"Spread out! Don't let them swarm you!" The scout squad leader pulled hard on the reigns of his horse as a Titan dove towards him. A relatively small five metre creature, it was barely able to stand straight let alone grab him with any kind of finesse. Still, as it crashed through the earth by his side and the dirt and filth was flung high up into the air, he felt no confidence in his chances for survival.
Ulrich Hahn had been leading his team in a sweep of the country side west of Trost when they had rounded a corner from a hill and crashed into the horde of Titans which stood in their way. It had been stupid, avoidable, and caused by a sense of relaxation from a successful expedition. Perhaps he should have been willing to cut himself some slack, or at least focus on the here and now, but with what felt like mere minutes of life left, he would spend them cursing his complacency.
The group of Titans they had come into contact with numbered only a few dozen, but he had seen briefly a much larger horde of them further away, but the Titans were spreading out as they moved across the plains. It was the only saving grace that had allowed them to survive as long as they had. He heard the scream of another one of his men be cut short as a Titan found its prey, ripping the man in half vertically as it bit him straight off his horse. The blood sprayed out onto the field with the rest.
He took solace in the fact that they had at least managed to fire off a flare before they would all be killed.
The red haze that hung over their heads in the sky seemed fitting as at last one of the Titans found their mark and snatched him off his horse. One of his arms was broken instantly from the force of the grab, and he felt the breath in his lungs squeezed out with a pained gasp from his mouth. In a few twisted moments of agony, his eyes went dizzy and he saw stars, until he finally managed to refocus and see the face of his killer.
A… furry face.
"Such peculiar equipment."
It had spoken. That… that shouldn't have been possible! Except it had, he'd seen it move its lips and the words come flowing out, this furry Titan had spoken!
No… not quite a Titan. He remembered what they had been briefed about, some part of his training had forced that bit of information to the forefront of his mind, and he quickly realised why. This was no true Titan, it must have been a shifter…
His entire body was held rigid in the shifters grasp, but he managed to turn his head just enough to spot one of his remaining soldiers, the one who had managed to fire off the red flare. "Markus!" He screamed, each breath from his body searing him with pain. He forced himself onwards, to spite the murderous creature that held him tightly. "Black smoke! It's a shifter! Black smo-"
His voice was cut off as the creatures' thumb lazily rose up and burst his skull, blood, brains, and fragments of bone splattering across the Titan Shifters hand. On the ground, Markus let out a panicked whimper as he continued to snap the reigns on his horse, dodging past another Titan and grasping a black smoke round. He pulled it from his satchel, and tried to ram it in place, fumbling as he failed to load it properly.
Then he was thrown from his horse as the headless corpse of his officer hit him straight off his saddle. The two bodies crashed into the dirt, his horse whinnying as it was jerked to the side. The last survivor of team Hahn died with a broken neck as he smashed into the ground, a comparatively painless death before the Titans descended upon his corpse to tear him limb from limb to be devoured.
"Such a waste." The beast Titan muttered to himself as he watched his creatures' feast. He had been hoping that he would be able to collect one of those harnesses intact, but it seemed that was not to be. Two of the Eldians had tried to use that gear which had caught his interest, but they had been caught far too quickly for him to try and salvage one. His own capture had seemed delicate enough that the gear might survive, but he'd been forced to sacrifice it to prevent further warning being shared.
He looked upwards into the sky where the red haze from the flare was dissipating. It would seem the element of surprise was lost regardless. Though, his presence would remain unknown.
'A Titan Shifter…' The dead man had at least managed to be a useful source of intelligence. It seemed they knew about the ability to transform even at the lower ranks. Had one of the warriors been discovered, perhaps captured? Or was this because of the coordinate?
As he scanned the horizon he spotted the trails of several other flares in the distance beginning to rise. They were spread out, and he had no indication of whether they were moving towards him or not, but they most likely would be. As far as these people knew, another wall had been breached. The response would likely be full force.
But not at first. First, there would be probing attacks. Scouting of their enemy. Plenty of opportunities to try and grab more examples of their gear.
"Commander Pixis sir! We have reports of a breach in wall Rose!"
The meeting had barely begun when a young man had burst into a room filled with Commander Erwin, Pixis, and several other people of high value, all of whom were staring at him in momentary shock. As expected, the two commanders were the first to recover.
"We need to begin evacuation into Wall Sina, now." Pixis was already rising as he picked up his jacket. "Ankha, prepare message relays. Soldier, where's the breach?"
