Chapter 7
Distress
Kara was on a training mission with the other cadets. She was part of Marco's group with the others. She rode next to Jean. Armin, who was recording the whole thing was up front with Marco and Eren. Christa was on the other side of Kara. They were to retrieve an object at a checkpoint and return to base. Thomas was leading the other group. The purpose of the training was to test their vigilance. Conny looked like he was going to pass out on his horse. Kara lifted her head towards the sky. She loved riding horses with her father and aunts. Now she was riding one of her own. Jean yawned beside her.
"Don't go falling asleeep." Kara scolded.
"This is boring." Jean sighed. Kara tilted her head towards Conny.
"You two are both bored." Kara said. Jean chuckled seeing Conny nearly drooling from the boredom.
"So, do you think we're not supposed to rush?" Marco asked.
"Yeah." Armin said.
"It'd be dumb to rush and exhaust oursleves. Let's take it easy." Jean said.
"I don't know how to take it easy, Jean, if you're going slow, I'll go fast." Eren said. Eren started moving his horse a little faster.
"Wait, Eren!" Armin said. Marco stopped Eren.
"We've gotta work as a group. Right, Jean?" Marco said, looking at Jean. Jean rolled his eyes.
"Like I care? This training ain't gonna help me join the MP. It was Kara's turn to roll her eyes.
"You don't know that." Kara said, earning a glare from Jean.
"She's right. Anyway, let's focus on the mission." Marco said.
"Hell no." Jean said, earning a facepalm from Kara.
"C'mon, its to soon for this." Armin said.
"Suck it up Jean." Eren said.
"I don't need a headache during this mission." Kara said.
"I'm not allowed to complain?" Jean asked.
"If only complaining made time go faster.." Conny grumbled.
"Tell me about it. There's a long way to go." Sasha said. Jean stared off into the desert. He growled.
"I'm sick of this." Jean said as they continued riding.
"Stop complaining Jean." Kara said.
"This training is more for those joining the Scouts sine your joining the Scouts." Jean said.
"I still think your better at being in the Scouts then the MPs, Jean. But you never know. This training can be MPs as well." Kara said. Jean sighed. They still had two years before they graduated. Kara was trying to talk Jean to join the Scouts, but he was dead set on joining the MPs. He knew he loose seeing Kara when she was with the Scouts even though she promised to visit him when she wasn't on a mission. He felt his heart sank deeper at the thought.
There was movement on the ground that caught Jean's eyes.
"Wonderful. Now we're traveling with lizards." Jean grumbled. Kara turned her head to see a lizard running next to Jean.
"That's rarre in these parts." Marco said.
"It's tasty!" Sasha said. Kara raised an eyebrow at Sasha, but she wasn't surprised. The girl could eat anything.
"Eh?" Christa asked.
"It's tasty! We used to eat them all the time. It tastes just like chicken." Sasha said. Jean looked at Sasha.
"You know how to cook them?" Jean asked
"Of course! It's easy peasy!" Sasha said. Jean got a look on his face.
"Jean?" Kara said.
"In that case.." Jean kicks the side of his horse and goes past Marco.
"Hey!" Marco called. Jean looked over his shoulder.
"Securing food is part of the training! I'll get us a lizard!" Jean called.
"Better yet, don't!" Christa called. Kara sighed.
"I've got this." Eren said. He took off after Jean. Eren rode ahead as the others follow him. Jean pulls out his swords and goes to attack the lizard as Eren catches up to him and blocks him killing the lizard. Jean was pissed as he pulled his sword back. Kara pulle her horse to a stop as Marco and the others stop.
"What was that?!" Jean yelled at Eren. Marco got off his horse.
"This isn't a game!" Eren said.
"There's no instructor in sight! We won't earn points out here!" Jean said. Kara sighed.
"Cut it out!" Marco said, heading over to the two.
"Are you guys kids?" Conny asked. Jean glared at Conny.
"You're the one to talk!" Jean said.
"Enough, Jean." Kara yelled.
"Jean, just behave." Marco said. Jean glared at Kara then looked at Marco.
