Hal watches Levi with cautious eyes, noting his movements of the morning. In his typical indifferent disposition, Levi straps into his ODM gear and prepares his horse as he does any other mission he's been on. Hal does not notice a change in his demeanor that would make him believe anything out of the ordinary occurred, other than how he witnessed him leaving the stables the night before.
Hal's eyes flash over to Oruo who joins the others of Levi Squad, barely functioning and clearly not remembering the harsh words he spoke to Willow the night before. Hal's jaw tightens at the words Oruo said to her, and how terrible it must have made Willow feel in that moment, on top of whatever Levi did to her earlier.
Willow approaches the group slowly, with the reins of her horse in hand. Levi and Hal turn to her to see that she looks terrible, eyes bloodshot and dark circles form from lack of sleep. She lifts herself onto her horse as she reaches the rest of Malik Squad. Levi clenches his jaw, wanting to say so much to her and explain his actions from the night before, but he cannot bring his words to her, seeing just how much he hurt her.
Willow keeps her eyes off of Levi, trying to keep her mind from replaying the awful night over and over in her head. She needs to focus on the mission, and she cannot allow her insecurities to overshadow her performance. Hal moves towards her on his horse, keeping his head down trying to be discrete as he whispers, "If you are not up for this mission—"
"I told you to mind your own business," she interrupts him, looking ahead and unable to look into his eyes.
"Willow, you haven't gotten any rest, and there is clearly something bothering you. This mission is important and if you're not at your best—"
"Don't worry, Hal," Willow begins in a nasty tone. "I will do my little dance and I will get the mission done, and you can sit pretty like you always do," she says glaring at him through bloodshot eyes.
"Don't push me away, Willow," he tells her with concerned eyes. "That is not my meaning."
Malik trots past on his horse, eyes landing on Willow's. His brows press together, and he stops, "you alright?"
"I'm fine," she says between clenched teeth. "I just didn't get much sleep."
"You understand the importance of this mission. Are you able to adequately perform?" Malik asks more as a formality and Willow catches this.
"Always," she returns with a pressed tone. Malik nods once and Hal looks at him with shock in his eyes, questioning why the Captain does not press her more, clearly seeing there is something wrong with her.
Erwin looks over at Malik and he responds with a nod, signaling they are ready for the mission. Erwin gives the command, and they ride from the camp. Willow keeps her eyes forward as they ride through the decaying city within Wall Maria even when someone calls out for a Titan ahead. The support team springs into action and Willow keeps her attention on a one track to her main goal. Whenever Malik signals her, she will perform as she is expected to.
They reach the open field and head south as most of their missions have them. Willow watches ahead for any Titan threats and sees none within the foreseeable horizon. She gallops hard to catch up to Malik and keeps herself away from Hal's prying glare.
Malik looks over to the right and she does the same, seeing a smaller Titan walking away from them in no particular direction. Malik shoots off the signal gun to show Titans ahead and Derrek Squad returns the signal quickly after. Willow looks around at the formation of this expedition, noticing that Derrek Squad is to their immediate right, located at the Upper Outer Center Rank. She questions why Erwin would place his strongest teams next to one another in the front of the caravan, rather than on opposite sides as he is known to do. With the bulk of the manpower to the front left of the Scouting mission, he leaves the lower right regions at risk of an attack.
Willow's spine tingles as she feels an overcoming sensation take over her. She feels it again, the same irresistible force drawing her to the woods as she once did before. She turns her head to the left to see the red beams staring back at her through the tree line. Willow's horse begins leaning towards the left as she unconsciously commands the steed to steer in the direction towards the glowing red beams.
Hal glances over, noticing Willow deviating from the formation. He goes to call out to her, but before he can, a deafening clash of thunder rips through the sky as a yellow bolt of lightning strikes within the tree lines just above.
They jump at the proximity of the strike, feeling a gust of wind hit them and knock the horses around a bit. They recover and Willow presses forward, confused at the strike, seeing there is not a cloud in the sky. She wonders what must have caused the strike since it does not appear there is a storm in the horizon.
