Two Weeks Later:
The gates of Calanath District opened. A heard of rumbling erupted from the horses and carriages of the Survey Corp. A small portion of Squad Four was chosen to defend the convoy as it moved out of Calanath District. Titans were present at the gate but weren't able to make it to the main convoy due to the distraction of the Squad Four soldiers.
The Convoy split as it left the former outer village town of Calanath. Teams One, Two, Three, and Four (Squads One and Two) were the first to break off, acting as the first and second-row spotters. Teams Five, Six, and Seven (Recruits and Squad Three) then proceeded after them, acting as signallers and spare horse carriers. Teams Eight, Nine, and Ten (Squad Four) remained central with the Command Squad, acting as logistics. Finally, positioned at the rear of the Centre, was the Special Operations Squad (Levi Squad) with Eren.
Y/n was placed within Team Ten under the command of Lauda, who had chestnut eyes and shoulder-length brown hair, neatly tied back with tousled bangs framing the front. As they got further out, the members of Squad Four which defended the convoy as it left Calanath, had managed to catch up. Y/n rode next to Lauda, who was the one manning the most forward carriage of Team Ten.
Lauda: "Make sure you're on guard Y/n! We may be in the centre but we can't be caught out!"
Y/n: "Sir!" It felt odd to Y/n to be outside of the Walls. It was nearly all flat plains with no signs of human life. "Sir, I didn't have time to ask in the briefing, but why are we in Teams and not in our Squad?"
Lauda: "When we're out on an expedition, it's difficult for Section Commander Hange to keep track of such a large number of us spread apart. That's why we're split into three groups and each assigned a Team Leader." Y/n was impressed with the reasoning behind this. It was true that Titans were attracted to bigger groups of people, so splitting us up into smaller groups would ensure less chance of encountering a Titan. "Pretty smart isn't it?"
Y/n: "That's a very good reason behind it."
Lauda: "You're new here so I don't blame you for being confused at first. When Erwin came in as the new Commander, he developed this system, and slowly engineered it into the Scouts as a whole. Although a bit complex, it's saved many of our lives." The genius of Erwin was becoming even more known the more Y/n learned of him.
Y/n: "Intuitive indeed. I see why everyone respects him so much now."
Lauda: "If what Erwin says is true, whoever comes after Eren is going to be in for a surprise." As if timed perfectly, Y/n felt a shock go through his nervous system. Although he could not tell who from his location, it was obvious that they had taken the bait.
Y/n: "I'm sure they will be..."
Later in the expedition:
Large amounts of red and black smoke had been shot off from the right-wing spotters. It had become rather quiet which made everyone nearby anxious. However, the plan which Erwin derived was still in motion. Team Ten had received confirmation that the Command Squad, alongside Team Eight and Nine, had made their way through the tree line and into the Forest proper. Finally, the Forest came into view for Team Ten, being the last Team to arrive before Levi Squad.
Lauda: "Remember our orders Team Ten! The majority of the devices would've been set up by the time we get in but we have our roles! When we get into view of the rest of Squad Four, I'll need the rear half of our Team to quickly fasten your horses, and get on relatively high ground to act as a warning! The rest of you will help us unload as much from the carriages as possible!"
Team Ten: "Yes sir!" The convoy of Team Ten broke through the opening of a tree line into the Forest. As they drove into the Forest, some of the rearmost members of Team Ten broke off and got into their positions.
Abel: "Team Ten is approaching!" Abel signalled the members of Squad Four in the centre. Lauda pulled off to the side with those on horseback. Quickly dismounting from his carriage, Lauda pulled back the covering over the equipment as Y/n with the others took them out. Hange came down from one of the trees above to check on the equipment.
Hange: "Good to see you all in one piece. How's the equipment?" Y/n looked at the equipment in the carriage and realised they were carrying the harpoons.
Y/n: "They look to be in good condition. A few minor scratches but nothing serious." Moblit and his small team helped pull out the harpoons and place them in the Titan capture equipment. "Are you sure this will work?"
Hange: "It's too late to change now. Don't forget, with only six barrels in a standard set, just a few stacks can halt a fifteen-meter Titan, and five or six stacks are sufficient for complete immobilisation. We have twenty-four barrels here so there's no need to worry."
Nifa: "Hange!" Nifa shouted as she landed on the ground. "A Female Titan has been spotted entering the tree line! She's in pursuit of Eren!"
Hange: "Make sure those barrels are loaded and ready on Commander Erwin's order!" Moblit and his team finished loading the barrels and managed the mechanisms. The rest of Squad Four hanged off the sides of the trees and waited patiently.
