Chapter 21: The Female Titan
"It's officially begun!" declared Erwin as he rode ahead of the column of Scouts "The 57th Recon mission, all Scouts move out!"
Ed and Alphonse held tightly on to edges of the wooden wagon as the white tarp cover around them fluttered violently in the wind, the sound of hundreds of horses galloping along one path was almost deafening, Ed peered through the flap covering the entrance and glimpsed at the long line of people on horseback charging through the main road of the deserted town that led straight to the gate. The rows of gas canisters, scarabs and the contents of the crates in the wagon with them furiously rattled as they raced over the unkempt road.
"Bumpy ride." Remarked Ed as one of the wagon wheels ran over a pothole, suddenly the sound of loud crash caught their attention, it sounded as it something had smashed into one of the nearby buildings "What the hell was that?" he exclaimed, peering though the flap again he caught sight of a Titan, about ten meters, smash his hand into one of the empty houses as he tried to grab one of the Scouts assigned to protect the column.
Sasha internal squealed as she watched the ten meter titan and two Scouts battle each other mess than half a meter away from the column "Eyes front!" ordered one of the Scout veterans turning her head forward "Their job is to handle, yours is to keep riding!"
"Forward!" commanded Erwin, his voice booming in the air "Ride for all your worth!"
"Hey!" yelled the driver of the wagon to Ed and Alphonse "We're almost clear of the city ruins!"
As the Scouts exited the ruins, Eren thought back to his training with Levi squad about the long range formation, he thought back to his friends and what position they're in inside the formation; Mikasa, Mina and Sasha should be at the centre-left of the formation and Armin, Reiner, Jean, Ed and Alphonse should be at the centre-right with Squad Leader Ness
Everything beyond the ruins is uncontested Titan territory; from there we'll have to rely on the long range scouting formation and handle whatever Titan that comes our way ourselves.
He began to wonder whether his friends could handles themselves against a Titan, he thought back to Trost and the many other Cadets who died during the battle; he'd believe that after three years of training they were ready to take on the Titans, instead they died fighting them, would it be any different now than then? Could Ed and Alphonse, the two of them only having just learnt how to operate ODM gear be able to handle themselves with it?
"Hey" said Eren to Oluo "Loaded question, but do you think my friends have a chance in taking down a Titan."
"Really?" question Oluo "You'd think so otherwise those three years and two months worth of training would have been a complete waste of time and listen, this is a recon mission; we're not engaging every Titan we see-" he then bit down hard on his tongue again and whimpered in pain.
Erwin sharply stuck out his right hand "Deploy Long range scouting formation!" he ordered as the long column of Scouts dispersed over a wide field.
Both Ed and Alphonse peered through the flap of the wagon to find themselves no longer in the narrow road of a deserted town but now in a wide open space, everyone looked to have dispersed; only a single wagon and a few other scouts were close to them now compared to the long column only minutes ago.
"This must be the long range scouting formation the Captain had briefed us about." Said Alphonse as he took out his small note book and reviewed the forward facing semi-circle formation he drew down "We're in the centre of the formation if I remember correctly, special operations squad should be near the back and the Cadets are either in the second column or part of the wagon defensive squad."
"At least we get to hitch a ride for this expedition" commented Ed "From the looks of it our ODM gear wouldn't be too useful to us fighting the Titans in an open field, but we could still take them out with Alchemy if it comes down to it."
Suddenly the sound of a series of loud bangs caught their attention, coming from right side, Alphonse peered though the flap to see several red smoke flares reaching into the sky "What is it, Al?" asked Ed
"Red flares" responded Alphonse, there's Titans coming from the right" a sudden troubling thought then came to mind "Armin's in the right side of the formation ."
"Don't worry Al" Ed tried to reassure him "remember the whole point of this is to avoid fighting Titans."
Catching sight of the rows of red smoke columns to his right, Erwin fired off a green flare to his left to signal a reroute and steer away from the Titans, spotting the green flare in the sky Mikasa, Sasha and Mina fired off their green flares to same direction, Ed and Alphonse felt the wagon slowly turn leftwards. "See Al, nothing to worry about." Suddenly another bang again from the right side caught their attention; Alphonse checked peered though the flap again, his stomach dropped when he saw it
"Black smoke"
Sasha nervously surveyed her surroundings, her eyes frantically looking left and right as she pasted an abandoned set of farm houses, that's when she caught sight of it; a Titan resting within a destroyed house, its back was faced to her but its head had turned to look in her direction, The Titan quickly got up on all fours, crashed itself though one of next house and looked at Sasha with hungry eyes like a predator eyeing its prey.
