*Reader's POV*

Another expedition today, one that felt so soon after the previous one, as if the Scouts were hoping that by going out so soon after the first successful one, some of the success of the last one would rub off on this one.

Unlikely, but it was a nice thought.

This time, instead of standing nervously off to the side on your lonesome, you were in position with the rest of Levi's squad, putting you fairly close to the front this time. Zephyr was pawing at the cobblestone beneath them, eager to get going, her restlessness rubbing off on the others as Levi's horse tossed its head and snorted, shifting from foot to foot and causing Levi to shoot you a dirty look, as if to say 'You're a bad influence on my horse.'

You just chuckled and patted Zephyr's neck to help her settle down.

Outwardly, you were calm, despite Oluo's poking about the rookie going out on her second and the hopes it went as well for her as the last, as if he was trying to get her nervous. He stopped after Eld chastised him. Besides. It was unnecessary–you were nervous. This time you were going out in a more exposed, frontal position, and this time you knew Titans might be attracted to you.

As much as Erwin apparently wanted to put you in an entirely new position in the formation–new as in it currently didn't exist–he needed to test you out in the field a bit more, especially regarding the Titan attraction thing.

But, if you performed well, if you didn't draw an entire horde of Titans to you, then there were big plans for how to use you that might allow the Scouts to push farther than ever. You weren't sure what it would mean for Levi's Squad if it was a plan put into action, considering the exposure of your abilities it would also be for anyone around to see you.

But those concerns could be worked out later, if this expedition went smoothly. Today, you and Squad Levi were going to be in the left vanguard. Levi had told you privately to simply tell him when you heard something and he would make the call to fire the flares, so it wouldn't draw as much attention to her–more to him, though he was aware the rest of the squad was smart enough to figure out you were the one saying to fire the flares.

You were going to be the eyes and ears of the squad, while Levi decided how to react and make sure you didn't wander off by accident while you were busy focusing. In the future, Erwin wanted you to be the eyes and ears of the whole formation, but again, that was a concern for the future, if this smaller scale run worked out.

You felt bad for the other members of the squad, how unaware they were of what was really going to be happening today, and how irritated they might get about having to fire signals from apparently nowhere, but you weren't keen on the idea of letting more people in on the secret unless you absolutely had to. And right now, it wasn't life or death that you tell people what you were, so you were going to let it stay a secret for now.

"Levi–will you help me catch a Titan this time!" Squad Leader Hange called from where she was with her group a little behind and to the right of them.

"No," Levi said curtly, not even turning his attention away from the front.

"But–"

"No."

"You're never fun, are you?"

You raised your eyebrows at the blunt conversation and how quickly Levi shut her down, Levi catching the look you were giving him and raising his own eyebrows in response, as if to ask you if you disagreed and for some reason wanted to go chasing down Titans today.

You shrugged slightly. "I just figured it'd be helpful to be able to learn more about what we're fighting," you said pointedly, looking off to the front. You didn't know much about Squad Leader Hange, or her relationship with Levi, or efforts to capture and study Titans, but the idea, at the moment, sounded like a good one to you. Something worth trying. It might help efforts against the Titans improve.

"Too many people get killed, and the Titans end up accidentally destroyed a lot. Not worth it," Levi said curtly to put an end to the conversation.

Well, you could see why he wouldn't see it as worth the effort, but you secretly kept the opinion that it was a good idea even as you let the subject drop. Levi spared you another glance, but he wasn't pressing the subject more if you weren't, and you both let it go to focus on the rising gate at the front of the group.

The excitement and anxiousness at the thought of going beyond the walls was back again, not quite as strongly as the first time, but still prominent and there all the same. It was still novel and exhilarating for you–partially because you had more room than others to actually enjoy the thrill astride worry over the Titans. Plus, it was a luxury to you, something that naturally wouldn't be possible if not for your necklace. So, you wouldn't be numbed to the experience as quickly as others were thanks to the dangers beyond.

The gate finally raised high enough to clear the heads of the riders up front, loud stamping from horses in various positions as their riders grew anxious to go rippling through the entire group of gathered Scouts. The gate raised a little more, and the sudden command rang out from Erwin, much louder than before since you were closer this time, your heart leaping at the sound of the word that would release you out into the world beyond the walls once again.

