~Marco POV~
"See that? It's the village!", Sasha pointed out to me and the veteran scout accompanying us.
"Is that the last one?", he asked her.
"No! My village is deep in the forest!", Sasha informed him intensely. I could see she was starting to get more and more worried the closer we got.
"Me and Sasha can go to her village", I suggested, thinking we better be two people there since we didn't have any gear.
"Alright, leave this village to me then", the scout said, parting ways with us.
"Got it!", Sasha said, her gaze not leaving the forest edge closing in in front of us.
As we rode further and further into the dense forest, Sasha didn't say a word, deep in thought.
"Sasha, what's wrong?!", I exclaimed as I noticed a look of panic flash across her face.
"There, on the ground! Titan footprints! They made it all the way out here!", she exclaimed stressed, and I felt my face go pale.
'Seems like we really have to fight titans without gear... Is that even possible?'
"Shit...", I muttered.
We got out of the forest and Sasha slightly gasped as she looked over at a village to our left.
"I've never seen that village before!", Sasha said with a voice full of wonder. "Could they really have built all this during the past three years I've been away?", she then said, thinking out loud.
"Let's check it out, and make sure there are no civilians there", I decided, Sasha following my lead.
"Seems empty enough... I can't even really hear anything-", Sasha said quietly as we rode through the village.
"There!", I exclaimed as quiet as possible while pointing towards an entrance to one of the buildings. Quiet munching sounds could be heard, and what being munched on was a sound we both had heard many times now since that day in Trost. I cringed as my mind automatically pictured what was going on in there. We needed to be stealthy and think everything through before acting here.
"We can try and hit it with that axe over there", Sasha suggested as we got off our horses, quietly but swiftly making our way towards the house.
"Its better than nothing", I said sincere, grabbing a hold of the axe. I charged towards its nape with every ounce of force i could muster, hacking at it like it was no tomorrow, but the axe wasn't near sharp enough.
"Damn it! Its already healing between every hit", I exclaimed, continuing hitting it to at least buy us some time.
"A child?", Sasha whispered shocked, and I looked over to my right. A little girl was sitting with her back turned away from us.
'She's been sitting here watching her mom get eaten?'
"I'm sorry", Sasha said, looking at the woman in the titans grasp as she carefully made her way over to the girl. I continued hacking until the girls had left the building, before dropping it and running after them. It was to no use anyway.
I looked back as I ran, noticing the titan looked more interested in us than the poor lady it was currently devouring.
"Sasha! Untie the horses!", I called out. "It's about to go after us!".
"Oh! Okay!", she replied, fumbling with the reins. The girl said something, throwing Sasha off, and the horses made a run for it.
"Huh!! You're kidding me! Hey!!", Sasha screamed after them as she jumped up and down in frustration. She started calling for them using the special whistling pattern we were taught.
"Sasha, be quiet!", I yelled, knowing it was too late. The titan had already let go of the lady, stepping outside of the house.
I didn't stop running, quickly hoisting the girl up on my back, pulling Sasha out of her shocked state.
"We just have to make a run for it!", I said, yanking her hand slightly to get her moving. She grabbed a hold of a bow and some arrows, quickly following us.
"It'll be okay!", Sasha yelled out to the girl on my back as she catched up with us.
"Why? Everyone already left", the girl said in a low and monotone voice. "The whole village knew my mothers legs were bad, but not a single person came to help", she continued, staring over at Sasha. "All I could do was watch".
"We're here now, it'll be okay", was all I could think of saying. My heart ached for the little girl, never in my wildest dreams could I imagine the feeling of being a child and watch as your parents got eaten. I couldn't help myself from wondering if Y/N's experience was anything like this.
'This is why I'm here. This is why I do what I do. We need to protect the kids within these walls from ever witnessing such horrors'
"Hey, listen. You'll be fine. Marco will keep carrying you down this path. You guys will run as far as you can, okay? You'll find someone, maybe not straight away, but they'll be there", Sasha said with a light and optimistic voice.
"Sasha?", I asked carefully, not sure what she was planning.
Sasha abruptly stopped and turned around. I paused as I turned to see what she was doing.
