After You - An Ereri Oneshot

The Other Side

The only sounds you could hear were the beat of horse hooves on the ground and the pounding of heavy rainfall. I could barely see anything since the rain was coming down so hard, but even under that circumstance, we were still moving forward. It was a straight up stupid idea to not turn back, but when Captain Levi is determined, there's no stopping him.

The only reason I can think of as to why we're not headed back is because we're closer to our destination than home and it would be more dangerous going an entire thirteen miles back than only two more forward in this downpour. We're currently on our 58th expedition outside the walls. We've always noticed this mountain range about fifteen miles beyond Wall Maria, but for some reason have never had an expedition to get to the top of it. Now when I say mountain range, I'm really only talking about around a 300 meter one, so it's not much of a mountain.

We're currently making our way to the top through a very dense surrounding of trees. There is a less likely chance for titans to be in here, but if any are, the rain basically completely screws us over. The first problem with rain this heavy is that the forward scouts wouldn't be able to even see the titan until it was within 50 meters of them. The second is that once they did and shot off their flare, the inner sections would barely even be able to see the smoke and act on it. This is why we always turn back when it starts raining.

And just as I mention it, black smoke appears from what looks to be the upper right flank of the relay team. Shit, shit, shit. In the next few seconds I see green smoke coming from the commander's section, shooting off to the left. I steer my horse as fast as I can in that direction and hope that the abnormal is being taken care of. If it gets past the relay team, the only defense between it and standby are the cart guards.

We only have one more mile to the top of the mountain and then we'll be okay. We'll camp out in the tree tops and wait for the rain to stop so we can do what we came to do; which is to find out how bad it is beyond this mountain range. I don't see any more smoke so it looks like the titan has been taken down. I can't help but wonder though how many people we just lost since it got past the forward and the supporting scouts. I shake it off and continue to move forward, focusing on our goal instead.

Six minutes later we've reached the top and Levi calls for us to assume intercept position within the trees. I shoot up to a tall branch and find myself a few feet away from Armin. Mikasa's in the tree next to me and Levi's in the tree in front of me. I see a few others getting situated in the surrounding trees, so I do the same in mine. I sit down and lean against the trunk, closing my eyes for a moment.

Why does this rain have to be so cold? I'm completely soaked through and freezing my ass off. I shiver and pull my cloak tighter around me and my hood farther down. I really wish I was home right now out of the rain. Sighing, I look over at Levi who's keeping an eye out for smoke signals. I really hate him sometimes.

"Eren?" Armin calls from the branch next to me. I roll my head to the left to look at him.

"Yeah?"

"What do you think it's like on the other side of this mountain?" He asks hopefully.

"Do you want the honest answer or the optimistic answer?" I reply with a sigh.

"Honest... although I wish it was optimistic." He sounds disappointed.

"More titans. For many many miles." I look forward again and desperately wish for this rain to stop. I can hear Armin sigh and I look back over at Levi. He's standing on his branch, looking to the right, and leaning against the trunk with his arms crossed. He's completely drenched, but somehow doesn't look like a wet dog like the rest of us do. I don't really hate him... he does know what he's doing. I've only been part of the scouts for two months and just haven't figured him out yet. Honestly I don't even think the other squad leaders have figured him out yet.

"Get higher up into the trees and try to look out over the other side of the mountain. The rain is letting up." Levi orders all of a sudden. I shoot myself to a higher branch and climb up the smaller branches until I can stick my head out from the top of the tree. I gasp when I see what's on the other side. A sea of titans... so densely crowded that you couldn't get a foot without being eaten. And they go on for an endless amount of miles.

I look back over at Levi and even his usual serious expression has been broken. His eyes are wide and his mouth is slightly agape. He scans the large terrain looking utterly defeated, but that look passes before I could even say it happened. He regains his strong composure almost immediately and disappears back down the tree. By this time the rain has completely stopped and I take one more look at the titans before going back down my own tree.

"Everyone back down to the ground to talk about what we've just witnessed." Levi calls as soon as I get back down to my branch. I shoot down and walk over to him with Armin and Mikasa right behind me. Once everyone gathers around him, he starts talking.

"As you could all clearly see, the amount of titans on the other side of this mountain range is unbelievable. If we stepped foot down there we'd all be dead in a minute." He looks from one side of the group to the other. "This mountain range is protecting us. As we all know, titans tend to stay on flat open ground. There's not as many on our side of the mountain because they would either have to climb it or go around it. As you may have seen, the other side is one giant rock wall that is impossible for the titans to climb so any that are on our side went around and any that are on this mountain came from our side. We must come to terms with the fact that it is not possible to kill all of the titans." He looks directly at me.

"Unless Jaeger has an idea." Everyone looks at me.

"Uh..." I know I said I was going to kill them all... and trust me I want to... but Levi is right. There were way too many down there. We would have no chance against that many titans. I look from Levi to the others and then down to the ground.

"I... I don't know..." I feel ashamed. I should be able to think of something. I can turn into a titan for god's sake. I should be able to kill them all with my bare hands. I took so many down in the Battle of Trost, but it's not like I can't get worn out. If there's too many in one place, they can join together to take me down.

"I guess it's time to head back then," Levi says as he turns away and goes to his horse. Mikasa puts her hand on my shoulder.

"Don't feel bad, Eren. No one really thought they could all be killed. There's just too many," she says quietly. I snap my head up to look at her.

"I did! I really thought there was a way!" I storm away, angry at myself, and mount my horse. I start making my way back down the mountain as fast as possible.

"Jaeger!" I hear Levi shout. "Stay in the formation!" He calls after me, but I don't care. I'll go out there all by myself. I can handle whatever comes at me.