"Forward!" Erwin shouted, his white steed charging onwards and pulling the rest of the Scouts out with him, the cacophony of hoofbeats thunderous to your sensitive hearing as you followed, keeping just behind Levi and on his left–a position that officially you were told to keep as a rookie with the elite squad that Levi needed to keep an eye on to make sure you were safe, but was actually so you would be advantageously placed to hear or see incoming Titans for the left vanguard and would be able to easily pass warnings to Levi.

For a few moments, the group thundered past the open field beyond the gate in one mass group, no official positions taken yet, everyone staying together and warming up to being on the lookout–warming up because the initial area was clear and they had time to adjust before they had to be on the defensive.

And you were waiting until everyone was spread out before you let your senses kick in. You didn't want to get overwhelmed with the sound of all these galloping horses if you tried to settle in and focus right now.

"Don't get cocky, now, rookie, you're still green!" Oluo yelled at you over the thundering horses.

"Gotta agree with Oluo–keep your wits about you, don't think because you survived one expedition, you'll be fine from here on out!" Gunther added.

You looked to Levi, perhaps the only one who could know how safe you actually were compared to the others, but his gaze was fixed ahead, and he wasn't saying anything.

Well, you knew your capabilities, and had your confirmations and theories on their limits. You knew what you had to do to not die out here. And you had far more of a heads up than any of the others. In fact, they didn't know it, but you were their overpowered lookout for this expedition.

Up ahead, Erwin extended his arm, letting out the command that it was time to shift into the long distance formation. The chill of grim anticipation went down your spine as everyone spread out, Levi's squad heading for the left vanguard, just to the right of the center of this wing of the vanguard. You weren't searching for Titans just yet, waiting until from what you could see, everyone was in position and fairly spread out. With the sound of galloping horses no longer concentrated in one area, it would be easier to block out the individual noise and focus on what possibly lay ahead and around.

You waited until you were running just off to Levi's left side, loosening your grip on the reins so Zephyr could take over and lead the way forward, following with the group like she was supposed to while you were otherwise preoccupied. Levi glanced at you, as if to give non-verbal confirmation that it was time for you to focus up, and you gave an imperceptible nod, turning your head forward and closing your eyes.

You would hear them long before you saw them.

It took a few moments to tune out the galloping horses all around you except in front, but gradually, the synchronous sounds of the horses was able to blend and disappear into the background as you turned your attention forward. For the moment, it was quiet, the most you heard the rustle of the breeze in the long grass, birds flying and chirping about, the occasional hoofed or pawed animal padding across dirt and grass. No threats within the vicinity of the scouting formation within a mile or two. Fainter noises...you weren't so sure. Anything as small as a bunny might be overlooked, but you felt like a Titan, so long as it was making noise, with this level of concentration forwards left right and center, you might be able to hear roughly five miles out. That should be plenty of time for the Scouts to shift direction if you could hear one coming up that far away.

Unless, of course, there was one being dangerously quiet and stationary until the formation came up on it. But that wasn't something you could help. You were here to spot them as soon as possible, and that didn't necessarily guarantee that you could catch them before they were within range to reach the formation and do damage. Especially if they were quiet. Still, you were going to do what you could to make this whole process easier and hopefully get the Scouts further.

Minutes passed without incident. You could hear more from the left than the right, just because you had to reach farther with your hearing before you could hear beyond the right of the formation. What might have been forty-five minutes later, you heard the first Titan. It was off to the right, though, so you couldn't say anything. You were restricted to alerting them about Titans on the left wing for this operation. Still, you let Levi know you heard something on that side by giving two quick taps on your horse's neck with three fingers, yours and Levi's pre-arranged sign that you'd heard a Titan on the right side. Just so he could know you had spotted a Titan, even if it wasn't on course for your wing.

Levi made no verbal acknowledgement of your spot, but you weren't too worried about it. Again, the left wing was your concern.

Roughly ten more minutes passed before you heard more activity. Two, on the left side. One near the far side of the formation, one closer in, both of them a couple miles out.