"Why should I?" Jean said.
"If we're slowed down, we have to report it!" Marco said. He looked towards Armin. "Don't write this yet, Armin!"
"Alright." Arminn said. Eren was glaring at Jean. Jean looked at Armin.
"Write Eren interfered with Jean who was just tring to secure food." Jean said.
"What?!" Eren shouted.
"Boys. I swear." Kara shook her head.
"Tasty!" Sasha shouted. Everyone looked at Sasha. She had a look on her face of detmination.
"Let's go." Marco said.
"Right." Jean said and rode away with the others.
"One that big would of fed us all." Sasha said.
"Come on Sasha. We're moving." Kara said. Sasha quickly got moving as they start heading for the checkpoint.
They met with Thomas's group and got the object they need.
"Hey. Be careful. There's Brigands the way we came." Reiner said.
"What?" Mina asked.
"I heard my father talk about them." Everyone looked at Kara as she sat on her horse. "They steal weapons and goods to sell in the back market." She knew her father came from the underworld before becoming a Scout. "ODM gear can go for high prices." Reiner nodded in agreement.
"Just be careful out there." Mikasa said.
"We will." Marco said. They said goodbye as Marco's group headed the way Thomas' group came. Kara wondered if the men out there were men working for her real father. Levi never told her about the price on her head, but she heard other Scouts talking about it.
'Just focus on the mission and don't worry about it.' Kara thought.
"You alright? You look worried?" Jean said as he came up beside her. She hadn't told anyone about her past. She didn't want them to worry or know if she trusted them yet.
"Yeah. I'm alright. Let's focus on the mission." Kara lied. Jean didn't seem to believe her. Something was bothering her, but he knew better not to push her.
That night. They stopped in the woods to eat and sleep. Kara sat with Sasha and Jean as they ate.
"The rations taste like dirt." Conny said.
"If only we'd caught that lizard." Sasha said.
"Whatever. Screw lizards." Jean said.
"Didn't you just try to hunt one?" Eren asked.
"It's more realistic than hunting Titans." Jean said. Eren shot to his feet.
"So why are you here? Why the hell did you join the Cadets?" Eren asked, turning on Jean. Jean stood up and turned to face Eren.
"Not to throw my life away, at the very least." Jean said.
"What? How dare you say that!" Eren said. Armin reached for his paper and pen and started to write. Kara rubbed her temple.
"Don't, Armin! It's just fireside banter." Marco said. Jean laughed.
"Does it take seeing a Titan to make you love pointless training? If so.."
"Give it a damn rest!" Eren grabbed Jean by the collar. Kara shot to her feet.
"Stop it!" Kara and Christa said.
"Guys, let's go catch a lizard. It'll help us all relax." Sasha said. The two continued their arguement, ignoring the girls. Movement behind the trees caught Kara's eye as someone slipped into the woods.
"Let go." Eren shouted as Jean grabbed Eren by the shirt.
"You're completely useless!" Jean yelled.
"Hey guys!" Kara called.
"And what can you do?!" Eren asked as the two wrestled.
"Anything better than you!" Jean said.
"Shut up! You're gonna rip it!" Eren said.
'I'm gonna bang those idiots heads together if they don't stop.' Kara thought as Marco stepped up to the two.
"C'mon guys! That's enough!" Marco said. Kara looked back at the trees.
"Guys, let's go catch a lizard!" Sasha called.
"Let go of me!" Eren said. The man was gone but Kara had a feeling he was still out there. Kara came over to the boys and grabbed their heads. She slammed their heads togheter.
"OW! Damn it, Kara!" Jean yelled. Eren was knocked out from the impact. Kara glared at him.
"Enough. You both don't need to be fighting on this mission!" Kara growled.
"He started it." Jean said.
"I don't give a damn who started it. You both have tempers." Kara said. She walked away.
Few hours later. Kara sat by the river as the others slept. Her horse, Lucky, was eating grass next to her. Kara gazed at the lake. Kara held her legs as she stared at the water. It was quiet. Lucky nudged her arm. Kara smiled as she rubbed her horses nostril.
