THE NEXT DAY:
"Time to go! Let's wake up and get ready!" Leo calls from outside the room. I groan, never having been a morning person. I role over and hit the ground with a thud.
"Crap." I complain, sitting up slowly. I change my shirt and pants and put the jacket back on. The others all get up and get ready as well, I make sure the chain with Lizzie's ring is still there. And I put my dagger on pocket on the inside of my jacket. It's not a mandatory thing to have, but it's something I like to have.
I sigh and walk out of the small room, Nana follows close behind me. She tugs on my jacket, as I've seen small children do to their mother's. I look back at her, I find it odd, not only is she older than me she is more than a foot taller than me. She's the tallest girl I know.
"What? How's your head?" I ask.
"It's fine, no pain at all... have you ever seen a titan before Jaq? Are they scary?" She asks. Understanding fills me, but I don't let it show.
"Yes, they are terrifying. Prepare yourself. I've been on several expeditions with my old squad, but for whatever reason I was transferred into this new squad. And I was in Shangashina on that day." I tell her.
"Did you kill any?" She asks.
"I have killed 67, and no assists." I respond. She stares.
" That's a lot..."
"I guess, most were under 10 meters."
"That's still impressive." Nana says and she smiles at me. She follows behind, the others joining us. Leo gives me a slight smile, but I ignore it. He frowns slightly, always use to me brushing him off, but I guess he expected a change after last night.
"We estimate we will be back later today, we will not be the only group going out, but we will be the only one's on this specific mission." Leo explains as we head into town. He walks next to me, his arm brushes my own occasionally. "I will take the head of the formation, I want Mark and Bree on the left and right, Nana and Jaq, you will cover the back of the formation, Jess you're the main look out, but you'll be on the inside with the extra horse." He explains.
"Yes sir!" We all say. We walk in silence the rest of the way until we get to Survey Corps HQ and stables. Other soldier's are there, I notice Alex and Annabell together, along with a few other graduates from my class. They nod their heads in acknowledgement. I nod back.
"Leo, make sure the horse is tied tight enough." I say, securing my saddle.
"Yeah, alright." He replies, yanking the reigns tighter. He walks over and leans down to my height, "listen to my orders today, Jaq. You've been doing good lately."
"Don't praise me like a pet." I hiss, under my breath. "I am an adult, a soldier." He puts his hand on my shoulder;
"Then act like one." He says. I look back and glare at him. He smiles slightly, and chuckles slightly. "You look like you could kill a man right now."
"I have a specific man in mind." I hiss.
"Do you now?" He laughd out loud this time.
OUTSIDE THE WALLS:
"Keep alert, you never know when a titan is coming." Leo calls from the front. I glance around constantly, shoulders tense. "Never split up, stay in sight of one another! We should be at the forrest of giant trees in 10 minutes." He says. Nana is shaking next to me.
"Nana..." I say, just loud enough for her to hear me. She looks over. "Everything will be okay."
"I know... but, if something does happen" she tugs her jacket sleeve up, "give this to my parents, find them, you saw them that one time, yeah?" She reveals an iron bracelet, it appears to have charms in it.
"Nothing will happen." I repeat. She tries to smile.
"Yeah." Bree suddenly shouts loudly. We all look up.
"8 meter titan! To the left!" She calls.
"I got it!" I break formation, Leo calls my name but I ignore him. I launch myself over it's head, using my 3DMG with ease. I turn midair, and launch my hooks into the titan, and swing my blades, launching myself forwards. It swings its arm and I release the hooks, falling to the ground. "Crap" I run forwards and launch myself into the air again. I hit the mark and it dies. My horse, who was waiting patiently for me, trots over, and I climb onto him. As I head back to the group, Leo glares at me.
"Jaq! I gave you an order!" He growls. I fall back into formation.
"I don't recall" I reply, loud enough for him to hear it.
"You are MY subordinate, you listen to what I say! You will be given discipline once we are back within the walls." He shouts, his anger obvious to anyone.
"Alright." I reply simply. I can't hear exactly what he says, but I heard some definite cuss words.
"You shouldn't have done that, Jaq." Nana says, only loud enough so I can hear. I smirk, mask fully in place.
"If I didn't, who would?" I laugh harshly. Reality is, if I didn't, I know Mark would have, and in his state of mind at the moment, he would have gotten killed.
"The forest is in sight! We will group up in the trees and go over the plan." Leo calls from up front. We all launch ourselves into the trees, once they are in reach.
He looks at all of us, his eyes linger on me for a second longer. "We will spread out so we can find her swifter. Fire a green flare, if there is a titan a red one, and an emergency, black, you all know the drill. Go." We all launch off in a line.
He looks at all of us, his eyes linger on me for a second longer. "We will spread out so we can find her swifter. Fire a green flare, if there is a titan a red one, and an emergency, black, you all know the drill. And I don't want you to engage in combat unless absolutely necessarily. Go." We all launch off in a line. I avoid all the titans, and keep an eye out for Mar.
Suddenly, a black flare flys by me. It's from my left, thats Bree's direction. I swing through the trees and I first notice a 10 meter reaching towards a branch, hidden by the trunk of the tree. When I round the corner, I see Bree being pinned down by Nana, a 3DMG blade at her throat. They're both sobbing. One of her blades is in Bree's right shoulder. Blood pools around them.
"Nana! Stop! What are you doing?" I shout. She spins around as I rush forwards, and shocks me by hitting my blades instead of me, I drop them, and they have enough line to drag across the tree as I dodge her blows, she's still crying. I slip the dagger from the inside of my jacket to my sleeve, without her noticing.
She furiously swipes at me, and I jump back wards dodging. "NANA PLEASE STOP!" I shout, "BREE! FIRE ANOTHER BLACK FLARE!" I'm screaming by this point, Nana chooses this moment to knock me on my back, the air is knocked out of my lungs. She's a lot stronger than me, and she has a full 30 centimeters on me. She's better than me in hand to hand combat. Nana straddles me, putting the blade at my throat. I hear Bree fumbling with her left hand to get the flare.
"Why?" I whisper, holding back my own tears.
"Better a death from someone you love, than a titan, it's better, after I kill Bree and you, Jaq, I'll kill myself." She sobs. Memories of my father come rushing back as I finally hear the flare go off. Tears streaming down my face.
Nana's eyes grow wide and she coughs blood in my face, as drive my dagger into her stomach, and rip it towards my chest. Blood pours down my hand, still gripping the dagger, and soaks through my clothes instantly, hot and sticky.
"...Jaq?" She sobs. Blood from her mouth dripping onto my face.
"I'm sorry." I choke out as she gasps for air, loosing her strength and collapsing onto me. Bree screams in agony and grief.