Bonds of Steel and Blood

CHAPTER 17 - Dancing with Abnormality

Reinae was still fuming with anger the following day when she joined Jasper and Aiden on their way to a meeting of squads. The boys exchanged meaningful glances, knowing better than to ask her what was happening.

As they walked into the meeting room, about sixty scouts stood around a table where Erwin, Miche, Levi, and Hanje looked at a map of the three walls that sheltered their world. Rei took her place next to her squad, frowning.

          "What's up with you today?" Oluo asked and received an answer of an elbow to the ribs.

          "The point of today's patrol is to assess the situation around the Trost district within Wall Maria," Erwin spoke. "For many of you, this will be the first time you'll enter Titan territory. We do not plan on meeting many of them today. That's why today's mission is not to fight unless necessary. You are to follow your captain's commands. If you find yourself in front of a Titan... try to survive. That is all. Direct any further questions to your captains and be ready to depart in 30 minutes."

          "You nervous?" Eld teased Rei as they moved together with everyone else towards the stables.

          "Why would I be?" she said blankly.

          "Well, you've never seen a Titan before. Aren't you... scared?"

Rei gave him a side-eye, scoffing.

          "I saw my share of disgusting dumb creatures in my life. They can't be much different."

As they prepared their horses and ODM gear, the atmosphere within Rei's squad slowly changed. Not because of fear they're about to venture outside the walls but because Rei and Levi didn't speak to each other. No annoyed orders from Levi, no snarky remarks from Rei. They didn't even look at each other. And that was far from ordinary.

          "How are you feeling?" Jasper asked when he moved his horse closer to Rei's as they waited for the gates to open.

          "Fine," she replied. "You?"

          "Can't say I'm not nervous," Jasper admitted. "Real Titans are not the same as wooden ones we train with."

          "It'll be fine," Rei said. "It's just a patrol, not a mission to clear out an area from Titans. And you're fast. Even if we get attacked, you'll be fine."

          "It's not me that I'm worried about."

Rei raised his eyebrows at him. If another person doubts my abilities today, I'll seriously lose it, she thought.

          "You seem off today, Rei. I know how you act when something's bothering you. I don't want you to do anything rash."

Reinae clicked her tongue.

          "Don't worry about me, Jasper. Just keep an eye on Aiden. I saw your squad is positioned next to his."

With that, she urged her horse to move to where the rest of her squad was. She was positioned in the back with Eld, who threw worried glances between their captain and Rei.

As the gates slowly lifted and Erwin commanded them to advance, Rei got a strange feeling in her stomach. A feeling that usually forced her to stop her missions whenever she went to the Capital to steal. She shifted in her saddle, becoming alarmingly alert of her surroundings. That all stopped when she passed the tunnel under Wall Rose.

She had never seen nature so beautiful. Everything was green, the grass was colorful with flowers, and she saw birds in the sky, flying freely to wherever their little hearts desired. For a few seconds, she was in complete awe. She found Jasper and Aiden with her gaze, where they rode a couple hundred meters before her. She could see the same mesmerized expressions on their faces.

"Not many people born under the roots of flowers get to see them blooming."

It was something she remembered her mother saying often. Rei focused on the path before them before other painful memories could resurface.

The patrol was supposed to last for two hours. They circled the path through a forest, already returning to Trost. It all went smoothly, but the feeling in Rei's stomach kept getting stronger. And minutes before they were out of the forest and back in the open fields, a terrifying sound echoed from their right.

Horses became restless as the ground began to shake.

          "Titan incoming from the right!" Miche yelled from ahead towards Levi.

          "We got it," Levi yelled back. It was his squad's duty to react if any Titans followed them.

But what attacked them wasn't just any Titan.

From the bushes jumped a nine-meter Titan, who was faster than Rei thought it'd be. It smashed into a tree where Eld's horse was seconds before, then rushed after them.

          "Shit!" Eld yelled. "It's an abnormal!"

          "Spread out!" Levi ordered, and they broke their formation.

The Titan went after Petra, who dodged it using her ODM, prompting herself onto a tree. She cried out when she saw her horse smashed under the Titan's massive fist.

Rei was starting to get nervous. The Titan wasn't acting normally. It was unpredictable. It paid almost no attention to her squad but kept its frantic gaze on the squads before them.

It's going after the larger group of people.

          "We have to take it out!" Rei yelled, urging her horse to keep up with the Titan.

          "Agnar, no! Get back in line!" Levi yelled at her, but she ignored him.

We'll be out in the open in a matter of minutes. We can't kill an abnormal where there are no trees. It's too fast. It'll catch up to other squads in no time. To Jasper and Aiden. To Mila and Teodor. We have to take it out.

          "Agnar, get the hell back!" Levi shouted again.

          "Screw you," Rei muttered under her breath and shot up to the trees.

          "Dammit!" Levi cursed loudly, shooting after her.

Rei was fast with ODM. She always was. She adapted it as a part of herself, not even needing to think as she flew between the trees, keeping her eyes on the Titan's nape.

          "Agnar, stop this instant!" Levi yelled from behind her.

She realized he was following her and cursed. There was no going back. Especially when the Titan, seemingly acknowledging Rei's presence, suddenly turned and punched towards her. She graciously moved out of it's way, then shot her ODM into its forehead. She landed right in between its eyes.

          "What are you doing!" Eld yelled from his horse, panic in his eyes. "Do you have a death wish?!"

Rei stared into the eyes of the Titan. Its head was empty. No thoughts, emotions, nothing.

          "Dodge!" Levi yelled, but Rei was already sensing the Titan's arm as it moved toward its face.

She waited, waited until the last second when Petra already screamed, thinking Rei would be smashed to pieces, but the redhead shot towards the tree on the right just as the Titan's fist smashed into its stupid face. The Titan staggered, steam surrounding its head. And as it slowly fell towards the ground, Rei went low, shooting between the earth and the Titan's back.

          "Reinae!" Levi shouted, panicked as the Titan smashed to the ground, with Rei nowhere to be seen.