Sasha tried to scream but only a feeble cry escaped her lips, she whipped at the reins of her horse in an attempt to escape but the quadruped Titan gave chase, almost matching the speed of her horse
"Sasha!" yelled Mina who was behind her and the Titan, she took out her flare gun and fired off a red smoke signal, she frantically holstered the pistol back in its place.
Crap! What do I do? Thought Mina If I don't do something now that Titan will eat her for sure!
She took out the handles of her ODM gear and attached her blades to them there's no way I can kill that thing, we're out in the open and its moving way too fast.
She then looked to its legs and a stupid idea came to her maybe if I just cut the tendon of one of its feet, it'll buy us enough time to escape… she stood up, climbing up on the saddle till she was at an almost standing position, beads of sweat ran down her forehead.
This is stupid… This is so fucking stupid
Adrenaline was coursing through her veins and her heart was beating frantically, it similar to when she killed her first Titan; an intense mixture of excitement and fear. Mina jumped from her horse and fired the steel wire at the one of the Titan's legs
Two Scout veterans had arrived at the scene, just in time to see Mina jumping from her horse "What the hell does she think she doing?" exclaimed one of the Scouts "Damn idiots! I'm going after them!" one of the Scout rode off straight towards the Titan, Mina readied her blades, reeling herself forward and with all the strength she could summon she swung her blades and cut deeply into the Titan's left foot, almost complete decapitating the foot from the rest of the leg. She quickly detached herself from Titan as it tripped up on itself, its head skidding across the ground. She attempted to land on her feet by ended rolling on the ground
Taking advantage of the Titan's disorientated state, the veteran Scout leapt from his horse and fired the cables of his ODM gear into the lower part of its neck, quickly reeled himself forward and lacerated the Titan's nape; killing it instantly. Mina quickly got up to her feet after her rough landing, dusting the dirt off her uniform and placing her blades back in her scarab, she observed the now dissolving Titan corpse. The veteran Scouts and Sasha rode up to her.
"Mina!" screamed Sasha as she jumped from her horse and hugged her tightly, tears threatening to escape her eyes "Thank you! Thank you!" Mina hugged her back
"Hey!" yelled one of veteran Scouts "You two!" both of them turned their attention to other Scouts and quickly saluted them, the guy who delivered the killing blow to the Titan approached them first "Cadet, were you trying to be a hero or do you have some kind of death wish?"
"I...I…" Mina stuttered "n…no sir, neither."
"If we hadn't shown up then you'd be Titan puke in the near future, you got stupidly lucky but you won't be next time" he then sighed " just get back on horse and keep moving, you can count that as an assist I guess" he said as he walked off to his horse.
Armin watched as a female looking Titan locked onto him and resumed sprinting full speed towards him after brutally crushing one of the Scouts in the palm of its hands and flung Squad Leader Ness into the ground.
Armin panicked; he whipped the reins of his horse, signalling it to go faster in a desperate attempt to escape "That Titan" he muttered to himself "it's not an abnormal…what the hell do I do? I can't fight that that Titan, it's not an abnormal or a normal one, it's intelligent; like the Colossal, like the armoured, like Eren!"
The female looking Titan was now just behind him; the boom of its rapid footsteps was almost ear-splitting "It's a Titan shifter!" he cried "But who? And why would anyone kill other humans?" he turned his head around to see the Female Titan was right on his tail "This is bad! What do I do? If that thing catches up to me I'm as good as dead!" he let go of the reins of the spare horse, hoping that it would increase his speed "Go!" he yelled, he watched as the spare horse began to run free only to be stomped on by the Female Titan. He looked up to see the Titan peering down on him with its bright blue eyes, through its short blond messy hair. He thought back to the shifters; the Colossal, the Armoured and now the Female Titan what is it that they're hoping to achieve? He thought as the Female Titan raised its foot over him, ready to stomp on him. Her foot came down just right next to him, the force was enough to crack the ground and cause his horse to stumble which sent him tumbling off, landing into the dirt.
