9:32pm – Fourteen Days

Erwin leaned back against the foot of his bed. His legs were splayed out on the wooden floor. His old, worn map of the walls lay in front of him, but he wasn't even looking at it. His shaking hands held his notebook in his lap as he scribbled calculations at a breakneck pace.

"A hundred and sixty-six thousand refugees," he muttered under his breath. "Eight thousand ounces divided by eleven—that's just over fifteen thousand…"

Levi was a few feet away, silently mopping the floor, glancing over at Erwin every few minutes. He did not try to interrupt.

"Almost forty-two thousand square miles…" Erwin frowned suddenly. "Levi. There's another map in my office—it has all the designated farmland. Also, there's a book with the farming laws—it's yellow with the Royal Government symbol on the cover. Can you go get it?"

"I'm not leaving you alone."

"Then get Maynerd to get it," Erwin said, impatience gnawing at him. "Go. Now."

Levi stood up, opened the door, and yelled something down the hall. Erwin blocked it out, only vaguely aware that Levi had posted himself at the door, keeping one eye on Erwin and the other on the hallway.

"Thank you," Erwin said as Levi laid the book and the second map out on the floor in front of him.

"What are we going to do?"

"Shh." Erwin bit his lip in concentration, staring down at the map. He began to mark various places with circles, arrows, question marks. Levi sat cross-legged on the other side of the map, staring down silently, listening as Erwin murmured to himself.

"I'm going to throw up again," Erwin announced suddenly.

Levi jumped up, grabbed an empty bowl off the desk, and handed it to Erwin. He dry heaved into the bowl, but nothing came up. As soon as the stinging acid had moved from his throat back into his stomach, Erwin set the bowl down on the floor and picked the pen back up.

"Here," Levi said, handing him his half-drunk glass of water. Absentmindedly, Erwin took a sip. He grimaced—and returned to his scribbling.

In a few minutes, Erwin sat back and gazed down at his handiwork.

"We can't do it," he said.

"Great," Levi said. "Tell them to fuck off. I'll go beat some heads in."

"No," Erwin said. "We have to do it. We just…can't do it."

"What?"

Erwin's head was swimming. He saw double of every line on the map.

"We can't possibly bring back every animal. Not from that much land, not with the resources we have."

"Then what—"

"Their estimates are off," Erwin interrupted. "If we actually returned every herd left behind in the southwest quadrant, it would be enough to feed the refugees for a lot more than six months. We don't need every herd—we need enough to meet their estimates."

"Which is…how many herds?"

"Assuming that they expect to supplement the rations, not replace them entirely, that's fifteen thousand cows." Erwin flipped the book open, turned a few pages, and scanned down several lines of text. "Luckily for us, farming has always been heavily regulated. Give or take a few, there's typically about a hundred heads per herd."

"So we need…" Levi paused for a moment. "A hundred and fifty herds?"

"More or less." Erwin tapped his pen on the floor.

"I don't get it." Levi crossed his arms. "If we're not going to bring back all the livestock, why do anything at all?"

"Because it's all a show," Erwin said, consulting the book and adding a few more marks to the map. "It's a political game. We can't refuse, or we might undo the support we've built over the last six months. But we also don't have to fill the commission perfectly—we just have to look like we did. The middle faction won't know the difference."

"And you think if we somehow manage to herd fifteen thousand cows back inside Wall Rose, that will be enough?"

"It's the best we can do. But as things stand, even that much is probably impossible." Erwin stared down at the map, thinking hard, fighting back another wave of nausea. "Didn't you say that Oruo was from somewhere out in the country?"

"Yeah…"

"Can you get him for me?"

7:02am – Thirteen Days

The Scouts assembled at dawn on the field just outside the training forest. Erwin stood already on the raised wooden platform, Levi standing just behind and to the left, his hands clasped behind his back. Erwin watched the soldiers file slowly, reluctantly into formation. Every face was haggard and battle-weary.

They might just mutiny, Erwin thought, gazing out over his forces. They only have so much heart to give.

A wave of lightheadedness rushed over Erwin. He closed his eyes and counted to four as he breathed in, held his breath for four more counts, then let his breath out again.

"You okay?" Levi asked.

"Fine," he said. He allowed himself three more deep breaths, and then stepped forward. The crowd fell into an apprehensive silence.

"Dear comrades," he began.

His gaze passed over the legion, making eye contact with as many soldiers as he could. At these first two words, a stirring had already begun to ripple through the gathered forces.

"You look surprised," Erwin said, and paused for a moment. He waited for the muttering to die down. "I understand why you may be startled. After all, you were not always my comrades. Once you were young, frightened recruits, scared to death of seeing a Titan and even more terrified of fighting one. But despite this fear, every one of you answered humanity's call. Of your own free will, you chose to join the Survey Corps, and you became a Scout.

"But even then, you were not yet my comrades. You were my loyal soldiers, decisive in battle, skilled in combat—eager to survive, but even more eager to give your hearts for the sake of humanity's cause. I have commanded you, and you have followed my every order—and for that, I thank you."

Although the soldiers remained silent, a tension hung over the field.

"Even so," Erwin continued, "I know that for these past several months, you have been plagued with doubt. Has our commander gone mad? Does he know what we are suffering because of him? Doesn't he understand that we have been asked to do the impossible?"

Many Scouts shifted restlessly. A few shot guilty glances at one another.

"You deserve to know the truth—and here it is." Erwin waited for a moment, letting the anticipation build. "For months, our enemies in the Capitol have assigned us a series of commissions, each more burdensome than the last. They have sought to overwhelm us, to reveal our weakness, to create an excuse to disband the Scouting Legion once and for all. You have suffered because of them—because of their pride, because of their ill will. One day, they will be our allies again. But today, they are the enemy."

He scanned the shocked faces before him, letting his own anger bleed, just a little, into his expression.

"Two days ago, we received another commission. We have been asked to enter the southwest quadrant between Krolva and Trost and retrieve the hundreds of herds of livestock that were left behind when Wall Maria fell. We must do this within the next thirteen days."

