AN: Alrighty, Chapter VIII! I hope you guys enjoyed the previous chapter. Thanks to those who reviewed to the previous chapters. Okay, here I am in Boracay. It's Monday here in the Philippines so it's my third and last night here. I go home tomorrow afternoon. Anyways, I almost cried when our plane got in the air since it was my first time. Let me just say this; I watched the latest Shingeki Episode yesterday (which was a Sunday) and that night, I pigged out on crepes and got roaring drunk. That's how hard Petra's death hit me. Anyways, I have decided to make this chapter epically longer than usual. At least, I hope it's longer than usual. Anyways, here is Chapter VIII! I hope you enjoy!

CHAPTER VIII:

EXPEDITION I

Petra was serving dinner for everyone and pouring tea when she heard a crash outside the dining hall.

"CASSANDRA? HELP!" She heard Armin yell. Petra rushed outside towards the staircase and saw Armin cradling Cassandra on his lap. Her face was covered in blood which came from her nose. Eren and Mikasa came down immediately and so did Hanji.

"What happened?" Petra asked as she tended to Cassandra.

"I don't know. She looked weak and-and then she-she lost her footing and fell." Armin explained in a panicked manner.

"Get her to her room. Her temperature's dropping." Hanji said. Eren and Mikasa picked her up and carried Cassandra to her room. They were surprised by how much of a mess the room is. They set her on her bed. Cassandra was shivering a lot so Armin covered her with a blanket but that didn't seem to have helped.

"What's wrong with the brat now?" Levi asked as he walked in the room. He noticed the blood pouring out her nose. For some reason, Levi felt pain in his heart. Almost as if he didn't want to see Cassandra like that.

'Tch…what's wrong with me? I shouldn't be concerned about her.' He thought angrily.

Petra wiped all the blood from Cassandra's face and held the girl's hand. They all noticed the glove on her left hand. Her temperature was slowly going back to normal and she stopped shivering. Cassandra slowly opened her eyes and saw everyone looking down at her.

"What happened?" Cassandra asked as she sat up. Thankfully, her eyesight adjusted to normal almost immediately.

"You fell down the stairs and your temperature was dropping." Hanji answered.

"What's wrong with you?" Mikasa asked her. Cassandra was hesitant to answer. "Armin said that you've been a bit weak earlier. Your nose was bleeding like a faucet and no normal person's temperature just drops like yours did."

Again, she hesitated on answering. There was no need to make them worry about her when they have an Expedition coming up in a couple of days. When she was about to say that she was fine, of course, Captain Shorty over there has to go and ruin it for her.

"Check her left hand." Levi ordered. They were confused with his order so they weren't able to do so. He approached her and took the glove off. Petra and the others gasped at Cassandra's hand, now turned into ice. It wasn't transparent, it also wasn't simply covered in ice but rather it was as if her arm was cut off and ice has replaced it, taking the form of her hand. She reluctantly pulled her sleeve down and showed them that the ice has advanced to her elbow. The watch looked as normal as ever but there was ice at the bottom of it that welded the watch to her skin.

"What the fuck is that?" Eren asked, his mouth hanging open in surprise.

"Side effect from over usage of the watch." Cassandra answered. "It started after I summoned the ice wall. My Uncle warned me about this but I never thought it'd really happen."

"Well, can you still fight the titans with an arm like this?" Hanji asked her as she tapped the ice arm in fascination.

"Yeah. As long as I don't over use the watch, I should be fine." She replied as she opened and closed her hand. It was working fine. She put her glove back on and rolled her sleeve down.

"What? Stop looking at me like I'm going to keel over sooner or later. I'm fine." She told them.

"Oh, well now that that's settled let's go have some dinner!" Hanji suggested. With that, she ran away with Eren and Armin hot in her heels. Mikasa quietly followed them and so did Levi, leaving Petra to help Cassandra up.

"If it keeps going, what'll happen to you?" Petra worriedly asked her as they walked to the hallway.

"I die." Cassandra answered. "The only person who can possibly cure me is my Uncle Damon and he's 2000 years away."

Petra simply stayed silent after that except for the chats they had during dinner. She noticed that Cassandra and Levi hardly participated in it.

'They're so alike. In more ways than one. Celeste, could you have possibly returned to us in a different name, without us knowing?' She thought. Petra so desperately wanted Cassandra to be the daughter they lost but how could they know for sure that Cassandra is her?

