Erwin stood with his horse and marveled at a distance the gates that led out of Wall Rose. From there, they would charge straight through the field before going through the newly constructed entrance of Wall Maria that would lead them into the open lands where more Titans were said to lurk. His chest swelled with pride and excitement; although the Legion had gone on training runs, they would see the results of their work today. He smiled; with Eren and the five new soldiers, things would hopefully be different this time.

He glanced behind him, observing the other members prepare for the expedition. From there, he could tell apart from the veterans and the novices. The veterans chatted with one another while hauling along the supplies needed. Some even created a chain to pass on supplies to stock the wagons. The newer ones ranged from jumping with excitement to being silent. He could see some of them shivering in their boots as they shakily strapped the reins and saddles to their horses. He exhaled sharply with a poignant smile; would these novices still be here the next day?

His attention, however, was more drawn toward the five new members of the Legion. They huddled around Spencer's assigned handcart, appearing to discuss tactics they might have to execute during the expedition. Although he couldn't read their lips, their body language told him plenty about how Bryan, Tala, and Kai would serve as the flankers. The vehement shake of Ian's head suggested to him that they knew that for this expedition, they wouldn't be within meters of one another. He knew the agreement but had to split them as so. Spencer's solemn nod and the fold of his arms somehow calmed down Ian, letting the boy sulk inside the handcart.

Before he could continue mentally listing his observations, someone called him. "Erwin."

Erwin saw Levi on his left.

"Those boys are going to deviate from the plan," Levi pointed out.

He smirked. "I know."

Levi raised an eyebrow. "And you still insisted on splitting them apart?"

"I need eyes and ears all around. But I'm also suspecting these boys have a way of communicating with each other even without words."

"Their signals may mess up ours."

"I'm not too worried; I'm sure they already accounted for our style."

It wouldn't surprise him if the boys deviated from his plan. They weren't loyal soldiers; they were more like mercenaries that masqueraded themselves as soldiers. Despite the premise, they took orders well and carried them out without complaint. But they also wouldn't hesitate to deviate from the plan if they considered his strategy too — as Ian often complained — "old school." Youngsters, he mused to himself. If Erwin had to estimate how old the boys were, Spencer and Bryan looked at least 18 and above. Tala and Kai looked like they were still a year away from being legal, while Ian may never get into a pub without flashing at least three IDs. Before he could continue musing, Tala and his horse rode beside him.

"Ready when you are, commander," Tala said.

Erwin smiled. "I'll be looking forward to your performance today."

Tala smirked. "Don't worry; we'd hate to disappoint."

Once he saw everyone was settled, the Legion made their way to the gates. A crowd soon gathered, with kids waving flags and adults grumbling at the sight of them. He heard their grumbles of how "they were a waste of money" or that "they accomplished nothing but deaths" but, none deterred him. He had to try. There was a world out there that his father often spoke about and it felt strange that people kept trying to shush him. The days when his father was branded as a madman and eventually killed as a traitor was carved into his memory; the expeditions would prove otherwise and clear his name. A selfish wish initially, it eventually became the shared dream of all those who joined the Legion.

As they all stopped right at the entrance, the sun slowly rose along with the gates. Erwin's heart pounded; the sight of the rising sun would never stop inspiring. His blood burned and his leg itched to spur his horse forward. But no, he was the commander. They relied on him to survive and see the new world. He rolled his eyes towards Tala, who looked at the sun with an ice-cold stare. How many summers and winters had the boy seen?

Before he could guess an answer to his question, the loud locking of the gates' chains immediately had him raising his blade. "Onward!" he declared.

The horses whinnied and charged forward, immediately breaking into the planned formation. The Long-Distance Enemy Scouting Formation, Erwin smiled and watched his hard work take shape. At long last, he would see the plan that the former Scouting Legion commander had rejected come to fruition. He then glanced at Tala, who remained quiet ever since they departed from the city, maintaining his pace alongside him and Hange. A light yet cryptic smirk curved up his lips; a knot in his stomach told him that Tala was restraining and hiding a lot more than the boys had declared.

