: Year 844 :

They called her the Scout Regiment's War Goddess.

A lone figure zipped through the air at lightning speed in a blurry line, cutting past forest trees with the wind sharply whistling by as the Scout soldier darted towards a 20-meter titan lumbering around at a distance. It could not react in time as the soldier sliced past its neck, jerking the head of the beast before it crashed down on the hard ground with a loud thud, dust swirling and mixing into the flowing steam.

"Two titans coming from the east! 15-meter and 20-meter class!"

The soldier flickered her gaze towards her right, wasting no time in hooking her line to a distant tree bark and making a sharp turn to the right in a wide arc, using her momentum to her advantage. Upon closing the distance between the two titans, she allowed her body to decline, sliding past the gaps of their humongous legs before she whirled around and latched a hook on the 20-meter tall titan's neck and snapping forwards to gash it, her gas leaving a trail behind her while blood splotches landed on her face. She jumped, flipping her body in the air and whizzed towards the back of the 15-meter titan and sliced past its neck, the wind ruffling her green cloak that bore the crest of the Wings of Freedom.

"Vice captain Isanna!"

As she stood on a branch, Isanna's steel gaze flickered downwards to see some of the members in her squad who rode on horses, galloping towards the tree where she was perched on. "We've received orders to retreat back to Wall Maria!"

Isanna surveyed the fallen steaming bodies of the titans she killed with an unreadable expression, before she whipped down the tree in an arc using her 3DMG. The soldier handed her the reigns to her golden-brown mare.

"Where's Erwin?" She asked as she mounted up her horse, swinging a leg over the saddle and positioning herself.

"The squad leader is on the left flank of the command team!"

Isanna clicked her tongue in annoyance at the soldier. "Stop screeching like a pig, cadet, you're hurting my damn ears."

The soldier winced at her look and bowed his head. "M-my apologies, vice captain."

With no reply, Isanna pulled on the reigns of her horse and burst into a gallop, followed by the rest of the soldiers behind her as they regrouped back to their formation. Their small line of soldiers past by the occasional steaming fallen titan bodies, their bones now in full display as they slowly turned to ashes, along with bloody limbs and severed bodies cluttered on the ground.

Isanna could identify some familiar faces from the fallen soldiers that she would pass by back at headquarters, but ignored them as her horse ran by, knowing that other teams were already retrieving the dead bodies.

Just another bloody expedition in the Survey Corps. The usual.

When her sights landed on the formation that was gathering at the plains of the grassy fields, Isanna's eyes automatically scanned the small group, not minding that there were only about less than 30 soldiers milling about and the fact that a line of dead bodies wrapped neatly in green cloaks were queueing up, waiting for their turn to be carried to the wagons.

"Isa!"

The girl hauled the reigns to a slow trot as a dark-brown horse pulled up beside her, its rider a woman with glasses and brown hair tied in a messy ponytail with bangs parted down in the middle.

"Hanji," Isanna glanced at her. "where's Erwin?"

"Nice to see you too," Hanji grinned back, not surprised that the girl was looking for the blond as if she was used to it, and pointed at a certain direction with her chin. "he's over there with Commander Shadis."

Giving her fellow soldier a curt nod, Isanna directed her horse towards the direction Hanji had pointed to, leaving the brunette staring as she rode away, chuckling at how Isanna didn't even bother to mask her eagerness in returning to Erwin's side.

::

Isanna saw her childhood friend conversing with the Commander of the Survey Corps but couldn't make out what they were seriously discussing about, making sure to keep a certain distance from the two as she waited for them to finish.

She saw Erwin nod to something Shadis told him, before the Commander pulled his horse away and trotted towards the front of their formation comprising of the surviving soldiers. The blond turned his head and finally noticed Isanna at a distance, him steering his horse towards the girl.

With blank dull eyes, Isanna nodded at him in greeting. "Yo."

Erwin wordlessly lifted a hand and gently ruffled her hair before he passed by her just as Commander Shadis' voice penetrated through the air.

"We're heading back to Shiganshina!"

Isanna stared at Erwin's back for a while, brows lightly pulled down. Eleven years had now passed since they had become soldiers of the Survey Corps, and in those past years, she couldn't help but notice how the blond had become more cold and distant; she couldn't even remember the last time she saw him smile - well, not like their occupation gave them the chance to. Because if you were working in a suicidal organization where more than half of its people ended up dead in every expedition, it wasn't exactly all rainbows and unicorns.

But then again... he was only cold as a rock when in public.

Throughout the years as a scout soldier, they had risen up the ranks: Erwin had become a squad leader, Mike was now a team leader, and Isanna a vice captain. She had more than enough skills and leadership to become a squad leader, but the girl managed to convince the Commander to keep her under Erwin's squad, stating that she didn't want to bear a bigger responsibility (those paperworks were a total pain). Of course, it was no secret from everyone else in the Survey Corps that the other reason why she didn't want to become a squad leader was because she didn't want to leave Erwin's side as his assistant.

