The Last Ackerman

Chapter 6: Jean

A few weeks later, Elysian was lined up amongst the ranks of soldiers preparing for the 57th scouting mission beyond the walls, readied on her horse with her own set of gear at her sides. It had been about two weeks since graduation and in the time since, she had been in countless lessons and extra training sessions to get both her and the other soldiers prepared for the missions. She came to realise that although she was one of the most experienced in hand to hand and melee combat, she had no idea how to fight a titan or what they even looked like, whereas all of her comrades did. This didn't discourage her but rather made her itching to fight the giant monsters and she was excited about this mission. She had spoken to a few more of her comrades in short conversations and had found herself to get along well with Sasha and Mikasa and to tolerate most of the other cadets, but Jean and Ymir were insufferable. She had continued to get along well with Armin - he often came to join her when she was alone under trees late at night, as they had a mutual love for watching the sunset over buildings. 

The soldiers around her quietly shuffled as they waited to leave and the horses grunted. The air was thick with anticipation and Elysian was itching to fight properly once again, and to possibly see Levi in battle.  A loud shout brought her attention back to the front. "Soldiers! Prepare to give your lives for the sake of humanity!" one of the leaders up front shouted and everyone raised their swords and shouted enthusiastically. A massive rumble sounded and the gate in front of them started to rise, massive spikes pulling up and out of the ground, leaving the space open in front of them. The horses started charging forward and out of the gate, into streets full of broken buildings, with chunks of brick littered everywhere, smashed tiles and broken streets. 

Mere moments after they left, Hanji alerted them to a titan approaching from the left, and Elysian's heart skipped a beat as she looked at it. Roughly seven metres tall and humanoid in appearance, it looked completely lifeless as it charged towards them the best it could with its awful body proportions, tongue lolling out of its mouth. Two members of one of the side squads flew up, angling their bodies perfectly as they powered behind it to cut the nape out, but it seems they didn't cut enough, as the creature whipped it's massive hand around to grab them. Elysian turned back forwards and ignored the sounds of crashing buildings and gurgling screams. They passed through a broken hole in what looked like another gate and then they were out in the open, grass and trees going as far as the eye could see. The trees towered over the horses as they passed them and the wind whistled through the grass, a sound Elysian had never heard before.

"Long range scouting formation, go!" Erwin shouted from ahead, and everyone headed for their assigned formation. As she was heading right, Elysian caught a glimpse from Armin but she had no time to dwell on it. They both understood that her position in the far right was horrifically dangerous, but they both had no choice. Elysian wasn't about to die just yet and was confident that she could survive this. She landed in her position in the far right with two other soldiers, who remained mostly quiet throughout the ride, only talking if they suspected that they had seen something. The only sound was the thundering of hooves and the strangled breaths of the other two soldiers for miles and miles.

"Hey, do you feel that?" the guy to her left shouted. Vibrations were running underneath them and huge footsteps could be heard approaching from their left. Soon enough, another 15 meter titan ran into their vision, legs almost tripping over one another and its hands already reaching out for them. When it didn't reach them the first time, it jumped, something Elysian had assumed the massive things couldn't do and the soldier to her left screamed as it gripped him around the waist. "It's abnormal! Please, help, please-" his pleas were cut off as the titan crushed his head between its teeth with a horrific crunch before consuming the rest of him and then heading after them again.