"Sasha, wait-"
"What are you still doing here?! Run!", she screamed, getting into position with her bow. I immediately started running, fighting the sadness threatening to cripple me. I had to be strong for this girl.
Further along the path I heard the familiar sounds of horses trampling.
"Hey! Anyone there?!", I called out, hoping someone had room on their horse so they could get the girl to safety. Squinting my eyes I could see a whole group of horses, the unknown riders heading towards us.
"Hey! Do you have room for this girl right here?", I asked, gently helping her down from my back.
"We sure do", a man with a fur vest assured me, and I noticed both mine and Sasha's horses tied to the back of two of their's. I helped the girl up on a horse, her now sitting in front of one of the riders.
"These horses must be yours", a lady said, leading the two horses over to me, handing me the reins.
"Yes! Thank you! I would love to keep talking, but I have to help my friend. She's still back there", I said as I climbed my horse.
"We'll follow ya", the man with the vest insisted as I quickly headed towards where we left her. We didn't get far though before Sasha came running.
"Sasha! Thank god!", I exclaimed, happy to see her alive.
"Marco, you should have seen that I-... Dad?", she said and stopped, looking over at the man with the vest.
'I knew he seemed familiar. I can see the resemblance now'
She quickly climbed up her horse so we could get going, saving the chatter until we were properly outside the immediate danger zone.
"That boy over there told us he had to help his friend... Who'da thunk it was you?", her father told her. Sasha looked a bit shameful, I guess it might be because they parted on such bad terms. "You fought off a titan for that girl, didn't ya?, he asked her with a smirk, Sasha giving him a little noise of confirmation.
"Sasha... Yer all I hoped for", he smiled proud, and Sasha beamed up at him. A warm feeling spread across my chest at witnessing this important moment between Sasha and her dad. She has really changed a lot during training, staying true to her witty self of course, however her priorities and opinions has changed for the better.
"Father... I'm home", Sasha said, and I could tell she had waited for the day she could finally say that to him.
~Normal POV~
"Connie!", you yelled after him. "Connie wait! For all we know this place can be crawling with titans! Don't enter without us!". You desperately tried to talk him into slowing down, but decided to pick up your own pace as he didn't listen. Myosotis caught up with him, no problem.
"Y/N! The same goes for you!", you heard Gelgar call out, but the two of you were already inside the village. You were on high alert, scouting out for any titans nearby. The buildings were demolished, holes and debris everywhere. Chances anyone survived this was slim, however you didn't notice any blood, which was odd.
"Anyone?! Is anyone there?!", Connie called out frantic. He stopped his horse, you doing the same. "It's me! Connie! I came back!", he screamed hurt. Tears started piling up as you watched him look around in despair. "My house!", he suddenly realized and hurried over there. You quickly followed him.
Connie was looking down all the way over there, pleading to himself that his family would be fine.
"Connie! Watch out!", you screamed as you noticed it. A titan was laying flat on her back on top of what you assumed was Connie's home. He pulled the reins, his horse immediately coming to a halt. He stared the titan dead in its eyes. "Be careful! We don't know if it can move!", you said, arriving at Connie's side.
"Connie! Y/N! Get back!", Reiner called out as the rest finally caught up.
"It's... my house... My", Connie said weakly in disbelief. You eyed him worried as he didn't let his gaze wander away from the titan for even one second.
"Fall back you three!", Gelgar ordered, placing himself between you and the titan. He examined every angle of it, riding one round around the house. "It doesn't look like it can move... Not with those legs", he observed.
"Then.. How did it even get here?", you asked confused.
~
You all got assigned different parts of the village to look for any signs of life. I didn't take long before you all came to the same conclusion. There was nobody here.
You saw Connie look at the titan currently crushing his house, noticing the titan looked at him intently back. Come to think of it, it didn't look at anyone else but him. You all gathered a little closer to him.
"There are no survivors... None! It's all over... My hometown is gone forever", he broke down, tears streaming down his face, and you let some of your own fall for him as well as you wrapped your arms around him. He leaned into the hug gratefully. Reiner grimaced in pain and sadness, taking a firm grip onto Connie's left shoulder. In the corner of your eye you could see Bertholdt looking at Reiner like he had lost his mind.