The crowd erupted. Erwin watched the faces of his soldiers melt into horror, listened as the surrounding hill and forest echoed with cries of denial, shouts of protest, even tears of anger.

"I will not lie to you," Erwin shouted over the din. He waited for several more minutes before the crowd had calmed down enough to hear him again. "This task is impossible. Our enemies know it. That is why they have asked us to do it—because when we fail, we will prove that they were right all along about the Survey Corps. They want us to prove that when faced with a task that would truly benefit humanity, the Scouts are useless after all.

"Make no mistake. The survival of the Survey Corps—indeed, the survival of humanity itself—depends on our ability to complete this impossible task, to persuade the Regiment Council once and for all that we are who we say we are."

Erwin had touched a nerve, and he could feel it. The legion had gone from thunderous to silent in mere moments. In the expectant quiet, he let out a shaky breath, and all at once, he let the mask he always wore fall away. Just this once, Commander Erwin Smith allowed himself to stand before them not as the man in the crowd, but as he really was—ill, tired, grieved, but more determined than he had ever been.

"For months, you have felt that I was distant from you, that I did not understand your pain. But know that every tear you have shed, I have shed with you. Know that every sleepless night, I have stayed awake with you. Know that every friend you have lost, I too have mourned. I have wept your tears and you have shed my blood, and today I call you comrades because in these last months, you have become my equals, blood of my blood and heart of my heart.

"And as a testament of the love I bear for you, if any one of you wishes not to participate in this impossible task, then he may depart with my blessing. I will not force you to walk into hell with me once more.

"And yet I will ask you to follow me. I will ask you to give your heart. Because if you come with me, I swear on my life that I will carve a path through this wilderness, and together we will do the impossible. Thirteen days from today, no one will doubt the strength of the Survey Corps ever again. No one will ever again dare to call you Titan fodder. After this expedition, every man, woman, and child who lays eyes on the Wings of Freedom will fall to their knees before them.

"So if you wish to go, then go. But if you will come, then come as my brothers and sisters.

"Come as my comrades."

At these last words, Erwin bowed his head, saluting to the legion before him. With closed eyes, he listened, waiting for the footfall of soldiers turning and walking away from the field.

But when he looked back up, every fist covered every heart. Every face stared resolutely back at him.

Every soldier stayed.

10:13pm – Fourteen Days

"You want to know how to…herd cattle?"

"Yes," Erwin said. "Please."

Oruo stood in the doorway of Erwin's room, looking a little uncomfortable. Maybe it was the fact that he had never been inside his commander's bedroom before, or maybe it was the fact that the pale-faced, wild-eyed, messy-haired commander himself was sitting on the floor, books and maps strewn in a circle around him.

"Hurry up," Levi said, leaning against the door frame. "Herding cattle on horseback. Go."

"Right, okay." Oruo stepped inside the room. "There's not a lot to it, actually. Cows don't perceive horses as horses, but as larger cows. To them, size means dominance, and dominance means respect. If you're moving in the right direction, and you push and pull them along a bit, they'll follow along all right."

"How many riders would you need for a herd of a hundred cows?"

"Not very many. Maybe it sounds odd, but the more cows you have, the fewer herders you need. Like I said, once you've started moving, they'll pretty much go where you go—but you have to keep an eye on them."

Erwin stared down at the map. "Anything else?"

"If you don't have much experience, you should definitely surround them," Oruo said. "If there's a big gap and anything spooks them, they might stampede in the wrong direction."

Much of this would have been good news, except that none of it solved the main problem. Given enough time and freedom to move, obviously the Survey Corps could figure out how to herd hundreds of stupid cows back behind Wall Rose. As usual, the issue was the Titans. Cows weren't like carts, and even if they were, there would be too many of them and they would move too slowly. Erwin couldn't just shove them into the center line, snap back into the long-range formation, and expect them all to cooperate. The moment a Titan appeared, they would all stampede out the back of the formation.

"You can go," Levi said.

Right. Oruo was still there. The Scout offered a somewhat timid salute, shot Levi a what the hell is going on look, and left the room.

"The issue is with the long-range formation," Erwin said. "We can use it on the way out, but we can't use it to get back. And without the long-range formation, the Titans massacre us. We already know that."

"Right." Levi crouched down next to Erwin. "So how do we fix it?"

Erwin closed his eyes, fighting off a wave of dizziness. "Just give me a minute."

8:06am – Thirteen Days

"The expedition will take place over eight days," Erwin said. All the squad leaders, section commanders, and Levi were crammed inside the briefing room. Erwin stood at the front of the room, a large chalkboard behind him.

"On each day, we will ride out from Krolva at first light and return by nightfall. To achieve our objective, we will need to bring back just under nineteen herds of cattle per day. That's over eighteen hundred heads of cattle."

Although they hid it fairly well, the expressions facing him were still washed in varying degrees of skepticism. Ignoring this, Erwin pulled down a map of the area.

"I have marked eight different locations within riding distance that should, at least in theory, contain approximately the correct number of herds. The farms at all of these locations penned their cattle, rather than allowing them to roam freely, so there's a good chance that most of the livestock is still within the area."

Erwin uncapped a marker and drew an upside down V, then an arrow connecting it to one of the marked locations. "We will use the long-range formation to reach each location. Because we will not bring any carts with us, we should be able to travel at double or even triple our usual speeds."

Nanaba, one of the more recently promoted squad leaders, raised her hand.

"Yes, Nanaba, go ahead."

"We can't use the formation to come back, right?" she asked, her tone just a little impetuous. "How are we supposed to return?"

"Well spotted," Erwin replied. He pulled down a second image—this time a diagram of the long-range scouting formation. "Nanaba has pointed out the key issue in this expedition. We cannot contain the cattle within the formation, therefore we cannot use the formation to return, and yet we cannot hope to avoid Titan encounters without it. So what do we do?"

He took the marker, turned to the diagram, and began to draw.

11:42pm – Fourteen Days

"That's it!"

Erwin leapt to his feet—and promptly blacked out. When his vision returned a few seconds later, Levi was holding him up.

"Damn it, Erwin, I said to move slowly."