In the end, the Commander respected her wishes and left her as a vice captain under squad leader Erwin.

After minutes of riding up north, the residual of soldiers of the Survey Corps eventually managed to reach the southern district Shiganshina with no more casualties and entered through the open gate, finally behind the confines of Wall Maria. Some of the soldiers' shoulders visibly relaxed at the idea that they were able to survive yet another dreadful expedition.

Isanna ignored the grim expressions the soldiers were victim to by the judgemental looks of the civilians and kept her gaze ahead of her, riding beside Erwin's horse. As usual (and unsurprisingly), some remorseful citizens - Isanna guessed were parents or loved ones of the fallen soldiers - were throwing accusations towards them, particularly their Commander.

"So useless!"

"All our taxes.."

Isanna's face showed no change of expression as the soldiers rode by, heading towards their headquarters. The distant setting sun was already casting shadows over the buildings that lined the town of Shiganshina district, and in a few more minutes, they were finally back inside the campus of the Survey Corps' headquarters.

Isanna mounted down her horse in one swift motion, the soles of her boots crunching on the crumbled pebbles on the cement as she tugged her mare by the reigns towards the stables. She walked towards Erwin's horse just as the blond mounted off.

"I'll stable Maximus for you," she offered, palm lifted as he looked at her.

"Thank you." Erwin muttered and handed her his reigns, "See me in my office when you're done."

A curious brow lifted up on the girl's face, but nevertheless nodded at his sudden order. After receiving confirmation, Erwin then stalked away towards the building where their high ranking officers' quarters were at.

Isanna's eyes lingered on his back for a while, before she pushed herself to walk towards the stables along with some of the soldiers. The girl first led the white stallion inside a confined shed, taking off the saddle and hanging it on a wooden hook at the side with a mental question as to why every white horse she met was named Maximus, before she remembered that it was her who had named the animal because Erwin couldn't care less about such trivial things. Isanna stared at the white horse in front of her and smiled.

She figured a fancy name for a fancy-white horse suited Erwin so much (who also had fancy-looking eyebrows). He was beginning to morph into that majestic prince in Isanna's imaginations.

The only thing lacking was the princess spot, but Erwin was practically married to his job.

Isanna shook her thoughts and went to the next stable, tugging her steed along.

"You did well, Fish."

The dark-haired girl complimented her golden-brown mare as she tenderly patted the animal by the forehead after tying it to the small shed of stable, making sure it had enough hay as reward for its hard work.

A snicker came from Isanna's side, prompting the girl to look only to see Hanji in front of her own stabled horse. "Does it ever feel weird calling your horse 'Fish'?"

"What's so wrong about 'Fish'?" Isanna asked with a defensive tone. "It's unique, easy to remember, cute."

Besides, it was more creative than Hanji's dark brown mare that she had named Isabela.

Hanji's grin widened as the two girls walked away from the stables together into the courtyard that was now colored in orange as reflected by the sky. "Yeah right, you were just hungry when you named her."

Isanna lightly pouted but didn't snap back. Okay, maybe she had been starving and craving for some delicious grilled fish when she named the animal. But hey, it didn't change the fact that it still sounded cute. To her.

"I worry for Erwin," she glanced as the woman beside her folded her hands behind her head while they walked. "I'll make sure to tell him not to let you name your future kids."

With an eye twitching, Isanna glared at her, but a light pink was already painting her face. "Not a funny joke, Hanji."

"Who said it was a joke?"

Isanna tried whacking the brunette at the back of her head, but Hanji already saw it coming from having been hit by her so many times as she dodged it and jogged ahead, her jolly laughter cackling throughout the courtyard as she headed first to their barracks. With the way she was bursting in laughter, one wouldn't think they had just returned from an expedition. She was odd that way.

Hanji Zoe. Two years younger than Isanna, she had joined the Scouts three years after Isanna and the others. When she had first enlisted, Isanna hadn't been that close with her, but they had exchanged a few words in the mess hall occasionally. Hanji didn't use to be that cheerful; she used to be more silent and serious. It wasn't after a few expeditions did her personality took a sudden turn and she became more curious about the nature of titans.

She was loud and unusually jolly for a person who was working in a suicidal organization where people died as often as breathing, but Isanna found her presence good company; dare she would say, she'd consider her a close friend next to Mike and Erwin.

Isanna looked away from the girl's figure as she trudged towards a different direction, Erwin's earlier order in meeting her in his office resounding through her mind and wondering what he needed.

::

Without knocking, Isanna bursted inside Erwin's office like she owned the place (she low-key kinda did) and strolled over towards the desk where the blond was currently at, who was busy with some papers and didn't even lift his face to acknowledge her.

"You called?" Isanna circled the desk and leaned against the edge of the mahogany wood to Erwin's right, arms casually crossed as she discreetly peeked on the contents of the papers.