Y/n: "What a fool you are Annie." Y/n thought to himself. "What possessed you to do something so stupid? It was a trap. You're smart enough to realise that as well. So why?" Crunches and bangs of the ground became ever more difficult to ignore closer the Female Titan came. Eventually, the inevitable occurred as the Female Titan fell into the trap.
Erwin: "Fire!" A whole plethora of cannon fire erupted as the Female Titan entered the targeting range. Its skinless form was even more ugly than Y/n anticipated. Still, though, Annie's eyes and hair could be easily identified, even with its hideous appearance. Y/n was so focused on the Titan that it took him a moment to realise that Eren had even run through. Furthermore, Levi was now standing next to the Commander overlooking the nape of Annie's Titan. "Second and third waves, fire!" Any remaining cannons that hadn't been fired at the first command now fired their rounds. It was a rather impressive operation that Commander Erwin had pulled off, at least that's what Y/n thought to himself.
Hange: "Poor thing. Can't so much as bat an eyelash, can we? Must be terribly frustrating. Get used to it, my dear. Heh, biology can often be a curse. Case in point, the more your wounds heal, the stiffer your joints become. So, what's taking so long on the extraction of our esteemed guest? Strike when the iron is hot I say!" Miche and Levi came swinging down on the wrist of the Female Titan, in hopes of cutting her hands off. Yet, they failed as Annie hardened the skin on her wrist. Erwin signalled to Keiji to come down to receive orders. Against his better judgement, Y/n walked over to the leg of the Female Titan and looked at it right in its eye.
Nifa: "Get back Y/n! It might be dangerous!" Ignoring Nifa, Y/n placed his hand on the leg of the Female Titan. Steam began to evaporate around his hand due to the high temperature of the Female Titan. Like he had been able to do in Trost, Y/n had managed to create a connection between himself and Annie. This allowed Y/n to telepathically communicate with Annie.
Y/n: "Annie." The Female Titan's neck creaked down at Y/n on the floor. Although the Titan's emotions did not change, its eyes ever so slightly began to shake. "I know you have a way to get out of this. I'm also certain that you are going to go after Eren again. You're more than likely gonna fail. Just make sure you make it back in one piece." Y/n pulled his hand off, walking back in the direction of Nifa. His hand was burnt but Y/n decided to not heal it back. The Female Titan watched Y/n walk away with Levi landing on its head.
Nifa: "Y/n! What the hell was that?" Nifa looked at Y/n with fury in her eyes. "You could've been seriously hurt!"
Y/n: "Yeah, yeah chill out. I only got a minor burn on my hand." Suddenly, a scream of a dying animal erupted from the Female Titan. All Scouts that were nearby placed their hands on their ears, attempting to shield themselves from the roar. An electric shock, at a force that Y/n, had never felt before, burst around his entire body.
Miche: "Sir, Titans are approaching. I can smell them."
Erwin: "From which direction?"
Miche: "Every direction." Rumbling of Titan footsteps surrounded the entire Squad. Those who hadn't already been put on guard were now. "Here they are. First waves closing grime the east, and coming in fast."
Erwin: "Wagon defence squad! Intercept,
now!" Abel and his squad moved to intercept the Titans moving in from the east. Though, to their surprise, the Titans ignored them completely.
Abel: "What's going on? Damn things passed right by us!"
Scout: "Three Titans have broken through!" Captain Levi quickly dispatched the Three Titans that approached from the east. Unbeknownst to the Scouts present, a small three-meter made its way through to the Female Titan.
Erwin: "All hands commence combat! Defend the Female Titan at all costs!" All the Scouts in the local vicinity engaged waves of Titans. They tore and ripped apart the Female Titan. Even with all hands-on combat, it wasn't enough for them to stop the Female Titan from being devoured. "All hands, withdraw! Redeploy the formation! Return to Calanath District!" Y/n sat down on one of the branches overlooking the Female Titan's corpse.
Y/n: "That's pretty smart. So you can harden your skin and control a small number of Titans through your scream. That explains my ability to control Titans through my scream." Lauda made his way up to Y/n to get him ready for departure.
Lauda: "Get your horse ready for departure. Let's not stay here any longer than we have to." Pulling himself up onto his feet, Y/n descended onto the forest floor. Y/n saddled up on his horse. Activating his Path seeing ability, he saw that Annie was making her way towards Eren.
Y/n: "Bait on Bait. It won't be long until Levi makes his way back to his squad. If you run into Levi, with the amount of energy you've used, you're surely going to lose." Y/n thought to himself.
Lauda: "Let's move out Team Ten!" The other members of the Team had all saddled up. Now it was just a matter of making it back to Calanath District and accounting for the dead. As they travelled back out of the Forest, another scream echoed throughout. This time however, it was one of rage and not desperation. "What was that?"
Y/n: "That's our bait fighting back." With Eren's transformation, it put everyone on edge. "What should we do now? It doesn't seem likely that Levi Squad will be able to saddle up. Especially if they are not engaged in combat with the Female Titan."
