A/N: Hello, readers! Welcome to another chapter! Enjoy!

edited on october 7th, 2021 @ 1:00pm

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𝓒𝙷𝙰𝙿𝚃𝙴𝚁 𝚃𝙴𝙽,
𝓕𝙾𝚁𝙴𝚂𝚃 𝙾𝙵 𝙶𝙸𝙰𝙽𝚃 𝚃𝚁𝙴𝙴𝚂, 𝟻𝟽𝚃𝙷 𝙴𝚇𝙿𝙴𝙳𝙸𝚃𝙸𝙾𝙽 𝙱𝙴𝚈𝙾𝙽𝙳 𝚃𝙷𝙴 𝚆𝙰𝙻𝙻𝚂, 𝙿𝙰𝚁𝚃 𝚃𝚆𝙾.

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JEAN, JOSIAH, REINER, AND ARMIN had successfully escaped the wrath of the Female Titan. They found a safe spot to rest while Jean was whistling for his horse.

"How's your 3D Maneuver Gear looking, Armin?" Reiner asked while tying a bandage around his head.

"It's okay... The clasp released as intended, so it seems its not broken." Armin replied.

"I see... I'm glad to hear it. But what do we do? We only have two horses. If Jean's horse comes back, the four of us can move, but..." Reiner trailed off.

Jean stopped whistling. "Damn it, why? Reiner and Josiah's horses returned, so why didn't mine?" He asked himself as he continued whistling.

"We can't stay here any longer. In the worst case, we'll have to leave someone here... But how would we decide who to leave? Armin, since he's wounded? Reiner, since he's big and would have trouble riding with someone else? Or should I run and try to find my horse?" Jean thinks to himself.

"Damn it!" Jean mumbled. "Why the hell do I have to think about this?! We all made it through that fight alive. This isn't fair..." He thought, whistling once more.

While Reiner finished up tying a bandage around Armin's head wound, he thought back to the moment when he thought he was going to get crushed by the hands of the Female Titan.

"Hey, Armin!" Reiner called out to him, snapping him out of his thoughts. "Are you still out of it?"

"Yeah, my head's still a bit fuzzy..." Armin replied.

"I see..." Reiner muttered before standing up. "But we must decide. It's a hard choice, but someone will have to stay behind."

Jean stopped whistling to look at him, as did Josiah. "Wait! First, let's fire a smoke round... if the formation continued straight ahead, the row 4-3 team should be nearby." Armin informed as Jean fired a purple smoke round.

"That's the signal for an emergency... But I can't imagine they'll understand our intentions just from that." Jean informed.

"Armin, we can wait another three minutes. By then, we must decide—" Reiner began.

"I'll stay." Armin interrupted. "But there's something I want you to tell them for me... Preferably to Commander Erwin alone—"

"No, Armin. You should tell him yourself. Looks like someone's here... And with two horses!" Jean cut him off.

They all saw Christa running towards them. "That's... Christa!" Jean exclaimed.

"Is everyone okay?" Christa called out.

"That's my horse..." Jean said. "Whoa, whoa. Calm down, Buchwald."

"He ran toward me, terrified... Did you engage the Titans?" Christa questioned, before seeing Armin was hurt. "Armin, what happened to you? Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I think so."

"I can't believe that smoke round brought you here." Reiner commented.

"I was nearby, and I already had Jean's horse." Christa explained.

"Even horses like you. It seems you have a strange charisma. You saved our lives." Reiner said.

Christa looked like she was about to tear up. "But I'm so glad that the worst didn't happen to you." She stated, wiping a tear from her eyes. "I really am glad."

"God..."

"A goddess."

"I want to marry her."

"Well, we should rejoin the formation as soon as possible." Christa informed.

"Yeah, there should be orders to retreat." Jean agreed.

They began riding off. "To think we've been pushed back, less than an hour out of the walls. Things are even bleaker than I'd imagined... and for some reason, it went in the opposite direction from the vanguard command team..." Jean was explaining.

"It?" Christa questioned.

They suddenly saw green smoke rounds going up in the sky. "A green round?" Jean questioned.

"Looks like they're continuing the operation, only changing course..." Armin pointed out.

"What? That wasn't a retreat command?" Christa asked in shock.

"What is Commander Erwin thinking?" Jean added.

"In theory, any soldier has the authority to determine when mission completion is no longer possible. Did command not see our smoke round somehow?" Reiner added.