"How do you keep cattle from running away?" Erwin asked, pulling out of Levi's grip and stumbling over toward one of his shelves. He grabbed books and papers, scattering them over the floor, searching for what he needed.

"We don't have time for your cryptic bullshit right now," Levi growled. "I grew up in a glorified cave. Obviously I have no idea how to keep cattle from running away."

"You fence them in," Erwin said. He found what he was looking for—a large sheet of blank paper—and spread it out on the floor. "You build a pen."

"You want to build a pen out in Titan territory?" Levi looked suddenly concerned. "Do you need to lie down again?"

"No." Erwin knelt down in front of the paper, took a pencil, and began furiously sketching a diagram of the long-range formation. "I designed the formation to keep Titans out. But there's no reason it can't keep something in."

"Isn't that the whole problem?" Levi knelt next to Erwin. "We move too quickly, and the cattle can slip out the back of the formation."

"Not if we close the back." Erwin began drawing lines onto the diagram, connecting the semicircles to form complete circles. When he had finished, he sat back. The upside down V had now become four layers of nesting circles.

"The outer circle—the spotting squads—ride clockwise." He marked the motion on the diagram. "Row 2 makes the next circle—they ride counterclockwise." He marked this again. "Row 3 goes clockwise, Row 4 counterclockwise again. Cart squads are in the center of the circle, herding the cattle, surrounded on every side by four defensive layers keeping Titans out—and the livestock in."

"But how does it move?"

"Imagine the wheel on a carriage." Erwin set the pencil down and looked up at Levi. "Any given point on the wheel is always spinning, but it's also always moving forward."

"The flare system still works," Levi said, his eyes widening in realization. "The spotting squads are still spotting Titans…"

"…and the wheel just redirects and spins away," Erwin finished. "The cattle stay safely in the middle. They can't escape because they're surrounded."

Levi stared down at the diagram. "You want to turn the Long-Range Scouting Formation into a miles-long, spinning, ricocheting, living fence made out of Scouts and horses."

"Yes."

Levi's eyes met Erwin's. "You're a fucking genius."

9:43am – Thirteen Days

The first attempt at the pen formation was, to put it lightly, a disaster.

Erwin looked down on the training forest from the viewing platform, yelling hoarse orders down to Hange, who conveyed them down the line until they disseminated through the ranks. At first, the circles weren't big enough. Then, once they had managed to widen the human pen enough to hold enough livestock in the middle, the rows kept running into one another. The squads couldn't keep their paths from crossing into one another's territory.

After several hours of trying, correcting, and trying again, Erwin managed to straighten out the circles. Row 1 was moving clockwise, Row 2 counterclockwise, and so on all the way through to the cart squads, who were scattered throughout the center. Erwin made the soldiers practice shifting from the long-range formation to the pen formation over a dozen times until he was satisfied with the transition.

But then he tried to move the pen formation from one end of the forest to the other, and everything went to shit.

It was difficult enough to maintain a constant speed while keeping the circles intact. Curving at just the right trajectory while simultaneously moving east turned out to be practically impossible. The circles, which had been perfect half an hour ago, all melded together the moment that they tried to travel in the same direction. On the first attempt, the first four rows melted into one solid mass, rode too quickly, and left all the cattle squads behind. Then it happened again on the second attempt, and the third, and the fourth.

Erwin called for a break and summoned the section commanders. All four of them, followed by Levi, came flying up onto the platform.

"They don't have enough landmarks," Erwin said abruptly.

"We can track ourselves moving west," Hange said, "and we can track our relative positions in a simple shape like the formation, but rotating while tracking the forward motion—"

"It doesn't work," Erwin interrupted. "I know. We need more landmarks. All of you, tell the squad leaders to fire one yellow flare every few minutes."

The sun was closing in on the horizon as they tried the pen formation again, but this time with the flares. Erwin watched as the soldiers broke from the long-range formation into the nested circles, as they began to rotate around one another, progressively picking up speed. Shouted orders began drifting up from the forest, and yellow flares began to fill the sky like a smoking fence.

Erwin fiddled with the green flare in his hands. His head was pounding, and he was having trouble keeping his vision focused. He closed his eyes.

When he opened them again, he fired the green flare away from the setting sun.

And slowly, the wheel began to move east.

It wasn't perfect. The nested circles were wobbly, imprecise. In one or two places, the first and second rows had melted together again.

But the pen was moving.

11:12pm – Thirteen Days

"We need two more days to drill the formation," Erwin muttered to himself, shuffling through papers on his desk. "One day to travel. That will leave us with exactly nine days. Only one day to spare…"

He looked up at Levi, who sat in the corner, silently watching Erwin work.

"Levi," he said. "They're going to die for me."

"You're doing everything you can to prevent that. They signed up for this. They know what they're getting into."

"I could…" Erwin's head was still swimming. Nausea overwhelmed him, and he grabbed the bowl that had taken up permanent residence on his desk. Levi half rose from his chair, forehead wrinkled in concern—but after a moment, the feeling passed. "I could just let them vote me out," he finished.

Levi shook his head. "No."

"Someone else could take command. I could go out quietly."

"You know there's no one else." Levi leaned forward. "Who do you think is going to take your place?"

"I don't know." Erwin leaned back in his chair, closing his eyes. "I don't know. But at least no one else would die so that I can keep my command."

"Listen," Levi said. Erwin opened his eyes and watched as Levi stood up and walked over to stand on the other side of the desk. Even with Levi standing and Erwin sitting, Levi's eyes were barely level with Erwin's. "I'm not like you. I'm not a superhuman fucking visionary. But even I can tell you what's going to happen if you lose your command."

"And?"

"If we're really lucky, one of the section commanders will take over. Bradley, maybe. Kozel."

"Hange could do it," Erwin murmured, almost to himself.

"Not right now, she couldn't," Levi insisted, and Erwin knew he was right. Out of the four, she was the only one with the potential to command one day, but she didn't have enough experience yet. "Everything would go back to the way it was under Shadis. Nobody else can command the formation. Nobody else has the intuition you do in the field. Casualties would skyrocket again, and we'd have nothing to show for it. And that's if we're lucky."