'Nothing wrong with showing some emotion Bertholdt. Let the man show his friend some support'
"Hey! Something's strange here", Gelgar interrupted you guys, and you pulled away from the hug, still holding onto Connie's arm. "Has anyone spotted any bodies?", he asked, all four of you shaking your heads.
"I didn't even see any blood. Human blood doesn't evaporate like titan's, meaning there should at least be some blood around here if the townspeople were eaten", you pitched in.
"How is that even possible...", Gelgar wondered baffled.
"Everyone must have escaped then! Nobody here was eaten! That must be what this means!", the other veteran exclaimed happy, looking at Connie.
"I see... That's gotta be it!", Connie said, everything with him, from his voice to his appearance, radiated with newfound hope. You cowered a bit, knowing hope is a dangerous thing in a situation like this. You wished with your entire being that this was the truth, or else this little glimpse of hope is going to throw him for a loop later.
You looked over a Gelgar who had the same look as you. Something about this whole thing was off.
'Titans wouldn't just attack random buildings if there were no people inside...'
"Everyone got their torches ready? Let's leave!", Gelgar ordered, leaving for his horse. "Our mission is now to locate and assess the breach in the wall!". Everyone got a move on and climbed up on their horses. They all headed straight out of the village, except Connie, prompting you to halt as well. He looked conflicted as he eventually mustered the strength to leave. That's when the titan suddenly made a sound, you and Connie both staring at it in complete disbelief.
"D-did it just speak?", you croaked out with big eyes. You both just stared at it.
'I swear it just said welcome home...!'
"Connie, Y/N! Hurry up!", Reiner was suddenly right by Connie's side, gripping his shoulder hard, startling the both of you. "We're falling behind!".
"Reiner, did you hear that? The- the titan-", Connie stuttered.
"I didn't hear anything at all", Reiner said quick.
"B-but, Reiner I heard it too-", you tried to convince him, but he wanted to hear nothing of it.
"Enough with the chit-chat. Focus on the mission!", Reiner said stern.
"I know it's crazy, but I think... my mom...", Connie tried again, his voice trembling.
"Connie! Do you understand the situation we are in?! Hundreds of thousands of lives depend on whether we complete this mission or not! Your family may have escaped, but it's not over yet!", he yelled at Connie. You gaped slightly at his choice of tone.
'No need to be so harsh, Connie's going through it enough as it is right now'
"Reiner-", you tried protesting.
"If you two are soldiers, put the mission first!", Reiner said, riding off. Connie's expression changed from scared to determined.
"Lives still depend on us Y/N. Let's get a move on!", he said confident, kicking his horse in the side.
"I'm right beside you!", you assured him, following his lead.
~
You had been riding along the wall, trying to spot any breach or hole of any kind. So far there had been none. It was now completely dark, and you were only able to see as far as the light of your torches could reach. The atmosphere was tense, as the possibility for spotting a titan long rage was slim. Riding like this in the dark was a risk and you could see by the tenseness of Gelgar's shoulders and the rapidness of his quiet breaths that he didn't like your situation one bit.
'Even if we are lucky enough to not cross paths with any titans on our way to the hole, meeting titans at the breach is inevitable. God, what a mess'
You all jumped a bit as you saw light in the distance.
"Looks like torches. Must be another team", you said, squinting your eyes to try and put a name to the figures in the shadows before you. "Nanaba?".
Nanaba, together with the rest of the western team approached you. You all went quiet as you realised what meeting another team would mean.
"Did you follow the wall here too?, Gelgar asked her.
"Yeah. Where did you find the hole?", she asked him.
'Wait, where did we find the hole? They didn't find anything?'
"Huh?", was all Gelgar managed to say.
"We didn't find anything to the west. Didn't you find it your way?", she asked, her expression went from stressed to baffled.
"No... There is no hole this way either", Gelgar answered her, as the tension grew darker and more restrained.
"Is it possible we missed it?", the female scout on your team suggested.
"No way. Not a hole big enough for titans to use", the male scout on Nanaba's team concluded.
"Should we go back and look again?", Gelgar asked, not sure where to go from here after such a revelation.