A twig snap came and Kara snapped to attention. She looked towards the woods. She watched. She might not have her weapons but she was good at hand to hand combat if needed. A squirrel runs out of a bush. Kara sighed in relief, but didn't notice a man come up behind her. She gets grabbed from behind. Kara screams. Jean's eyes shot open when he heard Kara's scream. Horses go running and Jean saw a barrel of a gun pointed at his face. The others wake up to the same thing.
"Don't move." A man's voice said. Jean looked around to see them surrounded. One person was missing.
'Kara. Where are you?' Jean thought.
"Gather up all their ODM gear. Hurry up." Leader said.
"What will you do with it?" Eren asked.
"Sell it for money. People will pay for it. It's not like Titans can be beat. What's wrong with selling useless weapons?" Leader said. Eren grabbed the gun and started wrestling with the Leader.
"Guys now!" Eren yelled. People gasped. Jean got up to run to find Kara when a gunshot rings out and the bullet hits Jean in the check. The leader pulls the gun from Eren. He hits the butt of the gun to Eren's head and knocks him to the ground. Armin gasps but a gun gets pointed to his head.
"Don't even think about it. Behave yourselves." Leader said. ODM gear was starting to be loaded up. A man comes out dragging Kara. Jean gasped. She had a bruise forming under her eye.
"Hey boss. Does this chick look familiar." The man asked. The leader pulls out a piece of paper with a drawing of Kara on it.
"Yes and with a nice price on her pretty head." The leader said. Jean's eyes widen.
'Price? She's got a bounty on her head? What are you hiding Kara.' Jean thought.
"We won't kill her. Her father wants her alive so he can kill her himself." The leader said. Her friends knew that Kara was adopted by Levi and were shocked at the words that her birth father wanted her dead. "Take her."
"No." Jean yelled, moving forward but had a gun shoved into his chest. Kara was thrown over the mans shoulder.
"Jean." Kara called seeing the gun pointed at Jean. Jean grit his teeth. Kara was thrown into the wagon and the men got in. The wagons move.
"Damn it." Jean said.
"You guys. It have been different if you guys had helped!" Eren said. Everyone stood in silence. Jean clenched his fists.
"That's just what you think. I don't agree. In fact, you put all of us in danger. Now who knows what's going to happen to Kara." Jean said. Eren didn't turn to argue.
"So much for the mission." Marco said.
"You're just going to leave Kara to those assholes? You heard them. Her father wants her." Eren said, turning on Marco.
"It's not that. What can we even do? Let's go to base for help." Marco said.
"And if we're to late? Then what. We'll never see Kara again and would you like to explain to Captain Levi why his daughter was taken or worse!" Jean said. Everyone gasped. "We don't need the Captain of the Scout Regiment as our enemy if some of us want to join the Scouts."
"Jean's right. Much as I hate to agree with him. I'm not about to give up! I'm gonna save Kara. Alone if I have to" Eren said.
"Eren!" Armin called. Eren started going down the path.
"Wait!" Jean called. He didn't want to leave Kara to those jerks either. "How will you search without a horse?!" Jean grabbed Eren, pulling him to a stop. Eren rips himself free from Jean.
"None of your business!" Eren said.
"It is my business! I'm coming to. I don't want Kara taken either." Jean said. Eren's eyes widen. Worry was written all over Jean's face. Jean wouldn't admit it out loud but he was starting to form a crush on Kara. "I also don't wanna walk home in humiliation." The rest of the group soon join them.
"Guys.." Eren said.
"We're all going. Kara's a good friend to us." Sasha said. Eren and Jean nodded.
"Having said that, how do we find them?" Conny asked.
"Even if we split up, there's to much ground." Christa said. Sasha gasped.
"At times like this, you've gotta look from a high point!" Sasha said. Everyone looked at her. They started climbing a hill. They come to the top and look around "When on a moutain, go up! When lost in the forest, climb a tall tree! It's something I learned from my father!" Jean saw a smoke signal and points.