Erwin was silent. After a moment, Levi continued.

"If we're not lucky, the Regiment Council takes control of the Survey Corps from the Capitol. They assign some yes-man asshole who does whatever they say, and everything goes to shit because they don't have any idea what the hell it takes to fight Titans—and when the Colossal and Armored come back, when they kick another hole in Krolva or Karanes…"

Levi didn't finish, but Erwin didn't need him to. The consequences would be more devastating than what even Erwin could imagine.

"My point is," Levi said, "that right now, humanity needs you in command of the Survey Corps. And that's worth whatever it takes to get there."

"I thought you didn't care about our 'give your heart for humanity' shit." Erwin looked up at Levi. "Isn't that what you told Premier Zachary?"

"I didn't say that," Levi said, sounding a little irritated. "I said I didn't know what I thought about it."

Erwin dropped the subject, turning his attention back to his plans—to the names of countless soldiers, some of whom would be dead in two weeks, and all to keep Commander Erwin Smith in power. "I'll pay for all this in hell one day," he muttered.

Levi's eyes narrowed. He opened his mouth as if to argue—but whatever he saw in the face of his commander must have been enough to stop him, because he sighed instead.

"You should go to bed," Levi said. "If you don't sleep, you're going to pass out mid-expedition. Or worse."

"I can't."

"Erwin, so help me, I will break your knees and drag you if I have to."

"No," he said. "There's something else I have to do."

6:15am – Nine Days

The sky was still dark when the long-range formation assembled at the gate of Krolva. The soldiers moved to their positions slowly, knowing they had time before dawn. When they spoke, they whispered in hushed tones—but many of the soldiers did not speak at all. Instead, they stared up at the wall. Maybe they were picturing the transition from the long-range formation to the pen, mentally rehearsing the movements over and over again. Maybe they were watching for the first sign of morning light. Or maybe they were just wondering whether today would be the day that they, like so many before them, would be crushed between the jaws of a Titan.

Erwin rode through the formation, winding his way from the back up to the front. He moved slowly, stopping frequently to clasp trembling shoulders, to grip shaking hands, to greet each soldier by name. Wherever he paused, the unease began to subside—and whenever he moved on, he always left just a little more courage behind him.

Eventually he reached his place at the front of the formation. Levi, mounted on his horse, was already waiting for him.

"How do you feel?" he asked when Erwin was close enough to be out of everyone else's earshot.

"I'll live," Erwin said.

Together they waited as the pitch black sky began to lighten into a midnight blue. As little by little, the light grew, so did the energy behind them. Adrenaline was building like pressure in a bottle of champagne.

As soon as Erwin could clearly make out the individual etchings on the symbol of Wall Rose on the gate, he raised his hand. With a grinding sound, the gate begin to open.

"Scouts!" he shouted. "Move out! For humanity! For victory!"

And like a cork popping, they shot out of the gate.

Erwin let his instincts take over. He knew how to ride like he knew how to breathe, and as they crested the first hill and began to deploy the long-range formation, he consciously relaxed his grip on the reins. The squads began to ripple into place like water around him, riding faster than the Survey Corps had ever ridden before. The wind rushed by, tugging on Erwin's hair, sending his cloak flying behind him.

Erwin kept one eye on the horizon and one eye on his compass. After about half an hour, two or three red flares lit the northwestern sky. Erwin sent a green flare, correcting their course away from the dwindling red smoke. Over the next few hours, he redirected five or six more times. No black flares. No emergencies.

Yet.

They rounded a lake, crossed through a small forest, rode down into a valley and back out again. Erwin kept his eyes on the horizon, straining for his first glimpse of farmland. As soon as he spotted the fence, as soon as he caught the first sight of cattle in the distance, he would fire the signal to deploy the pen formation.

And there it was—a thin brown line on the horizon. It was a fence. It had to be. Erwin fiddled with the trigger on his flare, waiting for a glimpse of livestock. Their horses thundered closer and closer, the detailed lines of the still distant fence became clearer, but all Erwin could see was green pasture. His heart began to sink.

There was nothing there.

But then a spot appeared, dotting the green expanse. Then another, and another. A swell of strength rising in his chest, Erwin kicked his horse, urging it onward, trying to see over the hill. They crested the last rising knoll, and then—

Cattle. Hundreds and hundreds of cattle.

All around him, Scouts erupted into wild cheers. All the blood rushed to Erwin's head. The world spun.

For all his planning, he hadn't really believed until this moment that they would still be here.

Erwin raised his right hand and fired his flare.

"Deploy the pen formation!" he yelled. The spotting squads in the distance bent forward over their horses, speeding up, splitting to the northwest and northeast, riding ahead to surround the miles of fences.

As Erwin reached the pasture, he slowed to a stop and spun in a careful circle, scanning the horizon for red flares. Nothing yet. On either side of the outer fences, Scouts went thundering by, making their way to the other side of the pasture. There, each semicircle would close into a circle, and Erwin would find out if the pen formation worked outside the training forest.

When the cart squads began to arrive, Erwin called out their orders, sent them inside the pasture, and watched as they scattered through the herds. Scouts skirted around large groups of cattle and ushered them to the east. They dismounted to push and pull at stubborn cows. Bit by bit, they guided the herds until they were one giant mass, beginning to move together in the right direction.

"It's working!" Hange squealed from the pasture. She had dismounted and was currently trying to shove a giant cow with both hands.

"Apparently," Erwin called back.

"You sound surprised!" Hange got tangled up in the cow's legs, tripped, and fell into the mud. "I think I like cows—not as much as Titans, but it's pretty close!"

"Thanks for letting me know." Erwin had to shout over the noise of hundreds of Scouts riding around him, hundreds of cattle plodding through the grass and mud.

Then the first yellow flare fired. It was followed quickly by a second and a third. Seconds later, flares were firing in giant, rotating circles. All around Erwin spun a clearly visible, rotating wheel of yellow smoke.

This was the second test. Could the formation move?