"Unknown sir." He quickly handed over the report that he had received, summarising it as the commander began to read. "Reports of red flares spotted west of Trost a few hours ago. Members of the Trost garrison investigated and confirmed sighting of Titans inside of the wall."
"Any word from Krolva district?" Erwin was likewise putting his jacket back on, as both he and his escort prepared themselves for departure.
"Nothing yet sir. Their status is unknown."
One of the garrison officers had already grabbed a map and laid it down across one of the large tables in the room while several other members had moved to grab small miniatures representing different forces. Scouts, Garrison soldiers, civilians, MP's, and of course Titans. With practiced discipline they began to place the figures around as indicated by the mans report. Both Erwin and Pixis were by the side of the table a short moment later, scouring the map.
"My forces are still based in the former castle headquarters east of Trost." He pointed to a spot midway between the walls, and though Pixis knew of it being so relatively close in Ehrmich, it was a fresh reminder of the distance they would need to travel to act as support. "One hour for a runner to arrive, 10 minutes for the regiment to be mounted and ready to move. I can have the regiment mounting a counterattack inside of two hours, potentially less if they have already received word of the sightings. I left Mike Zacharius in charge of the forces and the search parties, with the mean in a low ready engagement status, however there are still teams scattered in their search."
Pixis frowned as he looked over the map. "The evacuation to wall Sina will require top priority, as well as ascertaining the status of Krolva district. I'll need my elite teams to head there immediately, if the Titans have broken through the wall near them, they may have cut off the district from rescue."
If that was the case then their situation would only get much more difficult. A district being left isolated may have theoretically been able to keep itself protected, but they were not able to withstand long periods of isolation from food, the people would tear themselves apart in desperation if a rescue was not possible. Unfortunately, that meant they had to strike quickly, while the number of Titans was at their lowest. Every hour that passed meant more Titans entering wall Rose, and the chances of rescuing the district dropping significantly.
"I can have Captain Levi support your teams heading for Krolva. If a siege needs to be broken, he'll be your best chance." Erwin knew that sending Levi with the garrison elite teams would provide them with a great deal of additional power, he also knew that with Gohan out of action he would be providing his own regiment of one of their greatest sources of Ki power. The special operations squad had learned well however, and Jaeger had shown himself to be able to control his Titan form well enough for use in operations like this one.
"It would be appreciated. We'll have them travel inside wall Sina, up to Yarckel and through to Krolva. We have no idea how deep the Titans will have spread by then, and I can't risk losing my best teams travelling without support. They'll warn the garrison at Yarckel and take the emergency response teams to move and relieve Krolva if they need it. If not, we'll need to begin setting up our defensive lines."
Despite the levels of planning that had been completed for just such a situation, the military had never been able to overcome one major obstacle. The best weapon against Titans was their ODM gear, which was incredibly limited in open terrain, the likes of which dominated the areas between the walls. Their best options had as such been to utilise the small villages which existed dotted in between the walls as points to concentrate the Titans attention, while horse riders travelled between to try and deal with any that either slipped past or ignored their strongholds.
These riders would be facing the Titans at an extreme disadvantage, and would require an almost suicidal level of aggression to deal with any abnormals they encountered. The casualties they would take would be disastrous, he already knew. But worse, they would be unsustainable if they weren't able to deal with the source of the breach and find a way to fill it.
"Once the Krolva status is determined, we'll have to make a decision, but if the district is able to be evacuated then the Garrison will set up their defensive lines along these villages here." Pixis marked out several such locations which formed a loose line that would act as a corridor from Krolva to Yarckel. This was more than just convenience, and had actually been part of a deliberate defensive measure following the breach at wall Maria. Several villages had been forcibly relocated, while others had received a massive increase in infrastructure construction budgets to enable such defences to be possible. "The response units from Trost and Ehrmich will begin taking positions along these points while the evacuation commences, I would like your regiment to be acting as support in any trouble areas."
"I'll see it done." Erwin promised. "I'll return to the castle and take command of my regiment. If we need to regroup our search teams it will take some time before we will be at full strength again."
"Take the time. Perhaps it's naïve of me but I have a hunch that Krolva hasn't fallen just yet. I'll head there to take local command after the situation is determined, but my plan is to launch a counterattack from the West and quickly, while the Scout regiment does the same from the East. Pincer the Titan's and confine them back to the breach."
"Simultaneous operations? Ambitious, but that will be hard to coordinate." Erwin's specialty had been dealing with the issue of long-range communications for the scouting regiments expeditions, and the solution had been only of limited effectiveness. Communication was limited, as was the effective range of messages. Not to mention his regiment had specially trained for such methods, and in a supportive manner they were going to be acting they would need to rely on the Garrison's more restricted communication methods.
