A Promise (An Attack on Titan Fanfic: Erwin Smith)

Under the rainfall

Erwin was at the very back of the line as their group headed back to the training camp, per their head instructor's orders. He lifted his face and peered through the shrubbery of leaves and branches hanging high above them and noted how dim the sky was due to the clouds. A particularly loud thunder had roared earlier, and he couldn't shake away the mild uneasiness that had been bugging him at the back of his mind. 

When the distant sound of hooves galloping from behind their file penetrated his hearing, Erwin looked over his shoulder to see a lone horse rushing towards them. 

Chiara had heard it as well since she, too, threw a curious look behind her. Frowning when her eyes landed on the familiar horse, she pulled her reigns to a stop beside Erwin's horse. Mike, Nile, Adrian and Adalaide had also noticed the stray horse and pulled theirs to a stop.

Adrian had hopped off his mount and stalked over towards the riderless horse. It seemed frantic as it couldn't keep its legs planted on the ground, prompting him to grab hold of its head in a soft grasp while patting it. "Easy there, boy," he murmured, bringing his face close to it and rested his forehead, "calm down, where's your rider?"

Chiara's eyes squinted at the horse as she directed her steed nearer to it, finally recognizing the animal. Her eyes widened. "Hold on... isn't that Isa's horse?!"

Her outburst caused the rest of them to freeze, eyes now focusing on the animal whose saddle was clearly empty, countless thoughts of confusion swirling in their minds as to why Isanna's horse was here, without her, despite them supposedly on the other side when the landslide had occurred earlier. 

Brows pulled in a silent, worried frown, Erwin jerked the reigns and pulled his horse towards the path where the stray steed had come from. Kicking the sides of his horse, the creature let out a brief snorting neigh before they enveloped into a rushed gallop as Erwin rode away and disappeared into the fog, leaving the rest in a swirl of dust in his wake.

"Erwin, wait!" Adrian called out with an outstretched arm, to no avail. He cursed, staring at the direction where the blond had disappeared to. He would never even think of associating Erwin with the word 'idiot', but with the way the blond had rashly reacted, in this heavy rainfall and thick fog to add, he might as well be. No matter how precious Isanna was to him, it wasn't like him to move right away without taking time to formulate some sort of action plan.

"Shouldn't we go after him?!" Adalaide was about to follow Erwin when Nile stretched an arm to stop her.

"No, it's too risky to send more people in this storm," he advised, a cogitative frown on his features as his worried thoughts went towards two of his friends, one lost under the rainfall, the other recklessly scouring through the storm for her. ".. they'll be fine, I'm sure of it. For now, let's head back with the other cadets and go look for them after ensuring the others' safety."

Adrian had walked Isanna's horse near to his and tied the reigns to his saddle. "Nile's right, it's still too dangerous, especially in this fog. Erwin going on ahead is enough."

"How is Erwin going alone good enough?" Chiara asked, still shooting occasional worried glances towards the direction where the blond had gone. 

"Because this is Erwin we're talking about," Adrian emphasized as he mounted up on his dark-furred stallion, swinging a leg over the animal and positioned himself atop the saddle. "He'll definitely find Herrmann."

•

"Fucking no-good son of a bitch."

Isanna had been blathering curses and insults non-stop. Just her luck, a cluster of trees were lining the riverbank, and she had used that to her advantage to cushion her fall before splashing into the cold river from what she estimated was a 30-meter tall cliff. Fighting through the throbbing pain shooting from her right leg, left arm, and abdomen, the girl waded across the ice-cold waters that were streaming down in a strong current and flopped like a dead fish on the riverbank on her back.