"Captain," you murmured softly, getting Levi's attention. "Two. Far end, and closer to the middle. A few miles out."

"Abnormal?" he asked in a quieter voice, one you could definitely hear but the others wouldn't be able to pick up

"Can't say–too far out. Just hearing grunts."

Levi straightened, looking over his shoulder at Oluo. "Fire a red flare to the right."

"Captain?" Petra asked.

Levi didn't repeat himself twice, and Oluo hesitantly loaded in the flare like he'd been told to, firing it off in the proper direction and starting the chain reaction of flares following the signal. Off to their right, Erwin fired his green flare to change the course of the formation, and they adjusted with the rest of the formation. You didn't close your eyes to focus again, making sure you stayed on track with everyone else before you closed your eyes to focus again, making sure the Titans were going to be out of range of the formation with the change of course.

So far, so good.

This continued for hours–hours of you giving Levi silent signals for Titans that you could hear on the right wing and verbal warnings for Titans on the left wing, while the other members of the squad silently tried to figure out why the hell their group was setting off signals for no apparent reason...and why Levi was now a part of the no reason signal firing and not just you.

You paid it no mind, though. You stayed focused on your given task, reporting what you heard and allowing the Scouts to continue without incident–on the left side, at least. You could hear several scuffles break out on the right side as Titans would occasionally collide with the right wing before adjustments could be made, but for the most part, they were continuing without incident. For several hours, no real disasters with the Titans, and the left wing escaping unscathed thanks to your warnings.

The sun was starting to get lower in the sky when something changed. Because you were listening forwards, you didn't hear what happened farther left in the wing, which was also a little behind your group considering the arrowhead shape of the formation. What distracted you from what lay ahead was the sudden sharp scent of blood carried on the wind–and there had to be a shit ton of it to be breaking your concentration right now. You opened your eyes and turned your head to the left sharply, drawing your attention away from what was ahead and instead turning it inwards to the formation itself. That was when you registered the screaming and fighting that you'd unintentionally been blocking out because it lay behind you instead of in front of you.

"There's a Titan wreaking havoc in the formation," you told Levi abruptly, immediately pulling his attention to you instantly.

"How?"

The question was one word, but it was clear to you he was asking how you hadn't picked it up before it was in the formation.

"I don't know–didn't even hear one approach. Why hasn't anyone fired a signal?"

"They might not be able to," Levi murmured, and then spoke louder to the rest of the group. "We're going off course–something's wrong," Levi announced, already shifting his horse to the left to start leading them away. The others couldn't see it, but you were giving him subtle cues to lead him in the proper direction towards the scent of blood and the screams, which was getting worse. At last, a black signal flare went up ahead of the group, and Levi told Gunther to quickly relay it so it would go down the line all the way to command.

You let it pass without paying much attention to it, since you were already aware that something nasty awaited you up ahead.

You thought you heard more joining the fray–not an outrageous number, two, maybe three, but that was still dangerous if they were in an open area. There wouldn't be trees or anything else to use the ODM gear with to get a good angle on them, they would have to settle for using the titans themselves to maneuver.

"There's more, now–they might have been drawn in by the noise."

"How many?"

"Counting the abnormal? Three or four."

Levi turned to the others in the group. "Blades out. Be ready for a fight."

"Yes, sir!"

You unsheathed your blades a few seconds after the others, most of your attention still on monitoring the situation as you grew closer. You could question why Levi was having you all cut across the formation to address the problem, but considering you said it was wreaking havoc, clearly he'd decided your group was the one to take care of it. Especially now that the number of titans causing problems had increased and it was a much larger threat to the formation as a whole.

And judging by the increasing scent of blood in the air, the people the Titans had descended upon did not have control of the situation.

Actually, that scent of blood in the air was getting a little too strong for you to be comfortable. Suddenly you were worried about what you were walking into, and not because of the Titans. Rather than be worried about the three or four Titans that you were racing towards, you were worried about how strong the scent of blood was, and how much that meant there was up ahead. You were confident in your control with small amounts, but this might be beyond your range of control–maybe. You'd never been around this much blood before, so you didn't know what was going to happen.