He fired a green flare toward the eastern horizon. He watched as the surrounding yellow flares began to inch forward, slowly at first. Erwin kicked his horse into a trot away from the pasture, followed by the few scattered Scouts in his command squad. As he watched the yellow circle rotate, he picked up speed as the flares did, focusing everything on calculating the position of the formation.

He grabbed a second flare and fired it twice—the signal to speed up—and the formation began to travel in earnest. As far as Erwin could tell, and if the circling yellow flares were any indication, the pen was still intact.

It might actually work.

With breathing room and time to spare, the Survey Corps arrived back at the gates of Krolva late that afternoon. They had successfully avoided any major Titan encounters. Aside from a few minor injuries, the force had taken no casualties. They herded just over fifteen hundred heads of cattle in through the gates.

Maybe there was hope after all.

6:02pm – Nine Days

For the first time in months, the Survey Corps ate meat that night. Hange recruited Bradley and ten of the younger Scouts to help her kill a cow, break it down, cut the meat, and cook the beef.

This was a relatively peaceful process until Levi caught sight of soldiers touching raw meat with their bare hands and, in the words of Hange later, "completely lost his shit." He burst into the kitchen in what appeared to be a genuine panic, shouting orders mixed with profanities while physically knocking soldiers to the floor.

"I'll do it—let me do it," he kept saying. "Just get out!"

And so it was that Levi unceremoniously fired everyone except for Hange, who said he couldn't kick her out because she outranked him. Levi's response was to start a fight, which Hange quickly lost, but even with a black eye, Hange refused to leave. Levi eventually agreed that Hange could stay and help, but only if she tied all her hair up in a scarf and put on gloves.

During all this, Erwin sat in the corner of the kitchen, struggling to stay awake. He kept dozing off and then being jolted awake by the sound of Levi and Hange arguing. Once or twice, he tried to get up and leave, but he never managed to escape Levi's notice.

"No," Levi would say sharply, pointing an accusatory finger at Erwin. "Stay right there."

"Wow, Levi," Hange said, glancing up in between cutting large slabs of meat. "He's your commander—not the other way around." Grumbling, Levi returned to his work, but Erwin stayed in the kitchen corner.

Whatever else you could say about Captain Levi, he knew how to stand his ground.

Crammed inside the too-small mess hall of the empty Garrison barracks they had commandeered, the Scouts ate their dinner in an uproar, a cacophony of clinking plates and bellowing shouts and raucous laughter. The lanterns cast a shimmering golden light over the room. As the meat filled the soldiers' stomachs, their hearts grew lighter and lighter.

Erwin convinced Levi to sit with his squad, but only after promising many times over that he wouldn't wander off anywhere. Sitting alone in the corner, Erwin watched Hange's animated conversation with Miche, listened to the sound of Muller's squad breaking into song, felt the warmth of the too-crowded room creeping under his skin.

He was so tired.

Erwin's gaze settled on Levi and Petra, who was sitting a little apart from the others—not enough to be suspicious, but just enough to be noticeable. They sat on the same side of the long table, their heads close together. Levi was in the middle of saying something, an unusually earnest expression on his face. Petra's forehead had just crinkled slightly in what looked like concern.

As Erwin's drowsy mind began to wander, a series of images drifted lazily behind his eyes. A small, clean house in the interior. A golden foyer with pictures hung on the walls. Petra carrying in logs to feed a crackling fireplace. Levi holding a tiny infant in his arms.

It should have been harder to imagine—but looking at the two of them together in this light, somehow it wasn't. Maybe it was the sleep deprivation. Maybe the real world and Erwin's made-up dreams were blurring together again.

Or maybe Erwin knew something about Levi that no one else did.

A wave of guilt washed over Erwin so suddenly and violently that he couldn't breathe. He stood abruptly. There were too many people in here. It was too warm. He had to get out.

He slipped out a side door into the empty street. The breeze was blessedly cool, and he heaved a sigh of relief. The pressure on his chest subsided just a little. He slipped his hands into his pockets and allowed himself, for just a few minutes, to stare up at the stars.

"Erwin fucking Smith…"

Erwin didn't even have to look. "I left the door open. I'm basically still inside. You should go back to Petra."

Levi shook his head. "I stayed too long. You should be going to bed anyway. Everyone should."

"Give me two minutes."

As he said it, Erwin could sense the peculiarity of asking his subordinate for permission to wait a few minutes before sleeping—but he felt it only dimly, as if through dense fog. Erwin was always the one giving orders, always the one making decisions. It felt natural somehow, even pleasant, to have someone take the burden of choosing away from him.

"Fine." Levi scowled, crossing his arms, leaning back against the wall. He was probably counting down the two minutes in his head.

"You could still go, you know," Erwin said after a pause.

"We'll both go in a minute."

"No, that's not what I meant. You and Petra. My offer still stands."

"No," Levi said. "And you can stop saying that."

"Why?"

"Because it isn't true." Levi's voice from behind Erwin was flat, expressionless. "You're only saying it because you know I won't go. You'd be a fool to let me leave. That's why you would never do it."

Automatically, Erwin started to reply, but the words died halfway out of his throat.

He was too tired to pick a fight with Levi right now.

"Besides," Levi continued, his tone softening just a little. "This is what I chose. And some smartass told me once never to regret my choices."

Erwin didn't know what to say.

"Okay, two minutes are up. Let's go." Levi pushed himself away from the wall and motioned for Erwin to follow him.

"Wait," Erwin said quickly. "If I ordered you to die, would you do it?"

"Holy hell, Erwin, do you ever get any less cryptic?"

"No, really—"

"Sometimes you're this grand, noble commander, and sometimes you're like a little kid. It's your bedtime," Levi said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "You can ask more creepy questions tomorrow."

"Levi, please."

Levi let out an exaggerated, long-suffering sigh. "What's the question? If you ordered me to die—what does that even mean?"

"What if I asked you to do something that would kill you?" Erwin repeated. "Would you do it?"

"Of course I would do it," Levi said simply. "But I wouldn't let it kill me." He paused. "What, are you planning on ordering me to die?"