Ten minutes in and red flares already started firing. Once he spotted them, he fired a green flare in the opposite direction.


Signal flares, Tala mused. How primitive.

Primitive as he believed they were, he mentally lauded Erwin for his innovativeness. In a place that had no internet or even signal, they had to make do to keep everyone alive. He exhaled sharply and kept focused on the field in front of him. All he had to do was follow Erwin, but remain within range for the earpieces to work. He glanced at Hange, who continued to ride forward alongside Erwin, whose expression remained the same as it did when they left. However, he furrowed his eyebrows when he glanced back, not to see any of his brothers within his range of sight. Although he knew where each of his brothers was, he didn't trust the people around his brothers to know what to do. If anything, his brothers would be forced to compensate for the army's incompetence and lack of proper weaponry.

Suddenly, static crackled in his ear. "How are you there, Tala?" asked Ian.

Tala grunted. "Annoyed. They're wasting flares."

"Does Erwin have anything to say?" Bryan asked on the other end.

Before Tala could answer, he heard Eren holler. "Hey, who are you talking to, Bryan?"

Tala's eyes widened. "Wait, Bry, you're with Eren?"

He heard the falcon sigh. "Yeah and Levi too."

Tala froze for a bit before glancing at Erwin. Why would the commander put Bryan in but not Mikasa? Mikasa would have been the best guard for Eren. But between him and the guys, Kai was the best option. He groaned to himself and shook his head.

"Alright but, keep a lid on your speed," Tala warned with an amused snort. "You don't want to leave Eren coughing in the dust."

Bryan chuckled. "You got it, Red."

A deep voice crackled in through the earpieces. "That actually doesn't make sense either. Was he planning to have Levi and Eren suppress Bryan?"

"As if!" Bryan snarled.

Another voice chuckled. "Wanna switch places, Bryan?"

"And be with the yandere? No thanks!"

"Bryan, focus!" They heard Levi scold him.

Bryan snorted. "Shit, I gotta go, guys. See you in the forest."

As Bryan's line went dead, Tala glanced at Erwin before asking his brothers in his native tongue, "Есть идеи, почему Брайан с Эреном?" (Yest' idei, pochemu Brayan s Erenom?) (Any idea why Bryan's with Eren?)

Tala heard Spencer let out a disgruntled snort. "Bryan's the worst in being the vanguard. He's made for shredding, not defending."

"Not to say he can't hold his own but it's going to burn him out faster," Kai pointed out.

"Maybe Erwin thought that Bryan and Mikasa would kill each other?" Ian offered.

Kai scoffed. "Doubt it. That's a me-and-her problem. Not her and Bryan."

Clicking his tongue, Tala shook his head at their predicament. How could Erwin split us apart? That's the last thing they needed! If Bryan ran amuck then, he couldn't guarantee that Eren or even Levi — despite being humanity's strongest — could survive the Falcon's berserker-like rage. Ian and Spencer, being in the back, at least assured him that they had the easiest job. But Kai's position on the left side concerned him. Why place him with the woman who wanted to kill him?


Kai groaned inwardly. Guess Erwin's got it out for me or something.

Being part of the left side wasn't too bad. Barely any titans with only a few short ones needed to be dispatched. Other than that, the only thing he feared was Mikasa as she galloped right next to him. The hatred she had for him radiated off her despite her stony look. Exhaling sharply, Kai shook his head and spurred his horse forward to keep his distance while checking out for any other incoming titans.

"Help!" One of the recruits shrieked.

Kai's head snapped towards the source as a titan rushed towards one of the younger male recruits. It was a terrifying sight; the titan was crawling on all fours akin to a possessed young lady from a horror movie. Instead of moving away, he spurred his horse towards the crawling titan. Once he got close, he drove his blade into its nape and sent it slumping down to the ground with a loud thud.