You spotted the first Titan before anyone else, naturally, tensing atop Zephyr and shifting in your saddle so you were starting to stand, ready to leap into action.

"Don't be so eager, Rookie!" Eld snapped in admonishment, which again would be normal and proper under usual circumstances. But you weren't tensing out of eagerness. You saw what was coming and you were getting ready for the conflict directly ahead of you. This was just advanced preparedness.

By the time you were within range of the Titans to start the fight, you were fully aware of the extent of the damage, the smell of blood suffocating in the air from the remains of the bodies scattered about in the field. As much as the blood made you instantly start trying to breathe as little as possible to minimize exposure, your survival instincts were also kicking in at the sight of the three Titans ahead.

"Y/N–we're going for the abnormal. The rest of you pair up and take care of the other two," Levi ordered firmly, taking the lead as the two of you gunned for the Titan that must have been the one to appear in the ranks, one that was moving differently from the other two.

Once the group fractured to take care of the Titans, Levi glanced at you. "Stay on guard in case they go for you again."

"I know," you said, your words coming out a little stiff since you were still avoiding breathing–and looking down at the bloodied ground, for that matter. Levi didn't have the luxury to let his gaze linger on you at your strange tone considering the abnormal was already headed for the two of you, but you knew he picked up on your tone and would ask about it when he had the chance.

The Titan–which you could see now was covered in clay and dirt and mud, suggesting that it had been underground until the Scouts barreled over it and woke it up–swung around to stare at you. Without having to ask permission from Levi to know it was probably the best thing to do, you defaulted to acting as a lure, or a distraction, while he moved around the back to get a clear and quick shot at it's nape.

You kicked off Zephyr to give the horse a chance to get out of the path of the creature that honestly didn't care about horses but might hurt one as collateral trying to get it's real target. Firing your cable into it's thigh to give yourself a little wiggle room, you slid across the grass and out of the way of its swinging arms. The maneuver was made easier by the blood-slicked grass, and you disengaged your cables from the Titan so it wouldn't have a chance to grab at them, tensing and waiting to see what it would do next before you moved again, since Levi was the one going in for the kill.

You were partially distracted by the fact that one of the Titans that the others were supposed to be going after decided to lunge at you, causing you to have to throw caution to the wind as two Titans came for you at once. With a low curse, you kicked off the ground and fired your cables high into the abnormal's face, bringing yourself sailing right towards its eagerly awaiting mouth.

Or rather, a little higher. You twisted to avoid the clashing teeth, your legs pulled up to plant on the edge of its nose and kicking backwards off the same feature as you detached the cables. Your temporary upside down position gave you the perfect view of the regular Titan's nape since it had face planted into the ground where you had been, and you fired your cables again, bringing you right towards the intruding Titan's nape as Levi sliced through the nape of the extremely distracted Titan you'd just used the nose of as a springboard.

Movements quick so you could get out of the way of the falling abnormal Titan, you slashed through the nape as you passed by on your way to the ground, rolling and getting back up to a crouching position once you were finished. With all three Titans taken care of–the third had already been dispatched by Gunther and Eld–the clearing was suddenly eerily silent, and you no longer had any pressing dangers to distract you from the thick scent of blood in the air.

In fact, lifting your hand, there was partially wet blood smeared across your hand from the landing.

Your jaw started to ache as the cloying scent of the blood in the air pushed right to the front of your mind, making it hard to breathe. Reaching out your hand to a dry patch of grass to wipe your hand on and trying to get the blood off, your head lifted to look at your surroundings, the spatters of blood across the once beautiful landscape, parts of bodies lying mangled and pressing the grass down at odd angles, fresh enough to still be oozing fresh blood into the air and make the scent all the stronger.

Fingers dug into the ground as you forced yourself to take shallow breaths through the mouth to minimize how much you took in and try to eliminate most of the scent. You pushed yourself up to your feet, dizziness crashing into you as you tried to keep a white-knuckled grip on your desire for blood. Your head throbbed, mouth felt parched.

Sure, you'd been around blood for a long time. Had seen a few bodies at once when Madaline tore through the Stonewood Hovels. But you hadn't had so much blood shoved into your face to this degree before, and you were struggling with the torturous new experience.

