From LKT,

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Chapter 27

"We will now begin the 58th Expedition beyond the walls!" Erwin shouted. "Give your hearts up to God! Make yourself useful to humanity!"

A series of low grunting came from my right. I glared at Levi who was sitting on his horse with his arms crossed.

"Open the gates!" Erwin commanded and the huge piece of rock in front of us acting as a gate slowly went up, revealing what the outside of the walls look like.

"ONWARD!" Erwin yelled out the last world and charged forward.

The entire Survey Corps answered his call and ran after him, their horses kicking the dirt up so high that I couldn't even see the sun.

"Let's go!" Hanji yelled happily and, with a wave of her hand, she rushed forward on her horse with lightning speed. "My good friends, HERE I COME!!!!!!"

I sighed and kicked the side of Crystella. Crystella arched back, kicking her legs, and charged out of the gates.

I held onto her reins tightly as my dad rode up to me.

"Don't get into danger, okay brat?" he said, emotionless. "I'm not going to save your sorry ass if you do."

I glared at him.

"Not like I need your help," I spat out. Levi's lips curled into a malicious snarl as he hissed,"Fine then. If you die, I won't take responsibility for it." With that, he rode off to join the rest of the group.

I snorted and shouted after him,"MORE LIKE YOU'RE THE ONE WHO NEEDS SAVING!" Either he didn't hear or ignored me, he never turned to look at me.

I shoved his picture out of my mind and focused on staying alive. My first encounter with the Titans went down the toilet so I was sort of hoping that the second time will go better.

I pulled out my swords and held them ready by my side.

"You okay, girl?" I asked softly and patted Crystella's head. She whined in response and I smiled.

"Good. We can do this so don't freak out," I said and fixed my gaze on the approaching forest that Erwin just so happened to choose to head into. People here in this world are crazier than people in the real world. If you know whart I mean.

"Soldiers, head intp the forest! Then split up into your groups just like we planned out!" Erwin shouted. Eevryone slowly broke off from the large group and into their seperate squads.

A second after he yelled out his command, Titans started to come out.

"Karen!" Petra called. "Over here!"

I trotted over to her side and screamed over the roaring Titan's screamed.

"Where's our squad?!" I asked, the deafening roars starting to shatter my ears.

"With Corporal Levi!" Petra answered back. "We're commanded to follow them!" Well no, duh.

"Let's get going then!" I yelled back. "The Titans are coming!"

"Right!" Petra answered back and she kicked her horse's sides, hard.

"Merein! Catch up with the Corporal!" she yelled and her horse ran towards my dad.

"Go Crystells! GO!" I screamed out the last word when a Titan almost smashed me. It brought down its hand, but Crystella sped away on the last second. That was too close to death right there. A little to close.

We eventually caught up with the rest of the squad.

"What do we do now?" Olou asked, trying his best not to bite his tongue. New record: Olou fails to bite his tongue for 10 seconds.

"Just follow me," Levi answered simply. We reluctantly agreed to his order and rode behind him. I looked to my left and saw an empty horse.

"Uh, who's horse is that?" I asked.

"Your Mom's," Gunther answered. I stared at the horse a little more.

"Is it just me or is she not sitting on that horse?" I asked stupidly.

"Caitlyn went with Erwin to help... do some things," Levi answered for me, a little bit of venom dripping from his words.

"What are they doing?" I should stop asking questions. Levi's going to murder me for asking so many. Surprisingly, he didn't.

"You needn't know," my dad said, but sadness was coated over his voice. He's hiding secrets from me again.

I opened my mouth to reply, but Levi quickly cutted me off,"I need to go back to Erwin. Eld, you take over from here. Take everyone to their places where their supposed to stand by in. Go." After saying the last world He stood up on his horse and clicked a button on his sword. He flew up into the air and disappeared among the trees.

"Come on guys!" Eld called over his shoulder playfully. "Lets go quickly before the Captain kills us for being slow!" 

"Keep your useless head on the rode," Olou snapped. "Titans can come any moment in this forest and bite off your- OW!" World Record has been deleted: Olou fails.

Petra sighed, exasperated.

"Can we please have one expedition where you don't faint from blood loss?" she scolded Olou.

"Nawt my fwut!" Olou gagged as he tried to stop the bleeding of his tongue with his hand. Petra rolled her eyes.

"You okay?" Eren asked from beside me. He was so silent the entire way that I almost forgot that he was there.

"I'm great, thanks," I gave him a small reassuring smile.

"Okay then. If you need help, just scream or fire your smoke alarm. I'll come right over. Okay?" he asked, his eyes filled with worriness. "Promise me that you'll call me."