He heard another titan go down on his right when he saw two other veteran soldiers bring it down. Mikasa took another one before mounting her horse again. That explains why she's top of the class, Kai thought. The balance, the grace, and the lack of panic in her eyes made her more reliable than the panicking veterans she had saved from being eaten by the titan she killed.

Kai heard another flare pop into the sky, noticing now a green-colored flare instead. With the green flare firing towards the left, all the horses and riders followed the direction. He whistled and spurred his horse, causing it to neigh and move along with the formation. He had to be honest; it wasn't too bad a remedy, considering they had no phones and long-distance devices. Now he had another question: what happens if they come across a titan they've never seen before?

He soon had an answer to his question when several black trails of smoke flared up into the sky. A few seconds later, they were followed by a large red cloud.

"Red's for normal and from what I was told, black is for aberrant," Kai murmured. A few moments in thought caused his eyes to widen. "Wait, don't tell me!"

Suddenly, his earpiece crackled with Ian's panicked voice. "Guys! There's a horde incoming!"

"Wait, what!?" He heard Bryan exclaim. "Where are they coming from?"

Spencer let out a disgruntled snort. "We don't know but they're eating through the right side. There's one incoming and it looks like the leader!"

Kai clicked his tongue. "Describe!"

"It's got boobs!" Ian screamed through the earpiece.

Bryan groaned. "Seriously!? That's the first thing you notice!?"

"No, it makes sense," Kai filled in before Ian could argue with Bryan. "Most titans don't have sexual traits. If anything, they all look weirdly androgynous or hermaphroditic. Aberrants as far as we've seen look like that too."

Silence filled the earpieces.

"So the fact it has boobs means that this is not just a titan." Spencer pieced everything together with a gasp. "It's a human with a titan form!?"

"Most likely. It all fits." Kai shook his head. "Tala, are you hearing this?"


Hearing Kai's theory and re-analyzing the formation made Tala's blood freeze. Capturing the human with a titan form was the real objective! Although the official press release stated that they were just practicing for the run to Shigashina, he recalled the inconsistent information. Even his own brothers had been fed inconsistent information! Had Bryan not been paired up with Eren, he would have believed that the latter had been placed in the far right. Only then did he realize that all the things that had been amiss were tantamount to catching that titan. He gnashed his teeth and turned to the one person who could have been aware of all this.

Tala glowered at Erwin. "You knew."

Erwin raised an eyebrow.

"You're making your men risk their lives for a creature they've never fought."

"Whatever that thing was, it delayed our progress from further understanding titans. I had my suspicions."

"And you were still willing to risk your men without confirming the intel!? Do you realize how many people are going to die for your oversight!?"

Erwin looked forward. "It was a risk we had to take."

Growling in his throat, Tala looked back at the soldiers who stared at him with their hands trembling and clinging onto their horses' reins for dear life. He bit his lower lip when he heard someone scream.

"Tala, no!"

Tala snapped his head towards the sound of the panicked scream, seeing Hange looking at him pleadingly.

"Tala, please! This is one of the few chances we have. She's been wreaking havoc even before you got here!" begged the bespectacled woman. "Stay in formation!"

Tala's blood boiled with fury. When he gripped the reins, his knuckles paled and his nails cut deep into his palms, causing them to bleed. If it were just him and the four other boys, they would have confronted her head-on and overwhelmed her with sheer brute force. But now that they were part of a formation, there was the necessity to conform. If he broke from the formation along with Spencer, Ian, Bryan, and Kai, he wouldn't know how many soldiers would be left open. He gnashed his teeth and growled before continuing to gallop alongside Hange and Erwin.

"There are some sacrifices that need to be made," Erwin said.

Sacrifice.