And all at once, Erwin was the falcon, diving down into the field, devouring a face he would know in light and in shadow, in life and in death…

"Of course not." Erwin closed his eyes to shut out the image, but it was no use. "Forgive me. I'm tired."

He let Levi lead him back inside.

Eight Days

The second day did not go well.

When they arrived at the second area of farmland that Erwin had marked out, the fences were down. There was some livestock wandering around, but it was less than half of what Erwin had predicted. There were too few cattle scattered across too much farmland, and it took too much time to herd, even after the pen formation had already been deployed. Erwin was forced to call in the fourth row, and then the third, to help the cart squads wrangle as many cows as possible.

It all took too long. The Titans found them before they had finished.

The mass of red flares first appeared on the southern horizon. Erwin sent Levi's squad, hoping that they would get there in time to prevent the Titans from breaking through the first row—but less than a minute after giving the order, there were more flares in the south and the east. Erwin ordered a retreat.

They returned to Krolva just before dark. Erwin counted the squads as they came in through the gate, calling out to team leaders to ask about casualties. In the end, they had lost only six Scouts—but they had nothing to show for it.

Only six Scouts, Erwin thought. Nothing to show for it. As if this were a transaction. As if I were buying something.

Levi's squad came in last. Gunther was holding his left arm with his right, wincing every time the horse jostled him. Dover's hair was caked in blood. Julia had a dark red gash down the front of her shirt.

Levi was staring down. When he finally looked up and made eye contact with Erwin through the crowd of soldiers, he shrugged slightly.

It happens.

But they couldn't afford for it to happen. They only had seven more days. They were already behind the count. They wouldn't be able to meet the Regiment Council's estimates.

Erwin spent all night staring at his map, reorganizing the locations he had marked, trying to fit enough livestock into the seven remaining days. Of course, none of this work would matter unless his predictions turned out to be correct—unless his gamble paid off not once, but seven more times.

If Erwin Smith knew how to do one thing, it was how to run the calculations, and he knew better than anyone that their odds were next to nothing.

It was still impossible.

Seven Days

On the third day, a rainstorm blew in two hours into the expedition. There was practically no warning. One minute, the sky was a light blue, dotted with creamy white clouds. Twenty minutes later, black clouds had rolled in, dropping heavy sheets of rain down on the Survey Corps.

Erwin couldn't see farther than ten feet in front of him. It was impossible to spot any signals, impossible even to fire the flare that would abort the mission. Erwin sent oral messages out through the formation, commanding all squads to retreat, but he had no way of knowing how many Scouts had received the message.

Ten minutes after turning back east, they encountered Titans in the middle of a thickly wooded forest. Through the misty downpour, Erwin saw Muller disappear into a Titan's mouth. Seconds later, another Scout screamed out her last breath. More than once, Erwin slipped on rain-soaked Titan skin as he raced to kill them all before more soldiers died. At one point, he lost his footing and nearly fell between a Titan's jaws.

Erwin didn't know how long he fought before, somehow, they made it back to Krolva. Back inside the gate, he counted his squads once again. Once again, he extracted a casualty report from all the leaders he could find.

Fifteen losses. Far more injuries. And they hadn't even seen a single herd.

Watching his forces slink back inside the old Garrison barracks, Erwin's stomach turned over. He nearly threw up again but managed to keep his composure. The godawful truth—the fact that was eating him from the inside out—was that he was not helpless. He was not weak. What tormented him was not that he didn't know what to do.

He knew exactly what to do.

But he would never forgive himself for doing it.

2:32am – Six Days

Erwin woke in the middle of the night weeping uncontrollably, the nightmare swallowing him whole even in the darkness of his room. He couldn't stop himself from circling over the field. He couldn't stop himself from devouring them all.

The arms that wrapped around him were tentative at first, hesitant. It was as if the figure in the dark had drawn Erwin into his chest on an unpracticed instinct, as if he were following a script for a story that he had only ever heard about but had never really seen.

"Hey," Levi whispered. "Do you remember the statement?"

"I wasn't…I couldn't…"

"The statement, Erwin. Do you remember how it went?"

Levi's voice echoed through the clouds from a thousand miles away.

"I don't…I don't know…"

"You do know," Levi said. "Good morning, my name is Levi."

"The falcon..." Erwin screwed his eyes shut, his head still buried in the warmth of Levi's shoulder.

"Come on, Erwin. I recited it a million times. I know you remember."

Erwin drew in a deep, shuddering breath. "I'm one of the squad leaders…in the Survey Corps…"

"Good," Levi said softly. "And I want to start…"

"…by thanking you…Premier Zachary…for your service as commander-in-chief…of the three regiments…"

"Without your support…"

"…it would be impossible for me and my comrades…to do the work…that the Royal Government founded the Survey Corps to do…"

"Keep going," Levi said.

And Erwin did. He said it again, and again, and again, and then he was opening his eyes to the dark blue morning twilight leaking through the grated window. Levi was asleep in the windowsill.

Erwin went to wake him.

7:03am – Six Days

"Today, we adopt a new strategy."

The entire force of the Survey Corps was assembled before him in the street outside the barracks. It was the only place with enough room to hold them all. Erwin had to shout to be heard in the back.

"I told you I would carve a path through the wilderness, and I will. I told you we would do the impossible, and that is what we will do."

Erwin set his gaze just above the tops of his soldiers' heads. He could not bear to watch the hope wash over their faces.

"We will send the long-range formation out. As we ride west, we will break into twelve smaller contingents, each formation splitting off at a different point. Each of these contingents will ride to an assigned village. These twelve villages form twelve points on a semicircle encompassing the area around the gates of Krolva. The farthest of these points is Sarton, a village only five miles from Wall Maria.

"We will spend the night in these villages. On my signal in the morning, we will ride out, re-forming the long-range formation—but in reverse. The first row will ride on the inside of the semicircle, the second will come behind, followed by the rest of the rows in order. In the end, we will have formed a huge semicircle with six layers, closing in on the gate of Krolva from every side. When any one of the squads encounters a herd of livestock, they will fire a yellow flare."

Hange spoke up without raising her hand. "Yellow usually means the mission is terminated. How will we tell the difference?"

