Level 100: Trost. The Gate.

Erwin and his fellow Squad Leaders each headed their own group of the players, ready to move out in a diamond formation of the different groups; the decision was made to have a variety of players in each groups, so as to include a mixture of the different skills and levels of players from the Survey Corps, the trainees and the clearing group in each division.

Levi sighed, having been stuck with the brat Kirito, and having had Erwin make him Levi's deputy, due to his "great skills, level and experience". What had really got to him was how everyone treated Kirito like some kind of saviour, "the Strongest Player in the game" like he was all that. 'Did everyone forget about all Titans I've taken down?' Levi sighed, sneering at the teen to his side, 'I'd like to see him try to do it.'

Klein had also been put into Levi's division, along with Miyu; the latter had wanted to remain with Kimiko in Erwin's division, but the two assured her she would be perfect for the Special Operations Squad. Klein was making use of his height to look around the groups to find his sweetheart amongst the nervy crowd. Instead, he found a sea of agonised souls putting on a brave face, for each other as much as themselves. 'Am I getting distracted?' He wondered, not wanting to let the group down and compromise the expedition, but also feeling a burning desire to protect the young girl he'd known just a few days. He could sense – for the first time so far – just how scared the Survey Corps were of going beyond the Wall. He knew the Titans were powerful, but just what were they getting themselves into?

"He'll be okay!" Hange reassured Sasha, causing her cheeks to redden slightly. Hange knew that those chosen for Levi's Squad – whether by Levi himself, or Erwin – were always some of the most talented people around; they often had very particular, specialist skills, that made them possibly the strongest division of the larger group, despite having slightly lower numbers. Sasha couldn't help but worry for the young man.

"I know I've not been outside the Wall since arriving," Sasha began, trying to focus on the operation at hand rather than Klein, "But they really don't know what they're in for, do they?" She didn't want to stoke the fire of fear; she could not deny that she was nervous, but she dreaded the crisis the clearing group would experience upon going outside. She'd heard the stories of the Survey Corps, why they were down to just 18 after beginning with 100 members. 'Maybe that's why Levi and Mike are always so sombre.' She wondered.

Erwin commanded his horse to push on; his group led closely behind, followed by Levi and Hange's groups, with Mike's division taking up the rear. As they approached Trost's Gate – broken through by Titans – each player marvelled at the realistic quality of the bricks and dust, the light breeze drifting through their capes; for a second, this felt like reality. It could be a tranquil horse ride through ruins in the countryside.

A sudden, stark reminder of the situation snapped the players out of such a daydream, as a Titan emerged in the gap that had once provided relative safety and security for the residents of Trost.

Despite seeing a few of these mobs just days ago, the clearing group members were taken aback by the sheer size of it; at least three times the size of any player, maybe more. Its features were a focus for many, craning their necks up to the gormless, distorted facial features of the creature sent shivers down their spines. Those shivers intensified exponentially as the eyes of the Titan lit up, widening like a lion having seen its prey; the huge figure began to trudge towards the group, each footstep causing physical and emotion shockwaves.

Without hesitation, Erwin pushed himself up to a crouching position on his horse's back, before throwing himself into the air, engaging his 3-D Manoeuvre Gear to clamp onto the Titan's left shoulder; Erwin swung himself round the side of its body, slicing his blade deep into the Titan's weakspot, the nape of the neck. The Titan began to falter immediately, falling to its knees before face-first through a small building; Erwin had jumped from its right shoulder onto a nearby rooftop, before dropping back to the floor almost casually, used to this form of combat. As he returned to his horse, he noticed that the clearing group members in his division were staring at him in admiration.

However, this was nothing to be admired. It was survival.

Erwin pressed on through the gate, the rest of the players following close behind. Nothing – not even their previous expeditions outside the gate – could have prepared them for what awaited: there were a few to their sides clawing at the Wall, and various dotted around in front of them as expected.

But no one had expected the herd of 20 storming towards them from their left.

"RUN!" Erwin roared, pushing his horse to gallop forwards frantically; not all of the expedition group were able to hear him, but all understood his sudden movement and began attempting to keep up, whilst also trying to dodge oncoming Titans. All of the players – even the more experienced Survey Corps members – became consumed with fear at the near-certain impending doom.