"Hey!" Jean said. He points in the direction. They head in that direction. They found them all camped out and loading more stuff into the wagons. Kara was looking around as a man shoved her from behind with a gun to her back towards the wagons as Jean looked through the scope. She glared at the man with hatred in her eyes.
"We're moving as soon as we're loaded." The leader called.
"What now?" Eren asked.
"Rush at them?" Jean asked. He was relieved to see Kara alright.
"But they've got guns. We'll get wrecked and we can't cause Kara to get injured." Marco said.
"I have an idea." Armin called from behind them. They slid down the rock to where the others were. Armin was looking at a map. "They'll be wantng to sell their loot and Odel is the closest city around. Then they'll take Kara to wherever her father is."
"She never really said anything about what happened to her real father." Jean said.
"She's been hiding some stuff from us." Christa said.
"She never really talks about her past. She shuts down when I try asking." Sasha said. Everyone looked at Jean.
"Why you looking at me?" Jean asked.
"She's closer to you then any of us, Jean. Did she ever tell you?" Mina asked.
"No. She never told me anything." Jean said. Everyone was shocked on that. Conny took the map.
"We'll go ahead and ambush them." Armin said.
"Get ahead without horses?" Conny asked.
"We can cut through the forest if they're heading for Odel!" Sasha said. Sasha goes sliding down the hill with the others right behind her. Jean clenched his jaw.
'Hold on Kara. We're coming.' Jean thought. The wagons started to move. Kara stood in the wagon with her hands tie above her head to a pole.
Her friends reach the forest ahead of the wagons.
"Past this forest, the path splits in two. Oncle they get on the path to Odel, there's not much we can do." Armin said. They got in trees. The wagons were coming towards them.
"They're here!" Mina called.
"Alright." Conny said as he got the rope ready. He swing out as Sasha holds out her hand for him. Conny grabs it and he lands on branch. He jumps off bringing the branch that the rope is connected to down. Marco sat on the ground with Armin as they listened for the sounds of the ODM gear. Jean and Eren were waiting in the tree for the cans to clink. The first wagon hits a rock and there was no sound. The second wagon comes and hits a rock. The ODM gear gingle. Marco pulls hard on the rope giving Jean and Eren the signal of where the ODM gear was.
"That's the signal to attack!" Jean yelled. Jean and Eren jumped out of the tree. They fall into the wagon. A man gasped.
"What the hell!" Kara turned her head to see Jean tackle a man and sent him flying out of the wagon.
"Jean!" Kara yelled.
"What going on?!" The man sitting next to Kara said.
"You little!" Eren throws a man over his shoulder and has him land on the floor. Jean runs at the driver and grabs him by the neck.
"What are you doing?!" Driver yells.
"The sorta thing you guys do!" Jean yells. Kara gasps as the man next to her points a gun at Jean as Eren tosses the other man off the wagon.
"I'll teach you!" The man said. Jean lets the driver go. The wagon hits a bump and the man fires. The bullet hits the side of the wagon. Kara ropes go undone and she gets flung backwards into the wagon.
"Kara!" Jean yelled. The driver goes flying off as the wagon lurches again. Jean grabs the reins.
"Damnit. I won't miss this time!" THe man said. Kara looked up to see the man take another aim at Jean and Eren.
"NO!" Kara runs at the man and grabs the gun and the two start wrestling with the gun. Jean and Eren gasp.
"Kara!" Jean called.
"Damn you." Man said. The gun goes off and the bullet hits the wheel and destroys it. The wagon goes crashing into a tree. The others gasp and run at the wagon. Jean looked up to see the other wagon getting away.
"You okay?" Jean asked, looking at Eren.
"Yeah. Somehow." Eren said.
"Jean. Eren." Marco said, running over and sighed in relief to see his friends alright.
"We're fine. The ODM gear, too." Eren said.
"But they still got Kara." Jean said, quickly grabbing some of the ODM gear.
"Let's go." Marco said. Jean shot hooks forward as he took off. Eren and Marco were right behind him.
Kara still was struggling with the man. The man was stronger then her but Kara wasn't giving up.