Erwin did not hesitate before answering. "We will not be terminating this mission. Upon the sight of a yellow flare, you will repeat the flare and halt immediately. The squad that fired the original flare will herd the cattle forward. As soon as the livestock are moving, they will fire a green flare. All squads will repeat the green flare, and we will keep moving."

1:12am – Twelve Days

"And that's Plan B?"

"That's Plan B." Erwin stared down at the map. Levi was sitting cross-legged on top of his desk. "As long as Plan A works, we won't have to use it."

"Not to state the obvious, but—"

"This strategy means that at least one of our squads will cross paths with every herd of livestock in the area. By the time we converge on the gate, we should have gathered more than enough livestock to meet the Royal Government's estimates."

"That's not what I meant. If we're canvassing every inch of the area inside the semicircle, that also means…"

"…that we will cross paths with every single Titan within a territory encompassing thousands of miles, yes."

Levi was silent. Erwin sighed.

"All we can do is pray that Plan A works."

7:09am – Six Days

"Commander." Miche had spoken up. "What happens when we encounter Titans?"

When. So they already understood, at least in part, what Erwin was asking of them. "You are not to break ranks for any reason. We cannot leave any gaps within the semicircle, and so there will be absolutely no redirecting to assist other squads. In the case of an Abnormal or a glut of Titans that you cannot pass through, fire a black flare, and Captain Levi's squad will reinforce you."

Another hand raised. "Do we engage or avoid?"

"If possible, do not engage. Make your best effort to pass through the Titans," Erwin replied. "Let them follow you."

1:16am – Twelve Days

"Let's say by some miracle, all the squads actually did manage to pass through all the Titans they spot." Levi traced the line on the map with his finger. "The Titans would follow—they'd be riding our ass all the way back to the gate."

"Yes," Erwin said. "That's what I'm counting on."

"You're…what?"

"Titans will not chase animals. But they will chase us, and the animals will be with us. The Titans will do the herding for us."

"But why—?"

"We can't possibly herd livestock across fifty miles in one day,"Erwin interrupted. "They move too slowly. Something has to frighten them. Something has to make them run."

7:26am – Six Days

Erwin scanned the crowd of Scouts before him. He recognized every face. He knew every single one of their names.

By tomorrow night, so many of them would be gone.

Did they understand what they were being asked to do? Did they know that they would be following their commander into hell?

Erwin caught the eyes of one of the recruits from Benien—Gloria, a fifteen-year-old who couldn't be more than five feet tall. One look at her face, and Erwin's questions were answered.

They knew.

8:26am – Six Days

An hour later, the Long-Range Scouting Formation left the gates of Krolva for what would be, if everything went according to plan, this expedition's last time. Eight miles in, Erwin ordered the first two contingents to break away. Eight more miles, and he sent the second groups away. As the day slipped away, Erwin broke his beloved formation apart, piece by piece, praying that each contingent made it to their assigned village before nightfall. He kept Levi's squad with him.

By dusk, every squad in the formation had broken away except for Erwin's contingent, which rode through the gates of Sarton just before dark. An uneasy silence hung in the air as they set up a small, makeshift camp with the few supplies they had carried on their backs.

Erwin walked through his soldiers. He spoke to them in quiet, reassuring tones. He helped one squad build a fire and then sat among them, gazing at the flames. He reviewed the details of the expedition with some of the senior team leaders. He rounded the corner of an old, dilapidated house and nearly ran into Gloria, the tiny soldier from earlier that day, sobbing next to a broken stone wall. He hugged her wordlessly, and she cried into his chest, and he thought about how if he had lived another life, if this had been his daughter, he never would have let the man who killed her live.

6:45am – Five Days

The Scouts assembled before dawn. Erwin stood at the gate, watching the color of the sky lighten on the eastern horizon, waiting for the moment when his flare would be clearly visible to the nearest Scout-occupied village.

Now—there was enough light. Erwin fired the flare.

"For your comrades!" he cried. "Give your hearts!"

And they burst through the gate into the open field.

Without the long-range formation surrounding him, Erwin felt like a mouse in a field. There would be no flares to warn them that a Titan had been spotted, no way to redirect and avoid. They would either fight or pass over every single Titan in the area—and, with any luck, the Titans would follow.

They encountered their first herd before their first Titan. It was a wandering herd of cattle, scattered through a small grove, grazing at the patches of grass between trees. Erwin's contingent was the first to fire a yellow flare, the first to watch the line of echoing flares stretching out to the north and south.

Erwin ordered a couple of soldiers to watch for Titans while the rest circled the cattle, trying to push them forward. After a few minutes of scanning for Titans, Erwin joined the herders, pushing and pulling at a few stubborn cows that didn't want to move. It took too long, but eventually, the cattle began to lumber forward.

Levi fired the green flare. Erwin watched the answering flares on either side, then gave the command to advance again.

But all too soon, Erwin found himself wishing for the first time in his life that Titans would appear sooner rather than later. The cattle plodded forward obediently, but slowly. What was more, other yellow flares kept flashing in the distance, forcing a halt while somewhere else on the semicircle, some other contingent gathered up another herd. After half an hour, they had only traveled maybe a mile.

They were not moving quickly enough. Unless they sped up, they would be trapped outside the walls after sunset.

We're the farthest out, Erwin reminded himself. The others could make it. Out of everyone, we're the most likely to be caught out after dark.

And for what he had done, perhaps that would be a fitting price to pay.

"We need the Titans!" Levi yelled across to Erwin, who nodded grimly.

Less than a minute later, their wish was granted. Without warning, a Titan came barreling through the trees, reaching for the nearest Scout. A scream, a crunch, and before anyone could react, he was gone. The Titan reached for a second victim.

"Levi!" Erwin yelled, and Levi abandoned his horse, flying up and spinning toward the Titan's nape.

"No, don't kill it!" Inches away from slashing through the Titan's nape, Levi drew his hand back, redirecting the attack to hack through the Titan's right shoulder. Dover followed his lead, stabbing through the left arm. Levi's other squad members weren't far behind.

