Ymir's Legacy

Ch. 13; The 57th Expedition

Not long after exiting the town, the commander signaled for the long range scouting formation to begin. Mikasa and Aila left to the right wing spotters, beginning their survey. They rode for a few minutes, but it felt as if it were hours. No signs of any titans, then, POOF! Several red signal flares were shot off, signaling the sightings of titans. Aila reached into her pouch on her horse and pulled out a red signal flare, shooting it into the air. "That's a lot of red, you think the other right wing spotters are having a hard time?", Mikasa asked concerned, Aila switched to telepathy, "Hey, you guys see the red right?", she asked the other two in the rear. "Yeah, are you guys ok? That's a lot of titans", Sasha asked them, "Have you guys seen any titans yet?", Annie asked, concerned about her friends and lover. "Yeah, we're ok, we haven't seen any yet" "Oh shit, guys look to the left!", Sasha shouted, Aila and Mikasa looked over to see purple smoke. "Isn't that where Reiner was?!", Aila asked, "Yeah... this isn't good, he might've transformed", Annie replied as sweat dripped down her brow. Soon, a string of purple flares were set off, signaling an emergency. A green flare was shot off by the commander, Aila and Mikasa gasped in shock. "Doesn't he see the purple smoke?! Why are we just changing direction and not retreating completely?!", Aila asked Mikasa, Mikasa frowned as sweat began to secrete from her head, "There's no way he doesn't know about them, which means he's trying to weed a traitor out after all", Mikasa said, "What? How does he know?" "Think about it, if Eren can transform, who's to say the armored and colossal can't?" "Shit... you're right, but even so tens of soldiers will die! He's crazy!", Aila shouted. Mikasa nodded, "I agree with you, what is he thinking? He's putting Eren and us at risk with this ridiculous plan", Sasha cut in, "Hey guys, wasn't Jean and Connie stationed near Reiner?" "Son of a bitch, you're right, they might get caught in the crossfire!", Aila realized. Aila took a deep breath, "I know this is dangerous, but I'm going to check on them, if something happens to me, I'll transform. I love you Annie, I'm sorry", she told everyone before snapping the reigns on her horse and heading towards the flares, turning her telepathy off.

Before Mikasa could stop her, a titan flew out from behind a building, preventing her from following Aila. Aila zipped passed everyone, riding as fast as her horse would go to Jean and Connie. Suddenly, another purple flare was shot off from a few miles of Aila. She immediately followed after it, hoping her friends were alright. As she got closer, she saw a horse running away, she stopped and grabbed a hold of it, knowing it was one of theirs. She started off faster than before, scared out of her mind now. She looked around, and eventually saw Jean whistling for his horse. She ran towards him, relieved to see he's ok. "Jean!", she shouted as she approached him, Jean snapped his head around, "Aila? What're you doing here?! And that's my horse!" "Yeah, I saw the signals and couldn't just sit around, I caught this straggler as I was on my way here", she said as she presented the horse to Jean. Aila looked over his shoulder to see Marco laying on the ground with a broken arm, she hopped off her horse and tied it to a tree. She ran over to him, "Marco! What the hell happened you guys?!", Connie stood up, "The armored, he's back!", Aila frowned, her suspicions were right. "Shit, that's not good, what the hell is the commander thinking", she replied, standing up. She connected to the other three once again, "Hey, I reached Jean and Connie. They said the armored attacked again, Marco was with Connie and was knocked unconscious, he suffered a broken arm is all though", Mikasa shouted, "Aila what the hell! That was dangerous and stupid, what if Reiner was still there?!" "I know, I'm sorry, I couldn't just let them die though, they're our friends", she replied. Annie spoke up, "As soon as you turned your telepathy off I headed towards you, I can see you now", Aila snapped her head around to see Annie heading towards her. "Hey! It's Annie!", Connie shouted as he waved, Annie halted at Aila's side, staying in silence. She hopped off her horse and walked to Aila, "Annie I'm sorry I know I shouldn't have left like tha-", Annie slapped her. Aila sighed, she knew she deserved it. Annie then pulled her in and kissed her, she rested her forehead on Aila's, tears in her eyes, "You could've been killed you idiot!", Jean and Connie were shocked, they've never seen Annie like this. Aila caressed her cheek, wiping the tears from her eyes with her thumb, "Hey, I'm ok now". Annie composed herself and stepped away and towards Marco, she knelt down and slapped him, "Wake up", she said. Jean ran over angry, "What the hell!", she turned and looked at him, "He was in the top ten, a broken arm shouldn't stop him from riding a horse" "You're right, sorry I was out so long", Marco said as he groaned, sitting up. They then all got onto their horses and returned to their course.

Eventually, they rode out to a small forest of giant trees, where they were told to stop and tie their horses down. They were then ordered to get atop the trees and keep titans from entering the forest, Annie and Aila were soon met by Sasha and Mikasa. All four of them stood together on the branches of the trees near the edge of the forest. Titans began to swarm under them, trying their hardest to get them. Some even tried to climb the trees, making the scouts move higher up. Minutes felt like hours, suddenly, BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! Loud explosions were heard from in the forest, "What the hell?", Aila asked as she stared into the forest. These explosions went on for fifteen minutes, for an unknown reason. But soon, they stopped, and screams of soldiers were heard as well as loud thumps. A vetern, Nanaba, ordered everyone to retreat into the forest and help the scouts. As they flew in, bodies were seen more and more, squished onto the trees and ground. They eventually caught up with who was left and landed next to Erwin, "Erwin, what the hell happened here?!", Nanaba asked horrified. Erwin stared at the piled bodies, "The armored, he came, our anchors couldn't pierce him at all""Shit, where'd he run off to?", Nanaba asked. Erwin sighed, "He ran towards where Levi squad retreated, to Eren", Mikasa jumped to attention immediately. "WHAT?! Has anyone gone after it?!", she asked in a panic, "Levi did, just Levi, we can't spare anymore soldiers, plus Levi's squad should be able to handle it". "Which direction?", Mikasa asked, Erwin pointed to further into the forest, and instantly, Mikasa shot off towards it. Nanaba shouted, "Ackerman!", Erwin stopped her, "Let her go, if she wishes to die that is her choice". Aila unsheathed her blades, "I'm sorry sir, but I'm going after her and the armored", and without hesitation, she shot off after Mikasa with Sasha and Annie behind her. As they caught up to her, they saw the bodies of Levi squad, and seconds later, a flash of yellow lightning shone, signaling Eren's transformation. They soon caught up and saw Eren's titan emerge and charge after Reiner, "RAAAAAAAAAGGGGGHHHHHHH!", Eren roared as he threw a punch at him. The four soon came up from behind Eren and were set to assist Eren in taking Reiner down,