Cleansing

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With the fifty Seventh expedition led by the Scouting Corps beyond the walls on the rise, Lieutenant Y/N finds herself on the verge of breakdown.

Distracted by the grief surrounding her heart over her late friend's death the previous expedition, Y/N lands herself in the infirmary wing next to a familiar face.
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SFW, grief-to-fluff
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"Prepare yourselves! We ride out in five minuet's time!"

Commander Erwin's voice boomed out across the crowd of both citizens and soldiers alike, reaching the ears of everyone gathered. But for the first time in your enlisted life, the confidence in his tone did nothing to boost your morale.

You sat atop your steed near the middle of the crowd of soldiers, your head bowed as you stared down at your hands holding your horse's reins.

Fifty seven expeditions the Survey Corps has undertaken, and somehow you still managed to draw breath after every single one of them that you'd been around to participate in.

Others hadn't been so lucky as to survive the missions beyond the walls, and years ago you would mourn their deaths from afar. As a comrade, perhaps as an acquaintance of the fallen. But now...Now, everything was different.

Squeezing the leather straps of the reins, you forced your chin to raise up and locked your gaze somewhere far away from where you sat. Swallowing down the lump in your throat, you forced yourself to take deep breaths.

Just a few weeks prior, had been the fifty sixth expedition out into titan territory. You'd figured, back then, everything would go as it always had.

Ride for your life, fight like hell, cover the rear guard, and pray to whatever might be out there you didn't get your ass ripped a new one by a titan's sharp teeth.

But you had been sorely mistaken, on that fateful day.

Your duty as Lieutenant within the Special Operations Squad was simple; aid Corporal Levi in any way he demanded, and cover your squad's rear. But that day, you had been selfish.

There had been a girl. A girl you spent a good portion of your teenage life with while training to become a Scout. She had been nothing short of your un-biological sister. Your best friend. She wasn't apart of your specialized squad, and you grew weary from the lack of contact the entirety of the formation had had that day with the right wing.

Levi's command had fallen on deaf ears that afternoon when you steered your horse in another direction. You'd called over your shoulder you would return quickly, but your promise was quickly broken.

By the time you had reached the right wing's position, you'd been too late. The dismembered and mutilated bodies of her squad laid all about the field in mangled heaps, their blood soaking deep into the earth. Titans roamed about the scene, lazily shifting through the corpses to find anyone alive to eat. Unable to take them all out on your own, and without any aid, you choked back your anguished cry and raised a flair gun over your head. Your vision had been blurred by unshed tears when you squeezed the trigger and rode off.

One last glance over your shoulder showed you what was left of your best friend; her body bitten into half and a silent scream frozen on her white face.

You'd never been the same since, and you didn't figure you would ever be.

And you certainly knew you'd never forgive yourself for leaving her body out there. For leaving her in the first place, despite duty pulling you two apart.

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