You made your way over to Zephyr as the mare hesitantly returned to you, hoping to use her to help steady you. She was shifty, though, restless as she seemed to sense you becoming more predator than friend, able to sense the tingle of danger as you struggled for control. Your hands rested around the saddlehorn, head hung low as you tried to focus on your breathing and make the world stop spinning and the ache in your jaw, the coil in your muscles begging you to spring into action and tear into one of these blood sources, ease. Your grip was tight–but you had to keep it loose enough not to destroy the saddlehorn under your fingers. At least while you were gripping something it wouldn't be as easy to notice the tremble in your hands.

You could hear their heartbeats, though. Every one of them, the sounds telling you how close each potential meal was, besides the bodies and blood that would eventually spoil to the point of dead man's blood, inedible.

And as always, Levi's particularly alluring scent rose above even the massacre of the field to tempt you further, even if you knew white sage was running through his veins and you'd be knocked out on your ass abruptly after a few gulps.

Fuck.

At first, no one seemed to notice. They were busy evaluating the scene and figuring out what exactly happened, assuming perhaps that you were busy calming down your steed and about to climb on her back again.

Their voices were a little difficult to make out with your spinning head and how much of your attention was being tunneled into controlling yourself, as well as the sound of their heartbeats and blood rushing through their veins, but you did manage to tune in again to what was being said. Partially because you hoped doing so might distract you from the clawing thrust, and partially so you could be prepared to answer if someone suddenly turned to you for an answer or opinion.

Levi's voice was the one you heard first, as he was in the middle of giving orders.

"Oluo, I want you to..."

Gunther spoke quietly, drawing Levi's attention and making the captain trail off with his observation of what could only be you.

"I think she's going to be sick..."

There were a few beats of silence before Petra, ever the gentle and helpful heart, started to approach you with concern.

"Y/N, do you need me to–"

You sharply held up a hand to keep her from coming closer and vigorously shook your head, your other hand tightening on the saddle horn as Zephyr got noticeably more anxious, pawing at the ground and shifting a little away from you. Petra getting closer was not helping your efforts for control, and you didn't want to accidentally hurt her, not in a moment like this.

At your sign to Petra to stay back, you heard ODM gear controls being slid back into their holsters, and footsteps approaching you. Levi's scent, and the temptation of his blood in this mess, got stronger. However, you didn't give any sign for him to stay away. He knew the risks, especially to himself–he was the only one aware of the gravity of the situation, and he was still choosing to approach you. So you let him.

To a point.

Levi came to a stop in front of Zephyr, grasping the mare's reins and rubbing her snout gently as he eyed you, sizing up your current disposition. You were trying, you really were, but this was a lot more paralyzing than you'd anticipated.

Levi started to take a step closer, like he was trying to get close enough the others wouldn't be able to tell what was going on, but you spoke softly and sharply before he could, voice strained to show your current effort.

"Don't."

You glanced up at him for the briefest moment, his expression shifting to a spark of grim realization in his eyes as he saw the glare of red in your eyes. He held out Zephyr's reins to you with an almost imperceptible nod.

"Get out of here. Go tell command what's happened, we'll meet you back at our spot in the formation," he said in a neutral tone, giving you the job he had been about to give Oluo.

To the others, he was giving her messenger duty after she couldn't stomach the scene. Between them, he was giving her an out to get out of this blood soaked area before she lost the control she was clawing to keep and someone got hurt.

You took the reins from him with a grateful look, saving your breath with unnecessary words and simply getting atop Zephyr. After turning her around in the opposite direction, you took off towards where the formation was headed last you saw, taking off at a breakneck speed to get away from the blood and to catch up to the formation before it could get any further away.

From what you'd gathered with the snippets of conversation you caught between your inner conflict, they were going to gather what proof of life they could, make sure there weren't any more visible threats to the formation, and head back. They might actually reach the position the squad was supposed to be in before you did.

You didn't pass anyone for a while, but the first squad you saw, you asked where in the formation they were–the vanguard, thankfully–and used that to figure out where you needed to go in order to reach the command position in the formation. After that, it was a straight shot, the tension that had been in your body gradually bleeding away and your focus sharpening once more as you left the bloody scene behind.

