Once In A While

Chapter 17: Charge

"Scouts, move on!" Commander Erwin yelled, and thus, the expedition to retake Wall Maria had finally begun.

It would take a considerable amount of time to reach our destination. It was now nightfall, and we were passing through a forested area.

"Slow down. Make sure the lights stay on." Captain Levi said to a recruit who had dropped their stuff.

"We should be arriving there soon." He continued, talking to another squad leader.

"Yeah. Once we get over this mountain, Shiganshina should be close by." He replied, showing a map of the area. So, we kept moving forward.

I tried my best to ignore my negative thoughts and focus on our mission. There was no space for personal feelings and matters when we were on the battlefield, so everything that had happened would have to wait; still, it hurt whenever my eyes fell on Jean, for I remembered the way he screamed at my face the night before.

"Sorry that you got stuck with my horse..." Eren said to Mikasa, who was leading both their horses.

"Don't worry about it. You should be saving up your energy." She assured him.

"Yeah, but still..." He looked away.

"She's right Eren. We need you at your full strength." Said Connie from behind.

"Don't say his name, dumbass..." Jean muttered.

"Sorry, I forgot." He apologized.

"Act as if we're surrounded by enemies all the while." Jean stated sternly, but before anyone could say anything else, someone spotted a titan;

"Titan on the left! Everyone! Light up the area!"

"It's all right! He doesn't seem to be one of the new kind that can move around at night. Well isn't that a shame! Leave him be..." Section Commander Hange ordered us, and we drew back our weapons.

"I can't believe we were this close until we finally noticed that thing..." Eren told her once we were moving again.

"Yeah, I'm with you on that one. Still, it could have been one of them, you know. We are taking full advantage of the moonless night. After all, the moonlight is just reflected sun light. And those new titans can move because of that. There's no guarantee that things that happened before won't be repeated... Ah, I just wish we can capture one of them one day!" Hange said, excited at the thought of getting to experiment with titans yet again, after the death of Sawney and Bean, her favourite guinea pigs.

---

As the sun rose up to the sky, we found ourselves in Shiganshina; Eren's, Mikasa's and Armin's hometown.

"There could be titans anywhere, so keep your guard up!" The commander instructed us as we galloped. "This operation has officially began! All troops, switch to ODM Gear!"

We flew on top of wall Maria, making our way to the outer gate, one of the two that Eren had to conceal.

"Don't stop! Get to the outter gate!" Captain Levi told the shiganshina trio, who were looking in shock at their hometown, as the rest of us raced behind him.

"How come we still haven't spotted any titans yet?" Hange questioned.

"We still have to continue." Levi reminded them.

"Right. We have no cause to call it off." They said, firing the signals. And then, Eren transformed, hardening his titan in front of the hole.

"The enemy could be anywhere! Stay alert!" Hange said, and approached Eren and Mikasa who had just landed back on the wall.