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↱"The only thing that makes battle psychologically tolerable is the brotherhood among soldiers. You need each other to get by."↲
-Sebastian Junger.
✺
the rescue mission/part 1
"WHERE DO THEY THINK THEY'RE GOING?" Katerina snapped as she watched the few Military Police members lag behind the rest of the Garrison and Scouts, hesitant to keep their horses at a consistent pace. "Erwin?"
Commander Erwin let out a frustrated breath as he straightened his back and rolled his shoulders. The combined military efforts had been riding for quite some time now and their bodies were starting to feel the fatigue from the bounding of their horses. Of course, the Scouts present felt it less than the other soldiers, their bodies being used to more strenuous physical activity, but nonetheless, everyone felt the soreness kicking in.
Katerina couldn't feel anything.
She knew that it was becoming increasingly difficult to breathe, that the third-degree burns on her arm were starting to blister and become infected, that her knee was sure to come off at any point, but she couldn't feel any of it.
Katerina couldn't feel anything because throughout the last five years she had mastered the art of controlling her physical pain, masking it with determination and perseverance. However, what Katerina was recently having a hard time controlling, was masking her emotional pain.
As the combined military efforts neared The Forest of Giant Trees, Katerina was having trouble pushing aside the desperation to see Eren again and make sure that he was okay. She knew that Reiner and Bertholdt had no reason to hurt him, they wanted him alive that was for sure, but she didn't know in what sort of state he was in.
After the Fall, her life had revolved around keeping her kids safe and it seemed that with every passing day and with every new obstacle, she was failing.
The one thing she didn't want to be in the eyes of her children was a failure.
She had already failed one child, she couldn't fail another.
"Erwin?" Katerina snapped again, persistent in getting an answer from him and refusing his silence. They were almost nearing the entrance of the forest and it didn't seem like the Military Police were going to follow suit.
"I feel I need to remind you that I do not take orders from you," he replied, clenching his jaw but releasing it when he realized Katerina was glaring at him. "If you must know, I have already approved the Military Police and some Garrison members staying toward the exterior while a select group of us enter the forest. Once we get in, you and your classmates will take to the trees using your equipment while the rest of us follow from the ground with your horses."