Lauda: "We're more than likely going to set up camp. If they're going to catch us, they'll meet us there. There's a lot of dead that needs to be accounted for."
Y/n: "Counting the dead is a job I'm not looking forward to doing." Y/n said with a sigh. "Let's hope Levi comes back with Eren in one piece."
Lauda: "I'm betting that the Commander is thinking the same thing. Captain Levi is also our strongest soldier. If anyone can succeed, it's him."
Little While Later:
As Lauda had predicted, a camp was set up just near the Forest. Any spotters that had survived were set up around the area of the camp. Meanwhile, logistics and signallers were assigned to collect and record the dead. This gave Y/n the chance to talk to Armin and Jean who he had not seen since the start of the battle.
Jean: "Oh hey Y/n. I forgot that you were in the logistics."
Y/n: "Yeah...you heard the cannon fire didn't you?"
Jean: "I'm pretty sure everyone did. What was that all about anyway." Y/n looked around to make sure that no one could hear their conversation.
Y/n: "I probably shouldn't be telling you this, but we've been training for the last month on this mission. This expedition was just a coverup for our real objective. I'm sure you've already worked that out though."
Jean: "We had our theories. It's nice to know that we were right about them. Well, cruelly and sickeningly at least." Silence overtook them, unsure of what to say. It felt odd how little survived. All of the right-wing spotters were killed alongside the majority of right-wing signallers as well. So little now remained that it was beneficial to remain as a small group.
Armin: "That night during our regiment choices, that meeting you had was about this, right?" Y/n looked rather surprised by Armin. How much did he know or work out by himself?
Y/n: "That's exactly what it was. By the way, what happened?" Y/n pointed out the bandage that was wrapped around Armin's head.
Armin: "It was from the Female Titan. It's only a little scratch. What happened to your hand?"
Y/n: "It's nothing serious. It's just a burn I got from touching its leg." Jean's face turned to one of complexion. "Did I say something wrong?"
Jean: "You 'touched' it? How?"
Y/n: "The cannon fire was the Special Target Restraining Weapons we use for Titans. After we restrained the Female Titan, I was curious if would be able to recognise her. Although I'm unsure, I can confidently say, that she recognised me."
Armin: "That adds up with what happened with us." Y/n scratched his head and sighed.
Y/n: "As you can see, she got away from us. The last thing I heard was Eren's Titans scream. I'm pretty sure Captain Levi was on his way over to him."
Jean: "Now you mention it, I was wondering where he was. I haven't seen Mikasa as well."
Armin: "It's not too bold to presume that Mikasa heard the roar and went to investigate."
Jean: "That lucky brat has both Captain Levi and Mikasa protecting his ass. I'm sure he'll be fine." A distant figure could be seen breaking through the tree line. Although hard to see, Y/n activated his ability to spot that one of them was indeed Eren.
Y/n: "Speak of the devil. Guess who's made himself back safely." It took some time for Levi, Mikasa and Eren to make it back to camp. But, without the presence of the rest of Levi Squad, it wasn't a bold assumption to make that they were dead. Sadly, they would be proven right.
Mikasa: "Where are the medics?"
Jean: "Just up there. I'll take you to them."
Armin: "I may as well go with you. I'd like to talk to Mikasa about something." Jean, Mikasa, and Armin left Levi and Y/n.
Y/n: "What's wrong with your leg?" When Levi made his way over, Y/n had noted a slight limp in his leg.
Levi: "It's nothing. Where's Commander Erwin?"
Y/n: *sigh* "I'll take you to him." Y/n ushered for Levi to follow him. As they walked, Levi began to struggle behind Y/n due to his limp. Seeing this Y/n offered his help. "You sure it's just nothing? Let me help you."
Levi: "Fine." Y/n, let Levi use his body as support while they walked.
Y/n: "I take it your Squad didn't make it. For as little as it may mean to you, I am sorry for your loss."
Levi: "We're soldiers. We know what we've signed up for." Although Levi remained as steadfast as he always had, a hint of sorrow was woven onto his face.
Y/n: "Still doesn't take away the pain of them going." The area in which Commander Erwin was came into view. "You able to make it there without any problems?"
Levi: "I'll be fine." Levi was about to make his way to Erwin, but Y/n had to say one last thing before he did so.
Y/n: "I'll bring them back Levi. The least their families deserve is a clear answer to what happened to them." With that the conversation ended, and the two went their separate ways...
