate amount of surprise into my voice. I widened my eyes slightly. It would look so odd if I wasn't surprised by the information (even if I wasn't).

"Exactly."

"What?" Jean uttered, looking worried.

Reiner frowned, a shadow passing over his face. "Why do you think that, Armin?" Reiner asked, a cautious note in his voice. He was always so open, but for once, I could see why he and Bertolt were such good friends – they had the same way of drawing into themselves.

"The Titans only eat us. We're just killed in the process. Killing us isn't ever specifically their goal, but when Siss aimed for its weak spot, it crushed him and smashed him into the ground," Armin explained, eyes glinting with seriousness. "It killed him to kill rather than to eat him. Its nature is different from the others. When the Colossal and Armoured Titans destroyed the walls, it must've been the one that brought that army of Titans. Their goal has consistently been to attack all humanity."

"But it isn't the case now?" I inquired, seeing the calculative look in Armin's eyes as facts assimilated in his mind.

"No, it isn't," he agreed. "It felt like it was looking for someone…" He frowned. "If that is the case, could it be looking for… could it be looking for Eren?"

Something flashed in Reiner's eyes. "Eren?" he repeated. "Eren's with Squad Levi, which is in charge of the right flank."

"The right flank?" Jean asked, utterly confused as Armin made a surprised noise. "The plans I got had them to the rear of the left flank. Right, Dani?"

I looked away from the Titan's back, nodding sharply. We had both received the same plans since we were partnered together.

Armin's eyes shot towards me, a silent question – did you know? – in his gaze. I exhaled sharply, dipping my head in a nod that was disguised by the rocking of my horse. "Mine said they were near the front of the right," Armin offered. "Wait. There's no way they'd be on the front lines."

"So where are they?" Reiner asked, eyes glinting with a sharp emotion in the weak sunlight.

"Does it really matter where Eren is?" I piped up, flicking a suspicious gaze towards Reiner that I hoped he hadn't caught. Why was he so curious? "It doesn't affect us."

Armin frowned and I didn't doubt that he had an answer, but I didn't want him to say it. My fingertips were tingling again in a very bad imitation of my spidey senses are tingling.

Was it just me or did Reiner shoot me an irritated look?

"There's no time to think," Jean interjected. "Smoke rounds can't possibly indicate how much of a threat it poses! At this rate, it'll wipe out command. Then the formation will fall apart and that'll be the end."

"What are you trying to say?" Reiner said.

I saw the look in Jean's eyes and shook my head. "You're not suggesting we try to stop it?" I asked, hoping against hope he would call me an idiot and say someone should ride ahead.

"We may still be able to draw its attention," he argued. "We're the only ones who may be able to buy time to withdraw." He looked down, jaw clenching. "Maybe…"

"But it really is intelligent," Armin said, eyebrows drawing into a worried frown. "To it, we are nothing but insignificant insects. It'll just crush us…"

"It's a suicide mission," I added, sending him a worried glance. What was going on in his head?

"Seriously? That's scary," Jean laughed, blood draining from his face. I could tell from the flicker in his eyes that he was seriously contemplating doing something about the Female Titan.

"Hey… are you really Jean?" Reiner asked, sounding worried as well. "The Jean I know never thinks of anyone but himself."

Jean snorted. "Don't be an ass." He looked up, gaze burning with purpose. His knuckles turned white from how tight his grip on his reins were. "I just don't want those charred bones I saw to be disappointed in me!"

I tore my gaze away from him, feeling sadness and nostalgia well in my chest. If only Marco could see how much of a difference he made in Jean. He would be proud.

"I… I know what I have to do now!" Jean growled. "And this is the job we chose. Help me!"

I felt the same awe that I always felt whenever I saw Eren. I smirked slightly, shaking my head. He really had grown up, hadn't he? I had thought I was impressed when Jean had stayed during the Recon Corps induction, but this change impressed me much more and he didn't even know it.

Armin's gaze hardened as he made a decision. His hands went to his hood, pulling it up to hide his face in shadow. "Put on your hood," he ordered. "As far forward as you can, so that your face is hidden from it. I don't think it'll kill us until it knows who we are."

