A/N: The long-distance enemy scouting formation is still not used by the scouts at this time

a long chapter to compensate for the short previous one :>

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The few minutes of peaceful riding over the grassy horizon was interrupted by the shaking of the ground. 

Sending an alerting signal across her body, Isanna's hands twitched and tightened her grip on the reigns of her horse when she whipped her head to the right to see two distant figures running in fast speed towards the formation. At a distance, they seemed to be ordinary humans, but as they reached nearer and nearer within the girl's vision, she was definitely sure of what she was seeing. 

Titans.

Information from classroom discussions that she had acquired back when she was still a kid and during her training years quickly flooded in; true to their names, titans were several sizes larger than your average human, they possessed no reproductive organ and no signs of intelligence, making communication impossible. Above all, they found gross pleasure in eating ordinary humans, making them a terrifying enemy. 

"Relay teams, stick to the file!" Isanna's team leader, Fuchs announced over the noise of the clapping hooves and surprised shouts from the new recruits upon laying eyes on the two titans that were clumsily dashing towards them with their limbs swaying in an odd manner. "Leave it to the veterans on the right flank support teams!"  

Isanna watched as several soldiers teared away from the line and uniformly headed directly towards the two titans, intercepting the monsters. Their calm composure in the face of such monstrosities were definitely a skill that had been developed over countless expeditions. 

With a gulp, Isanna returned her focus ahead of her. That's right. They were in the Relay teams, and they needed not to directly face those things. The only thing she needed to focus on, as of the moment, was to ensure that she and her friends would be able to go back home in one piece. 

Unfortunately, the longer the Scouts rode away from the safety of Wall Maria, the more the hope in Isanna's wish dwindled. 

Not even five minutes after the first titan spotting, another batch of titans were heading directly towards them right at the front. Isanna realized with dread that the right flank that had separated from the formation earlier had still not regrouped with them, and she could only imagine what happened to those soldiers. 

"Maneuver your horses away! Cart guard teams, protect the carts!" Fuchs ordered and directed his horse to the right, with the new recruits following hot on his trails. Isanna caught a glimpse of the Forward Scouts team that formed the front ranks use their 3DMG and hopped off their horses, whizzing through the air towards the group of five titans. Despite the lack of trees in their surroundings, it didn't seem to faze them. 

But they also couldn't avoid some ending up as sacrificial pieces. 

An unfortunate soldier got himself caught in a titan's grip, letting out a loud bellow of pain before the titan chomped on his head, the action tearing the soldier's head from its neck and blood spurting out, raining on the ground below. 

Isanna forced herself to look away from the gore. This was reality. With slight panic, her eyes hurriedly scanned the new recruits ahead of her until they landed on a certain blond. As long as I can see him, it's fine.

Despite the Relay teams trying to avoid the titans at the front, one of them still managed to lumber towards the new recruits, laggardly reaching out a limb to the soldiers while a dumb grin was etched on its face as if it had just seen a freshly new stack of meat. 

At the lone titan reaching out, the new recruits couldn't help but panic, frantically pulling their horses as an attempt to get away from its reach, the animals neighing at the disorderly pull of their reigns; it was chaos. Team leader Fuchs tried to override the petrified yells of fear erupting from the new recruits, but his efforts were drowned out by the sheer havoc. 

With a dread, Isanna watched as one of the new recruits - a girl, was plucked out from the messy line of soldiers. She desperately tried clawing her way out, a trembling hand outstretched as she called for help. Isanna snapped out of her daze and was about to jump off her horse when someone had already beaten her to it. 

With widened eyes, she watched as Erwin shot through the air in a wide arc, blades already in hand. He had a frown on his usually-stern face as he whizzed down the titan's nape and brought down his blades in a wide slice, blood splashing from the wound and causing the titan to loosen its grip on the female cadet who was caught in Adrian's extended arms as he rode through just in time.

The titan lurched forward and crashed on the ground, destroying the line of formation of the Relay teams while the horses neighed. 

"Holy shit - " Adalaide exclaimed, " - that was so cool, did ya'll just - "

"Not the time, Ada!" Isanna yelled through gritted teeth, roughly jerking her reigns as she directed her horse around the steaming body of the fallen titan. "let's regroup with the team leader! Make sure to stick behind me!"