Willow glances over at Malik, noticing that his shoulders have tensed, and he is more hyperaware of his surroundings. He keeps his eyes forward, moving with an intense purpose towards a goal that Willow is not aware of. In previous Long Distance Scouting Missions, their goal was to survey the area and reroute or engage the Titans they came into contact with, however, with Malik's push forward, she can see this is not the purpose of this mission, and she begins kicking herself mentally for not paying attention in the debriefing.
Willow's heart races when she begins hearing deafening thudding coming from her left, knowing the unmistakable sound to be that of an incoming Titan, an Abnormal at that pace. Her hands shake holding the horse's reins as she prepares herself to engage the target, but to her shock, Malik does not turn to her to command her next move.
The Titan charges through the tree line with a raging force that rips the trees from their roots. Willow turns her head and to her dismay, the Titan that flies through the tree line is none other than the Armored Titan.
Her heart races and her chest tightens as her forearms clench with a rage that crashes into her body, thinking of the Titan tearing from the tree line as he tore through Wall Maria and destroying her home and her family. Willow snarls at the memory, immediately launching herself from her horse and towards the approaching Titan without needing the command of her Captain.
"Willow, what the hell are you doing!" Malik calls out with wild rage as he looks back at her.
She attaches to the front of the Titan's chest, flying herself towards the menacing Armored. The Titan turns to look at her and when their eyes meet, time stands still as it once did her first expedition. She remembers the fear she felt in that moment as the Abnormal looked at her with intelligent recognition, but she feels nothing close to fear in this moment. She feels rage and she wants revenge.
She cries out wildly in a war cry as she brings her swords back behind her head and digs them into his nape as she turns the corner of his shoulder, shattering them immediately on impact. Willow looks down with wild eyes when she sees a thick block of armor protecting the nape of the Armored Titan. She kicks off the nape as the Titan reaches back for her, releasing her grapples from its chest and landing on a nearby branch.
"Malik," she calls out to her Captain, "His nape is protected!"
The Captain growls to himself at her defiance, turning his direction towards her and not towards the intended mission. Hal, Laura, and Colin all turn to follow their Captain's change in course, moving to aid their teammate.
The Armored moves to Willow, smacking at the branch in which she stands on, launching her into the air. She grapples onto his chest, flying past him when he grabs her wires. She tries to release her wires, but the Titan has a hold of her. The Armored leans its head back, opening its mouth as he moves Willow to dangle over his gaping mouth.
Willow tries to cut her wires, but the swords cannot cut through the metal. She begins to panic as the Armored begins lowering her into his mouth. She looks down at the pink and red flesh of the Armored's mouth, feeling the terror she felt on her first mission when the Abnormal attempted to devour her. She wonders if now is her time to make up for being the survivor in Vanessa's death.
Malik flings himself off of his horse, crashing into her body and tearing her out of the Armored's grip. Once he has her in his arms, they smash into the ground, with Malik's back cushioning the blow. He grunts as the breath is knocked out of his lungs. He coughs as he lifts himself up, glancing back at her to confirm she is moving, then turns his attention back on the Armored that has its intentions set on the remaining squad.
The Armored kicks Willow's horse, flinging it into the field where it crashes in a pool of blood and smoke, as the remaining signal cartridges are destroyed and they are left with no indicator to communicate with the other squads.
Hal swings by, digging his sword into the Titan's reaching hand, only to have his blades shatter on impact. Laura flies past him and digs her sword into his arm to come to the same outcome.
Hal lands on a branch that Colin watches from. "It's no use," Hal begins, "This thing is covered in Armor and our swords are just shattering on impact.