Now that you could think with a clear head again, you were immensely grateful that Levi had stepped in to give you the excuse to leave. You weren't sure what he'd been thinking about how you'd reacted to the situation–you hadn't really had the chance to get a good look at him to guess. But at least he had let you get out of there without making any more of a spectacle of yourself than you'd already made. And now you knew you did in fact have a limit on how much you could take–and that had been the borderline amount you could handle. Any more and you might have gone feral.

Not a pretty thought.

And you hadn't wanted to press your luck any more than you already had.

You finally saw the command point, Erwin's white steed noticeable after the range of black, brown, and grey you'd been seeing in the Scouts. You stayed on course for Erwin, the Commander picking up that you were coming quickly and gaze fixated on you curiously as you approached, clearly far away from the position and squad you were supposed to be in.

You brought your horse astride the group, Miche between you and Erwin as you looked straight at him to deliver your message. "The left wing got hit hard–a Titan came out of the ground within the formation, attracting a few others. Captain Levi's squad took care of the Titans, but quite a few Scouts were lost, at least half the flank. They're finishing up at the conflict site and then resuming our position in the left vanguard."

Miche looked at Erwin, who fixed his gaze ahead, not showing any signs of slowing down. "We'll shift to the right to avoid any other Titans drawn in by the conflict, but keep going."

You nodded, turning your horse away from the group with the subtle hope that Erwin had understood the Titan coming out of the ground within the ranks had been an anomaly that your abilities couldn't cover, and that this hadn't just killed whatever plans he'd had for your future position in the Scouts. You didn't want his grand plans to die right out of the gate, it was still possible in your mind...though it was now clear you were going to need a slightly longer trial period to get used to using your abilities out in the field.

You shook your head to dispel the distracting thoughts that you could honestly dwell on after the expedition and not during. Right now, you needed to get back to the rest of the squid and get back into the proper place in the formation before the Scouts moved too far away.

You passed a few squads that had been between your position and command, expecting to see the others at the position in the formation already when you finally saw the squad that had been next to yours. However, the space was still unoccupied, the next squad quite a distance away, the squads that had been on either side now doing double the work to try and make up for the missing squad.

They should have been here by now...

Nervously, you pulled into position, moving with the rest of the formation for the time being and letting Zephyr run on her own as you closed your eyes and focused hard, trying to catch maybe Levi's scent on the wind as he approached, their familiar voices in the distance, something that would tip you off to where they were and why they weren't here yet.

You stretched further and further with your senses, growing more and more concerned that you couldn't hear them until you brought your horse to a full standstill, worried they might be out of your range if you moved any further, the formation running past and pulling away ahead of you as you stood still, eyes closed, focused intently on hearing the rest of your squad.

How far away had the attack site been? What if they were still there? If they were still there, had something gone wrong?

Zephyr snorted loudly as you turned her back around, running in the opposite direction as the formation, backtracking to try and re-find the attack site. A pit of dread bubbled up in your stomach at the thought of throwing yourself into that bloodsoaked stretch of field again, as well as the fact that you hadn't been able to hear the group a few miles out. You hoped they were alright, and that Levi sending you away to deliver the message hadn't backfired.

You gradually eased into a space of disturbing silence, with the formation getting further away behind you and nothing yet in front of you, giving you an odd mix of peace and unease. Alone in the middle of the open field in Titan territory.

The first thing that reached you, predictably, was the faintest sounds of conflict. Shouted orders, Titan growls, ODM gear straining. Something was happening, and you tried to push Zephyr to go faster, bringing you closer and closer within range, enough to hear that there were more Titans than people. The next thing you registered was the scent of blood in the air–some fresh, some not human, and of course the gradually aging blood from the initial carnage. It was stronger this time despite it's mixed state, but your stomach churned because it wasn't overwhelming yet and you knew what that scent meant.

Don't let anyone have died, don't let anyone have died, you murmured to yourself as you raced forward on horseback.

Finally, the conflict appeared on the edge of your range, barely seen at the farthest point. Large titans, eight or nine of them, with little dots that looked like lies flying around them if you hadn't known they were probably members of Levi's Squad. Throwing caution to the wind, you tried to push Zephyr harder, hearing the poor mare breathing heavily as she ate up the ground between you and the conflict without fear.