Reiner grinned a mischievous grin, reaching back for his hood as well. "I see…" he said. "You believe if it thinks we might be Eren, it won't kill us? If nothing else, it'll make me feel better. Let's just hope it has poor eyesight!"

There was a flaw, of course, as all good plans did. We were all of different heights. Reiner was too tall and Armin was too short, so the only likely targets were Jean and me. Small comfort for me.

I pulled my hood up as well, pulling my hair back as much as I could. I had never had reason to doubt Armin. "I trust you," I told him quite uselessly. He already knew that.

"Armin, I thought it was creepy how you always clung to Eren, but I've always thought you had it in you," Jean stated as he pulled his hood on too, utterly confusing me. I didn't have the capacity to try and understand his words at the moment, most of my mind preoccupied with the fact that we were going to take on the Female Titan head on. I was terrified, but it was all too easy to push the fear to the back of my mind and focus on pushing the analytical soldier to the front.

Seriously, teenagers shouldn't be doing this.

"Uh, thanks…" Armin replied, sounding about as confused as I felt. "But, creepy? That's really mean." I rolled my eyes slightly, the corner of my lip kicking up in a nervous smirk.

"Always with the brutal honesty," I muttered, snapping on my blades onto my handgrips after seeing the others do the same. It would be naïve to think we wouldn't need to engage it.

Slowly, we managed to catch up with it, which I found a little disconcerting. From what I could see, it should have been able to outrun us.

Maybe I was being overly suspicious. It was the same as my interactions with Annie – the human Annie. There was always an undercurrent of suspicion in anything I did concerning her, which made our relations quite tense. It was all on my side, I knew. It was only because I knew… and I wished I didn't. Sometimes I wished that I hadn't remembered.

"We need to give the formation time to withdraw," Jean said as we neared the Titan. "Cutting the Achilles tendon should be enough."

I tensed, shooting him a look. "It's intelligent. Don't you think it'll see it coming?" I argued. I just didn't want to see him get hurt or worse, killed. "That's suicidal."

"Just don't try doing something stupid like killing it. We only need to slow it down."

On my right, Armin sighed, the sound still audible over the whistling of air in my eardrums. "We don't have any other options," he pointed out. "Unless you have a better plan?"

I bit my lip. Other than telling the others to run forward to command and inform them of the Female Titan while I confronted it, I had nothing. It didn't make sense why I would want to confront it. Skill-wise, it would make more sense for Reiner and Jean to stay behind while Armin and I raced forward.

But… I didn't want Reiner to be left alone with the Female Titan and Jean. Jean was easily disposed of –

No, what was I doing? Was I trying to suspect Reiner of something? He wouldn't do that. He was the big brother of the 104th Training Squad; the one who looked after the little guys like me and Armin.

I shook my head. Jean nodded sharply. "Then we'll go with mine. I'll take point. You guys distract it." He hesitated. "Dani, pull me out if something goes wrong."

"Me?" I jerked, turning to him with wide eyes. "Why me?"

He regarded me seriously. "You're the fastest out of the three of them," he explained.

I blinked. Was I? I didn't think so. Then again, I only ever compared myself to Connie, Mikasa and Jean, who were much faster than I was. I figured that Armin and I were about the same speed and where Reiner lacked the necessary speed due to his size, he made up for with razor-sharp precision and force he had behind his attacks.

Armin looked to me as the Titan's formed loomed overhead and I nodded. I shot Reiner a sharp look, eyes flicking back to Armin momentarily before resting on the older teen once more. He nodded in understanding, seemingly sighing. At some unheard cue, we veered away from each other; Jean and I to the left and Armin and Reiner to the right.

"Strike fast and deep," I muttered. Jean's eyes flashed to me as he smirked.

"Like lightning hitting a tree," he replied, echoing words Shadis had drilled into us every single 3DMG training we had ever had.

"Don't miss."

"I won't."

I drew back, letting him take my place as we drew closer to the Titan. Now was the time for absolute focus. I kept a steady eye on the Female Titan drawing up on our right, its lope steady and even. It was probably just conserving energy. Yes, that was it.