He was about to pick himself up and make a run for it, when the sound of a deafening boom just right next to him caused him to freeze in place, he felt its presence; the large shadow looming over him, he felt it tug at his hood, bringing him into a kneeling position, he looked up at the Titan; it was crouching down to look at him curiously as if studying his face. Armin felt paralysed; he couldn't move a muscle; all he could do was stare into the Titan's bright blue eyes. And wait for the moment it would kill him
The Titan let go of Armin's hood, stood up and ran off.
"Why…" he muttered "It… it didn't kill me, it just looked at my face… but why?" he watched as the Female Titan ran off
"Armin!" a call came from behind him, a figure on a horse approached him, and he looked up to see it was Reiner along with a spare horse.
"Reiner!" responded Armin
"Hey, can you stand?" he asked "C'mon you won't last long without a horse in this place, you'll have Titans swarming you in no time, climb on."
"Right!" replied Armin as he climbed onto the spare horse and charged off the in pursuit of the Titan running off
"I came here as soon as I saw the black smoke, gotta say, it has a nice ass for an abnormal." He commented
"It's not an abnormal" stated Armin "It's a human in a Titan's body"
"Wait, what?" replied Reiner
"I'll explain later" said Armin as he fumbled around with his flare gun "Work you stupid piece of garbage" he muttered as he struggled to load the flare into the pistol, suddenly the sound of a flare gun being fired off behind them caught their attention, they turned to see who it was
"Looks like Jean got you covered" said Reiner as Jean rode up to them
A series of bangs to their right caught their attention, a line of yellow smoke columns appeared "That's not good." Said Reiner "looks like the right sides taken a beating and trying to get the Commander to abort the mission."
"The right-wing spotters apparently got wiped out by a Titan ambush, a whole bunch of them just came out of the wood work, the spotters couldn't react fast enough and the worst part was that they're freakishly fast" informed Jean "Whatever's left of the right-wing is holding them off for now, but now there's no one watching the right side, a pretty big setback if you ask me, if we're not carefully it's likely we'll get wiped out."
"Right-side?" asked Armin, a sudden realisation dawned on him "She came from the right-side, could she have led them?"
"Who, that abnormal?" asked Jean
"It's not an abnormal" stated Armin "It's a human in a Titan body, someone with the same abilities as Eren
"You're kidding me?" replied Jean
"What makes you say that?" asked Reiner
"Titans devour people it's in their nature, but they don't however kill us in cold blood, this one does; I saw it kill two Scouts by either crushing them in its hands or flinging them against the ground, it didn't attempt to eat them" informed Armin "She must be working with the Colossal and the Armoured Titans, it's possible she led them to the wall before it got breached, it's as if she has a hatred for humanity, but it's also possible that she could be after someone, it's likely she's after Eren, but it's also a good possibility she could be after the Elrics."
"Going after Eren I can understand, but Ed and Alphonse?" questioned Jean
"Think about it" replied Armin "even without Eren the Elrics have effectively tipped the scales in humanity's favour and the most crucial part is their abilities can be learned; if an entire regiment were to be able to perform Alchemy than it'd make Humanity almost unstoppable, which means if the Titans manage to capture one of them and gain their knowledge…"
"Then its lights out for Humanity." finished Reiner grimly "Those three are on the right flank with Levi squad, where she came from."
"Huh?" said Jean "I think you got some faulty Intel big guy, my copy of the plans had them on the left flank."
"Strange" remarked Armin "my copy had them on the right flank, which wouldn't make sense; why position them in the frontline, sure one of the objectives of this expedition was to put their abilities to the test but there's far too much risk in placing them at the front."
"So where would they be?" asked Reiner
"They'd had to have been placed in the safest part of the whole formation; which would be centre-rear, behind the wagons." Replied Armin
"Now's not the time for that" said Jean "Right now we need to warn command about this Titan, I don't think using flares is gonna cut it this time, the way things are going she'll reach the command squad and if they get wiped out then the formation gets fucked."
"You have a plan?" asked Reiner
"Yeah… I do" replied Jean
"Hey!" yelled a Scout riding his horse up to the wagon "Oral message; the right-wing spotters have been wiped out; apparently an abnormal Titan led some kind of ambush, the message is to keep moving east!"
"Got it!" yelled the driver; Ed and Alphonse listened in to the conversation
"Right-wing spotters?" said Ed
"They're here" said Alphonse showing him the drawing of the formation and looking increasingly worried "if they're gone then that means there's no one watching out of Titan attacks on our right."