When Isanna reached the other side of the humongous body, her eyes widened in alert at the horde of titans running through the distance in the shrubbery of forest just a few meters away from them. Two titans were at the lead and had just stepped out of the forest line together, two hungry pair of huge eyeballs sticking at the new recruits who were still out of their wits in a panicked fray. 

With a curse, Isanna shifted on her saddle so that she was crouching atop her horse, before leaping upwards and hooking a line on one of the towering trees of the edge of the forest. She propelled herself forward, using her momentum to take out her blades and angling them as she whizzed right past the two titans' necks and slashed their napes in one fell swoop, blood splattering on her clothes and face in a heap of steam. With a foot resting on the tree bark, Isanna shot a look behind her and watched as the two titans pummeled onto the earth, lifeless. 

"Nice kill, cadet! Now get back to your horse!" Isanna whipped her head to see her team leader already on a branch, some veteran soldiers shooting past her in order to intercept the oncoming titans from inside the forest. "Relay teams, split into four groups! Two will accompany the Cart guard teams and guide the carts away from the titans, the others will accompany the command team!" 

Isanna hurriedly dropped back on the ground and landed on her horse, before joining her colleagues as their formation separated into four, each led by a senior squad vice captain.

"Isa!" She turned to the direction of the voice just in time to see both Adalaide and Chiara flanking her sides with their own horses. "Thank god you're alive - that was a dangerous stunt you pulled!" 

One quick glance at the two told Isanna they were at least safe. "Where are Erwin and the others?"

"Probably in another group that scattered away after the team leader's orders," Chiara informed while looking at her seniors that were preoccupied with the titan interception near the edge of the forest. "let's head to the Cart guard teams." 

Isanna clicked her tongue in frustration. Erwin and the others were in another group? Just her luck. This wasn't what she expected to happen. She had told him to stick beside her where she could watch over him. "You guys go on ahead! Remember to stay away - high above so that the titans won't reach you."

She was about to direct her horse away from the group when Chiara stopped her. "Hold fucking on, are you going to look for them?! In this situation?!"

"Yes, I fucking will!" Isanna shot back. "Who knows what happened to those three idiots?!" 

Chiara cursed. "Goddamn it, Isa, calm down!" She wanted to grab her and shake some sense into her. "They aren't idiots, they're full grown-ass men who can take care of themselves!"

Isanna held her breath as she stared at Chiara's piercing brown ones, the distant yells of soldiers, running hooves, and titan bodies crashing down on the ground the only noises buzzing the air. 

"You're not thinking straight," Chiara firmly pointed out with a frown. "calm down first. There's no way in hell I'm letting you go find those guys in this mess. You're strong, I know that. But you need to work on controlling your thoughts. Breathe in."

It was only then did Isanna realize her breathing was noticeably unstable, panting with ragged breaths through her lips. She gulped and took a pause in calming herself down. Chiara was right. Losing her head just because Erwin was in another group was a stupid thing to let it happen to herself. 

"Are you guys done? Because we still need to catch up with the Cart guard teams," Adalaide's voice caught the two girls' attention as they turned to the redhead. 

"Believe in those guys," Chiara gave Isanna one last reassuring look. "they won't get done in by these motherfuckers that easily."

After a good five steady seconds of Isanna mentally steeling herself from unwanted thoughts, the girl finally decided to follow her two friends as they headed to the carts that were currently tugged by a pair of running horses along the edge of the forest and away from the titans that were currently intercepted by the veteran soldiers. 

Isanna thought about the guys and forced herself to believe that they were okay.

• 

Isanna and the other recruits were tailing the carts as they went deeper into the forest, keeping high alert of their surroundings. The carts were of utmost importance since they were carrying the necessary supplies like food, water and extra gas tanks, as well as materials to set up bases on tree branches. 

We haven't encountered a single titan at all, Isanna thought skeptically as she tightened her clutches on the reigns of her horse, narrowing her eyes. Should I be worried?

Chiara's words from earlier penetrated her thoughts, cutting her off from thinking about the worst case scenario. Chiara was right. She really needed to stop being such a positive sunshine and get a grip.

