Acceptance (Erwin x Female Reader)

Bird Calling- Chapter 1

It was after this one expedition where things changed.. where you met Commander Erwin Smith.

Your POV

Erwin split up his formation into five different squads, each group spreading out to different locations, following their squad leaders.

Unfortunately there was an overwhelming amount of titans in every direction, resulting to a lot of fatalities that day. My part of the formation took a hard hit, almost my whole squad had been eaten including my squad leader, leaving only one other cadet and myself. I block out the screams and noises coming from my peers being eaten alive, there just wasn't anything that I could do. I wanted to live.
—
As we make our way into the forest we happen to run into another surviving squad. There was about five of us all together and we had all came to an agreement to split up and search for survivors. Everyone was low on gas for their 3DMG so if we could just find the supply unit, it would help us out a lot. One of the scouts spoke up on the idea,

"Ok, let's say we all find the remaining survivors, how will we signal each other to regroup?"

We had also used up our flares. All that was left were the five of us and our horses. I've always been a natural born leader since I could remember. I like the feeling of being in charge, after all, with the way that I grew up, I had no choice but to take charge of my household. I'm not scared to step up to the plate when needed to, even though I didn't have much experience as a cadet.

I enlisted into the cadet core at an older age than most. I was alone. I had nobody left after the fall of Wall Maria.. I needed to move on and start a new adventure and an adventure is what I got.

"Does anyone know how to do bird calling?" I asked the remaining survivors.

Everyone looks at each other, waiting for a response. I continue, "Let me teach it to you all quickly, and I'll also teach you some codes noises. With that, we can communicate with each other from a fair distance. Once I find the first survivors, I will send a calling and everyone will respond to mine."

During my childhood, I use to play this little game with the neighborhood kids. It was kind of like Marco Polo but in the forest and we used bird calling to communicate.

I started to show the group a demonstration and code sounds for North, South, East, West, some other noises that represented the military alphabet and some orders. Just enough for them to get the gist. Once everyone got the hang of it we began to scatter off.

On my way through the forest, I ran into a 9 meter titan, but I took care of it quickly. Although, my 3DMG tank paid the price. I heard horses galloping in the near distance so I called out to whoever may be riding them but no reply. I picked up my speed to the direction of the noise until I finally caught up. To my surprise, there were three horses riding solo in a panic, thankfully I managed to calm the horses down and tie their reins together so they could follow my lead.

Authors POV

Resting on top of a large tree branch was Erwin, Mike and one other officer. They happen to be the owners of the three lost horses but unfortunately the horses left them in a panic when the titans caught up to their group. The third officer with them had been whistling for almost an hour, hoping that the horses would find them but no luck. Mike then gets a big whiff of air, alerting Erwin and the third officer

"What is it Mike? Titans?" Erwin asks

Mike replies "No, our horses I believe, and I'm picking up a female sent with them."

The third officer spots you "Look! Over there!"

Your POV

I spot three men on top of the tree and I halt the horses. I use the little bit of gas I had left in my 3DMG to make my way to them. I salute Commander Erwin and he nods giving me permission to drop my salute. "Good to see you're ok cadet, where is the rest of your squad?" Erwin asks.

"Dead I'm sad to say. Me and one other cadet are all that remained. While roaming the forest we bumped into another remaining squad, so I took the liberty of taking charge, having them spread out and find whoever is left out here so we can regroup and wait for your orders Sir."

The third officer speaks up "And how exactly are you all going to regroup without communication"

I then cup my hands together, pressing them against my lips and I begin to howl the signal. The loud whistling sound echoed through the forest. There was a few seconds of silence after the echo before we all heard the second bird calling, singing five o clock from our direction. After that it was one after the other until it reached the last member of my group, all confirming their safe location.

"What are your orders sir?" I ask. Erwin did a good job at hiding how impressed he was behind his well known poker face.

"We retreat. Let's head to the east, there should be an abandoned castle not to far from here."

"Yes sir!"
I make one last birdcall in a different melody, informing the others to retreat east. After forty five minutes of riding through the eastern forest, small groups of scouts make an appearance and join into formation. Eventually everyone that was left had caught up to us.
—
We all made it to the abandoned castle right after sundown. In the beginning of the expedition there was about fifty scouts and now we were down to fifteen. Thankfully two members of the supply unit survived and got to refill everyone's tanks and attend to everyone's minor injuries.
There wasn't much food and water left so we all did our best to split it evenly.

Erwin ordered everyone to get some rest, only giving us about four hours of sleep. I tried to sleep but couldn't, everytime I closed my eyes I saw another one of my comrades being eaten.. I could still hear the disturbing sounds of their bodies breaking in the Titans teeth. Sleeping felt more harm than good. I left the room where everyone had been soundly sleeping and I roam the dark dusty hallways. I stop at a big window that illuminated the hallway with the bright moon.

Sitting down on the window sill, I began to get lost in thought. Thinking of the people we've lost, if it was all for nothing, and if I would be the next person to become Titan chow. So lost in thought that I didn't even notice Erwin's heavy footsteps approached me from behind. He clears his throat, not intending for it to sound as loud as it did, but it startled me waking me up from my trance and causing me to jerk forward. I lost my grip on the window but the Commander got ahold of me by my under arms, pulling me out from the window sill and onto the floor.

"Commander!" I go into a humiliating salute "I'm sorry, I-I couldn't sleep."

"It's ok, I didn't intend to scare you. What's your name cadet?" Erwin's asks

"(Y/n) (L/n), sir" I answer timidly, avoiding the commanders eye contact.

"Good work out there (y/n), I liked the way you improvised" Erwin says, forcing a glance by me.

"T-thank you sir, I just did what I could to survive."

"Well, looks like it all worked out. You have have the makings of becoming a good Squad Leader (y/n)."

"Really? Thank you sir." I felt extremely flattered. The commander had never noticed me before, although he does try his best to remember all his scouts names, but he's a busy man.

"Once we settle in after this expedition I'd like for you to meet me in my office." Erwin orders.

"Yes sir"

"Now, go get some rest, or at least try."

After breaking off from the conversation I return to the room full of sleeping Scouts, pull my green hood up, attempting to sleep but still couldn't. Except this time I couldn't stop thinking about the handsome commander.