"Even if we don't know what's going on, there's still only one thing for us to do... Follow the order!" Josiah stated, sending a green smoke round off.

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All of them had regrouped at the entrance of the the forest of giant trees. "Hey, what are we doing at this tourist spot? We're totally off from both our original destination and our return point." Jean pointed out.

"I don't know... I don't know, but the order came from Commander Erwin, after all." Armin responded. "He must have a plan."

"What kind of plan?" Jean questioned. "Are they planning to hold a welcome ceremony for us new recruits at a tourist spot?"

"No, I don't think so." Armin answered.

"That was a joke." Jean told him. "Anyway, that giant woman's following us. No matter what his plan, we can't stay here. The only thing I can imagine is that we're passing through on our way to somewhere else..."

"Everyone, halt!"

Everyone stopped their horses and tied them up. "All right. Listen up, recruits. We will now make preparations to launch a counterattack. Draw your blades, and wait above in the trees. If any Titan try to enter this forest, stop them at all costs!" A scout informed.

"U-Um, sir, what do you—" Jean began to ask.

"Shut up and follow orders!" The scout interrupted as he used his gear to fly into the tree.

"Seriously?" Jean muttered. "What's going on?"

Everyone was up in the trees waiting. "This is insane... We've abandoned the original mission to cache supplies. And when we abandoned it, we should've turned tail and run... But instead, we're forging ahead to a tourist trap. And now we're just standing here, to stop any Titans that enter the woods?" Jean thought.

"Damn him for giving a crazy order." Jean mumbled.

"He'll hear you..." Josiah warned with Armin next to him.

"And this no real explanation thing is innovative, too. Of course, I'm sure he has his own concerns..." Jean commented.

"What do you mean?" Armin asked.

"A commander deemed worthless by his men in a critical situation quite often succumbs to a mysterious attack from behind. I'm just saying it wouldn't surprise me." Jean answered.

"Jean, so what are you going to do?" Armin questioned.

"Don't be so serious... This situation's got me a bit worked up, that's all. What am I going to do? Obey my orders, and keep Titans out of the forest. You two also think it's the right move, don't you?" Jean asked.

"Ah—"

"You look like you know something."

"Well..."

Before Armin could say anything, their squad leader interrupted. "Five-meter class incoming!" He shouted.

Josiah looked back and saw a Titan approaching the forest.

"Why bring the formation here? What is Commander Erwin thinking? No, that isn't what we should think about. The Female Titan is pursuing Eren. And the Commander knows that. Assume those two things, and see what you can deduce..." Armin thought.

"The Female Titan is after Eren... if I'm right about that, then there's only one reason to come here. This is where Commander Erwin intends to deal with the Female Titan..."

"Armin, Josiah." Jean snapped Armin from his trance as Josiah looked at him. "Our orders are to keep the Titans out of the forest, right?"

Both Josiah and Armin looked down as they widened their eyes to see Titans below them. "In other words... there's no longer any reason to fight. Right?" Jean asked.

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A black smoke round was fired. "A black smoke round?" Eren questioned.

"It's from directly behind us! It's whatever was coming toward us on the right." Eld stated.

"Draw your blades." Levi ordered as he pulled out his blade.

"If we see it, it'll only be for a second." Levi informed as everything seemed to be in slow motion.

Suddenly, the Female Titan slapped the scout out of the way as she ran towards them.

"Go!"

The Female Titan flew over Eren, barely missing him as she continued onwards. Eren could only look at her in horror.

"It's fast!" Eren exclaimed.

"In these trees, there's no way to foresee and invade its attacks!" Gunther said.

"It'll catch us!" Eld shouted.

"Captain, let's switch to Maneuver Gear!" Petra exclaimed. "Captain!"

Reinforcements soon came but they were quickly crushed as the Female Titan continued onwards.

"Captain, your orders?!"

"Let's go for it! It's dangerous... We should kill it!"

"I'll rip you apart!" Eld said, drawing his blade.

Eren turned back to look at the Titan. "Fool, you've run straight into hell. You're chasing a group of master Titan killers!" looking at Levi. "Captain Levi?"

"Captain!" Petra shouted.

"Give us your orders. At this rate, it will catch up with us! We kill it here... that's why we came to this forest! Right, Captain?"

"Captain, your orders!"

"Everyone, cover your ears." Levi finally said, leaving his squad in confusion.

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A/N: Another chapter is done! Thanks for reading!

Word Count: 1595 words.