"Vice captain," she heard a senior soldier ask amidst the galloping hooves, "it's been 20 minutes, and we still haven't heard anything from the command team."

Isanna shot a worried look at Adalaide and Chiara. Erwin and the others were undoubtedly in the group that were supposed to accompany the command team and relay messages from the Commander to the other flanks. Did something happen to them?

Please be okay, Isanna bit her lip in anxiety. 

The vice captain that was leading the two groups of Relay teams looked over her shoulder and was about to order something to them when seemingly out of nowhere, a loud crash came from up front, in the flanks of the Cart guard teams. 

Feeling her body tense up, Isanna watched as a titan wreaked havoc right in the middle, splatters of human blood beneath its limb: it came falling from one of the high branches of the tree. She didn't even know how it managed to climb that high up, but seeing how it wasn't as huge - probably around 6 or 7 meters at most and was on all four like an animal, it was likely an abnormal.

Because their formation started with the Cart guard teams at the front, the carts in the middle then the Relay teams at the back, their first line of defense had been decimated. 

"Relay teams, switch to 3DM gear and protect the carts!" The vice captain yelled as she leaped off her horse and shot forward, some veteran soldiers following her lead as their figures snapped in quick speed towards the titan who was still enjoying the munches of the human bodies it managed to catch upon its earlier landing. 

Isanna glared at the titan and hooked a line towards a far branch before she propelled herself forwards, shooting past the carts. 

With wide eyes, the girl watched as the abnormal swatted away some of the soldiers that came near it, a disturbing splash of blood dancing through the air and drenching the nearby trees as crumpled bodies splatted down, limbs bended in an agonizing sight. 

It was quick, the girl noted as she stopped to crouch on a branch and surveyed the titan. 

The soldiers manning the carts directed their horses to steer away from the abnormal, maneuvering away from it while one group of the new recruits tailed behind it, another group shooting towards the titan to provide assistance. 

"Stop!" Isanna yelled with an extended arm along with a blade as the recruits halted and suspended themselves on the trees with their hook lines, looking at her. "We don't need unnecessary deaths. The titan is too unpredictable, so watch and wait while our seniors handle it. Wait for my signal."

Adalaide, who was hanging on a nearby tree bark lowly whistled. "See? You're much cooler when you're not anxious."

Isanna gave her a silencing look and was about to counter that this was not the time for her jokes when the ground beneath them started to rumble. She heard the redhead curse under her breath when the cadets turned to the source of the noise and could feel a shiver running down their spines at the sight of a horde of titans running towards them, slapping away any obstructing tree branch that were in their way. 

"Fuck," Isanna whispered, eyes narrowed. She couldn't even count how many there were. Plus, their already-small group of new recruits were already halved since the other one had accompanied the carts away. 

Glancing back at her seniors, she felt a small relief when they finally managed to kill it, with the vice captain now heading their way. She took one look at the titans and cursed. "Intercept the horde just long enough for the carts to get away!" 

Hearing a chuckle coming beside her, Isanna looked to see Adalaide brandishing her blades with both hands. "Oi Chiara! Don't forget the bet we made!" 

The said brunette glanced at her from the corner of her eyes with a small smirk of her own. "Of course. If I win, you're buying me 10 cases of beer."

"And If I win, you're sneaking into the Commander's quarters and take a bath in his fancy bathtub!" 

Isanna gave them incredulous looks, shocked beyond words that they were facing imminent death but still had the gals to make bets. "Are you guys fucking serious?!" 

Without further ado, both girls hooked their lines ahead and snapped their bodies forward, towards the horde of titans rushing towards them.

For a split second, Isanna was stuck glued on her spot as she watched the rest of the new recruits whiz forward, passing by her and heading to the humongous enemies. She looked over as both Adalaide and Chiara snooped past behind a titan and managed to bring down each to the ground before darting out to get another one, the steam rising up into the air as the fallen bodies began charring into a dark color of coal and dissipating into ashes. 

They were doing fine, Isanna thought with relief and finally joined into the fray. With the help of the other surviving senior soldiers, they did manage to bring down a few, but the casualties on their sides were too much to even call it a 'successful battle'. Most of the new recruits got bitten and teared down to shreds with painful cries, and their soldiers were decreasing in alarming rate. 

