Their Bloodied And Broken Wings Of Freedom

Chapter Five

Laiken watched, exasperated, as her younger friend swung around the targets, hitting every one she came across. Erwin had wanted to start with the level ground first, meaning no trees for assistance, only the Titans' fake torsos. The brunette was long gone, lost in her thoughts as she ran the blades through every 'Titan'. Gritting her teeth, she slashed through the neck of yet another false Titan, a chunk of the neck slamming into the ground moments later. She had done fairly well, hitting every target she went across with brilliant precision and speed, though the problem was gthe depth of the cuts. About half of them were too shallow.

Eventually, Erwin signalled for her to stop. She complied, with a fairly rough landing, and slid a few yards after coming into contact with the hard ground. Panting, she stumbled over to the bench where Laiken was stationed, jaw dropped. Maylin gave out an exhausted puff of laughter, collapsing beside her on the bench.

“I'm tired now,” she gasped, accepting the water Laiken half-heartedly offered out.

“No shit?” Laiken asked, still slightly shocked.

“Walsh.” Laiken spun around in surprise at the hearing of her surname. She saw Levi staring at her with his indifferent look. How the hell does he know my surname?! She thought, confused. “You're up. Oi, are you listening? The hell's wrong with you?”

“O-oh, nothing,” she shook her head, noting the eyebrow raise from the male. “'Kay, I'm going.” She stood up and mindlessly strolled over to the starting point, readjusting her 3DMG's straps to distract herself. She felt uneasy about the whole situation, like something was going to happen.

“Ready?” Erwin asked. She got into position, nodding, and waited. “Time starts now. Go.”

She ran a few steps before jumping, yanking the handles of her blades out and pulling the trigger. The grapples shot out, flinging in split directions and latching onto the Titan before her. Gas pumped out of the 3DMG, propelling her forward toward the target. Readying her blades in a bizarre manner that appeared it wouldn't quite work, she swung at the right moment, slicing a huge chunk out of the neck. She flew with the momentum for a moment, before pulling the trigger again, latching onto two Titans which were positioned on either side of a third. The gas pumped out again, throwing her forward toward the middle Titan's neck. She repeated the first process, before shooting her right hook and gripping the other Titan, propelling herself back and slicing its neck. Using the gas and her left hook, she spun once before taking out her third target. A circle, or oval, of sorts.

She went on like this for a while, until suddenly the latches on her right cable snapped. Her eyes widened in panic, as that was the sole cable she had been using at the time. Unable to stop herself, she was thrown over what was to be her next target, hurdling down toward the ground. Out of desperation, she fired the left cable, but it barely missed a nearby target. A stray blade- which had been accidentally embedded in said target from a previous trainee- managed to snag the cable, as the blade was still sharp. It also broke, leaving the brunette utterly defenceless.

Gritting her teeth, Laiken closed her eyes, waiting for the back-breaking collision of herself and the ground.

But it never came.

Out of nowhere, an arm wrapped around her, pulling her up away from the ground as her saviour swung them safely back to the others. When they landed, Maylin immediately ran over, checking on her best friend.

“Shit! Are you okay?!” The younger brunette asked, panicked.

“Y-yeah, I'm fine...”

“Tch. Good.” The voice of the person behind her muttered. Alarmed, her head whipped around, staring at the source. Levi stood, his indifferent expression still on his face, staring down at her. Laiken was slightly surprised. She hadn't expected him to save her, of all people. In all honesty, at first she thought Maylin had seen it all and ran up to help, but then she remembered how worn out the girl had been.

“Uh... Thanks, Heichu...”

“Heichou,” he corrected, glaring at her.

She laughed, startling him- not that he showed it. “Close enough, damn it!”

“Brat.”

Erwin joined them before it could continue. “What happened, Walsh?”

Laiken flinched again, standing up and saluting. “The right cable snapped, sir.”

“What about your left cable?”

“Some blade one of those other bastards didn't bother to get back cut it in half, Erwin,” Levi cut in, slightly irritated. Hadn't the Commander seen it himself?

“Ah. I'll see to it that the blade is removed, then,” Erwin noted, nodding. “Beside that, Maylin and Walsh, both of you have passed this test. The woods will be next, then we'll test you in a town for a day.”

“Yes, sir!” The girls saluted, though Maylin was more enthusiastic than the still-shaken-up Laiken.

“Hold on a second.” She glared lightly at Erwin.

“What is it, Walsh?”

“How come you call me by my surname but not Maylin?!” The older brunette protested.

“Because we do not yet know Maylin's surname.” Erwin replied. “If that's all, then.” He nodded, before turning and walking off.

Maylin smirked at Laiken, who glared back. The latter spoke first. “When I remember your name, I'm sharing it with everyone.”

Maylin's smirk faltered for a moment. “Eh... Good luck with that, I guess...”

After that, a particularly bubbly Hanji approached them, gossiping to Laiken about how 'awesome' the whole experience had been, until Levi finally snapped after one particular suggestive comment, which left the brunette blushing in her own private, awkward silence and the other two females snickering to each other.