"We'll need to, but the horses, as well as the rest of us, are exhausted", Nanaba started reasoning, and right on cue, you felt the stingy feeling of tired eyes. Who knows how long you had been riding for, staring intently after something you never found.
"Looks like the moon is finally peeping out through the clouds. Now we can finally see something", Gelgar said relieved.
"Look over there!", Nanaba pointed towards something that looked like an old castle of sorts, two very tall towers dominating the horizon.
"Castle ruins? Lets check it out. Maybe we can camp over there for the night", Gelgar decided, you all making your way towards it.
~
"It looks like a mess, but we can make it work for one night of rest", Gelgar declared certain. The castle looked even older and dilapidated up close, making you a bit worried about the structure and if it would even hold. But it was nonetheless a much safer option than camping outside where there could be titans around.
"Everyone, tie your horses up here so they can rest. There seems to be some water in this well still, should be enough for the horses. We'll se if we can find any rations for ourselves inside", Nanaba ordered, and you quickly did as told, hoisting up the last couple of bucket's worth of the slightly dirty water, serving it to the horses by the little stable area.
Together you all ventured inside, walking up the vast amount of stairs until you reached a room big enough to start a fire in and get some rest.
~Marco POV~
Sasha and I had been running as fast as we could to relay a message to Hange from Erwin.
"Right in there", a helpful scout pointed out the way in which we could find her and her team. As we entered through the gate we could spot them talking about something, and by the looks of their faces it was something serious, but this message couldn't wait.
"Excuse me! 104th southern Cadet Corps, Sasha Blouse and Marco Bodt!", Sasha announced loud and clear. They didn't even move a muscle, not even acknowledging our presence.
"Weird, they must not have heard you", I said as we walked towards them.
"Um, this is for you, Section Commander", Sasha tried again, reaching out her hand with the paper towards her, but they still didn't notice her.
'Whatever this conversation is, it must be really shocking if they don't even notice us standing right beside them'
Me and Sasha exchanged puzzled looks.
"You must find her at once. Only she may know the truths which even we cannot perceive", the priest they were talking to said urgent. "That is all the information I can share. The rest I leave in your hands".
"If she's with the 104th, then she's deep in the front lines right now", Hange said stressed.
"Let's go!", Eren said determined, bumping hard right into me and Sasha as he turned around.
"Ouch", I exclaimed as both me and Sasha collapsed to the ground by the impact.
"Sasha? Marco?", Eren said surprised.
"What are your guys doing here?", Mikasa asked. It was as if something clicked, and Sasha hastily grabbed a hold of the message. We got up from the ground.
"Upon our arrival, we gave our report to the Commander!", Sasha said as we stood in front of Hange. "Afterwards, we were entrusted to deliver this message to the Section Commander!", Sasha announced formally, bowing as she held the message out in front of her.
"Message? Thank you. Good work you two", Hange said, taking a hold of the paper, placing a potato in Sasha's hands in exchange.
'Wait, did she just walk around with a potato in her pocket?'
Sasha started munching on it in delight.
"So who is this girl from the 104th?", Hange asked Eren, and I turned around to get in on their conversation.
"She's the smallest one of us and has golden hair", Eren started explaining.
'Crista? Did something happen to her?'
"And she always hangs around Ymir", Mikasa added, and Hange flinched at the name, but quickly composed herself.
"We'll need to advance at once. We can't take any chances leaving her or the rest defenceless out there in the front lines! Sasha and Marco, you join Levi and the rest to rendezvous with Erwin. Eren, Mikasa and Armin, you guys join me and my team as we set out to retrieve your classmates", Hange ordered, and we all formally agreed. I didn't like not being chosen to help our friends. Y/N possibly being in danger felt like someone was slowly turning a knife in the pit of my stomach, but I knew I had to do as told. Y/N and I promised to always put our duty before ourselves, although I know she would abandon her post to save me any day. I smiled the slightest smile at the thought of her and her selflessness. It was both an admirable and a scary trait she posessed.
'Forgive me for following through on our promise this one time Y/N... I hope you're safe wherever you are'
_____________________________________
A/N:
Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! Stay tuned for the next one where our dear friends' fight for survival is in focus.
~Jen<3