15 || Dangerous Terrain

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As you ride your horse towards the clearing, you could feel someone’s gaze fixated on you. Truthfully, they were not even trying to be subtle, or that person was just too unaware of themselves you couldn’t decide which one. But one thing that you knew for sure, you started to feel uneasy over this.

“What is it, Armin?”

You slowed down the pace of your horse, letting it stay in the same tandem as your blonde friend. He flinched a little when you turned around and caught him looking at you, but then again, maybe your action from before was just too unbelievable for him to see. “You are not hurt, right?”

“N-No, nothing like that, sorry.” He shook his head before looking around at the seemingly empty terrain, and as your eyes drifted towards his hand, you could see how he was trembling for a little there. “I just— you were awesome back then.”

A month full of training and briefing had passed, and here you were embarking on the mission to test the long-distance enemy scouting formation. You were on the same unit as Armin in this one, second column, fourth. It was considered as a safe formation for the recruits, since if the field test worked without a hitch, then everyone wouldn’t have to encounter any titans at all.

But it seemed that lady luck didn’t side with you today. Your unit saw a black flare only an hour after the expedition started, meaning that an abnormal titan was coming your way. No one could avoid this one, there was no other choice but to kill since it would destroy the formation if the unit let it pass.

You just told Sasha this morning that you would try your best not to engage with any titans, you told her that she would see you once the expedition was done. But of course, you could only hold yourself for a while before your horse galloped towards the abnormal titan, once again letting your instinct take over.

He was too shocked before, to the point he didn’t even realise you were not by his side anymore, and you could still hear his scream when he saw you engage with the titan. You were reckless, you knew that now as you shoot your hook at the titan’s shoulder. Squad Leader Ness shouted at you to leave, that it was too dangerous, but you were so close already that you couldn’t stop even if you wanted to.

There were no buildings or trees around that was enough for you to use your vertical manoeuvring gear effectively, so this was the only choice. Jumping off from your horse, you dashed to the side of the abnormal titan, right next to the top of its head. And just like what you predicted, it didn’t bat its eyes on you as its main focus was to attack Armin.

Releasing the trigger, you let the gravitation pulled you towards the titan’s neck. At the Battle of Trost, you could kill three or four titans right on its nape and assisted two from Connie and Ymir. So now, you were pretty sure it wouldn’t be much too different, even easier since there would be no attack coming from it.

With one swift move, you pierced your blades across the titan’s nape, taking a huge chunk of flesh as it went down within an instance. You didn’t waste any other second to pass and immediately called your horse, and like a good boy he was, the ash-coloured mane stopped right to where you were.

Even after you came back to accompany Armin on the front, you could still feel the adrenaline in your blood. There were so many possible scenarios back then, things that mayhaps could take your life. If the titan just moved a little, or if its focus went towards you instead of Armin, then you were doomed.

But you reminded yourself that it was now in the past, so you just focused on scouting the ground once again with your friend by your side.

“It was nothing, Armin.” Of course it wasn’t, only a few people could face a titan without thinking twice. You were pretty sure that your squad leader hesitated for a while there since the chance for them to succeed was extremely low, and you understood why. “As long as you’re alright.” Because like what your friend said, not everyone would be willing to risk their life for another.

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