Grunting, Isanna slivered through the nape of a 10-meter titan, now getting used to the foul smell of blood drenching her body as she didn't wait for it to dry up in steam before she hooked to another tree, slicing past the neck of a 15-meter. 

How many of us are still alive? She thought grimly as one hand and a leg leaned on a tree bark while she scanned their surroundings. The countless titan bodies that were littered messily on the ground had swirling fogs of white steam curling upwards, clouding her vision, and even then she could still hear painful crunches of bones and gurgling human cries emanating from different directions. 

"CHIARA!"

Blood running cold, Isanna momentarily paused as if a power button had turned off inside her, her mind going blank while she registered Adalaide's voice.

It wasn't the usual playful tone she would often have while teasing. No. It sounded more desperate, more coarse - more grave. 

Something had happened. 

Snapping her head towards where she remembered the voice came from, Isanna barreled through the misty steam, not caring about the possibility of her shooting straight into a titan's jaw. The only thing prevailing in her mind was the safety of her friends. 

God, no -

"Adalaide! Chiara!" Isanna yelled through the steam, desperately straining her vision to see through. Her mind was going haywire at the countless thoughts that ran through her head and the girl knew with a lost cause that she was slowly losing her cool once again. "WHERE ARE Y - Ugh - !"

Uttering out a painful yelp, a sharping ache shot through from Isanna's head when she crashed hard into a tree, losing her balance on her 3DMG and was sent spiraling downwards on the grass that was now matted with blood and several human limbs. She rolled a few meters before stopping on her left side, eyes shut close as she waited for the pain to subside. 

"FUCK!" Isanna cursed and forced herself to sit up and ignore the twinge as she brandished her spare blades. This was no time to be moaning in pain - she didn't have the luxury to even do that. She knew she needed to get to where her friends were, before - before they - 

She froze. 

The steam from the countless dead titans had slowly started to dissipate, and Isanna's mouth went dry when her eyes landed on a figure splayed across her just a few steps away. 

Chiara. 

That matted brown hair tied in her usual hair tie with a strawberry design certainly belonged to her. 

Isanna swore she felt her stomach lurching, the contents from her breakfast threatening to shoot right back up. 

Chiara had her eyes still open and lips slightly parted, a blank face staring upwards. Everything below her waist was gone. Blood was pooling around her body, soaking the grass with a horrifying deep color of red. 

The sound of bones crunching caused Isanna to lift her face just in time to catch Adalaide's eyes before a titan closed its jaw around her neck - the tearful look in her eyes - Adalaide was terrified.

For a few excruciating seconds, Isanna stayed on the ground, knees planted while she stared as the titan bit her head off, blood splattering. 

Chiara. Adalaide. Her friends. 

Gone. 

Everything happened so suddenly, Isanna was still in the process of registering their deaths when the titan spat the remains of Adalaide's body and directed its creepy smile towards her, slowly stretching a hand as its fingers closed in on her paralyzed form. 

And then something clicked inside Isanna. 

In the next few seconds, the girl found herself standing on the nape of the fallen titan, the burning steam permeating upwards into a white mist that was flowing from the countless chopped pieces of limbs that were jumbled all on the ground.

All Isanna could remember were the sprays of blood spurting out in different directions as she was slicing off the chunks of skin from the titan, an inhumane, blood-curling cry ripping and hurting her throat as she flew into fits of rage.

Then, she stopped. The titan was already dead. Her friends were dead. They were -

Adrian. Mike. Erwin.

Erwin.

A brief scary image of the blond in a mangled state, his head severed from his neck, flashed through Isanna's mind.

"Erwin!" She stumbled off the steaming titan's body and laggardly dragged herself away from the steam. Her eyes were wide in a frenzy, borderline insanity dancing through them as she whirled her body around the steam.

No, she couldn't dare to imagine Erwin going down in a similar fate like Adalaide and Chiara. She wouldn't allow it. She couldn't.

Isanna choked back a sob as she clawed her way through the steam surrounding her. "ERWIN!"

Flashes of Chiara's torso and the look of utter despair on Adalaide's eyes kept on repeating in Isanna's mind, floods of regret filling her for not being able to protect them when they were supposedly near her. They were within her reach, but she still failed.