Damn… thought Ed and here I was thinking that everything was ok…
"Which means that the centre-right is what stands between us and the Titans, the cadets are in that position" finished Alphonse
Ed took out the handles of his ODM from his side pockets and attached them each to a blade in his scarabs, it had quickly dawned on him that if veteran Scouts couldn't hold back a Titan attack then it's likely they'll pierce through the cadets and into their position them "I guess we better get prepared to fight then, in case they make it through."
Alphonse did the same; attaching his blades to his handles I hope the others on the right wing are ok…
"Could the Titans have commanders?" asked Ed imagining the thought of a Titan leading some kind of organised attack.
"Well Commander Erwin thinks they have spies in the Cadets, I don't think it would be too far off to assume they had commanders, it's possible they could also be shifters like Eren" replied Alphonse
"That's a real scary thought" remarked Ed "I thought they were just mindless monsters…"
"You think there could be some kind of Titan-shifter structure or hierarchy?" asked Alphonse "The Titan shifters are like the homunculi and the regular Titans are like those mannequin soldiers."
"That is a good possibility" replied Ed as he scratched his chin, contemplating the idea "That means there's someone at the head of all this, like Father was to the homunculi… of course who it is will be something we'll might have to find out"
"Does that mean we'll have to stay here after we've sealed the breach in Wall Maria?" asked Alphonse "If there is someone who could be at the head of all this… then they could be a continued threat even if we seal the breach."
Ed sighed "For now let's focus on sealing up the hole in Wall Maria; that's our end goal and what we agreed to with Commander Erwin… Also I doubt whoever behind all this would mind we undo all their work so my guess is that we'll face guy before we seal the breach" The more he thought about it the more inescapable the idea that they may have to stay longer than they anticipated seemed.
Getting that Demand and heading home… that's all we need to be focusing on
Armin sat staring at the ground as Reiner bandaged his wounds from their brief encounter with the Female Titan and Reiner's seemingly miraculous escape, lost in his own thoughts as he relived the moment the Female Titan looked down on his him with its cold and yet comforting bright blue eyes, looking past her messy blonde hair when he was at his most vulnerable; lying on the soft grass as blood ran down his forehead.
She almost looks like…
"Armin!" yelled Reiner "You still there?"
"Sorry" Armin replied, jumping back a bit "still a little out of it…"
"Alright…" replied Reiner "Well looks like we've got a tough choice to make; one of us is going to have to stay behind…"
"Wait" interjected Armin "Before we do that, we should fire off a flare first, if I'm right than the third squad of the fourth column should be near us."
Jean took out his pistol and loaded in a purple flare and fired it into the sky "okay, that's the emergency flare, though I doubt someone will appear with an extra horse to save the day." Jean said
"Armin… we'll wait for three minutes and then we'll have to get moving" Reiner paused for a second "till then we have to decide who-"
"I'll do it" Armin said simply, if this was the choice that had to be made than he'd want his friends to survive rather than him; they'd serve humanity far better than he would.
"Hold on just a minute" replied Jean hastily
Armin wasn't paying attention instead he kept talking "I just need you two to relay an important message to commander Erwin for me."
Suddenly the distance sound of galloping could be heard, Jean shifted himself in its direction, he covered his eyes from the sun to get a better look "hang on Armin!" he said with a large grin on his face "looks like you'll be able to tell him yourself, someone's coming here and it looks like they've brought two horses
Galloping towards them, Jean got a better sight of the rider, whoever it was pretty small and when he saw the long blond hair being carried by the wind he quickly realized who it was "Krista!"
"Titans have crossed this path" observed Erwin, staring at the densely packed forest of towering trees, their shadows casting an eerie gloom over the area "Nature hasn't been able to claim it; our wagons should be able to get through." He then turned to the Scouts next to him "Alert all units behind us, only the center wagon defense squad is to enter this forest."
"Yes sir!" said the Scouts to his left and right as they detached from the command unit to relay the message to the others
Sasha watched curiously as the wagon defence squad moved into the forest path, though she could have sworn she saw someone move the flap from the inside of one of the wagons, she turned to one of the Scout veterans leading the unit of Cadets "excuse me, sir but it looks like the centre-rank is heading into the forest, wouldn't we run straight into the trees if we keep going?" she asked
The Scout veteran said nothing for a few seconds before responding "We'll go around"
"Hey um… it looks like only the centre rank is heading into the forest" pointed out Connie "What happens to the rest of us?"
