Fight or Die Fighting (Shingeki no Kyojin)

Chapter 2

I sighed wearily. We were still walking. We hadn't stopped to rest once since we'd escaped and my legs felt like lead.

But that didn't stop Rowan from continuing to walk. She had such a tight grip on my wrist that I thought my hand would fall off.

We'd found the wall almost as soon as we escaped that stupid little hole. Now we were trying to find the entrance to Shinganshina, which I was quite sure lied in the opposite direction. But it's not like Rowan ever listened to me.

"How do you even know it's this way?" I asked in exasperation.

She turned to look at me through hooded eyes. "I just know, okay?"

"So I'm just supposed to go with it? We could be walking in the totally wrong direction-"

She cut me off with a look. One of her looks that said "Drop it."

I sighed, my lower lip jutting out in a slight pout. "Whatever..." I grumbled, the wall beside us suddenly becoming very interesting.

I'm the older one, I swear.

We walked for about five more minutes until we came to what looked like a gate, though there was one problem.

It was closed.

I ignored the "I-Told-You-So" look Rowan sent me and moved forward, my fingertips gliding over the bumps and crevices that created the design on the front of the gate. It looked like a royal crest, with a woman's head on it, surrounded by rose vines.

"What d'you suppose we do now?" I asked, turning to look at my younger sister, who seemed to always have the answers.

She shrugged, eyes roving over the front of the wall. It was huge, even larger then I'd imagined. It was at least 50 meters tall.

I sighed and moved forward, raising my hand to knock. My knuckles rapped sharply against the thick wood, but there was no reply but silence.

I shrugged, turning back to Row. "Well, we tried-"

She grabbed my shoulder and spun me around, effectively cutting me off. You can imagine how my mouth fell open when I saw the gate was actually opening.

"But- Well I- I didn't exactly expect it to-" I sputtered, silencing myself when I caught sight of them.

There was an air of dignity around them, around the way they wore their green capes, around the way they sat atop their horses. They looked exactly like a soldier should. Brave. Proud. Determined.

The lead soldier, a middle-aged man with graying brown hair and piercing dark eyes, totally over-looked the two young girls in front of him, and nearly ran them over.

Lucky for us, Rowan was as quick as she was skinny. The soldier on the officer's right flank rode his horse around in front of him, saying something urgently under his breath as he stared at us with wide eyes.

The officer's head snapped around and his dark eyes pierced through us like knives. I shifted uncomfortably, but Rowan was smooth under the pressure. She coolly saluted the man, her fist pounding against her chest as she signaled for me to do the same.

I saluted the soldiers also, as Rowan began to speak, her high soprano as clear and unwavering as the sun in the sky. "Hello sir! I am Rowan Blaine, Daughter of Arthur Blaine, 10th Corporal of the Scouting Legion, Sir!"

There was a collective gasp that rang throughout the troops, the leading officer's expression that of utter surprise, something I hadn't exactly thought possible for someone who looked so stern and stoic.