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

Orders

A pair of huge eyeballs devoid of emotion were hungrily peering up at her.

With an expression that was equally blank, Mikasa held the titan's gaze for a few more seconds before she teared her eyes away from it and glanced at the direction far deeper inside the forest that had used to be quite a popular tourist spot before the tragedy of the fall. 

A distant round of noise had erupted earlier somewhere deep in the forestry. What on earth could be happening inside there?

They were currently roosted atop the branches of the trees that were forming the tree line of the woods, as per orders from their superiors. She casted a cursory glance around her fellow cadets and could see the same bewildered expressions. 

Nobody knew what was going on anymore.

"Mikasa.."

Mikasa glanced to the next branch and saw an anxious-looking Sasha crouched while staring at the horizon of green land. She had a potato in her hand (Mikasa had no idea where she managed to pull that out) and was munching in her corner quietly. 

"What was that sound, in your opinion?" Sasha asked, still looking at the horizon before them. "It.. sounded like cannons are firing inside the forest.."

In that moment, another burst of rounds came echoing. Flocks of startled birds fluttered away high up in the sky. 

The soldiers stationed outside the forest were all tense. 

".. Probably." Apprehension building up inside her chest, Mikasa turned to look at the shrubbery behind her. Was Eren in there? Was he safe? 

Meanwhile, in another tree branch, Armin and Jean decided to evacuate to the next tree seeing that a titan was starting to gain vantage ground by climbing. 

"He's gradually getting better at it," Jean remarked as he flew over, a mild glare at the titan that was hungrily eyeing them while it was climbing up the tree.

Armin curtly nodded. "It means it can learn.. that's a scary thought. Although, that too, varies from individual to individual."

Just as the two boys landed on the branch, Jean decided to speak up about something that had been bothering him ever since they had been ordered on standby. 

"Say, Armin. There's something going on inside this forest right now.. and I think I now have a guess as to what."

The blond looked at him and waited for him to continue. 

"We've lured that female titan all the way here to capture it, am I right?"

Armin didn't answer, and that was all Jean needed. 

He lightly clicked his tongue as he looked back at the titan that was still in the middle of its tree-climbing adventure and was eyeing them like they were its next lunch. Unfortunately for the big guy, Jean had more important businesses to tend to than becoming titan lunch.

"I just.. don't understand why only a select few knew about the plan." He swallowed a pit of saliva. "In the Scouts... there are spies who are trying to destroy the wall... am I right, Armin?"

As Armin confirmed Jean's thoughts, their conversation stretched on about how Eren's existence was the primary reason for the veteran Scouts to enact this operation, and how their enemies, whoever they were, had now abandoned their goal in breaking down the walls and redirected their priority to capturing Eren. 

"But still..." Jean's voice trailed off, tightening his grip around his handgrips. "I still think more people should've been let in on the real plan. If the soldiers knew about the intelligent titan beforehand, they would have fought her differently. Maybe more lives would have been saved. What exactly... is the Commander thinking by letting so many of us die without knowing that there was a plan in disguise?"