But before Erwin could give the order to advance, allowing the Titan to follow them, a second Titan lumbered into the clearing, followed by a third. The cattle were bellowing, charging away from the oncoming Titans. They needed to go, they needed to harness the momentum—

"Don't engage!" Erwin shouted. "Go! Go now!"

The entire force lurched forward as if shot out of a cannon. The terrified herd of cattle stampeded among the Scouts, fleeing from the charging giants. Amidst all the adrenaline, Erwin felt an uncanny sense of relief. At least they were moving faster now. As long as they could outrun these Titans, as long as the other contingents could hold their ground, the Survey Corps stood a chance at success…

Yellow flares.

"Halt!" Erwin shouted. "Engage the Titans! Do not, I repeat, do not aim to kill!"

"Aim for the arms!" Levi ordered, already whizzing past Erwin's head. "Now!"

Seamlessly, gracefully, Levi's squad split into three groups, one for each Titan. Three took the first Titan, another three took the second. They left the third to Levi.

Erwin whirled around to face the other Scouts. "The rest of you! Keep the livestock from escaping!"

This second task turned out to be even more difficult than keeping the Titans at bay. Groups of soldiers cut through masses of cattle, blocked escape routes through the trees, and circled around the herd, all in a desperate effort to hold the livestock for just long enough.

And then green smoke began to flash across the horizon, repeating in steady intervals.

"Go!" Erwin cried, and the contingent left the Titans behind. They galloped eastward again, keeping pace with the stampeding cattle, just managing to outrun the Titans that pounded the earth behind them.

After maybe ten more miles, maybe a little more, they burst out of the forest and found themselves galloping down a hill into a huge pasture dotted with wandering pigs.

Pigs, Erwin thought. We'll take it.

He was about to shout an order to fire the yellow flare, to hold back the Titans for just long enough to herd the pigs—but before he could even open his mouth, the animals caught sight of the Titans charging toward them, and the valley rang with a deafening chorus of squeals. The entire herd turned tail and bolted east, followed by the cattle, the Scouts, and the Titans.

Hearts pounding, they rode with their heads down, cutting through the wind that tried to drag them back. Red flares were firing everywhere now—to the north, to the south. It was impossible to keep track of where they were, to keep count of how many flares had fired in each location.

Five more miles, and they passed through a crumbling village. As they galloped past a broken building, four Titans came crashing out of the ruins, breaking through their ranks. Levi was on them in an instant, but the surprise had given the Titans an advantage, and they had devoured seven Scouts by the time that Erwin managed to regroup the contingent and pull them away from the Titans, back east, back home.

The miles slipped away. The deafening cacophony of hoofbeats, of animals bellowing, of Titan feet beating the ground—all of it became a dull roar, background noise behind the pounding pulse in Erwin's head. Three Scouts, then four, fell behind and were crushed between the chasing Titans' jaws. On both the left and right, the horizon was washed in blood-red smoke.

The sun was behind them now, dipping closer and closer to the tree line. They had maybe twenty miles left.

And then there were five black flares, one after the other. All to the north, all in the same place.

Erwin locked eyes with Levi, and this time it didn't even cross his mind to give the command, because Levi already knew what his orders were, and Erwin already knew that Levi would obey without question.

"My squad!" Levi shouted. "With me!"

And Levi's squad turned north, disappearing into the trees.

There were too many Titans on their tail now, all caught on the way, gathered along in the frenzied charge. There were Titans behind and Titans in front and Titans on both sides, and all they could do was ride forward, no matter how many Scouts were crushed between giant teeth, how many soldiers were trampled in the mad onslaught.

Erwin didn't even see when the little soldier, Gloria, was snatched away by a Titan's hand. She was there one minute, and she was gone the next, and Erwin just kept riding like some kind of animal.

There was so much blood. Blood soaking the earth, blood spattered over the livestock, blood on Erwin's hands. It would have made him sick, except that he was already sick—sick to order these soldiers to die for him, sick to think he could command their fate like some kind of cruel god.

But suddenly the gates of Krolva lay open ahead of him, and it was already done. Gray clouds overhead were just beginning to sprinkle a light drizzle onto the world below. Dimly, Erwin was aware of Levi and his squad flying around the gates like birds around a nest, holding back the Titans while the livestock came charging through. The bloody, scattered remnants of Erwin's contingent went galloping through the gates, and Erwin followed, and Levi's squad came flying in last of all.

Erwin heard the shouts of the Garrison, the grinding sound as the gates closed on top of grasping Titan arms. Ahead of him, thousands of animals flooded the streets—not only cattle, but pigs, sheep, goats. More than enough to meet the Royal Government's estimates. More than Erwin had imagined in his wildest dreams—and with four days to spare.

Turning around slowly, Erwin took stock of the soldiers. He counted as best he could, frantically trying to estimate the casualties—but it was too crowded. Why was it so crowded?

Suddenly, he was aware of a ringing roar in his ears. Suddenly, he knew that there were people lining the streets, people staring in shocked delight at the livestock wandering around their feet, winding through the crowd. It was a thousand times more food than any of them had seen in the past year.

The people were cheering. They were chanting someone's name.

Oh.

It was his name.

Something constricted Erwin's chest. He couldn't breathe.

He had to find Levi.

Erwin searched through the crowd until his gaze landed on his captain, standing near a street corner away from the crowd. He and four other Scouts were gathered together.

Four?

Erwin froze.

Gunther kicked a wall, shouting something that Erwin couldn't hear. Eld's head was in his hands. Oruo had an arm around Petra, who was weeping into his shoulder. Levi leaned against the wall, arms crossed over his chest. His face was as blank as it had been that night in the mess hall—the night after the expedition that had killed Furlan and Isabel.

Dover and Julia were nowhere to be seen.

Erwin didn't cross the street to where Levi's squad stood. He didn't acknowledge the cheers around him. Instead, he looked up into the weeping sky. Fresh water washed over his face, masking the salt. Instinctively, Erwin turned his open palms up toward the sky, but he knew that no matter how hard he hoped, the rain would never wash his hands too.

He was the falcon after all.