Several Days Later:
Calanath District loomed large over the Survey Corps. Half of the entire expedition forces were destroyed in hopes of capturing the Female Titan. Instead of holding their heads high, they could only look down as they entered to Calanath District. Any respect that was left for the Survey Corps, had all but been crushed. To make matters worse, Eren was to be handed over to the Military Police the following week. Erwin had summoned Y/n alongside Armin, Jean, and Mikasa to have a top-secret meeting discussing the Female Titans' identity. As Y/n had feared, Erwin had indeed realised that it was Annie. Now they just had to convince Eren to play along.
Erwin: "Sorry to keep you waiting." Erwin took the lead and led the small group into the cafeteria at the Scout's headquarters.
Eren: "Sir. What the? Why are you all here?" Eren looked at Mikasa, Armin, Jean, and Y/n with great confusion.
Erwin: "We believe we have uncovered the Female Titans' true identity. She won't slip away this time." The group made their way down the stairs and onto the table with Eren and Levi. A map of Stohess District was on the board on top of the table. "We'll be passing through Stohess District en route to the capital. That's when we'll strike. It'll be our first and only chance to do so. Once we've set foot into the interior, the government will assume custody of Eren, and the Scout's authority to continue operations will be limited. Thus, unless we wish to concede defeat, we must flush out the enemy now. So here's what we do. While in Stohess we use Eren as bait, luring the target into this underground passage. The deeper, the better. Get her well beneath street level. That done, she should be easily immobilised, even in Titan form. If she transforms before reaching the tunnel, at that point she'll be your responsibility, Eren.
Eren: "Right. So we know she'll be in Stohess? There's no chance she'll bolt before we get there?"
Erwin: "No. She won't risk going AWOL."
Eren: "Wait you mean she's..."
Erwin: "Armin, here, identified her. She's an MP. Likely responsible for the deaths of Hanges test subjects. And a fellow trainee in the 104th Cadet Corps." Eren's face turned into one of disbelief. For as much as Y/n liked his perseverance, he was still a naive child who could not see the bigger picture at times.
Eren: "Wha-? You can't be serious. I trained with her?"
Erwin: "I'm sorry, but yes. She's one of us."
Eren: "No, it can't be. Do you think it's Annie? Where's your evidence? Tell me!"
Armin: "Obviously the Female Titan knew what you looked like before she attacked. Plus, she reacted to your 'suicidal maniac' nickname, something only our classmates would know. But the biggest reason I suspect her is that I have strong reason to believe she's the one who killed Sawney and Bean."
Y/n: "It also doesn't help that she recognised me and Armin."
Eren: "You're kinda going out on a limb there."
Armin: "Killing two Titans at once required a precision ODM strike. It only makes sense that the killer would've used the gear they were most familiar with."
Eren: "But, there was that whole equipment inspection. Annie's totally checked out."
Armin: "Except, for the gear she presented. Well, it wasn't hers. It was Marco's." Eren gasped and was still trying to find ways around the information given to him.
Eren: "I don't understand. What's Marco gotta do with all this?"
Armin: "Eren. I know what I saw, and the fact is.." Levi interrupted.
Levi: "Okay, we get it. Do you have anything else on her? Any sort of concrete evidence."
Armin: "Nothing, sir."
Mikasa: "There's the fact that she looks like the Female Titan. That's something isn't it?" Eren stood up angered by Mikasa.
Eren: "Really? What the hell's wrong with you? What kind of evidence is that?"
Levi: "So basically, we're going after her without proof."
Eren: "This is insane! What if it isn't her? What if she's not the monster you all say she is?"
Y/n: "I've known Annie as long as I have known you, Eren. She had a tendency to go off late at night. She would only return at early times in the morning. Although I'm not one hundred per cent certain, she was likely looking for something or someone." Y/n was taking a gamble telling Erwin this information. After all, if Y/n had not, he most likely would've been shipped off with the other recruits.
Armin: "No one wants to condemn her prematurely, least of all me. But...either we make a move on circumstantial evidence, or we sit back and let the central government condemn you."
Eren: "Do you even hear yourselves? You're talking about Annie."
Y/n: "Eren, who you know Annie as and who Annie is aren't the same person. As someone who's safeguarded her for the last six years, it hurts me more than you can know. But this isn't the time for our emotions to cloud our judgment. Either you die and we get nothing, or we take a risk and keep you alive."
Mikasa: "Eren, you also thought hand to hand with the Female Titan. Was there anything about her techniques that seemed familiar?" Eren sat back down, accepting the evidence for what it was.
Erwin: "This may backfire. But what choice do we have? I'll need you to be on board Eren. This whole operation fringes on you." Eren took a moment to think to himself. It was a big development after all.
Eren: "Fine...I'll do it."
Erwin: "Good. That's the right call Eren. Now, I'll need you all fit and ready to go for tomorrow. You are all dismissed." Now it became clearer than ever that fate had truly started. Little did Y/n know, this would be one of his last encounters with the Scouts...