It wasn't fast enough.

"Gunther, move!"

You saw someone get snatched midair as they were stuck between three, everyone else apparently occupied with another Titan. You heard an enraged shout from Levi as one particularly fast 'fly' spun around what you guessed to be one of a couple abnormals who were gathered around the quick one, trying unsuccessfully to snatch it out of the air or snap at it with their jaws. Levi wouldn't be coming in for a save right now, his hands were full.

Without hesitation, you leapt off your horse, pulling out your ODM controls and sliding blades into them as your feet hit the ground, and you took off with the inhuman speed that easily outpaced your horse. You doubled, tripled the speed your horse had been going, a blur in the air as the wind whipped against your skin and brought you rapidly towards the fight. You centered on the Titan who had a hold of Gunther, approaching faster than the Titan could lift Gunther to its mouth.

Never had you thought your vampire speed would be used for a moment like this.

When you were within cable firing distance, you let them connect with the arm, running forward a few more paces before you kicked off the ground and let the gear close the distance. You threw caution to the wind like you had with Eld, except you were far more pressed this time, gaze flickering towards the other two that were grabbing at the same arm that held Gunther. Your cables were sunken into the Titan's arm, and as you sailed close, ODM gear straining to keep up with the speed you were pushing it.

With a low growl, your breathing still being kept to a minimum considering the blood in the air–you wondered who was hurt, since it wasn't Levi–you cut right through the Titan's arm, cleaving it clean off to at least free Gunther from the one holding him. The other two were still grabbing for him, and now the resisting arm was cut free, so you had to twist mid-fall towards the ground to fire cables again, sailing straight towards the nape of the next closest Titan and cutting through it in one smooth motion. You detached the cables, ran along its falling arm, kicked up again, fired into the shoulder of the third that was turning towards you and releasing its grip on the arm with Gunther. It swayed towards you, mouth wide, and you swung low, skidding along the ground under its arm, releasing the cables before they could get tangled and mess up what you were trying to do. You turned sharply and fired into its shoulder blades, sailing towards a nape again, anchoring yourself to its back and ignoring it's swinging arms as you planted your feet and slashed horizontally across the nape. You heard another racing towards you while you were 'vulnerable,' and you released the cables again to drop straight down to the ground, making sure to tuck and roll so you didn't break your legs at a crucial moment.

You rolled to the side to avoid the falling Titan you'd just killed and the one that had been charging to snatch you up from the back, coming up to your feet to see the Titan that had grabbed at Gunther was reaching for him again with its remaining arm, the one you cut off slowly starting to come back as it regenerated. Making sure you didn't have to dodge any swings along the way, you changed direction once again, passing Gunther as he was trying still to untangle himself from the hand and piling up bodies. He was lucky he hadn't been crushed in that mess–you hadn't had time to swing down and get him clear considering the attacks were coming one after another.

The Titan's large eyes centered on you as you charged it, letting out what sounded closer to an aggravated moan as it swung its arm at you. You dropped–belly down, since your ODM gear made it impossible to drop to your side or back to slide across the ground without risking damaging your ODM gear. Pushing yourself up like you'd been doing push ups once the arm had passed over you, you fired your cables into its side to get you up in the air, sinking a blade into its ribcage and swinging off it–releasing the blade from the handle to leave it in the Titan–to get a little higher into the air behind it, firing again into its shoulder to be launched towards its neck, grabbing another blade with your other hand and unsheathing it before you reached it's nape. You sliced as it turned its head towards you, cutting open the side of his face along the way but still cutting deep enough in its neck to finish it off, looking up to see that Titan that had targeted you now debating between you and Gunther–the threat it wanted to finish off, or the easy meal getting back to its feet on the ground.

The hesitation would cost it. Using the cables to keep you anchored and avoid falling off, you walked up and over your recent kill's shoulder as it fell, firing your cables into the upper right chest of the creature as you raced towards it, slicing through its right arm in the process, which forced you to replace your other blade as it was finally dulled and damaged from all the slashes. You almost reached the ground in a freefall as you quickly replaced it, firing up towards its shoulder blades to come up again.

