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The impact from the explosion was nothing more than I expected. I braced myself by putting my blades back into the ODM boxes, and covering my face with my arms and hands. As soon as the force hit us, I flew back up, and I was preparing to land back on top of the wall. I couldn't see anything, besides debris flying past me and the smoke and dust from the impact. I looked ahead of me, and saw a large piece of wood flying right for my face. I managed to dodge it, and then another one came right behind it, and everything turned black.
⋘ ──── ∗ ⋅◈⋅ ∗ ──── ⋙
I saw some light, and my eyes slowly began to flutter open. I sat up, looking over at Armin who was sitting beside me, and an unconscious Mikasa.
"Lilly! You're awake... take it easy." Armin put his hands out. "What happened?" I asked, and looked at the damp cloth that fell off of my head onto my lap. "Some debris must have hit your head, I'm not sure you should get up so quickly." Armin tried to keep me sitting down. "No, what happened to Eren?" I crossed my legs, and looked around. "They took Eren, but-" Armin reluctantly said, not knowing how I would react.
It felt like the whole entire world had just collapsed, and crushed me.
I noticed Mikasa jolt up beside me in the corner of my eye, while I just stared at the wall's ground.
"Mikasa?" Armin looked over to her. "Armin! Where's Eren?!" Mikasa grabbed Armin by the collar. "Mikasa, calm down!" Armin looked at her as she frantically searched around.
"Hey! You shouldn't be moving around! We don't know how badly you're injured!" Armin shouted at her.
"Where is he!?" Mikasa turned around to look at Armin from the edge of the wall.
"Eren was taken away. Ymir too, by Berthdolt and Reiner. Eren, he... he lost to the Armored Titan. It's been five hours since." Armin explained to Mikasa. "Is there anyone chasing after them?" Mikasa asked. "No." Armin looked down. "Why not?!" Mikasa looked into Armin's eyes.
"All of the horses are on the other side of the wall. In order to rescue Eren, we have to wait for lifts to come so we can move the horses. There's nothing we can do. Section Commander Hanji and the others are too injured to move. To even send out a small scouting party, we'll need more soldiers than this. Soldiers with experience. Understand?" Armin explained to Mikasa, and she slowly looked down, but her hand went to her head.
"Not this again..." She quietly said. "Does it hurt somewhere?" Armin asked.
"No... I must've hit my head pretty hard, but I'm fine. But... when Eren was taken by Annie, Lilly was there to get Eren back. And they succeeded, luckily. But... if it's been five hours..." Mikasa turned her head, and got up, walking over to her scarf and picked it up.
"Why does Eren always go so far away from us?" I heard Mikasa as I was zoning out. "Yeah, when I think about it... Eren has always run off on his own, leaving us behind. I guess that's just the way things are meant to happen... For Eren at least." Armin sighed.
*Play Eye-water*
"Lilly, Mikasa? So you're up, huh? I bet you're hungry, eat this." Hannes handed a cracker wrap to Mikasa, and threw ours to Armin and I.
"As usual, field rations is all there is." Hannes took a bite of his and I silently set mine to the side. "Hmm, tastes neither good or bad, as usual." He then took a drink of his water.
"Speaking of which, this is always the same, too. Ever since the old days, you three have been there to clean up that mess of a brat. That's what I call a lousy relationship, sheesh. It's a different time and a different place, but you kids are doing the same thing you always have. Am I right?" Hannes looked over at Armin through the corner of his eye.
"The neighborhood bullies and Titans are a bit different in size." Armin smiled and looked down.
"True... the thing is, that brat isn't even all that good at fighting. No matter if he's up against three or five, he'll charge in the same. By the time Mikasa, Lilly, or soldiers show up, he'd be beaten to a pulp every time. But, you know... I've never seen him win a fight before. But I've never seen him get beat up and quit either. Sometimes he's so tenacious it's scary. No matter how many times he's knocked over, he gets back up. That's the kind of guy he is. You'll think he'll get taken away without putting up a fight? Nope. He'll keep resisting as long as he has strength. Even more when he's up against two. He'll give 'em hell no matter who he's up against. Until you or I show up to help. That's how Eren's always been." Hannes went on, and I managed to glimpse over at him as he looked the opposite direction.
"I loved those good old days. If you'd ask Eren, he'd say those days were nothing more than a false peace. But for me, I'm more than happy to be a drunk, useless soldier. If it means going back to those plain, ordinary days, I'll do whatever I have to. No matter how long it takes to get there. I'm coming, too. Without you four together again, I can't bring back the old days." Hannes turned back to us, and they all nodded.
They began to eat their rations, while I slowly picked mine up and tore off the wrapper, taking bites out of it. I have to save Eren... or else I don't know what I'll do with myself.
I noticed a big group of reinforcements come up to us, including Commander Erwin, and surprisingly Captain Levi besides him. The Military Police was there as well.
The others talked, while I payed attention to what was happening ahead.
"You're here, Commander Erwin!" Moblit ran up to Erwin as he got off his horse, Toko. A tall dapple grey. "Is the situation the same?" Commander asked. "Yes, sir." Moblit replied. "Good. Deploy the lifts!" Commander Erwin shouted.
As I was watching Hanji come up to Moblit, literally dragging herself across the ground, I felt a hand on my shoulder, and I flinched a bit.
"Are you alright?" I looked over to see Captain Levi. "I'm fine. Why are you here? Your leg..." I looked down at his ankle. "I can fight." He said as he lifted a bit of weight off of his leg, while I nodded.
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*Play T-Kt at 1:10*
"It might be a long shot, but there's a giant forest here. We should head straight for it. Though, it's not like they have a way to hide the Armored Titan's footsteps, but, I think that's where they're headed." Hanji pointed on a map while we all kneeled down besides her, listening to the plan to rescue Eren.
"Why's that?" Commander Erwin asked.
"It's a gamble, but even if they have the strength to turn into Titans, the other Titans outside the wall might be a threat. Especially after all that fighting. They might not be as bad off as Eren, but I'm sure they're still exhausted. Like how Annie was out cold for a while. Let's assume for now that their destination is somewhere outside of Wall Maria. Considering the distance they'll have to cover, we can assume they'll need to recover their stamina. Which means... they'll want to reset somewhere where the Titans can't reach them. At least until nightfall when the Titans can't move." Hanji explained, while the horses were coming up and down the lifts.
⋘ ──── ∗ ⋅◈⋅ ∗ ──── ⋙
We began to ride off into the distance, straight for the giant forest. We have to get there before nightfall. I looked over to Mikasa who was staring into her horse, Zorro's mane while petting the side of his neck. Zorro has a white mane and a dapple-palomino coat.
I then glanced at Armin who was looking ahead. He was riding his horse Akio, a smaller white and gray horse.
"Let's move!" I heard Commander Erwin shout in the distance, and I looked up to the clouds above me.