Some of the players' horses stumbled and fell underneath the players, the sudden stress proving too much; other players were not quite able to avoid the Titans' wrath, getting squashed, slapped or snatched as they tried to flee. Amongst the panic, none of the group were quite sure of how many had been lost: all they knew was that it was a considerable amount, screams and blue crystals surrounding the escape.

Erwin began to reach a clearing from the main group of Titans surrounding Trost, before turning his horse around and pausing his sprint for freedom. He bellowed with a volume and urgency no one had ever heard before. "EVERYONE! COME THIS WAY!"

Instantly he had the attention of all of his fellow expedition members that were still alive, and they began to converge towards him; he knew he had to turn tail and continue to burst into the clearing, or else the Titans would catch up to him and destroy the entire group. He had to hope there would still be a group to catch up to him.

Soon Levi, Hange and Mike had caught up to Erwin, riding alongside him in a V-style formation; Erwin chanced a glance back towards Trost, and was shocked at the numbers remaining.

Only about half had made it.

Erwin couldn't bear to look back for more than a second before he had to stare forwards into the unknown. 'So many lives... gone. And it's your fault.' Erwin criticised himself, reminding himself at how he should have sent forward a scout team, but had been so desperate to escape Trost, after having been stuck there for three years, desperate for reinforcements: for hope.

"I can't believe you actually did it." Levi called to Erwin, monotonous as ever but having to speak louder than a mumble – unusual for Levi – due to the sound of their desperate escape. Levi was surprised, not to mention impressed, that Erwin had the guts to push forwards, rather than retreating again.

Erwin decided to ignore Levi's comment, focussed on the land ahead, largely consisting of the beaten-down town that he recognised from the first expedition outside the Wall. However, Erwin's eyes soon zoned out from the buildings and waterway ahead and his vision was filled instead with a smiling Titan, with Shadis hanging limply out of its mouth. Erwin had spent a great deal of time with Shadis in the beta, and they had come to form a mutual trust, not to mention a great friendship; they had many similar traits and qualities, and thus were able to bond quickly. Both had been reassured among the uncertainty of the beginning of SAO by each others' presence.

But Shadis was dead.

A little further back in the group, Sasha was beginning to make her way across to a certain red-haired boy, whose height made it easy to find him as the initial chaos began to subside. The two continued on side-by-side, sharing a smile; Klein wanted to talk to her, but was unable to concentrate on riding his horse and a conversation, and he didn't fancy falling to the floor. However, to his side a Titan began to approach them; Klein didn't notice, but his horse did.

Klein's horse bucked, throwing its front legs into the air; however, Sasha was able to react quickly and throw out her hand to Klein, whose arms were flailing above his head. She caught his wrist and pulled ferociously to drag him through the air onto her horse; it wasn't graceful, but as his horse got stamped on in the background, he was grateful.

"Twice!" He called out, feigning disbelieving frustration. She glanced to him, puzzled. "I owe you my life twice, already!" He added, unable to continue the joke and instead letting his true thanks shine through; she turned to him to wave it off, but couldn't help but snigger at his infectious grin. Klein looked back to see Kirito and Asuna meeting up, with Lisbeth and Agil slightly behind them. He sighed with a relief that the four of them had made it; he tried to look around for his Fuurinkazan guildmates, and was able to pick out the tall frame of Kunimittz alongside the rounder body of Dale, along with a few others that he assumed to be his other friends. Klein counted his lucky stars, but knew that this may not always be the case. He gulped and hoped for the best, clutching onto the shoulders of the girl in front of him for dear life.

Level 100: Trost. The Forest of Giant Trees.

A while later, the remaining members of the group begin to approach a large forest at the end of a long field; the trees are larger than usual – at least 25 foot tall – and consisted of tall, bare barks for much of that height, with a small section near the top bearing the leaves. A hundred metres or so from the entrance to the forest, Erwin began to slow his horse, calling the rest of the expedition group to a halt. When they left, the Survey Corps had 18 members – including the Squad Leaders – while there were 12 trainees, and there had been around 40 members of the Clearing Group led by Kimiko.

Erwin began to look around the crowd of players in front of him, counting internally how many remained, slowly being eaten up by those that had been lost under his command. The Survey Corps had lost three members – Lynne, Ellie and Ralph – while they'd also lost four Trainees – Ymir, Krista, Connie and Armin – and almost twenty of the Clearing Group, though those close to Kimiko had survived, along with the leader herself. Erwin made a note of all of those from the Survey Corps that died under his command, but now there were some he didn't know. And the Trainees... basically kids. It killed him inside, but he had to swallow such feelings to address the crowd before him.