He bared his fangs and snarled. While he knew some exchanges were needed, many of the soldiers on this expedition would die without knowing what they actually were fighting for. Tala could feel the wolf in him threatening to leap out and shred Erwin for his oversight. Was it even an oversight? Or was it apathy? Whatever it was, it still caused his blood to boil and every fiber of him scream at him to turn around, grab his brothers, and face the weird titan head on.

Too many lives have been lost, Tala let out a disgruntled snort.

"Thank you." He heard someone say.

Hange had a soft smile, but Tala looked away, failing to suppress the dark growl bubbling in his throat. He hated his position; Erwin had split them to prevent them from deviating from the plan. Did he even think that far out? Whether he did or not, it still trapped all five of them. Shaking his head, he turned to the next billion gold question: why put Eren so deep into the formation? What was Eren capable of that he needed a fully-trained and elite escort team to keep him one piece?

He's like that strange human.

The possibility of Eren being such made Tala's blood freeze. It all made sense; if Eren was exactly like that human in titan skin then, Erwin would be using him as bait of some sort. But why make Bryan part of the vanguard? Bryan was the most like a loose canon! Tala racked his brains, remembering that Erwin had a good view of how they fought and behaved. Putting Bryan in an enclosed formation would get him killed! There was no room for him to speed up or run. He closed his eyes, trying to place himself in Erwin's shoes. It would have made more sense to put Bryan in the same group as Mikasa to maximize their bloodlust and brutality. Kai and Ian, being more surgical, would have been the more logical choice. Did Erwin choose to overlook that part? He growled. Nothing made sense anymore!

"Assuming Erwin did know about our combat strengths and weaknesses, why position us the way he did?" Tala muttered to himself.

He then heard a chuckle from the man himself. "You may as well ask me instead of muttering to yourself."

Tala glared at him. "What? And you're gonna give me some bullshit that you didn't know?"

Erwin smirked. "You didn't even hear my explanation."

"Commanders demand control. You put Bryan with Levi because you needed someone who wouldn't hesitate to mince Bryan into pieces, didn't you?"

"I will neither deny nor confirm—"

"—That's just as bad as saying yes! Kai's with Mikasa because she's out for his blood. You needed someone to suppress him."

Erwin's silence just made Tala's blood burn even more.

"Spencer and Ian were the only two you could keep together because you didn't know what they were capable of. Ian fights so weirdly and Spencer's too calm to figure out. You knew that Kai and Bryan were my flankers and my best damage dealers. You needed to keep them away from me so I couldn't give them orders."

Erwin remained silent until he picked up a flare and fired straight forward toward a large forest. "We're almost there," he said.

Tala exhaled sharply and followed Erwin in, noticing that the caravans soon started following behind them. The formation shifted and some of the horseback soldiers fell back and entered the forest from another angle. When he couldn't spot Bryan, Ian, Spencer, and Kai amongst the riders, a rock fell into his stomach. They can't die, Tala reassured himself. They promised. We die when that man's down. We can't die unless he's dead.

Tala exhaled sharply, murmuring a saying that all the Blitzkrieg Boys subscribed to that was similar to "Eat, Pray, and Love."

"Track 'em, find 'em, kill 'em," Tala chanted under his breath.

He remembered another saying from a series that Kai read and watched. It made so much sense for them that they adapted it as part of their philosophy. As he saw the incoming silhouette of the target in question, he snapped the reins and spurred his horse to charge the other way. He ignored Hange's frustrated cries and Erwin's venomous glare. As the horse's galloping filled his ears, he soon saw one caravan and 2 other horseback riders charging to meet the titan. A smirk curved up his lips as he watched his brothers order their horses to retreat and he jumped off his horse to do the same. The wolf inside Tala howled and the hairs on his body bristled when a surge of power chilled his blood and turned his nails into claws.

"There's only one god and that is Death." The line goes. "And what does one say to Death?"

Tala growled. "Not today!"

And with that, Tala revealed the very reason why Erwin should never piss him off again.


That's it for this chapter! Don't forget to drop a review!