"The Titan threat will need to be contained quickly. We have approximately 10 hours until night, by then the reinforcements from the other districts will have arrived. Any progress we have not made will need to be completed by tomorrow's sunrise, with the breach sealed." It didn't need to be stated how difficult of a task that would be. If they were lucky, another boulder would be available in the area to use. However, this would be an issue they needed to deal with later when they had more information.
"The regiment will hold the line with the garrison." Erwin assured him.
In numerous wargame scenarios, Erwin and Pixis had worked side by side many times. While the involvement of the MP's was also included, it was well known that any forces mounting a counterattack or holding the line for an evacuation would be dominated by the Garrison as it was their duties. With the most experienced soldiers however, the Scouts would be a close secondary line. The military police technically were the third, however in such instances they would actually primarily be involved with the civilian side of things, maintaining order and evacuating citizens inside of wall Sina while the others did the fighting.
Today was going to be a bloody day, and Pixis already looked ready to age another decade as the impending weight of the deaths of his soldiers was ready to weigh on his mind. In comparison to Trost, the Titans had many advantages. The battlefield was more favourable to their enemy, the location of the breach was unknown, their artillery would take time to arrive and would be more spread out, as would be their communications. Plans would be made on hours old intelligence, and executed hours afterwards. However, not all was lost.
With the knowledge of Ki, the elite teams of the Garrison and the Scouts had vastly increased in strength. As well, with the ability to sense Ki their teams would be able to better act for seeking out lone Titan forces. Not to mention, with Jaeger at the helm of a Scout counterattack, they would be able to face Titans in the open field much more effectively.
"Before you go Erwin, I have one more request." Pixis turned to look back at the purpose of their meeting, one who had gone almost entirely forgotten as the two had begun making their battle plans. "Young miss, I want you to support the Garrisons attack from the west."
Ymir, was silent. She clearly didn't know how to answer, and Erwin himself was also uncertain. She was still hardly someone they could consider trustworthy given her lack of forthcoming for years since her arrival into the walls, and with the current situation stretching their forces thin, it would be difficult to have someone able to control her.
Still, Erwin could see Pixis' reasoning. They needed to halt the Titan advance as quickly as possible, and to do so they needed to strike back hard and with full available force. Another Titan shifter would do well to assist the western flank of the Garrison. As well, her reliability could be ensured with Levi's presence. Her Titan ability was still an unknown, nor admittedly guaranteed, but in a worst case scenario Levi had grown vastly stronger with his Ki training and would be able to deal with her. There was also…
"Historia. I don't want her on the front lines." Making a demand of a superior officer, two in this case, would have led to severe punishment for any other soldier. Ymir however clearly knew that she had some bargaining power and was all too willing to use it to get what she wanted.
"The scout regiment will be among the first to engage the Titan threat," Erwin began, watching as she narrowed her eyes at him. "However there will still be supportive roles required at the castle, I'll see to it that she is assigned there."
A small sigh of relief came from her, but she was no fool and had heard everything that Erwin had not said. Historia would be remaining with the regiment, and the regiment would be remaining inside of wall Rose. If she wanted to keep Historia safe, she would need to help defend against the breach. Seeing her seem to agree, Erwin turned to Levi.
"Captain Levi, I will entrust Ymir under your command. You and her will assist the Garrison with ascertaining the situation at Krolva. Commander Pixis will temporarily be your superior for the operation."
"Very well." Levi turned to Ian Dietrich, the captain of the Garrisons own elite troops who he would be working closely with. "We'll mount up and head off as soon as you're ready."
"We can go now." Ian responded, re-checking his gear briefly and signalling for Rico and Mitabi to get ready to leave. "We keep horses on standby for just this situation."
Captain Levi nodded, before finally rounding on Ymir. The girl looked agitated, and very much like she was still hesitant over what she'd just agreed to do, but Levi would have none of it. "I don't have time to lay down for you the same ground rules I did with Jaeger, so I'll keep this short. When we're out in the field, you do exactly as I say, when I say. You refuse, or you decide to run off, I'll put you down. I'm not risking this operation because you want to do things your own way. If you have a problem with that, or if you think you can't perform as expected, you have until we reach Yarckel to speak up. That's going to be at least six hours from here, plenty of time for you to think."