"We've been told to go around, for the time being the formation going to have to break up." Responded Mikasa "That means our job as spotters becomes useless."
Connie was dumbfounded "why couldn't we have gone around it?" he asked "Commander Erwin read a map wrong or something?"
"I don't know, we could be here to avoid the Titan ambush that's been attacking us from our right flank… maybe…" replied Mikasa
The Cadets were ordered to spread out across the tree line and take out any Titan which tries to enter the forest, each one standing on a large thick branch; forming a thin ring around the forest as they surveyed the large open field around them for Titans
"This is bullshit…" commented Jean irritated " I thought this was supposed to be a recon mission; we check if there's a possible Titan attack happening and go back, now we're being told to wait out in this god forsaken forest and for what? So the centre rank can go bird watching?" he then turned his head towards the Scout veteran who ordered them to dismount "look at him… we're sure getting some crap orders under their leadership…"
"Hey, keep it down, they can hear you…" said Armin, trying to warn Jean
"So?" responded Jean "the guy won't tell us why we're here Tch, I bet he's shitting himself… I've heard that when officers get judged as incompetent by their men they ended up with mysterious stab wounds in the back apparently it happens all the time…"
Armin looked at Jean angst "Jean, whatever you think you're going to do…"
Jean looked at him and sighed "look I'm just wanted to vent, I'm not about to stage a mutiny… yet… But tell me Armin, you seem to know more than you're letting on…"
Armin looked to the ground "I…"
"Five meter Titan!" yelled the Scout "incoming!"
"Everyone cover your ears" ordered Levi as he raised his pistol upwards, his squad did just that; either taking placing one hand over an ear and resting their head on their shoulder to still hold on to the reins or letting go of the reins entirely. Levi fired the pistol, a loud bang cut through the sound of the rapid galloping from the horses and the loud stomping footsteps of the pursuing Female Titan, everyone save for Levi winced in pain as the sharp sound of the pistol round being fired assaulted their eardrums.
"Was that an acoustic round?" asked Eren
"Remind me, what our mission is?" questioned Levi; ignoring Eren "To act on every gut feeling that may come to us?" his question was met with silence from the team "exactly… our mission is to make sure that the three brats don't end coming back in body bags and since the other two are unaccounted for, we can only assume the worse" there was a small gasp from the squad as Levi suggested the idea that Ed and Alphonse died during the Titan ambush, Eren thought about them, his friends and the others on the right flank; Armin, Reiner and Jean, could they have died too? "Which means we defend Eren no matter the cost, understood?"
But… I thought their job was to keep us in check… thought Eren, he looked back at the Female Titan she… she's may killed my friends, but you won't kill anyone else… he felt the rage within him build up.
"Yes sir!" responded Petra, as the rest of Levi squad gritted their teeth
"But… that Titan's right on top on us; it's only a matter of time before she catches up!" Eren exclaimed, suddenly two other Scouts shot past the Female Titan, their blades drawn ready to strike but it was all too likely that they too would end up like every other brave Scout who dared take on this Titan "No!" yelled Eren "It's the back-up, if we don't act now they'll be killed!"
"Eyes forward, Eren!" ordered Gunther
"You can't be serious Gunther!" yelled Eren
"Keep going, full speed ahead!" ordered Eld
"Eld, please!" pleaded Eren "if we don't kill this thing than those men are going to die, if Levi squad can't stop them then who can?" one of the Scouts flew straight in front of the Female Titan, he positioned his blades ready to strike at its eyes but was suddenly crushed into a nearby tree, his blood staining it's bark. "Another one!" yelled Eren "He didn't have to die, we could have saved him!" he scanned the faces of his squad mates; all he saw was their grim and guilty expressions as they continued their evasion of the Female Titan "There's still one more, we can save him!"
Petra turned to face him with a look of harden determination "Eyes forward Eren! That's an order!"
"How can you all be alright with leaving our comrades to die!" responded Eren "You're telling me just to let him die!"
"Yes damn it, now do as you're told!" responded Petra angrily
"Why! Why are we leaving our comrades to die!" questioned Eren
"If the Captain doesn't want to say then he doesn't need to!" responded Oluo "Now shut up and act like a soldier!"