Jean pressed the hilt of his right handgrip to his lips for luck, a gesture he had repeated on the day we had our graded 3DMG test. It was vaguely reminiscent of sword salutes from Back Then, to be honest. Then, he jumped off his horse.

That's when everything started to go wrong.

I sucked in a deep breath as the Titan's head turned towards Jean. I tried to call out, to shout for him to abort, but his hook was already flying through the air. The Titan turned all of a sudden and I watched in shock as the hook merely rebounded off the heel and its body twisted to the right. I wanted to do something, but there wasn't anything for me to swing off of. The flat terrain was useless for 3DMG use.

I pulled on the reins of the horse, stopping it short as I whirled it around. The Titan's arm swung towards Jean – safely on the ground, thank god – and a scream lodged in my throat as it missed. The wind from the swing buffeted Jean's hood back, revealing his face.

The Titan locked its gaze on something and my eyes shot to the figure that held its attention – a rider on a horse. My heart leapt into my throat as I realised it was Armin, my hands urging Freya into a gallop once more. The Titan raced forward, hand coming down in an arc.

"No, no, no," I breathed, the trees obscuring my vision so I couldn't see where the giant hand would land. A green figure flew up into the air, the hood falling back to reveal honey-blonde hair that was just a little too long. "Armin!"

My hand fell to my belt as my horse galloped forward, my fingers fumbling for my gun and black smoke round. I might not have been able to get close enough to blind it with my blades, but there was more than one way to do that.

I took a deep breath to steady my aim, the Titan kneeling to observe something (possibly Armin, who I fervently hoped was fine) and fired. A black cloud enveloped the Titan's head and shoulders, not as thick as I had wished, but enough to make seeing a struggle.

Jean shot forward, reeling himself into the mass of black cloud that was dissipating too quickly to be of real help. I gritted my teeth, biting back a curse. It turned, spotting Jean and swatting at him. He released his hooks, inertia carrying him under the arm. It was instinct for us to strike for the nape, even when we knew that this was the one time we couldn't. He swung around, gas trailing after him as he propelled himself towards its back.

My hooks shot forward as I jumped off the horse, letting it continue on its way. The hooks impacted the soft flesh of the Titan's shoulder. It was probably the stupidest way to go, past the Titan's mouth, but this wasn't a Titan that would eat me. I hoped.

I propelled myself forward with gas – too much, my mind noted in disapproval in a voice that sounded suspiciously like our old instructor's – reeling in my hooks just as I reached the face. I met the Titan's eyes, surprised by the glacial blue that matched the colour of Annie's eyes (even if I shouldn't have been) before angling myself so that I could shoot over its head with a burst of gas.

I twisted, meeting Jean's wide and fearful eyes. "Jean! Let go," I commanded, my voice sounding too harsh, but this wasn't the time for niceties. If Jean didn't move now, he was dead. His released his hooks, reeling them in with an unusually sharp zip that was only loud in my head.

I grabbed his arm, shooting my hooks into the patch of the skin right below the hand blocking the nape for lack of a better target. I let Jean's arm go with a grunt of exertion, hoping the trajectory was right and he didn't accidentally stab himself with his blades when he rolled to safety. My eyes shot to the Titan's right hand, which was raising and reaching back. My eyes widened.

Shit. In getting Jean out of harm's way, I had just set myself up to die.

My mind flew through plans and fled, leaving me with a horrifyingly blank head and panic banging at the door. I wouldn't be able to reel my hooks in fast enough and I was too far away to do any real damage.

God, I wished I had connected with Annie more so she would hesitate at the thought of killing me.

"Dani, avenge the suicidal bastard who rushed to his death!" Armin screamed. I nearly pulled the trigger to release a stream of gas at the shock. Armin was talking about Eren… but Eren had been nowhere near us. Confusion tactics. My heart took residence in my throat as I noticed the Titan's hand paused. It's working…?

"That's the one – that's the one that killed him!" he continued. I didn't have visual on him, but the fact that he could scream had to be proof that he wasn't too badly hurt. "He rushed to his death on the right flank. Avenge him!"