After dinner, they all went to bed. As Cassandra lay in her bed, she wondered if Petra took her advice. She may hate the Captain for the two counts of mistreatment she suffered under him (one of them was child abuse for God's sake) but for some reason, Cassandra didn't like the idea of them fighting. Before she knew it, Cassandra drifted off to sleep.

THE NEXT DAY

Cassandra was sleeping soundly like a baby when all of a sudden…

"Cassandra! Get up! Change of plans! The Expedition happens today!" Petra announced as she barged in, already wearing her uniform. Startled, Cassandra fell from her bed. There are only a few things that can piss Cassandra off; losing races, a spider or a cockroach escaping from their deaths, people teasing her for being adopted, etc. But the thing that pisses her off the most is when people barge in her room while she's still sleeping.

"Ever heard of knocking?" Cassandra asked with an annoyed voice. She wasn't really keen on getting caught wearing black track pants and a green shirt with a teddy bear imprint. Her ice arm wasn't hidden by her clothes. Thank God her figure didn't really change much, so she can still wear the clothes she brought with her since she was 15. The people from the Corps bought her some clothes but she was more comfortable with what she brought with her. It reminded her of home.

"Sorry but the Expedition got moved today and we have to go so get ready." Petra explained.

"Why are you so happy? You in a hurry to die?" Cassandra asked her as she stood up. Petra smiled but not in agreement. It told Cassandra that she took her advice.

"Wait, you took my advice and…how should I put this? Got some action yesterday?" She asked.

"I don't know what kind of 'action' you're talking about but if you're talking about sex, then yes." Petra said. That was kinda disturbing for Cassandra.

"How the hell could you just say it like that?" She asked as she grabbed a pile of clothes from her bag and her harnesses before walking past Petra, who held a confused look in her face. Cassandra was heading to the bathroom when she heard Petra yell.

"What's wrong? Do you want to know about it?"

'What. The. Fuck?' Cassandra thought as she entered the bathroom. She came out a few minutes later, wearing a long sleeved white dress shirt, white pants and boots. Her belts were already fastened to her body and her left hand glove was covering her ice hand. Cassandra walked out the bathroom and headed for her room to grab her jacket and her gear. When she was about to come out of the HQ, she heard Levi yell.

"Hey, Knight, if you don't come out of here in 60 seconds and get on your damn horse, we're leaving you behind!"

Cassandra immediately ran out of the HQ and whistled for Clara, who came in running immediately. When Clara was near her, she grabbed the reigns and jumped on Clara.

"And now, I'm leaving you behind!" Cassandra yelled at them as she kept going ahead of them. In no time, the others caught up to her and they were able to ride to Karanese District. The ice wall she made obviously doesn't have a built in door so they'd still have to exit via Karanese. Cassandra familiarized herself with the strategy that the Commander formulated. Finally, they reached the other soldiers and waited for the gate to open.

"Look, it's Ice Princess Cassandra." Cassandra heard a little girl say to her friend. Cassandra looked at Petra with a questioning look but she just shrugged in reply. Why are the people calling her Ice Princess?

"I heard that she came from the future by the anomaly. Is it really true that she summoned the Ice wall at Trost?"

Ah, so that's why. More unneeded nicknames. Great. Back in her time, she was known in the racetracks as the Black Knight of North Dakota.

"Good Luck, kid. Try not to piss your pants like Petra did." Eren said. Cassandra nodded in reply and then, it sunk in.

"Wait, she what?" She asked, trying to contain her laughter.

"Eren, don't tell her that!" Petra scolded the boy. Armin and Mikasa were trying not to laugh. Finally, the gates opened and they rode out of Karanese. Cassandra had no idea why they were going to go on an Expedition but something tells her that this isn't just about retaking Wall Maria. And something also tells her, this Expedition ain't gonna be pretty.

The Spec Ops Squad stayed in the middle (1) of the formation, where Eren would be safe, according to what she was told. All of a sudden, they saw a red flare.

"Titan spotted." She said. Armin fired a red flare as well. After a while, more red flares popped up and a green flare flew up in the sky. They followed it immediately. Petra fired a green flare as well. Then more greens popped up. Cassandra heard Armin gasp suddenly.

"An Aberrant!" He warned as he fired a black flare. It was crawling towards them. Fast.

