Erwin x OC | The Girl From Outside

Chapter 30 - The Female Titans

We had been riding on horseback through the grassy plains that were reasonably close to the wall for a few minutes, when Erwin gave the order:

"Split off into the long range scouting formation!"

I saw squads of scouts splitting off out of the corners of my eyes, and before long the formation was in effect. It was a genius idea developed by Erwin himself, with 'spotters' on the outer ranks who's jobs were to send a smoke signal as soon as they laid eyes on a titan. The smoke signals would be passed along until Erwin (who was at the center of the command squad) received the signal and averted the route so that the formation could avoid Titans and therefore prevent pointless deaths.

Despite all this, the formation and the smoke signal methods only worked with Titans whose behavior was predictable. Abnormal Titans were dangerous because we couldn't predict their actions, and so these formidable beasts had the power to bring the entire formation to its knees.

We rode for a while, changing course slightly a couple of times, but overall sticking to our original route. I wondered how Eren was doing with the special operations squad. I wondered if he was as afraid as I was.

No way. I thought to myself. Not even Eren knows how I'm feeling right now. At least the boy knows for sure that he isn't gonna be murdered or thrown in jail for being alive.

"Hey" A familiar voice spoke up from beside me. I glanced over to Erwin, his eyes, like pale blue ice, were on me. "Are you alright?"

I nodded. "It's pretty quiet. I haven't even seen a Titan"

The commander chuckled. "You're in the command squad, right in the middle. If we ran into a titan then something would be very wrong"

I just nodded again, trying to suppress my nerves. No Titans meant less danger, and less danger meant less chance of me losing control. Everything was running smoothly, so why was I so on edge?

Just then, out of the corner of my eye, I thought I could see black smoke billowing in the distant air.

Erwin~

Charlotte looked abnormally nervous. Although I'd never been with her on an expedition before, I never realized she got this worked up.

We rode for a while longer in silence, changing our course now and then to avoid Titans that had appeared.

After some time had passed, it seemed that the only signals we were getting were coming from the left-hand side of the formation. It had been at least half an hour since we saw any kind of smoke coming from the other side. Everything was either going miraculously well or disastrously wrong.

"It's been a while since we've heard anything from the right side of the formation" I said, glancing over to an officer who rode beside me. "Go and check that everything's alright"

The officer simply nodded and rode off to the right to follow my order.

"Erwin"

I turned my head this time to look at Charlotte.

"What is it?"

"I saw black smoke coming from the right-hand side a while ago, but nothing since then"

My eyes widened a fraction. "Black? Why didn't you say something?"

"I thought you'd have seen it too"

She has a point. As the commander of the survey corps, I should have spotted that signal, even if it was from far away. Are my emotions getting in the way of things? Why am I so worried about Charlotte? What is this bad feeling in my gut?