AN: Here we are at Chapter XVII! Thanks to those who reviewed to the previous chapters! Anyways, I hope you guys enjoy this chapter. I must say…I like blowing off schoolwork just to update this story. Again I hope you guys enjoy this!

CHAPTER XVII:

RETREAT

The next day, Celeste woke up as usual. When she sat up, she took off Petra's arm from her waist. She kept looking around. Her stuff was there as usual, Petra was sleeping with her arms stretched out. What Celeste was questioning was the other arm around Petra's waist?

'Last I checked, she doesn't have three arms.' She thought. When she leaned over, it hit her; there was a third person in the tent.

"WHAT THE FUCK!" She yelled. Just then, a noise grenade went off and the two adults woke up. It turns out that Levi was also sleeping in her tent. Last she checked, her mother was the only one she invited.

"The fuck is wrong with you?" Levi asked, his voice had a grouchy tone as usual.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Celeste asked him.

"I was sleeping!"

"Well, who's committing Incest now, you shitty Captain!"

"Guys, a noise grenade went off so shut up!" Petra yelled at them as she put her boots on. Celeste and Levi did the exact same thing and ran outside. There was a commotion. It was the Armoured Titan but it didn't seem like he brought company. They saw Eren try to attack its nape.

"EREN, STOP!" Celeste yelled at him but it was too late; the Armoured Titan caught Eren. His arms were pinned against him so he wouldn't be able to transform. When he had what he came for, he ran away. Celeste grabbed her 3DMG immediately.

"Someone has to go after him." She pointed out before giving chase. She took another detour to get ahead of the titan. When that was accomplished, she perched herself on a branch and summoned two large ice spikes again.

"Come on. Let teach you a lesson on the consequences of kidnapping people." She muttered angrily. When he came into her view, she noticed that he still had the unconscious Eren in his grasp. She released the spikes towards the Titan's eyes again but to her surprise, he breathed out fire like a dragon.

"Fucking hell?" She muttered. She didn't know it could do that. Her top priority was to get Eren back. She'd leave the capturing to other squads. While he was still occupied with melting the spikes, Celeste used her 3DMG to pry Eren from his grasp but it was difficult. Sticking her watch arm in an opening in his hand, she encased it in a block of ice. The sudden attack forced him to let Eren go. Using an Ice slide, she caught him and made her way back to camp. Unfortunately, she can hear the Armoured Titan after them.

"Hey, you ugly bastard!" They heard someone yell. Turning around, Celeste saw a man with short blonde hair, leading a squad of soldiers. She's only saw him once, but Celeste knew who he was; Jean Kirschtein.

"Get out of here, kid. We got this." She heard another person say. Looking up, she saw another group of soldiers led by a bald man and a brunette girl with her hair tied in a ponytail; Connie Springer and Sasha Braus.

"I'll come back to help. I swear." Celeste replied before continuing on. Those people were from Eren's trainee squad; the 104th.

"Celeste!" She heard someone yell. Looking up she saw the Spec Ops Squad coming towards her. When Mikasa and Armin were in front of her, she immediately handed Eren over to them.

"Get him to safety. He's who they're after." She said. When she was about to leave, Armin held her wrist.

"They're after you too, Celeste. Or have you forgotten that?" He asked her but Celeste threw him off.

"The other members of the 104th are leading soldiers there, Armin. I have to help them." She answered before using her 3DMG once more to go back. As she went, Petra stared worriedly at her. Her recklessness will be the death of her.

'That kid; she won't last long with that kind of attitude.' She thought before she followed after Celeste.

"Bring Jaeger back to camp. I'll follow them." Levi ordered the other two before leaving.

When Celeste arrived at the battlefield, she was terrified by the sight. There were bodies of soldiers strewn about the forest floor. Suddenly, a flash of the 57th Expedition flashed within her mind's eye. She was about to throw up but held it in. Instead, she steeled herself and turned her watch face back once. Setting her blades on fire, she let out a battle cry. One so loud that people would think a Titan was yelling. Jean, Connie and Sasha turned and to their surprise, saw Celeste with her blades on fire, latching on to nape of Reiner's neck and violently hacking it.

"Is she insane?" Connie asked them but the other two just shrugged. When they saw that Reiner was going to attack her, they immediately moved to distract him.

"You bastard. I'll make you pay. Countless soldiers are dead because of you." Celeste muttered as she kept hitting the nape but Reiner kept hardening it. She failed to notice Reiner's left hand creeping towards her though.

"Celeste!" She heard her mother yell at her. When she looked up, she saw Petra flying towards her and the Titan's hand.

"STOP!" She yelled but she was too late. She felt herself flying but thanks to her quick thinking, she was able to latch her hook onto a tree but her leg was a bit damaged due to its impact to the tree. Celeste looked up in time to see the Armoured Titan hold Petra in front of him. When he saw that she wasn't Celeste or Eren, he threw her away like trash. Celeste stared in horror, turned her watch face twice and created an ice slide. Unfortunately, she was a bit late and barely caught Petra. That caused the ice to give out beneath them and they fell down. They were still a bit high so it was little painful. When they hit the ground, they tumbled and hit a tree. Celeste forced herself up and examined Petra.

"No. No way." She muttered. Petra was bleeding out of her head and she was unconscious. Celeste pressed her ear to her chest. There was still a heartbeat but it was faint. Looking back at the battlefield, she saw that Reiner was retreating. Knowing that there was nothing else she could do, she focused her attention to Petra.

"MEDIC!" She yelled out, hoping someone would hear her. Someone came down all of a sudden. Celeste saw that it was Sasha Braus.

"Please, you got to help her." She begged. Sasha immediately grabbed her flare gun and sent out a purple flare. Celeste nervously kept checking on Petra's heartbeat until a medic cart came. The medic loaded Petra onto the cart and helped Sasha, who had an injured leg, in. Celeste followed immediately and they headed back for camp. When they got there, a lot of people were getting treated for their injuries and it seems that Levi, Jean and Connie beat them back to camp. A doctor immediately took her to a medic tent and they were told to wait outside. Just then, Commander Irvin yelled something out.

"We're going to retreat for now!"

With that said, everyone packed up their things, put the wounded and the dead in the carts, got in their horses and left. When they reached the fields, as usual, shit hit the fan.

"Titans!" A soldier yelled.

'Damn it. It's like there's no fucking end to them.' Celeste thought to herself.

"Celeste, don't even think about it." Armin told her. She was about to retort but pain shot up her leg all of a sudden. She looked back and saw more soldiers taking the Titans down. Celeste has never felt so useless before. All because of her stupid leg, she can't help those risking life and limb in taking the Titans down. After a while, they finally arrived back in Wall Rose. This time, however, the scent of failure lingered among them.

AN: And that is Chapter XVII! I hope you guys liked it. I'm sorry if it wasn't much but I still hope you people enjoyed it. Thanks to those who will review.