I pulled one of the triggers, reeling in the hooks only to shoot them into a tree Jean was standing next to. I twisted, using the distraction to get out of the Titan's range as I swung to safety.

I rolled to a stop by Jean's feet, panting from the sudden rush of adrenaline and cessation of immediate danger.

"What the hell is Armin talking about?" Jean muttered, pulling me up by the back of my cloak. "Did he hit his head and lose his mind?"

"He's distracting it," I said, scanning the field for Armin, alone and defenceless.

"It crushed my best friend; I saw his body under its foot!"

"Wait, Reiner!" Jean exclaimed and I followed the sounds of horse hooves to Reiner charging the Titan. "He's going for the neck! What is that idiot thinking?"

My thoughts exactly. We were too far away to do anything as Reiner shot his hooks into its neck, reeling himself in with blades poised to strike. His form was perfect and even if he didn't have the speed Jean had, his aim was always true, so I could almost believe that Reiner could do it – expose Annie in the nape – except…

The intent wasn't quite there. There was intent, but it was off. It was lacking, which wasn't a word often used to describe Reiner.

Maybe the stress was making me overly-suspicious. I was probably just high-strung. There was still adrenaline pumping through my veins, muddling my thoughts and making everything too sharp.

Reiner seemed to meet the Titan's eyes and I let out an involuntary gasp as the Titan grasped Reiner in its fist.

"O-oi…" Jean uttered in shock.

Reiner's leg was still poking out and I noticed it twitch. I elbowed Jean. "He's still alive," I pointed out frantically. "If I distract it, you can cut the – " I cut myself off with a strangled squeak. The Titan's hand squeezed – it was almost hypnotic the way I had watched the muscles flex – and blood splashed into the air.

Jean emitted a horrified yell, backing away as I stood paralysed. "Oi, Reiner…! You…"

That… wasn't right. It just didn't seem right. My mind tried to understand, not believing the information my eyes had fed to it. Reiner hadn't died…

The hand seemed to explode and I took a step back as I noticed yellow and green amongst the red – Reiner. He had gotten out!

He swung out, grabbing Armin and Jean pulled me along so that I ran with him. I turned to look back at the Titan, motionless and… studying its hand? I frowned.

"Reiner did it!" Jean panted as he kept a steady grip on my arm, steering me as I tried to understand why the Female Titan wasn't chasing after us, or doing anything. "Mikasa was so strong… I forgot Reiner's really strong and reliable too." He shook me. "Oi, Dani, look forward, will you? Or do you need me to carry you?"

"I'm fine," I huffed, registering a sting in my calf but shelving it for a moment when we weren't still in danger. But… I didn't think the Titan would chase after us.

"We've bought enough time, right?" Reiner called, heading towards us and scooping up Armin's 3DMG as we ran. "Let's get the hell away from it. If it isn't a man-eater, it won't follow us!"

I looked back once more, my breath sticking in my lungs as I noticed the Titan had stood up. "It's up," I squeaked. I watched its retreating back as it started to run… towards the position that I suspected Eren and the Special Operations Squad to be – centre rear.

How… could it have known? Annie wasn't one to take into account details like this. She would have headed straight for the spot in the first place if she had known, not veer away to the right flank (which was suspicious, but the adrenaline thrumming through my body didn't allow me to think why that was so suspicious). Why now?

"Look, that big bitch got scared and decided to go home!" Reiner boomed and I didn't know why, but I thought I heard misplaced delight in his voice; not just the exuberance of being alive, but something else. Something that didn't fit.

I swatted those thoughts away the way I would a fly, forcefully removing them from the forefront of my mind. We were going to be in dangerous territory for a while. It wouldn't do if I couldn't trust any of my comrades to watch my back.

I stumbled, causing Jean to let out a frustrated growl as he straightened me. "Get yourself together!" he growled. "I can't keep watching out for you like this."

"It's – that Titan's heading towards the centre rear," I panted, trying to understand. "How could it know to go there?"

"Ah, does it matter? We should have given the formation enough time to withdraw."

"But… Eren – "

"Eren's safe wherever he is, but we're not," he snapped. "Think about him when we're not going to die!"