"Commander Shadis wants me to accompany him to Mitras," Erwin went straight to the point, lowering the paper in his hand and shifting his eyes to look at the girl. "word has reached him that the council wants the abolishment of the Survey Corps. We'll be meeting with General Darius Zackly concerning the issue, as well as propose the Long-Distance Enemy Scouting formation to him."

Isanna raised both of her brows at the information. Mitras was the inner city enclosed inside Wall Sina, the third wall that protected humanity from the titans and was also where the King and other high-nobles and important figures resided.

So the Commander's finally giving Erwin's formation plan a chance, Isanna thought. The Long-Distance Enemy Scouting formation was something her best friend had created, with its sole purpose to lessen casualties within their ranks during expeditions. Because he was just a smart guy that way.

"So do I get to come?" Isanna questioned as she stretched her arms over her head, not even caring about the fact that she was in the presence of a superior. Well, Erwin never required her to be formal with him even when he had been promoted to squad leader, and the girl was glad for that.

"Yes, that's why I called you here," Erwin leaned back in his chair, his eyes still on her. "we'll be leaving in two days time. Pack your stuff, enough for five days."

Isanna nodded. "So about this disbandment thing.. got any plans?" Everybody in the Scouts knew they weren't that well-loved by both the public and other military branches because of the series of failures they'd bring back every expedition. The Survey Corps had been constantly facing criticisms by nobles and other high figures inside Wall Sina with the threat of disbandment because they were only 'wasting money'.

In the most polite and respectful way, the girl liked to call them an ugly stack of privileged, disgusting, piece of shits.

Erwin's expression slightly fell at her question, something Isanna didn't fail to notice. She felt bad for him with all the stress that had been catching up. "That's the thing, the Commander and I are still - "

He was cut off when Isanna suddenly placed a finger to his lips. Erwin's brows pulled into a frown as the girl lifted her other hand and motioned for him to keep quiet, before she jutted her chin towards the door.

Isanna grabbed a pen that was lying on Erwin's desk and scribbled something on one of the papers (she didn't care if they were important files). The blond read what she wrote and registered the words.

'Someone's eavesdropping outside the door.'

Erwin's gaze flickered towards the door of his office, his eyes turning into his usual stone-cold stare, before he directed them to look at Isanna. After a moment of silence, he nodded his head towards the door, and Isanna wordlessly obeyed him.

With silent steps, the girl tiptoed towards the door with the tension hanging above the office. She narrowed her eyes into a glare, before she held her breath and kicked the door open with a loud bang. Due to the impact, the hinges went flying and the door was pushed back into the opposite wall of the corridor, a painful grunt coming from the intruder after being squashed.

Erwin refrained a sigh at the girl's boldness as he watched her grapple on to the scruff of the man's neck, dragging his body back inside the office and effortlessly chucked him towards the floor with a thud with one swing of her arm.

The blond's eyes bore through Isanna's. "There was no need to smash my door."

"You weren't specific enough," she retorted as she haughtily crossed her arms at him.

Erwin massaged his temple, before he eventually decided to give it a rest and turned his attention on the groaning man that was now in front of his desk. He stood up and circled his table before stopping a few steps in front of the man, noting that he was wearing the uniform of the doctors who worked in their medical bay.

"What's your name?" He interrogated, which only earned him a glare from the man.

Isanna clicked her tongue, arms still crossed and placed a foot on the back of the man's head, before she forced his face down on the floor. "Talk."

The man grunted and moved his face to the side so as to not break his nose. He pressed his lips firmly together - a clear sign that he wasn't going to talk.

"For a spy, you lack basic skills," Isanna retracted her foot and crouched down behind the man, pulling him by the hair so that his torso was slightly hovering above the floor. "I could hear you loud and clear outside, bastard. Now, talk, if you want this to end nicely."

The man clenched his teeth, his eyes darting towards the squad leader who was calmly standing in front of him and made no move as Isanna threatened him. Erwin's blue eyes were staring down at his immobile form, studying the spy.

When he made no sound, Isanna eventually decided to go to plan B. Her favorite plan, to be exact.

"Erwin, get me a knife."

A few seconds later, a knife was now held closely against his neck, the sharp blade threatening to slice through his sweaty skin.

"You know," Isanna whispered menacingly near his ear. "human bodies aren't that much different from titans, and they don't call me the War Goddess for nothing."

The man shivered in fear at the coldness of her tone, feeling the temperature in the room decreasing after her threat.

Erwin finally spoke after being quiet for minutes. "State your name and business inside the officers' barracks."

The man gulped, before he eventually relented and spilled the beans, because under Erwin's unwavering gaze and Isanna's warm hospitality, you might as well surrender. It was like he was being held on trial before the gates of hell, two devils discussing to pass on judgement: one with a burning rage, the other calm but just as terrifying.

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A/N: to avoid confusions i just wanna inform that I'll be mixing both the manga and OVA as references for this arc ♡