"It's going a bit too fast, don't you think?" She yelled. No one can help them if they get attacked. That's when shit hit the fan. The Aberrant jumped and landed near them. Cassandra, who was at the very back of the squad, got thrown off of Clara. Reacting fast and with no other choice, she created a bunch of ice pillars and latched her hooks on them, turning around, narrowly avoiding the titan's jaws and slicked the nape of its neck. Cassandra coughed up to the others by using the ice pillars to latch her hooks on them. Then, she whistled. Clara caught up to The Squad just as she dropped on the saddle.

"Wha? Where the fuck have you been?" Eren asked her, surprised by her sudden appearance.

"Somewhere." She answered as she glanced at her gloved hand.

"You stupid brat. Stop putting your life at risk." Levi scolded her. She clicked her tongue in annoyance. Just who the hell is he to boss her around?

"Keep going. We're almost at the Forest of Giant Trees." Mikasa told her.

'That was fast. Just how long were we riding?' Cassandra asked herself. When she looked up, she saw it. Man, those are huge trees. She's been to San Francisco and those threes don't even come close to these.

"Why are we here? Last time an Expedition went this way, a lot of people died! Along with the other Spec Ops Members!" Cassandra yelled. They didn't answer her.

"Damn it." She muttered. Then, she heard them. Footsteps.

'Shit.' Cassandra thought. 'A luring operation? Again?'

Cassandra heard the story of the 57th Expedition. It was to capture the Female Titan. A shifter like Eren. She killed more people than a person can count with their fingers. She killed the former Spec Ops members Gunter Schultz, Erd Gin and Auruo Bossard. Nearly killed Petra too. The shifter, Annie Leonhardt, as Cassandra heard, was captured and encased herself in crystal but it brought out the traitors in their midst; Bertholdt Fubar and Reiner Braun. Another traitor was Ymir. All of them were shifters.

"Snap out of it, Cassandra." Petra scolded her.

"Here it comes! It's Ymir!" Eren yelled at them.

"Why am I not surprised at who's in her mouth?" Mikasa remarked. Cassandra looked back and saw Historia in the Titan's mouth.

"HELP!" She yelled.

'Getting real tired of your shit, Historia.' She thought.

"What the hell?" Cassandra asked them.

"Long story. She's going for Eren. Like they always have." Levi told her. Cassandra was torn; stay with the squad or stay behind and save Historia. If something bad happened to her, it would haunt Cassandra for the rest of her sad, short life.

"Keep going. I'll go get her." Cassandra decided. Before Petra and anyone else could protest, she latched on a tree and turned to face the Titan.

"Come on, you double crossing piece of shit." She muttered. "HISTORIA!"

Ymir tried to swat her like a fly but she was able to dodge and shot her mouth with ice. The block of ice kept the mouth open. In a flash, Cassandra yanked Historia out of the titan's mouth. After that, they ran away. Cassandra used an ice slide to high tail away from Ymir.

"Where's your horse?" Cassandra asked. Ymir doesn't seem to be following them. Historia whistled and so did Cassandra. Historia's horse and Clara immediately came. After depositing Historia off her horse, Cassandra hopped on Clara.

"Go back to your squad!" She told Historia.

"Good Luck." Historia replied. Cassandra immediately caught up with the Spec Ops Squad.

"I'm home!" Cassandra smugly told them. Seriously; she wanted to parade around in a shirt that says 'I survived a double crossing Titan shifter just to save a woman older than me!' Unfortunately, she just got hit in the head by Petra.

"Are you insane? You completely jeopardized the plan!" She yelled at her. Finally, it hit her. This was a luring operation; it wouldn't matter who died as long as the Corps got what they wanted. Cassandra clenched her jaw in anger.

"I'm not willing to stand idly by and watch someone die!" She yelled at Petra. Levi looked at her angrily and Eren, Mikasa and Armin looked worried.

"Think for once, Knight. Everyone in this Corps is willing to sacrifice someone or themselves for the good of humanity. For the Glory of Humanity. They would put guilt aside for an operation to succeed." Levi told her. "Trust in the corps, Knight. Everyone who joined knows that they're going to die with honour or live to see another day."

Cassandra looked down in shame as they kept going. When they got to the rendezvous point, something deep inside Cassandra that there will be hell to pay.

AN: Alright. That was the longest I have written. I'm sorry if this isn't longer than you guys expected but I'm a bit tired. And still a bit drunk. Bear with me. Anyways, here's what the number means.

1 – I don't remember if the Spec Ops Squad was placed in the middle or somewhere else but please bear with me.

Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. Thanks to those who reviewed and will review. Good Night!