I fell silent. Right. Eren was with Petra and Gunther. He was with Levi. He was fine. We weren't. I was just too used worrying about him that it was all I could think about at the moment.

Reiner caught up to us, breath puffing out evenly. "There's a bunch of trees over there," he grunted, pointing to a stand of trees. "We can rest there. Attend to injuries."

Injuries. My eyes shot to Armin, where he was still being carried by Reiner.

"Armin, are you okay?" I asked urgently, struggling to catch up with Reiner's long legs as I tried to meet Armin's eyes. There was blood trickling from his hairline, dripping onto the ground. Sluggishly, I noted with relief, so it wasn't as bad as it seemed.

"I'm fine," Armin huffed, annoyed by the hold Reiner had on him but not being able to do anything about it. "You?"

"Fit as a fiddle."

"You're bleeding," Reiner interjected. I turned widened eyes towards him.

"I'm what?" I asked, glancing down at my arms and wondering if I had gotten cut when I had grabbed Jean earlier. No, my arms were clean and I was pretty sure I would have noticed if I had a cut on my abdomen by now. My right calf twinged and I glanced back, a surprised noise escaping me. There was a cut across the skin, a slash in my pants and staining the surrounding fabric red. It wasn't deep enough to cripple, but the pain was beginning to register more sharply with every step. "Oh."

Jean let out a derisive snort as we reached the trees, seeing Reiner's horse greeting us with a throw of its head. "Typical."

Reiner gently set Armin down by his horse, his arm stopping me short as I moved to attend to Armin's injuries. "Deal with yours first," he said sternly.

I made a face, pushing his arm away and dropping down in front of Armin to assess his injuries. "It's just a cut," I insisted. "Armin's is a lot more serious."

"Dani, no," Armin protested, hands wrapping around my wrists and tugging them away from his face. "Your leg – "

"This isn't up for argument."

A hand landed heavily on my shoulder. I looked up at Reiner, his gaze unamused. "Vale, your leg needs attending to," he said gruffly. "Armin can wait."

"It could be serious," I argued. "Let's just settle on Armin first." My voice cracked on the last word and only then did I realise my hands were shaking. Armin's eyes met mine and I looked away, snatching my hands out of his grasp as I clenched them into fists to stop the trembling.

It could have gone so very wrong. That was pretty much all I ever seemed to think anymore, but it was true. The Titan – Annie – could have hit Armin instead of his horse and he'd be the one dead. That she didn't was because she had never intended to kill Armin. There was always going to be the irrational fear that if Armin died, it was going to be my fault. If he died, it would have been because I wasn't fast enough, smart enough, strong enough and the knowledge would most likely eat me alive.

Someone sighed behind me, a heavy exasperated sigh. "Just do what she says," Jean grumbled. "She's thick headed and she'd rather bleed to death than leave Armin unattended."

It was a mildly harsh way to say it, but true nonetheless. I highly doubted I would bleed to death from a cut that might have been cause my Jean's hooks grazing my leg when I had pushed him away. My vision was still clear and a major artery hadn't been nicked. I didn't think there were any major arteries pleasant in the calf anyway. The thigh, definitely, but not the calf.

"It looks a lot worse than it is," I said dismissively, careful of not sitting on my bad leg anyway as I checked his head for an injury that was a lot worse than it really was.

"So are head injuries," Armin mutters. There was the slightest tone of snark in his voice and I couldn't help but think that he might possibly be spending more time with Jean and me than healthy. I had been known to come out with subtly sarcastic remarks at inappropriate times and Jean… well, he needed no explanation.

"Shush, you."

"I'm going to see if I can get my horse to come back," Jean offers, squinting out into the distance as he brought his fingers to his mouth and blew. A high pitched whistle pierced the air; the same sound that was always heard when Jean tried to call his horse. Frankly, it grated on my nerves (bugger sometimes whistled in my ear at ungodly times just to annoy me), but I had no problems with it now. It just didn't register as my mind tried work properly through the loop of could have died and what about me?

Reiner set the meagre first aid kit we were all given next to me and I set to work, cleaning away the blood. Armin winced as I dabbed at the cut on his forehead, but drew his attention to his 3DMG that Reiner had set in his lap.