The girl didn't hide her snarl, one that was both for him and for the situation. A part of her wanted to blow the whole thing off and go straight for Historia and keep her safe, but she knew that wasn't practical. Her secret well known, and if she somehow managed to get away from this place alive after deciding against helping them, the scouts at the castle would know something was wrong if she returned on her own. Not to mention, there was the bigger issue. If wall Rose couldn't be sealed, then the scout regiment was either going to kill itself trying to hold back the Titans, or they'd be sent in after the population was purged again. Either way, her chances of keeping Historia safe were effectively zero.
Which meant, she had to work with the military like an actual soldier.
"Don't need to worry about me. I'll do my part."
It was perhaps less than they wanted, but it was what they would get from her. She could already feel herself chafing against the limitations they were placing on her. She had of course chosen to become a soldier, and had gone through all these kinds of situations before, but not only had she still not liked it then, she hadn't been singled out. Here, chosen specifically for her powers and information, it was the exact kind of situation she'd wanted to avoid.
Except there she was. Following Captain Levi and the others out the door and towards the stables. Curse herself for going through with this.
"Here's the list of search routes sir."
Mike took them from the assistant as he laid them out on the desk. It had been a modified map with various sections coloured over as they had ruled out areas of hiding for the two traitors in their midst. Alongside it was a list of teams and their search routes that were planned out for the day, all lining up with various arrows on the map that was sadly covering a very wide area.
The reports they'd received from both the garrison regiment as well as some of their own parties who had returned to report sightings of flares indicated that it was either team four or six that had made first contact. An unknown number of teams had gone to act as support under the assumption that their targets had been found, and their status was currently unknown. There was at least four teams he believed were close enough that they might have moved to engage, but how many actually had was a mystery to him.
"All teams operating east of the castle, get either signal flares or riders to them and have them return to the castle. When they've returned, have them regroup and join the garrison units defending Trost." The units he was referring to weren't actually at Trost, but they were at a small village just to the Northwest of it, one which was currently acting as the staging point for the garrisons field headquarters against the Titans. It was also, the area closest to the wall, and thus the shortest distance from any breach and most likely to come under Titan attack. "We'll take our forces to Jinae and establish local headquarters there."
He pointed to one of the larger local towns, one that was almost directly west of them and would provide a good hub for their pushes against the Titans. "We'll have everyone saddled up and moving out in 10 minutes, due to arrive in…" He made a quick measurement of the distance. 50 kilometres, pushing past their average riding speed they could make it in… "an hour and a half. We'll establish ourselves there and then conduct recon."
The garrison aid in the room nodded and at Mike's signal, moved off to deliver his update to the local commanders. Mike didn't wait before turning on Hange. "Hange, I want you coordinating supply runs and monitoring the prisoner. Commander Erwin will have heard about the breach by now and will be coming back here, so I'll need you to brief him."
Hange nodded, but didn't hide her pout. "You know, as much as I find questioning our guest interesting, I'd much rather be out in the field with my squad."
Perhaps it was a sense of pride in her own abilities, an eagerness to see more Titans that she always had, or even just a sense of duty to be on the frontlines with her comrades, but Hange truly was unhappy about being forced to wait in the castle. Still, Mike was going to be handling the assault, and she would support him as he needed it, which would mean the vital task of managing supplies for him. At least it would let her play around with some equipment lists, those were always fun.
"If commander Erwin agrees, I'd be more than happy to have you out there."
He turned and began to move, heading out the door and moving quickly down the hallway. It was by pure coincidence that his path ended up bringing him past the officer rooms, one of which had been turned into a medical bedroom for a certain injured scout. One whom Mike could see was arguing with a doctor as he tried to leave.
"I need to be there. I'm ready to fight, just let me get my things!"
Gohan did indeed look much better than he had when Mike had seen him yesterday, however he was still clearly wrapped heavily in bandages and the doctor disagreed on his opinion of his recovery.
"No! Having you in the field is a liability, you need to continue recovering now get back in bed!"
The doctor gave a small shove, which quickly became a much stronger one as Gohan entirely refused to budge. That boy really was damn strong…
"The doctors right." Mike cut in as he saw the young man getting ready to protest again. "We need you resting, not in action. Leave it to us, we'll manage it from here. If commander Erwin says otherwise, then you can be allowed out, but until then you need to stay in this room. That's an order."
Mike watched the way the boy hesitated and looked ready to disobey. Captain Levi had complained to him many times about the boys' complete determination to act whenever he thought people were in danger, regardless of what his orders were, and while it seemed the Captains' talk with him had snapped him out of that trait, Mike wasn't entirely sure it had fully stuck as he watched the boy ready to complain.