Erwin looked to the sky and could see that nightfall was close; it wasn't safe around Titans in the day time, but after dark would mean even greater chance of death. Erwin cleared his throat a little, glancing towards the other Squad Leaders for a second. He was usually so assured, but here he felt nervous.

"Nightfall is approaching. I believe the best course of action is to take to the trees for the night; we should be out of the Titans' reach, and may not even be detected if we are quiet." He turned to his side to address two of the Squad Leaders, "Hange, Mike: would you two mind taking a few others to find somewhere for the horses to go?" Hange and Mike nodded, before Erwin continued, "the rest of you will follow me and Levi up to the treetops, where we'll settle for the night."

Hange and Mike selected ten others from the expedition group to look for a safe haven for the horses; Henning, Rico, Darius and Samuel from the Survey Corps joined them, accompanied by Reiner, Bertolt, Annie, Mikasa, Jean and Marco of the Trainees. They rode into the forest with the others' horses in tow, looking around for somewhere to leave the horses in overnight.

Soon after, they came across a small ditch, leading to a cave-like underground shelter: Mike gestured to Hange, and the two led the group into the cave, before tying up the horses within; the cave was tall enough for the players to stand in easily, but small enough to offer protection to the horses from Titans; the horses were also largely shrouded in darkness, and the players hoped this would also aid their safety.

Once the horses were all safely concealed, the players made their way to the treetops to avoid any roaming Titans on their way back to the rest of the group; as she landed on a thick branch, Hange looked down at the intricate gear around her waist, her mind transported back to the invention of such technology.

Level 100: Trost. (14 Months After Launch Day)

Erwin burst into the room, a rare show of excitement from the ever-composed guild leader; Levi and Mike followed closely. Though they wouldn't admit it, they were desperate to know if Hange had really done it.

"Well?" Erwin questioned, forgetting his manners in this moment of thrilling anticipation. He clasped his hands, standing over Hange as she sat trembling at her desk, as excited as the other three combined; she was desperate to show them. She reached under the desk, pulling out a jumble of canisters and ropes; the others in the room looked on, perplexed, but trusting in the intelligence of the female Squad Leader.

She held the bundle high above her head, proclaiming its magnificence to anyone who could see; she then realised the confused faces of those around her, and decided showing would be much more exciting than just explaining.

"Mike, will you open that window for me please?" She called out, beginning to strap the canisters to her hips, before realising she couldn't quite reach. "Hey Levi, give us a hand?" She giggled at his disapproving glare, before he strutted over and tied the canisters tightly to her hips. She untangled some of the other straps, before gripping them tightly in her hands. "Watch this!" She squealed with excitement, jumping onto a bench and then throwing herself out of the open window.

Erwin, Levi and Mike rushed to the window, watching as a couple of grappling hooks shot out from the canisters and gripped to a nearby building, pulling Hange from her descent into a graceful swing back to safety on the roof opposite them. The three were filled with hope, sharing a rare smile together at the great success of Hange's creation. After months of work, she'd been able to create some gear that would allow them to attack – and escape – the Titans more easily.

Hange was grinning from ear to ear, crouching on the tiled roof and looking at the impressed expressions of her comrades; she'd believed she'd reached a breakthrough, but now it had worked she was certain this would change everything. Her adrenaline rush made her want to swing from roof to roof, even climb the great Wall if she could, but instead she stayed rooted there, taking in the moment of pride.

However, in the back of her mind were the faces of those for whom this development had come too late. In 14 months, they'd lost around half of the original Survey Corps members, and this would not bring them back. She just had to hope that this would reduce the future casualties at the hands of Titans. Little did she know, another ten would die before SAO's second anniversary.

A/N: Hopefully you enjoyed this, sorry if a few bits are a little rushed/skipped over (like the horses' shelter), I prioritised other bits over that :/ also, the first bit within the gate was written at college, so there's a little fun trivia for you! Please review, it's always good to hear from readers :) the next chapter might be little while because I'm about to have loads of UCAS things on top of general homework, and I want the next chapter to be really great because it's gonna be a little emotional; there's some pre-SAO stuff about an SnK character's SAO universe backstory...hopefully that makes sense xD see ya soon!