"How's your Maneuver Gear looking, Armin?" Reiner asked, lumbering next to me and pulling my calf into his lap without preamble. I grunted as I lost my balance and fell, shooting him a dark look. I didn't protest as he picked up the bottle of water I had abandoned and started cleaning the cut. There wasn't any use in saying anything.

"It's okay," he replied, hands moving over his gear and tinkering with various parts. "The clasp released as intended, so it seems it's not broken."

"I see. I'm glad to hear it," Reiner murmured, wrapping my calf tightly. It would have been preferable with disinfectant, but the Recon Corps had always been lacking in funding, so we didn't have enough bottles of disinfectant to dole out to every soldier. Most of it was reserved for the medic team (and the dying). He sighed, causing me to glance over as he passed me the roll of bandages. "But what do we do? We only have one horse."

And two people too many went unsaid. I wrapped Armin's head, the two of us sharing a look that held a whole conversation. We decided with one look; Armin and I would stay, when it came down to it. The two of us because Jean and Reiner were more valuable than we were. They were fighters that could add a lot. Of course, I could argue that Reiner and I were the ones could be left behind instead. Reiner was strong enough to make it and I would be content knowing that Armin was with Jean, but Armin wouldn't stand for that. Logically, the two of us – the two weakest links – were to be left behind to die.

"Is it too tight?" I questioned, clipping the bandage. His hand rose to the bandages and he shook his head.

"It's fine," he sighed. I ran my fingers through his hair, the vacant look in his eyes telling me he was seeing something that wasn't there. At least, not there anymore.

"Thanks," I said quietly, looking up at Reiner. The older teen's eyes darted to me, eyebrows drawing together in a frown.

"Why?"

Not what for, which was an odd choice of words. I shrugged, pursing my lips. "For saving Armin. For wrapping up my leg." For not dying.

"No problem," he answered. "Of course, if you want to repay me…" He tapped his cheek teasingly.

I scoffed, swatting his arm lightly at the mild joke. Insinuations made up a large part of Reiner's humour, but I had to wonder if there was a lot more insinuated than just in his humour.

Ugh, there I went again with the unwelcome suspicion.

I realised the annoying buzzing in my ear was gone and looked over towards Jean. He wasn't doing the incessant whistling, only staring into the distance.

"See what he's up to," Reiner said. "Maybe try and get your horse back too."

"It won't come back." I stood up anyway and went to check up on Jean. He was staring at the vast field before us, jaw clenched as he thought. It was obvious that whatever he was thinking about upset him. "Any luck?"

He jolted, eyes darting to me as his elbow drove into my arm unintentionally. "What does it look like?" he huffed, waving a hand agitatedly. The tips of his pinkie and ring ringers shone in the light. "Damn horse won't show up." He shot me an irritated look. "Why aren't you trying?"

"My horse won't come," I answered. "She's stubborn like that."

"I wonder where she gets it from," he snorted.

I glanced at him, noticing the string of saliva on his chin. I reached out, hesitating when his hard gaze locked on my hand like I was going to hit him and he was daring me to hit as hard as I could. I rolled my eyes, using a part of his cloak to wipe it off. He blinked, pulling the collar of his cloak away from him; probably to see what I had did.

"You're gross," I stated with a roll of my eyes. "You had some spit on your chin."

He rolled his shoulders, making a noise that could either mean thanks for that or you're just as gross as I am. "Damn it," he spat through gritted teeth. "Where is that damn horse?"

I exhaled slowly as Jean started whistling again. I knew he didn't want to think about the possibility of leaving any of us behind, but it had to be done. Survival had to be priority.

"Armin… oi, Armin!" I turned slightly at Reiner's urgent cry. "Are you still out of it?"

Armin hesitated before replying, "Yeah, my head's still a bit fuzzy."

"I see… but we must decide. It's a hard choice, but we'll have to leave people behind."

Jean's whistling stopped as he turned back, a noise of protest lodging in his throat. I crossed my arms, the posture feeling defensive. It was necessary.

