𝐆𝐫𝐞𝐲 | 𝐋𝐞𝐯𝐢 𝐀𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐱 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫

✥𝟻𝟽𝚃𝙷 𝙴𝚇𝙿𝙴𝙳𝙸𝚃𝙸𝙾𝙽✥

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The gut feeling was still there.
Although she had managed to sleep as peacefully as she could under Julian's embrace, the feeling was still there the morning she woke up and even when everyone was getting ready for the expedition. It was alarming her. The fact that it had continued to last another day was making her question everything that was going on around her. She didn't know who to tell, if anyone would take her instinct as true. After all, gut feelings like this didn't always mean they were true and she didn't want to appear insane or, worse, as a coward. The one person she had told about her weird feeling in the morning was Julian, who said he did no longer felt it. It had made her frown and worsened her overthinking. Maybe her training was rubbing off since she had spent an awful amount of time around people who were not tortured to get rid of feelings they deemed 'useless'. But then that wouldn't make much sense, since all those emotions that were stolen from her were still not back and would never be. The one thing she knew was that when she had strong gut feelings like this, they were always true. And this one that was burning so prominently in her soul was not the one she liked to feel.

Violet shook her head. She could not let these thoughts dominate her mind at the moment. Not when she needed her head clear and collected for a mission like this. She attended her horse and made sure everything was in place, securing the reigns and all the equipment that she would need. Her hands weren't shaking, her heart was calm, it was only her mind that was letting the awful feeling dominate her. She got on her horse and slowly started riding away to where her squad awaited her. As she made her way to them she felt the presence of someone approaching her to her right. Her head turned to the side where the sound of the horse's steps was coming from and met eyes with Levi. He joined her side and stopped his horse, Violet doing the same. "Hi, Levi."
"Hello, brat." He said. His eyes went to her horse, examining it with much detail, then moved to her body, to which he took even longer to analyze. His eyes ran through every single curve, every inch of her body with careful attention. Violet felt uneasy under his gaze, felt the need to move as his eyes felt like he was looking through everything that she was. Once he finished, his eyes went back to her E/C orbs and said, "Did you check everything was right?"
She swallowed the knot that had formed as she cleared her throat. "Yeah, everything's fine. You?"
He nods. He turned to look back up front, where both their squads and the rest of the Survey Corps were waiting for them, and then looked back at her. But this time, when her eyes met his, his look was more serious. His beautiful grey eyes had hardened, almost turned cold, as he stared at her with a look she had never seen worn on his face. "Come back, Violet."
She swallowed again. She offered him a small smile before nodding her head and saying. "I will." She extended her hand and grabbed his, softly combining their fingers as they interlocked. "Do the same for me, okay?"

It took a lot of willpower for Levi not to turn red on the spot, as his mind went crazy from her touch. He knew that if he opened his mouth, tried to get words out, he would sound like a hormonal teenage boy talking to a girl for the first time. And the gods will be damned if he ever sounded like that in front of Violet Grey. So all he did was nod his head at her and squeezed her hand gently, afraid that his calloused hands would cause her any sort of damage. And when he felt her squeeze his hand back, it was the best thing he had ever felt in his life. They let go of one another and joined their squads. As soon as everyone was settled and Erwin gave the word, the gates opened and the 57th expedition began.

✥

They were riding at the gods' speed.
Once they all had separated and took the assigned routes, it was just their group looking out for the others. Violet's squad rode behind Levi's, watching out for his squad for the titans and any potential threat. Although, it was only her keeping an eye out for any threat, as nobody else but Levi, Erwin and herself knew about this said danger. They were riding a bit closer to Levi's squad just for this reason, to keep them and Eren Jaeger safe. She turned her head around momentarily to check up on her squad and saw a cadet looking around frantically in every direction. "Oi, don't falter, cadet." She warned, "Eyes on front." She turned her vision back upfront when she saw a red signal being fired. She cursed softly and turned to Petru, ordering the boy to fire one back. The boy nodded and his hands went to his sides, where he reached out for a red capsule and inserted it into his pistol, raising his arm in the air and firing the signal. As the sound bounced through everyone's ear, Violet looked out for the green signal that Erwin should be firing at any moment as she knew he would.