"Cut it out, damnit! I told you to stop!" The man said. He grabs her by the shirt and punches her in the face. Kara fell to the ground as she tasted blood in her mouth. Kara looks up and has a gun pushed into her face. She grit her teeth.
"Don't kill her! Her father wants her alive. She'll replace the money we lost with the ODM gear." The leader said.
"Your playing with fire. I'm the daughter of Captain Levi and he'll have your heads for taking me." Kara growled.
"Shut up!" The man said, pushing the barrel of the gun to her head. "You and your friends made us lose a ton of money! You'll have to make up for it." A hook comes flying into the wagon and knocks the gun out. Kara looked out and saw Jean and Eren flying through the trees, heading straight for the wagon. The man takes shots at them. Jean easily moves out of the gunshots. Eren and Jean pull out their swords.
"Kara. Brace yourself." Jean calls as he flies by with Eren. Kara grabs the side of the wagon as Jean and Eren cut the wagon free. The leader pulls the break and Kara gasps as the wagon falls on its side. It crashes into a tree. The others land on the ground and walk to the crashside. Jean grit his teeth as he sees the leader holding a knife to Kara's neck and the other pointing a gun at his neck.
"Stay back!" The man said.
"Drop your weapons." The leader said. Jean and Kara's eyes lock and stayed lock. Kara saw the fear in Jean's eyes. Jean was surprised how calm Kara was with the situation. "Hand over your ODM gear! Hurry up!" Everyone stood in shock. Armin saw movement in the trees. He smiles. Jean and Eren share looks and everyone started to undo the ODM straps. "This is complete bullshit. Why does this happen to me? We might've escaped Titans, but we can't grow shit in this wasteland." Kara looked up at the leader. "And to think I taught my daughter not to give anyone trouble.." Kara's eyes widen. The man with the gun moves forward.
"Hurry up!" The man said. Annie and Mikasa jump from the tree and punch the two, freeing Kara. Kara moves out of the way.
"Kara!" Jean runs down to her. Annie and Mikasa stood. Armin had shot a smoke signal for the two to come help. Thomas' group had been following for back up.
"Mikasa!" Eren called. Mikasa and Annie pointed their swords at the men.
"Wait. Don't kill him!" Kara said. Mikasa's eyes land on Kara.
"No?" Mikasa said, lowering her sword. Jean untied Kara's hands. The leader fell to his knees.
"You guys run into trouble?" Annie asked. Thomas and the others show up.
"Let the MPs deal with them." Kara said, looking at the leader and the man. The others nodded.
"Kara." Jean said. Kara looked at him. Jean's check was bleeding from the gunshot. He ran a hand over her check where a bruise was forming and blood was coming down her nose. She flinched. She still looked beautiful even with the bruises. "You alright?"
"I had worse." Kara whispered. Jean pulled her into a hug. Sahsa and Conny ran over and joined the hug. Kara relaxed in her friends embrace.
Back at base. The gang was arrested. Kara stood watching as they were lead away. Sadies told her that he was reporting what happened to her father. She knew he be worried, but she was relieved that her friends were there to help her.
"A word." Jean said, coming over. Kara nodded as they left.
Kara and Jean sat by the lake. They sat shoulder to shoulder.
"Why is there a bounty on your head?" Jean asked. Kara sighed.
"Two years ago. My father killed my mom. The attack was meant for me. I have suffered under his abuse my whole life. Physical, mental, and verbal. He was about to kill me when I escaped and ran into Levi and Erwin. They took me in and I was adopted. My father has been living in the Underworld and has wanted me dead ever since." Kara said. Jean stared at her in shock as she wrapped her arms around her knees and pressed her chin to her legs. Jean saw the saddness in her eyes. He put an arm around her.
"I won't let anything happen to you Kara. I'll protect you. Even though you don't need it." Jean said. Kara laid a head on his shoulder as she felt comfortable around him.
"Thank you Jean." Kara whispered as they watched the sun rise. in the distance.
AN: I know it was Christa that got taken but switched it up to go with the story. She had to tell Jean the truth eventually. Till next time.