"We need to get him moving," Colin says brushing the sweat from his upper lip, trying to return to the original plan set in place by Commander Erwin. "We can get him to follow—" but before Colin can finish his sentence, he is silenced as the Armored Titan's large fist hits Colin at an unmatchable speed, causing him to explode on impact. Hal freezes as Colin's body bursts into a million pieces at the power of the attack, showering him in his blood and gore, leaving nothing left of his comrade.
"Colin!" Laura shrieks in a wild voice that pierces their ears.
Hal falls back in fear, crawling away wildly as the Titan pulls his arm back to deliver another blow. Willow begins running towards her teammate with as much force as her legs can manage. The Armored pulls his fist back to deliver another blow, this one aimed at Hal.
Willow launches herself with her ODM gear, attaching her grapple between the Armored's eyes and propelling herself with a loud war cry at his face, driving each sword into his eyes with wild strength, blinding him with one hit.
"Willow stay back!" Malik commands with a wild tone as panic sets in when the Armored moves to grab at her. She kicks herself away from the Titan and lands on the branch that Hal sits on. She glances down at him, shaking at the sight of his blood covered face. He wipes his lips with the back of his trembling hand, trying not to allow the realization that Colin's blood and gore is all over him break through his conscious mind. Willow lowers her hand to him and he shakily takes it, lifting himself to his feet.
Malik lands on a tree branch below them and Willow looks down at her Captain with wild eyes. "I can't control him, Captain!" she calls down to him, and he looks up at her with a confused expression, "Captain, what do I do?" Willow cries out in a wail.
"Stick to the mission!" Malik commands her and Willow widens her eyes, realizing the mission was not for her to control anything. She panics, not knowing what her part in the mission is, if not to take over its mobility.
"Laura, ride for Derrek Squad!" Malik calls down to her, "We need their help!" Without hesitation, she mounts her horse and gallops off into the distance, leaving the rest alone with a quickly healing Titan.
Willow takes this opportunity to try and find the Titan's weak spot. She zips onto the back of the Armored, frantically looking around for a spot less protected with armor. Malik watches her with angry eyes as she drives her sword into the skin, causing her blades to shatter once more.
"Willow, focus!" Malik yells with venom on his lips. "The mission!" he reminds her.
Hal watches Willow with wide eyes, coming to the realization that she does not know what the mission is. "Willow, there are artillery cannons just ahead! We need to lure the Armored and ambush him there!" Hal reminds her.
The Armored roars as Hal says this, swinging at him with wicked force. Hal jumps back from the blow, colliding into Willow and knocking them out of the tree. They both crash into the ground, grunting in pain as their backs take the brunt of the impact. Hal looks up at Willow with guilty eyes for dragging her down with him. He asks her if she is alright and she nods, lifting to her feet and launching herself to a nearby branch, while Hal grapples to one farther away from her, so not to place her in harm's way again.
It is clear to them they will not be able to force the Armored to follow them, and they will need to reconsider the mission's goal. "We need to find a weak spot!" Willow calls out to Malik and Hal. "It's only a matter of time for him to regain his vision."
"Go for the heels!" Malik commands with force, "This thing has to be able to move. Crevasses that must bend are our best bet! Back of the knees, inner elbow, under the armpits!" he tells his team, and they nod in sync. "Go!" he calls out as they spring into action.
Willow goes for the back of the knee, slashing with satisfying force as her blades puncture it and cause the Titan to limp. The Armored howls out as Hal delivers the next blow.
"Malik!" Derrek calls out, approaching them from the horizon.
"Derrek!" Malik returns with relief, "Colin is down," he frowns, not fully coming to the realization that he has lost his first squad mate. "As expected, the Armored is protected at the nape!"
"What can my team do?" Derrek asks watching Willow and Hal slash at the Armored like flies.
"Hit him at any available crease in his armor! Send someone out to get Squads Levi and Hange for assistance! We need everyone in this!"
He nods, "Ben, Gunther, relay the message to Hange and Levi Squads!"
"Sir!" they yell back in unison as they gallop from the scene with pressed force.
