"Splash" "Splash"
A group of people riding horses crosses a ravine, challenging the plain of grassland; they penetrate the air with fierce determination.
With the insignia of a wing behind their back and a heart filled with unyielding resolve, they took the flight, challenging the cage, bounding their sky.
Following the end of winter, as the first rays of spring shine, the Survey Corps, the vanguard of humanity, storms out into the land infested by the titans, fiercely struggling against their predetermined life.
Currently, they are on their 55th expedition beyond the safe confines of their walls.
With having a past rich experience, they were ready for the sacrifice, but as they moved, they found the absence of their adversaries.
"Damn it, where are the titans?" Mike Zacharius speaks with a frown on his face.
As humanity's second strongest soldier, Mike Zacharius didn't fear facing the titan; the absence of titans doesn't make him happy; instead, a chill seems to crawl up his spine.
Looking at the back of the person in front of him, Mike Zacharius nudges his horse, making it run faster, and arrives by his side.
Mike Zacharius asked the person, "Commander Erwin, what do you think is going on?"
The person by the side, the commander of the survey corps, Erwin Smith, looks at the vast plain, to the horizon, with no titan in sight, deep calculation flashing in his cold eyes. Suddenly—
"Whoosh"
A red-colored flare flashed in the sky, instantly capturing everyone's attention.
"A titan is spotted!" Mike Zacharius exclaimed. In the past, the sight of a red flare always came bringing trouble, but this time a hint of relief appeared in everyone's eyes.
Seeing the red flare, Erwin suddenly reins his horse in that direction, while his powerful commanding voice sounds, "Fire the green flare; send the signal to everyone. The direction is changed, and everyone has to move towards the squad that fired the red flare."
"Yes, sir!" The soldier to his right immediately took action, bringing out a flare gun from his back; he aimed it in the direction of the red flare and fired.
With a "woosh" sound, the green flare flies in the sky.
Instantly, everyone follows Erwin's lead, moving with vigor, with no shred of hesitation.
The Survey Corps, since the day Erwin succeeded as the commander, has adopted a moving formation while on the expedition. The formation consists of several smaller squads moving from a distance, uniformly in a direction, and using the special signal flares of different colors, they share crucial information, which reduces the casualty rate and makes their expedition more successful.
Now seeing the two colors of flare in the sky, everyone immediately gets the signal and starts moving.
"Look, Captain Levi, the green flare is also fired." Oluo Bozard, a squad leader under Captain Levi, exclaimed as he pointed at the green and red flare in the distance.
Levi Ackerman, with a slight frown on his face, kicks his horse and reins it, "Everyone, towards the red flare."
They move with gusto, and, not hindered by the usual titans, they reach the place in some time.
Upon arriving there, they found the members of the survey corps dismounted from their horses and standing there, completely relaxed, without the expected alertness.
"Um, where is the titan?" Oluo Bozard looks at everyone with a puzzled face.
"Captain Levi!" A nearby survey corps member, having seen Levi, approaches them.
"Hmm, what is going on here?" Levi, with a frown, asks the survey corps member.
"Umm...well..." the survey corps member looks awkward, as he doesn't know how to explain.
"What?" Levi, looking at the fidgeting survey corps member, questioned impatiently.
"Well, Captain Levi, you should check yourself." The fidgeting survey corps member gives an awkward smile while pointing in a direction.
Looking there, Levi and his squad found a tent erected.
Founding, Erwin, and others circled around it; Levi dismounted his horse and moved towards them with his squad.
As they approach near them, a high-pitched voice sounds, complaining.
"Commander, please, you can't do it. How can we abandon it here?" Hange Zoe complains to Erwin in a dramatic gesture.
"Look at how small he is." Hange parted the cloth, revealing a small 3-meter titan bound and chained to the ground.
"How hopeless he looks." A strange fervor sounded in Hange's voice. "How can we leave it here?"
"Hange," the flat voice of Erwin sounded, "we can't take it back with us; you should know how much trouble it will bring us."
"Argh," Hange whines.
"Oh! Levi," but suddenly, spotting Levi approaching them, Hange, likely having met someone who understood her, moves towards him while complaining, "Levi, you have to help me."
But the instant rejection from Levi sounded like, "Oi, four eyes, don't drag me into this."
Looking at the ongoing drama, Levin instantly understood.
Knowing the quirks of Hange, Levi ignores her and moves toward Erwin.
"What is going on?" Levi asks Erwin, who, signaling with his eyes, moves away from there, with Levi following him.
Reaching some distance away from everyone, Erwin said to Levi, "You should have noticed the abnormality."
"Yeah, it isn't hard to not notice the absence of titans." Levi said while looking at the members of the survey corps, all gathered with tense faces, discussing with each other.
"Do you think that the Colossal Titan or the Armored Titan is behind all of this?" Erwin suddenly asks Levi, bringing out the titans who caused the fall of Wall Maria.
"Maybe, that is also possible, but for the past years, we have been tirelessly searching for them, but we haven't even found their shadow, and now—" Levi replied.
"Yeah, that complicates things." Erwin nods heavily.
"So, what will be our next action?" Levi questioned.
"Well, it doesn't matter what the cause is behind the sudden disappearance of the titans," Erwin's voice suddenly turns heavy, "but the one thing which is sure is that something big is definitely going to happen."
Erwin and Levi both look up at the sky, seemingly perceiving the invisible clouds of turbulence in the clear sky.
"We have to hurry back and prepare for the arrival of the storm."
Erwin and Levi both had very aberrant childhoods, which have shaped them into who they are today: one who was suppressed by the society due to his initial curiosity and questioning the laws established by them, and the other who has risen from the lawless bottom and most cruel aspect of its crazy warfare, where only the most crazed and insane survive.
"Um, Commander Erwin?" Hange Zoe, scratching her cheeks, arrives.
Erwin, looking at the stubborn Hange, sighs with resignation.
"Hange, I have already said to you that we can't take a titan back with us." Erwin said to Hange.
"But, commander, it is just a 3-meter titan; it isn't going to—"
"Hange, as I have said, we can't take a titan back with us." Erwin repeated himself in a firm voice.
"Argh," dejected and frustrated, Hange turns on her heels, ready to go back and lament the loss of this golden opportunity.
As Hange turned and started to return, suddenly Erwin's voice stopped her.
"Hange"
"Um?" Hange turned back, looking questioningly at Erwin.
"We can't take a titan back with us," Erwin emphasizingly said, "you will take care of it till then."
Suddenly a bulb lights on the Hange head, understanding the underlying meaning in Erwin's voice; a happy smile beams on her face, straightening her back, she salutes, clenching her fist over her heart, "Thank you, commander; I will really take 'good care' of him."
Levi and Ermin both give a rare smile looking at the jumping steps of Hange.
"It is rare of you," Levi says to Erwin.
"Yeah, it is, after all, times are changing, and so we have to."
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What to say about this chapter?
Well, I am, myself speechless over it; due to having a cold, my mind didn't work well( i didn't get in the flow) and it is what I unknowingly produced.
So, Please point out the error and the area where i can improve myself.
Thank you guys.