Hand in Hand

10. Advance

"Reiner's titan is too slow, we can still catch up," yelled Jean.

"Jean, look!" Armin said. "I can see Eren! He's strapped to Bertholdt's back."

Hannes, who was riding ahead of Jean and Armin, replied, "Alright! I'm going to try and bring that thing to its knees!"

"Hannes, wait!" (Y/n) pleaded. "You can't cut through its Armor!"

If he had heard what she said, then he surely disregarded it. Hannes aimed his gear at the Armored and it connected with its leg. Eagerly, he jumped off of his running horse and pointed his blades for the Achilles heel.

"Yeah baby! It's about time somebody put you in your place." Reiner remained unfazed as Hannes's blade broke as it met with his Armor. He hadn't made a scratch. The contact repelled Hannes like the same ends of a magnet, launching him into the ground and rolling past the formation of horses.

'You have got to be kidding me,' (y/n) thought, watching Hannes. She looked over to her side towards Mikasa, who was riding beside her. "Mikasa, go take care of what you need to do! I'll double back and help Hannes." Mikasa firmly nodded and beckoned her horse to run faster. (Y/n) watched as Jean, Sasha, and Connie followed Mikasa's lead with Armin trailing behind. She almost smiled.

"Okay horse," She said quietly, rubbing the mane, "Let's get through this quickly so I can go home." Pulling on the reins to signal the horse to turn around, she added, "I'll give you a nice fat carrot when we're back."

Hanne's had been thrown almost a yard backyards but luckily he hadn't sustained any serious injuries. His nose was slightly bleeding from impact and scratches were etched on his face but he could still sit up and breathe normally. His horse had also doubled back and was poking Hannes's head with its nose. When (y/n) arrived she dismounted her horse and ran over to where he was sitting, a folded white cloth in hand.

"Here," she said aggressively. "Cover your nose."

Hannes took the cloth and laughed. "Alright. Thanks, hot stuff."

"I wish you'd take this mission more seriously."

"Who said I wasn't?"

"I did!" (Y/n) snapped. "Didn't you hear me when I said to wait? I know you're older than me but you aren't a Scout, you're with the Garrison Regiment. This mission is crucial, Eren Yeager is crucial, and you're being arrogant."

Hannes raised an eyebrow and grabbed (y/n) by the hand, pulling her closer to meet his eyes. "I know Eren is crucial to whatever it is you Scouts are doing. Don't lecture me about him. Heck, I've known that kid his entire life. I was the one who dragged him away during the attack on Shiganshina as his mom was being torn to pieces by a damn titan! I'll die for that kid."

(Y/n)'s stomach twisted in regret. "I'm sorry."

"It's not like you knew," Hannes huffed.

"You don't have to die today," (y/n) said in a hushed voice. "You don't have to die, we'll get Eren back."

Hannes smiled and shook his head. He wouldn't tell her, but his mind was already made up. All his life he followed his friends and never his sense of justice. He drank until he couldn't walk, he blamed his lousy work on new recruits, and he took his friends for granted. He couldn't even save Eren's mom all those years ago. Fear of titans and failing had consumed his life, making him always take the easy way out.

"Look at those kids," Hannes nodded towards Mikasa and the other new scouts who were standing on top of the Armored titan. It was still running but it looked like the Scouts had slowed it down.