"Wait," Armin protested. He stood up and I twitched as he wobbled, but stayed in my spot. He was fine. "First, let's fire a smoke round. If the formation continued straight ahead, the row 4-3 team should be nearby."

It was a worth a shot, I guess. Might as well explore all available options. I reached for my gun and a purple smoke round, attaching it and firing it into the sky. As the purple smoke trailed – the signal for a call for help – I hoped that someone would come soon. I didn't even know what Armin and I could do if we were left behind.

"Let's hope someone will try to find out what's happening," I murmured, eyeing the dissipating smoke anxiously.

Jean sighed, shaking his head as he crossed his arms. "I can't imagine they'll understand our intentions just from that. They might not investigate."

I sent an apprehensive glance towards Armin, reading the fear in his blue eyes that he tried to hide. He could hide it from the others, but never from me. I imagined that my own fear wasn't hidden from him either.

We knew why we had to be left behind, but that didn't make the knowledge less scary. We would be in Titan territory without any mode of transportation and limited mobility, with or without 3DMG gear. What were our odds of survival, realistically speaking?

"Armin, we can wait another three minutes," Reiner said after a heavy sigh. "By then, we must decide – "

"I'll stay," Armin announced. I met Reiner's wide eyes and nodded. Where Armin would go, I would follow. That went unsaid. "But there's something I want you to tell them for me… preferably to Commander Erwin – "

Armin had probably figured it out. I could tell from the sharp look in his eyes and the lingering of I don't want this to be. His hand gripped mine and his fingers tapped against my palm in an unmistakeable rhythm of Morse code shorthand that he had discovered in one of the books he had read in the library and developed for shorthand between the two of us; it was something he had planned to teach the others, but only after he was sure it might prove useful. At the moment, there were still kinks to work out, so we mainly used it for silent communication between the two of us.

Titan is possibly A-N-N-

I squeezed his hand before he could tell me more. His eyes shot to mine and I blinked once. I know.

"No, Armin," Jean interrupted and the excitement in his voice had me turning to face him. "You should tell him yourself. Looks like someone's here… and with two horses!" There was a moment as he squinted out into the distance. I squinted as well. I could make out blonde hair and a petite stature. "It's… Krista!"

"Is everyone okay?" said blonde girl cried, her eyes shining with concern.

Jean blinked at one of the horses Krista was holding, lips curving into a smile. "That's my horse!" he exclaimed, laughing as Krista let the horse go for it to trot forward to meet him. The horse immediately nuzzled Jean's hair, braying happily. "Whoa, whoa… calm down, Buchwald."

"He ran toward me, terrified," Krista explained as Reiner got onto his horse and Krista gave the reins of the spare horse to Armin. "Did you engage the Titans?" Her eyes roamed between us, surveying us for any major injuries. Her eyes widened as they landed on Armin and me. "Armin, what happened to you? Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I think so," Armin replied, sending the shorter girl a small smile.

"And Dani? Your leg is hurt!"

I gave her a reassuring smile, waving a hand dismissively. "I've had worse," I assured her. It felt weird, having another girl worry over me like that. I was usually the one fussing over everyone and Mikasa was hardly overly emotional whenever I got hurt.

"I can't believe that smoke round brought you here," Reiner commented.

She smiled, her relieved smile lighting up her features like a beacon. "I was nearby and I already had Jean's horse." She looked towards me apologetically. "I'm sorry I couldn't find your horse, Dani."

I shook my head. "Nah, it's fine. I'm sure wherever she is, she's better off."

"Even horses like you. It seems you have a strange charisma. You saved our lives," he said sincerely, smiling dazedly at Krista.

I tried not to feel offended at Reiner's words. I doubted it was a stab at my horrific relationship with horses. I was pretty sure Freya and I were getting along just fine too. I was probably just feeling an irrational stab of hurt at the comment. There I go, being overly sensitive again.

I blinked at Krista as her blue eyes shimmered with tears. She seemed mildly embarrassed as she wiped them away delicately. "But, I'm so glad that the worst didn't happen to you," she sniffed. "I really am glad."