Eren gritted his teeth, he turned to face the lone Scout battling the Female Titan and he then had a sudden epiphany I don't need them… he thought I can take down this Titan on my own, I can save this soldier without them… I don't need anyone's help… I'll make her pay for all the lives you've taken… Eren clenched his fist and raised it to his right hand to his mouth and prepared to bite down.
"Eren stop!" yelled Petra "You were only to assume Titan form if you're life was in danger, you promised us!" she looked at Eren with the look of someone who was feeling betrayed, Eren ignored her and continued, his teeth now pressing down on his skin "Eren!"
"Look Eren," said Levi "If you want to do it than go ahead, I won't stop you and neither will the rest of your squad mates" his words stunned everyone, Eren lowered his hand from his mouth slightly, saliva hanging from his teeth to the bottom of his thumb "Listen you're not a monster because you can transform into a Titan, no it's because its seems as though you're never truly in control and whether it's a matter of choice is the question… Look Eren the difference between you and us is experience, but if you believe that we're in the wrong than go ahead, the choice is yours; you can put your faith in yourself or you can put it in your comrades each of whom is willing to lay down their life for you." Eren had lowered his hand from his face as he listen to Levi "I don't which is better if I'm truly honest… should I put my trust in my own abilities or my comrades? Either way it's something we don't know, just hope you've chosen the path with least regret." Eren gasped slightly at what Levi was saying, he looked back at the Female Titan and the lone Scout who just managed to dodge a swipe being made at him, he didn't have a lot of time left; if he doesn't act now, that Scout will end up dead, he raised his clenched hand back up to his mouth and prepared to bite down…
"Eren…" said Petra softly, catching his attention, a look of desperate pleading in her eyes "trust us…" Eren stared back at her, the scars of the bite mark quickly caught his eyes and he remembered
That's right… these guys have put their faith in me and I was just about to throw it away…
"Trust in us…" said Petra, he turned his head once more to face the Female Titan, he watched as the lone Scout fired his cables into its back and reeled himself forward to strike
"Eren!" yelled Levi aggressively "enough stalling! Make up your damn mind!"
"I'm with you!" declared Eren, much to the relief of his squad mates, his concentration was suddenly broken my a blood curdling scream of terror, he turned his head to watch the lone Scout in the grips of the Female Titan get smeared across one of the large trees, colouring the tree a dark read. Eren quickly looked away from the terrible sight Please forgive me… The Female Titan then began to accelerate its speed, lowering its back, its legs making long strides as it sprinted towards them.
"She's gaining on us!" yelled Gunther
"Full speed ahead!" ordered Levi "She won't catch up!"
Eren looked upwards to see the Female Titan reach out her hand towards her; he stared into her blue eyes.
"Everyone, move away from the middle!" ordered Levi, the squad then shifted to the sides of the road
I'm so close... Just a little further and I'll finally be free of this hell, screw the Elrics they were never the objective anyway… Eren was practically almost at her finger tips, just right there for the taking…
They ran into the entrance an open space, almost instantly they noticed the mass of Scouts hanging at the braches and a lone hooded Scout was standing in the middle of the path with their hands pressed together…
"Now!" yelled Erwin
The lone Scout slammed their hands onto the ground suddenly a large stone spike jutted from the instantly jutted from the ground piercing through the Female Titan's stomach impaling her, the force of which swept her off her feet momentarily, Levi squad quickly moved past the lone Scout, the gust of wind pulled back the hood revealing their blond hair and long ponytail…
Ed...? Thought Eren as he passed by him But I thought…
Another hooded Scout quickly reeled himself down from the branch and behind the Female Titan, the two of them clapped their hands together and slammed them into the ground, suddenly a flurry of stone hands hastily rose from the ground in the space around them and headed straight towards her, trying to quickly act after her momentary shock of the ambush she tried to swat them away but she was too late; they grabbed her and wrapped its fingers around her ankles, her shins, her wrists, her forearm, her lower arm, her waist, her upper arm, one hand grabbed a handful of her hair and pulled her head downwards slightly exposing her nape.
Damn it! I can't move… I can't cover my nape… A crystal substance than began to form around her nape in absence of her not being able to cover it with her hand, Ed fired his cables into the arm of one of the hands than held her in place, he reeled himself up to her eye level and looked into her piercing blue eyes, she stared back at him, her blood boiled as she got a good look at the insufferably smug expression on his face.