"ERWIN!" Her voice was getting shakier and hoarse from the repeated yells she was making across the steamy forest.

Where was she heading? Was she the only survivor left? Was she all alone?

"ER - "

Someone had grabbed onto her arm and pulled Isanna around, the girl coming face to face with a blond who was staring down at her with a worried frown casting his face. Placing a hand behind her head, Erwin wordlessly pulled her into a tight hug, his other hand holding her shaking frame against his body.

::

Erwin's frown deepened at the muffled sobs emanating from the girl as he felt her crumpling the fabric of clothing behind him as if he was her lifeline to sanity and Isanna was doing all she could to hold onto him.

"Chiara -" Isanna stiffled a sob, burying her face in his chest and not caring how pitiful she must have looked to him. "Adalaide - th - they're - "

Erwin shushed her and weakly attempted to comfort the girl, a string of "I'm here" and "You're safe now" leaving his lips, but he knew words were meaningless in this situation.

Just one look at Isanna's state and he could already guess what had happened to the others.

He warily scanned their surroundings, realizing that the steam coming from the fallen titans had started to fade away, and soon they'd be in a completely vulnerable spot.

Erwin glanced down at the girl who was still crying on to him and clinging to his form while she trembled from the sobs, her voice muffled out in incoherence. She was crying with no filter, something he hadn't seen her do in years, but it was understandable.

However, as much as how Erwin wanted to mourn together with her, this was not the time to get carried by emotions.

"You two!"

Erwin turned to see their team leader, Fuchs, ride by and give them a hard look. "Get on your horses! Do you have a death wish?!"

As the team leader rode away to look for other survivors, Erwin turned back to Isanna and visibly clenched his jaw when he pulled back from the hug to see the state she was now in.

Judging by how their surroundings were littered with mangled human bodies and charred titan bodies, he guessed Isanna's horse had run off and decided she'd have to ride with him in the meantime.

With a bitter feeling, he sent one last murmur of apology to the two of his friends, before picking Isanna up and hoisting her on his horse.

•

The sun was already setting into a hue of orange painting the sky when the Scouts returned to Wall Maria.

They had left with about 300 men, but returned with less than 50 soldiers.

Eyes blankly staring down, Isanna hung her head low as she rode through the cobbled streets of Shiganshina, with Erwin himself saddled right behind her. The rest of the expedition went by like a blur to the girl, the only thing she remembered after that unfortunate blood bath in the middle of the forest were the soldiers yelling at each other, more deaths, and eventually, the call to retreat. Isanna would have been happy to hear that, but the order had seemingly passed through one ear and left the other, a sense of hopelessness now wearing down her shoulders at the immeasurable losses the Scouts had seen in this one expedition alone. Her first expedition.

She heard hooves trotting beside her and slowly, languidly moved her head to look at the person. Mike. Just like the other surviving soldiers, a solemn, defeated look hung on his face.

And then Isanna realized something.

"Where's Adrian?"

Her voice sounded foreign even to her own ears. It sounded weak, hoarse, and empty. She realized that those were the first words she managed to articulate after.. what had happened in the titan forest. Because her mind had been so out of it after that, she failed to take notice of her surroundings until now.

Isanna watched as Mike's face stiffened at her question, but didn't even look at her. As if he was scared to see her reaction.

She didn't need clarification to know.

It dawned on Isanna that she hadn't lost one friend, not even two - but three. Three.

She lost three of the people she was supposed to protect in one expedition.

Isanna felt a tight grip holding her hand and turned her head to see that Erwin had placed a hand over hers, gently squeezing it, his large and calloused hands from training almost entirely covering hers while his free hand held onto the reigns.

"I'm sorry," she heard him whisper from behind her, crestfallen lacing his quiet voice. "I couldn't save him in time."

Isanna's dull eyes stayed on their hands as she let her loss settle in. She didn't bother to look at the sullen looks they were receiving from the civilians, the disappointing whispers that were ringing through the air passed through her ears like the wind.

Only three of them survived.

Tears began to gather once more at the corner of her eyes, but Isanna held herself back and ignored the stinging in her eyes as she clenched her jaw.

She may have kept her personal promise of keeping Erwin alive, but the dear lives of three of her friends had to pay the price.