Willow cries out as she digs both her swords into the back of the Armored's knee, pressing the blades in as deeply as she can. The Armored bends its knee, attempting to squash her, and she kicks herself from the trap. "Hal!" she calls out, "This thing is not moving towards the artillery! We can't push this thing forward!"
"Focus on getting it down, and we can think of something from there!" he says hating the lack of a plan.
Mario and Nicole join the fight, slashing at its arms. Willow looks up to see Nicole move quickly. Similar to Levi, Nicole rapidly circles around the Titan's arm. She is swift, and before the Armored can react, his arm is down, steaming as it barely hangs on by the tendons.
Before anyone can celebrate, the Armored opens his eyes and grabs her with vicious force, crushing her in its fist as if she were an insignificant bug. Willow staggers away from the sight. It's not eating them. It's just killing them. This thing isn't an Abnormal. It's something else entirely.
Willow shakes the shock from her mind as the sound of Mario's frightened cries bring her back to the sight of him getting slammed to the floor as the Armored savagely throws him to the ground, splattering him on impact.
Willow begins hyperventilating as her chest begins collapsing into itself, and for the first time since her first expedition beyond the walls, she is crippled in fear. Her arms violently shake as they tense up, and she cannot control her grip on her swords. Her vision blurs as the panic sets in and her body ignites with the heat of fear that crashes into her. She falls to her knees, dropping her swords at her sides as she combs her fingers through her hair and grabs hold of her head, trying to keep it from splitting open.
The Armored turns towards her, moving to grab her and she looks up at the golden-eyed monster. For a moment, time is still and she no longer hears the worried cries of her comrades and the shrieking sound of their cables. For this single moment, she does not feel fear, or anger, or sadness. She instead feels a warm sensation take over her body that she imagines to be true peace. She shuts her eyes and allows the Armored to reach for her when Hal shoots up and takes her into his arms.
Her eyes shoot open to look up at him as he presses her closely to his chest. He doesn't look down at her as his hard-pressed glare looks forward. He places her on a nearby tree branch while the rest of Derrek Squad pushes forward. She watches in dismay as the Armored grabs Laura's hooks, crushing her ODM gear and tossing her into the distance where she paints the floor with her blood as she dies on impact when she crashes into the ground.
Hal does not say anything, looking at the carnage with the same fear that cripples Willow. "We need to do something," Willow decides and Hal looks at her with upturned brows. "We cannot let them die like this," she wines as she feels helpless to do anything.
Before Hal can retaliate, Willow comes up with the perfect way to kill him, but she needs Malik. She launches herself from the tree and runs towards Malik who aids Derrek Squad with slashing its heel. "Malik!" she calls out, "I have a plan!"
He meets them in the trees while Derrek and his squad keep the Armored busy. "It's mouth!" she calls out frantically. "It's still armored but at the cheeks where it opens, there is a sliver of tender flesh," she says looking up at the two of them. "I need both of you to slash each side of its cheeks, forcing its mouth open, then I will come in from behind. Once its mouth is forced agape, I will go in and slash the fucker from the inside out."
"No," Hal says quickly in a stern tone. "You put yourself in jeopardy of being devoured, we cannot risk it."
"I will cut myself out on the other side through the nape," she tells him with a pressed tone, not flattered at his stubborn interest in her life. "This thing is not interested in eating any of us. It wants us dead, and it wants to watch."
Malik raises his brows at her assessment, looking over to see Derrek Squad being quickly annihilated before them. "We don't have time to discuss this. Your plan is all we have."
"But Sir—"
"We don't have a choice, Hal!" Malik roars at Hal in a display of losing control that Willow has never seen before. "Derrek Squad needs us!"
Hal looks forward feeling his hands shake in fear for the first time in his entire life. "I'll take the left," he releases with a sigh. He turns to Willow, seeing the fierceness in her eyes, "Willow, I—"
"Go!" Malik calls out and before he can finish, he presses forward, feeling a growing lump in his throat as he pushes onward. "NOW!" Malik cries out and they both synchronize their attack, pulling out their blades and slashing the Armored with wild force as one. Their blades shatter on impact but to their delight, the Armored's mouth flings open.