Finally though, he relented and let himself be pushed back inside. Mike nodded in approval as he watched the boy frown and begin to worry, but accept his orders and move back to his bed. After a few short moments, Mike finally finished attaching his ODM harness and leapt out an open window, using one of his hooks to slow him down as he approached the grass.
"Mike, teams are almost ready to move out and have been given the basic brief."
"Thank you Nanaba." He followed the short haired woman towards the central courtyard where the rest of the regiment was located.
Despite how big the castle was, it hadn't been used as the scout headquarters for a long time, and as such they hadn't had time to fully establish themselves properly in the area. So it had been enough to simply set up a post as a marker for a rallying point, one where the majority of the scouts stood still attempting to put their harnesses in place and finish preparing their uniforms.
Some were ready to go having previously prepared for the next search mission, while most were simply having to finish the final touches on their harnesses. An unlucky few were still in mild states of undress, having relaxed in their civilian gear rather than uniforms and now paying the price. He was pleased to see that it wasn't any of the new members, and rather only a few veterans that had gotten complacent. A bad example for the new recruits, and one he would have to fix, but at least it showed the new members all had their heads on straight.
"Attention all members of the Survey Corps!" His voice boomed out and as one they turned to look at him. They didn't drop into a salute, but some did stand a bit stricter at attention. "As you should all have been informed, wall Rose has been breached. The point of entry is unknown, but we have the first Titan sightings to the west of Trost."
He noticed the faces of some change to despair, those who had family in the area were almost certainly a lot more scared now than they were before. But it was no understatement to say that everyone knew the stakes of what would be at risk. The lives of everyone inside of wall Rose were at risk, several hundred thousand people. Though they might survive the Titan breach itself, if the wall could not be reclaimed then they would starve.
"We will be moving out within 10 minutes. Make sure you have all of your equipment you will need with you. We are going to be moving to Jinae to establish a forward base, and hold the line against Titan forces. Supplies will be delivered to us there, but this will be a long operation, and every able-bodied soldier will be needed to fight. If you get careless and leave something vital behind, it may very well cost you your life, as well as that of your comrades. We will be acting in support of the Garrison regiment, but our command structure will remain the same. You'll all receive new orders when you arrive at Jinae, but be prepared for immediate combat."
He looked over the faces of his comrades, his soldiers. Many of them were scared, and he damn well couldn't blame them. He wasn't one for speeches like the commander, but it seemed that the time was appropriate.
"Our scout teams located the Titans first, that means we have had early warnings before they've managed to spread out. The entire garrison regiment from every district will be mobilising in support of this operation, to reclaim this wall, our home. They will be bringing every man, woman, and cannon they can to bare on these Titan bastards, but it will be we who lead the way. The scout regiment! The best of the best! The wings of freedom! For humanity!"
"FOR HUMANITY!" A loud rapping of fists against hearts sounded out as over a hundred Scouts saluted. They may have been scared, they may have been tired, but they were determined.
"Ten minutes people! Prepare to move!"
"I can't believe it." Connie whispered to himself as he watched Officer Zacharius step away. "Wall Rose breached, and we're going straight to the Titans…"
Around him, nerves were high and frayed just like his. Some tried to make a brave face of it, others didn't bother, yet none of them slowed down as they continued to fasten the harnesses of their gear.
"Here we go again hehe…" Sasha's attempt at laughter was hollow, and the smile she faked had barely even reached her lips before it fell away. "My village… it's in the woods, west of Trost. Do you think…?"
Her question wasn't just to Connie, and her eyes were almost pleading as they gazed across the faces of her friends. Hannah, Franz, Mina, Armin, Jean, none of them looked like they had a good answer for her as their eyes all looked faraway on thoughts of their own families.
Jeans thoughts lingered on his mother. After Trost, he'd sent her a letter apologising for what a brat he'd been. He'd sent another just before their first expedition. Now, just like the last time, it felt like he still had so many things he wanted to tell her. Except, the fear he felt was not as strong as before. He felt… more relaxed strangely enough. There was less doubt in himself, in his purpose. The Titans had broken through the wall again, but he had chosen a path that put him here to face them, deliberately.
'I chose this.' He thought to himself, before swallowing his fear and putting a hand on Sasha's shoulder.
"Listen. I'm not going to give you any kind of false hope about what we might find, but we are going to reach your village Sasha." She looked at him with an almost child like desire to believe him. "We'll kill these bastards and carve a path right to that wall. Then we'll plug it just like Trost."