It was several minutes of looking out into the distance when she spotted the green smoke. "We changing route, follow me. Don't get lost." She said, "Petru, fire a green signal." She made her horse pick up speed and heard her squad do the same, followed by the sound of a signal being fired, as they followed her as they took a different course. Her eyes kept out for Levi's squad who, like them, were also changing direction. With this new adjustment, she could hardly see Levi's squad, however; the cadets looked like blurry little things in the distance that now divided them. She cursed again. Now protecting Eren and Levi's squad would be impossible at this distance. But she couldn't do anything about it, could not disobey orders again; because not only will it alarm her cadets, seeing her change something that was assigned, but she also did not feel like being lectured by Erwin ever again.
So far, they hadn't encountered a titan. It was great news for them all, as it meant everything was going well and that the people on the outer side of the formation were taking care of it. It was one of the perks of riding in the middle of the formation. All they had seen was the greenery the land had to offer and some trees and decaying buildings that they passed by as they got further and further away from the walls and the civilization. They kept riding through that greenery, following their new route, when a soldier approached their squad, racing at hells speed. "The right flank has been destroyed," He cried, "Our recon system is partially inoperative. Pass the message along."
Her stomach sank. She nodded her head at the soldier as he left back to his rank, then turned to one of her cadets and ordered her to pass the message along. They continued riding as the cadet left their group, Violet trying to keep her head cool and collected for the sake of her group. Her mind was turning at an ungodly speed, telling her how her hunch was in the right; how she had been right all along. She didn't know what to do, because if this was actually happening, how would she protect her squad when everything went to shit? "Violet, look," Julian said.
She looked up and scowled. A black signal had been fired. "Fire one back, Julian." She ordered. An abnormal titan had been spotted. This day was cursed all the way to hell and she was sure the gods were enjoying every bleeding second of it.

And as if the day couldn't get any worse, they were approaching the forest of giant trees. 

✥

She knew that being inside this forest was pretty much their deaths being granted.
The visibility had lowered significantly, as the trees blocked up all the light emitted from the sun. As a result, they wouldn't be able to spot a titan with the ease they had before, not only due to the weak-ass light they had but also because the trees acted as obstacles to their visions. It made everything even more difficult than before and it stressed Violet out more than anything ever had. But they had no other option to keep riding. "Be aware of your surrounding." She said to her squad, "Those to the outer sides, be our eyes. The rest, keep looking front." She didn't even bother checking if they were obeying her, because she knew they did. But their lack of response told her all she needed to know: that they were scared. Julian was the only one who answered because, like her, had been deprived of such feeling. But it still worried the two ex-assassins that their companions were full of fear.

It added to her list of worries. Her gut feeling was first -- which turned out to be right--, then the fact that the right flank had been destroyed, and now this loss of visibility and that her squad had become a mess of fears was contributing to her whole body stiffening. But what worried her mind the most was that she completely lost Levi and his squad from her line of vision. She hadn't seen them ever since that change in formation and now that all these bad things were happening from left to right, their absence and not knowing where they were plagued her mind like a disease. It was all she could think about. She knew that Levi and his squad were one of the best, just like hers, and that they were able to conquer anything that came in their way. But with this chain of events occurring in a short span, to her, it didn't matter if they were capable or not. A whole flank had been destroyed and all of them were capable cadets, yet they were killed mercilessly by this unknown enemy. Whatever it was that was out there lurking, it was one hell of a beast; and if it was capable to wipe out a whole flank, then what other damage could it continue to cause?
And in perfect timing, Violet's ears were overtaken by the sound of loud, heavy steps. The steps of a titan, she had come to know that sound better than her voice. But this was no ordinary titan, she could tell by the weight of their steps, how they resonated against the Earth. The sound was coming from the right, from where the flank was wiped out. No titan ever sounded that way, she knew from her years killing them with her very hands and blades. Whatever this was, whatever titan this was, it was one they had never encountered in any mission in their lives. This was the thing that killed many of her comrades and it was coming for them.

However, although it was coming their way, Violet noticed how father ahead their steps sounded. How, while it was coming in their direction, it was not coming for her squad. It was heading over where Levi's squad would be at. Her eyes widen. "Pick up your pace." She growled.
She made her horse go even faster than before, but the animal had reached its maximum speed, only speeding up the slightest bit. She cursed, damned all the gods all the way to hell. She bit down her tongue, holding in everything that wanted to spill out of her, the violent cries, the desperate shouts. She just pulled back her reigns slightly to slow down the horse a bit. She would never reach Levi and his squad, not with all of their horses already riding at the best speed they could offer. It was pointless trying. Her mind, weirdly enough, had managed to calm down, offering her a clear, collected head. It allowed her to strategize ways to get her squad to safety in case the titan came for them, and she took advantage of that. She had promised to keep them safe, to protect them, and she would do just that. But it did not mean that she was not thinking about Levi and his squad, because while everything in her had gone back to normal, one thing had not. 

Her gut feeling was getting stronger.

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i have a serious addiction with animal crossing.
i kid you not i can't stop playing it.