Oh… wow. A flush heated up my cheeks as I fought the urge to drop my jaw the way Armin and Jean did. It felt like I was being embarrassed for her, even when I didn't need to be. I knew Krista was a really nice and compassionate person (why she chose to join the military, I'll never know), but I never thought she would actually shed tears of relief at the thought that we were safe. At the boys' dazed looks, I had to admit that I felt a stab of insecurity. Totally irrational and very brief, but there nonetheless.

I cleared my throat, causing all eyes to snap to me. I tried not to feel too insecure. I was well-aware that I couldn't compare myself to Krista; we were two very different girls. She had straight, blonde hair that she could easily tie back into a low ponytail and I had wavy, unmanageable hair that was a horrible mess when I left it loose. It was too short for me to do anything with it anyway. I felt like a mess next to her, with the smudges of dirt on my cloak from my tumble that I hadn't bothered to brush away and my calf that stung every now and then, probably still bleeding a little.

Why did Krista have to be so damn pretty?

"We should probably re-join the formation now," I suggested, trying my best not to glare as Jean's eyes shot back to Krista momentarily before finally resting on me and Reiner's eyes didn't shift at all. I could swear there was drool trickling out of the corner of his mouth.

"Oh… yeah. There should be orders to retreat," Jean said, finally mounting his horse.

"Wait," Krista murmured, eyes darting between the four of us. "What about Dani? There aren't enough horses. You can ride with me."

"Um, I'll be riding with Armin," I told her as Armin mounted the spare horse Krista had brought along.

She looked politely confused. "Is that okay?" she inquired, but I didn't know if that was directed at Armin or me. Probably both, knowing Krista.

"It'll be fine," Armin replied, holding out a hand to help me climb on. I didn't need it, but I wasn't one to push away a helping hand. I seated myself behind him, leaning forward slightly and clutching the back of his cloak so I wouldn't fall off. I would have wrapped my arms around him – safer that way – but it would have made manoeuvring difficult. Krista shot Armin and me an inquisitive look before taking off, the rest of us following behind.

"Are you sure you're okay?" I murmured, leaning forward so Armin could hear without needing to raise my voice. His head tilted so he could look at me a little. "I mean, I could take over."

"It's just a head injury," he insisted. "It's not even a concussion."

I tightened my grip on his cloak, but sighed and stopped asking. I trusted Armin's judgement. He wasn't rash or impulsive the way Eren or I was. He was the level-headed one. If he said he was fine, then I could believe he was fine.

"To think we've been pushed back less than an hour out of the walls," Jean said, sounding uneasy. "Things are even bleaker than I imagined… and for some reason, it went in the opposite direction from the vanguard command team."

"Maybe it wasn't aiming for the command team," I muttered, feeling Armin's back tense as he heard my words. The others hadn't heard, but he had.

"It?" Krista asked, only to be interrupted by the familiar bang-whoosh of smoke guns discharging. To our left, I spotted a line of green smoke. My jaw clenched; I had expected it, but the fact that the expedition wasn't being called off despite the inherent danger irked me.

"A green round?" Jean exclaimed.

"Looks like they're continuing the operation, only changing course," Armin noted. I didn't have to see his face to know he was frowning in thought.

"What? That wasn't a retreat command?" Krista said, sounding distressed. I looked over Armin's shoulder to her, noticing that her grip on the rein was turning white-knuckled.

"What is Commander Erwin thinking?" Jean wondered aloud, frustration evident in his features.

What was Commander Erwin thinking, indeed. To be honest, I didn't want to know. A day – heck, even a minute in Commander Erwin's thought processes could drive me insane.

"In theory, any soldier has the authority to determine when mission completion is no longer possible," Reiner stated. "Did command not see our smoke round somehow?"

That was entirely possible. Our smoke round could have gone undetected. However… it was highly unlikely that no soldier had seen our smoke round and passed it along. So, Commander Erwin was pushing forward despite that. The question was why.

I felt rather than heard Armin's sigh. "Even if we don't know what's going on, there's still only one thing left for us to do… follow the order," Armin pointed out seriously. "Dani."

"On it." I fired the green smoke round, feeling tense; I knew what was coming next.

Command was going to attempt to capture the Female Titan.