"I promise," I said, though somewhere among my heart, I wished I didn't say that. Eren's face broke into a grin.

"See you then," that was all that he said before he too flew off his horse to an unknown place. I watched him go, a tiny piece of my heart shattering.

"We'll be going now too," Eld announced. "Gunther, the horses are up to you."

"Wut?! ARE YOU TRIN' TA BULLIE THE OLD?!" he yelled angrily.

"Yeah, we're trying to bully the old," I muttered under my breath a little too loud. Olou sent daggers at me as he hissed,"You're dead, gurl as soon as we gurt back." Score: FInish death threat to Karen has been released.

"Alright then, folks," Eld said slowly as he stood up on his horse. "Lets go!"

With that, he jumped off and landed on a tree. Best place to land on dude.

Petra and Gunther followed in pursuit.

"Come on Karen!" Gunther encouraged me. "You can do it! The gear will get easier to use later!"

I grumbled and stood up on my horse as well. I felt dizzy, but I maintained my balance. I clicked a random button on my sword and hoped for the best.

A wire shot out of my gear and I rocketed into the air. I did a back flip and landed on a branch were Gunther stood.

"Wow, you're good for a starter," Gunther appraised. I blushed slightly and nodded my thanks.

"Split up now, guys!" Eld commanded. "We need to head off to each of our stations!"

"Roger!" we answered and all flew off the branch. I stayed on the dumb thing because that's where my station just happened to be. My dad chose this place because it was the closest place where he can 'keep a watch on her, but far enough that her germs don't get on me'. Whatever that was supposed to mean.

I leaned on the trunk and sighed. So far no Titans were in sight.

I got bored after 5 minutes of just standing there so I flew down to the ground. Big mistake.

A Titan with the worst time chooser ran out from the clearing, heading straight for me. It's eyes wandered around until it landed on mine. It's mouth slowly opened up and it let out a blood raging scream. My cue to run.

I scrambled up to my feet and sprinted as fast as I could away. The Titan ran after me, roaring and screaming as it went.

"Help!" I screamed. "Crazy huge naked person is chasing me!" Good try Karen. Why not say something more smarter next time?

I gasped for breath as I started to lose power. My knees became wobbly and my head felt light.

I collapsed on the spot and couldn't get up anymore.

The Titan screeched to a stop beside my limp body and examined me. It grinned as if it finally found got its prey.

It reached down and was about to pick me up. That's when it happened. The event that changed everything.

Time seemed to slow to a stop. The Titan's fingers were inches from my face. I stared at it, but it didn't more.

I struggled up into a sitting position and backed away from it. As I reached a nearby tree, a figure dressed in a dark cloak shot out of a tree and landed on the Titan's neck. Still, the Titan didn't budge. 

I watched as he muttered something too soft for me to hear and a blade made out of light appeared in his hand. With a swift move, he chopped the Titan's neck to pieces. The Titan flickered for a second and suddenly bursted into a million feathers.

"Wha...?!" I said, not believing what I just saw.

The figure landed on the ground and snapped his fingers. I felt as time started to move again. The leaf beside my hand rustled a little, telling me that I wasn't stuck in time anymore.

I used the trunk of the tree to push myself up as I stared at the figure. Judging by the looks of it, it was a man no older than me. Maybe even the same age.

As I stared, I heard something coming. Another Titan broke out of the clearing and charged at the boy. This on was a fast one. This is really bad.

"Watch out!" I screamed on the last second, but it was too late. The Titan swiped its hand, knocking the boy into a tree. 

The boy crashed into the trunk and slowly slid down. I heard him mutter a string of curses as he staggered up. Amazingly, his hood hasn't fallen off yet. I want that hood now. Maybe, if I survive this, I'll ask him where to get it... Snap out of it, Karen! This is a life and death situation! No time to day dream.

I grasped onto my sword and held it in front of me. I was going to charge the Titan, but I didn't need to.

The boy ran up to the Titan and jumped onto its arm. He kept running until he reached its neck.

"Die, you bastard," he whispered before he mercilessly slit it's neck. The cut was so deep that the head rolled off the body. I went rigid as the Titan, just like the first one, bursted into feathers.

A tiny bit of wind followed afterwards. It blew into the boys face and, this time, causing his hood to fall of his head.

Light blonde hair tumbled out and shocking blue eyes, set ablazed, appeared. I gasped.

"E-Erwin?!" I squeaked.

The boy turned to face me with surprise as is he just realized that I was there.

"Um, no. I'm not Erwin. I'm Noah Smith, son of Erwin Smith and Katrina Smith," he said.