Willow smirks to herself, running from the branch and launching herself with all her might and remaining gas into the Armored's hot mouth with brutal force. She crosses her arms over her face and digs her blades into the Armored's throat. She pulls her arms apart, slashing her swords as she tears through the Titan's hot throat. She cries out as her shoulder begins tearing at the strain that she is placing on it, but she digs her swords in deeper, and with all her might she slices through the Armored's throat, completely decapitating it at the jaw.
Willow breathes heavily as the top of the Titan's head falls to the ground with a loud thud. She shoots her attention to Malik and Hal as she stands on the Armored's tongue looking up at them with wide victorious eyes. It worked.
Willow begins wildly laughing at her triumph and Hal looks at her with powerful eyes, completely taken over by how amazing she truly is. "I did it!" she calls out victoriously.
She jumps from the mouth of the Armored and stands next to Malik and Hal. She searches for Derrek and the rest of the Squad, seeing the shock on everyone's faces. They begin to gather their things, taking hold of the dead and preparing them for transfer back to the base.
They hear a rumbling and Malik's face turns downward in a horrified look when the headless Armored reaches out to Oscar, grabbing him with quick force and crushes him in his hand. The Armored is still alive and it can still move.
"RETREAT!" Malik cries out with a primal tone that sends shivers down Willow's body.
They abandon their mission of retrieving their dead comrades and jump from the field, using ODM gear to retreat from the healing Titan that reaches out for them. Willow begins sputtering as her gas runs out, barely reaching a nearby branch before she is all out. She panics as she looks back at the Armored whose head begins to slowly grow back in a cloud of steam. Her head shoots around back and forth for a Scout nearby, but with all of them retreating with overwhelming fear, they don't notice her missing.
She begins jumping from branch to branch, heart racing as she doesn't dare to look down at the far drop to her immediate death if she misses a branch. She reaches a tree branch when she notices someone standing a few branches from her. She strains her eyes to see that it is Derrek. Her heart races in relief as she calls out to him, "Derrek!" she shouts, "My gear is empty. Can you carry me back?" she asks him between wild breaths. She looks down to see he is holding his blades at his sides, both broken from the battle with less than a fist's length of the sword left, and no more in his cache. He does not respond to her and she calls out to him again, "Derrek! Can you hear me?"
He turns around slowly towards her, and her face drops at the sight of him. His dark brown eyes are wide and for the first time since she has known him, his smile is fully wiped from his face and he looks utterly horrified. "It's never going to end," he shakes as he repeats over and over with wide shellshocked eyes, trembling slightly as he rocks his head back and forth.
"Derrek!" she calls out to him in a stern voice. "Snap out of it!" she yells harshly. "We need to get out of here now! The Armored is healing!" she shrieks at him.
"It's never going to end. They're all dead. We're all dead," he shakes as he speaks, his brows pressed together and his lips pulling down to the bottom of his face. "It's never going to end."
"Derrek, pull your fucking self together!" she screams at him.
His eyes land on hers and she shutters at the sight of him, completely broken and shocked. He lifts his broken sword and before she can even process his facial expressions, he drives the blade into his neck.
"DERREK!" she shrieks as he drives the blade into his neck, blood spilling from his wound as his facial expressions fall into a betrayed state of shock, as his body begins convulsing in an attempt to pull the sword out. Willow runs towards the Captain but is pinned down before she can reach him. "Derrek no!" she cries out as someone holds her down from running to him.
"He's gone," she hears Levi's rough voice whisper sternly as he holds her to his chest so she cannot move. Tears begins streaming down her face as his body slumps against the tree, falling limp with the unmistakable look of death frozen in his dimming brown eyes.
Levi forces her face to his chest, hugging her closely to him as she sobs into his shirt while he obscures her vision of the fallen Captain.