She gulped down her worry, and gave him a shaky smile of gratitude.
"Mine is west of Trost too." Connie muttered, his hand gripping one of his ODM blades tightly. "We'll make it. Right?"
"Right." Jean gave Connie a firm look in the eye, and the silence that followed was much less worried than it had been before.
"Jeez Jean, is that still you?" Hannah began to joke, mouth wavering as she too began to smile about it. "Since when are you one for speeches?"
A small chuckle began to rise in the group, and Franz decided to join in. "Yeah Jean, I'm almost more worried about you than I am the Titans now."
"Heh, well someone has to be the reckless one now that Eren's off playing with his new friends." He winced as he said it, turning to look at Armin as he realised he might have pushed on a sore spot.
Since Trost, Armin hadn't been able to see much of his friends, and it had clearly made him feel more than a little isolated. Jean had in fact tried to extend something of an olive branch because of it, as while he may not have had much to do with the short blonde in the cadets, he had also been missing his close friend as of late. Armin also had really quite impressed Jean in Trost with his ingenuity.
He impressed him again as he smiled back with a genuine grin. "Sure you aren't just trying to impress Mikasa when she hears about you stepping up?"
The others laughed as Jean blushed, even if he did try to hide his smile about it. Perhaps it had been the time apart, but he didn't feel quite so sore about his feelings for the raven-haired goddess. In fact, his mood was so much better he could almost forget they were about to go into battle.
Until an officer stepped up to their group.
"Some of you were part of Dieter's squad right? Who else doesn't have a squad leader?" It was Nanaba, a squad leader who some of them had met, but some of them had only heard of her as part of Christa's squad during the expedition. Interestingly, the girl had followed her in tow, not saying a word to them despite having not seen them since she and Ymir went off on their supply run together.
"Uh, that's right some of us were. Others just don't have one anymore." Jean raised his hand slightly awkwardly, as did Franz, Armin, and Mina.
Nanaba nodded seemingly non-plussed. It looked disturbingly common how used to death all of the scouts were, something which did not reassure those present. "Alright, you all are now a squad. Jean, you acted as squad leader in Trost right? You'll do the same here."
"W-wait, what!?" She didn't wait to answer any questions he had, instead already moving off to deal with some other issue. The others watched slight shock as she moved on without a further word to them, and Christa moved to do the same.
"Wait-, Christa?"
The blonde girl turned to look back at them, and Jean finally managed to get a good look at her. There was something different about her. Jean couldn't put it in place at first, but when he did, his questions seemed to dry up. It was like she wasn't there anymore, like she had changed into someone else.
"Um, Christa…" He swallowed, not sure what to say anymore. "Good luck."
She nodded back, eyes of an incredible sadness looking back into his. As she walked off, Jean could only wonder just what the hell had happened, and why they'd barely seen Ymir since yesterday either.
"Eren, you'll be taking the lead on any engagements this time." Eld finished fixing his harness quickly, and stood watching as Eren was the last to get his ready. Between the others having so much more experience than him, and Mikasa being Mikasa, it was more than a little embarrassing to be so far behind the rest of the Special Operations Squad.
"Yes sir. But, are you sure about that? I mean, shouldn't one of you be leading?" It was a lot of pressure, and one that while Eren was more than willing to do his part, he still had his small doubts about whether he would measure up.
"We'll break a lot easier than you kid, that's why it's your job." Oluo joked. It seemed that after a successful expedition, he'd proven himself enough in his eyes to relax a bit on the Captain Levi persona.
"Oluo's blunt but he's right. We need you up front to get the Titans attention first." Eren hesitated at the idea of being literally used as bait, and Eld caught it quickly. "Relax Jaeger, we'll be right by your side. Anything you can't handle we'll hit from behind."
Gunther puffed out his chest in pride. "Best damn backup in the scouts."
Eren smiled as he relaxed a little, and the others joined in a comfortable laughter. Subtly, Eren felt a hand take his, and he looked to his side to see Mikasa there with him.
"We'll be right by your side if you need us." She said, giving his hand a squeeze. "But don't worry. You can do this."
He smiled at her, a warm feeling of pride flooded his heart. He could do it. He would do it. A few orders were shouted out, and those who were ready moved to mount their horses. Eren followed the rest of his squad as he finished with his buckles, saddling up in a familiar motion as he dropped into formation out the front of the castle. Then, as an order to move out was shouted, Eren grinned with excitement.
He would drive the Titans back out of Wall Rose!