There wasn't much you could do in the way of maneuvers in open air without much to grapple onto, so it was much of the same trying to use the Titans themselves to kill them.

As you killed your fourth Titan, you looked around to see Levi finish off another Titan, Eld helping Petra up from where she'd taken a rough landing as Oluo finished off the other one near them. You dropped off the Titan you'd just killed to reach the ground, hurrying over to the unsteady Gunther as he staggered away from the pile of Titans he'd been in the middle of. You reached out a hand to steady him, realizing the smell of blood was strong here with him–besides the Titans. And it wasn't Titan blood you were smelling, it was human.

God, now that the fight was over, the scent was starting to get to you again.

Focus. Gunther needs some help.

"You good? You hurt anywhere?" you asked him, making sure he stayed steady. It looked like there was blood on his head, a gash on his side, but other than that he seemed fine. Your eyes lingered on the wounds, but considering you were still surrounded by blood, you were able to tear your eyes away and at least visually ignore it.

"Just a little knocked around," he murmured, still looking fairly unsteady.

"Looks like you hit your head a little hard. I'd take it easy and stay grounded for a little while. You should probably get checked out by medical when you get the chance, too," you added, backing away from him and his freshly spilled blood once you were certain he could stand on his own. The amount of blood in the air was making you dizzy again, and you tried to swallow and hold your breath as much as possible, keeping the bloodlust at bay to the best of your ability as you backed off, looking around at what was now practically a warzone, with double digits of Titan bodies evaporating into the air and the squad looking a little rough for wear.

You looked at yourself to see a mix of bloodied mud smeared across your uniform–Titan and human blood making the dirt wet, some of the blood evaporating while the human from the mess the Titans left behind remained. You looked over at the others as they approached–others being Petra, Oluo, and Eld, for the moment, since Levi was busy cleaning off his blades after he saw the others were alive and there was no impending danger.

"What happened? There weren't any Titans when I left," you asked them as they approached. You didn't want to linger here too long, and you knew you shouldn't considering the formation was still moving, but you also wanted to know how this happened in the first place.

Petra gestured around. "We're not entirely sure. We think maybe the fighting drew them in. Something drew them in, 'cause they came from all different directions."

Your heart sank slightly. Yeah, maybe the fighting had partially been what drew them in, but you would bet your salary that you had been a pretty big factor for what drew them in, as well.

Maybe Levi shouldn't have sent you away earlier. You should have been here to help with the fight. If you'd lingered in the formation a second longer, if you had decided to wait and give them more time to arrive, someone could have died–Gunther nearly had.

Your jaw ached particularly painfully, and you pulled yourself from your gloomy stupor, whistling for Zephyr as your gaze sought out Levi, who had sheathed his blades and controls and was now approaching the gathered group, sharp gaze sizing you up and probing every twitch in your facial expression, well aware that you were right back in the middle of a bloodbath that had gotten worse since you left, and you'd barely held onto control the first time.

The only reason you were keeping your sanity was because you were breathing as little as possible and trying to keep yourself distracted with the serious problems and events in front of you. Not that it was going to last much longer. You were gaining more and more of the physical signs of thirst, and you wanted out of here.

"The Commander's having the formation shift to the right to avoid any more Titans drawn in. And they're already several miles ahead of this point," you told Levi pointedly.

In response, Levi whistled for his horse as well, which the others followed suit in doing. "We'll double it back to catch up. Gunther?"

"I'll be okay, Captain."

"Just sit it out for a while."

Zephyr reached you, and you grasped her reins, getting onto her back with haste, eager to get out of here. You could feel Levi's eyes on you as you mounted Zephyr and turned her around in the proper direction, but you ignored it for the time being. Talking could come later. Your dizziness was kicking in and you could hardly breathe around here, so you just wanted to leave and get back to the formation–back to what you'd been doing previously keeping an eye out for dangers to the left flank. And now you knew to check more than just the front, just to be safe. Try to keep the radius to include the formation so you could catch any surprise attacks from here on out.

You waited until the others were on their horses and Levi started moving before you took off, though you were so eager to move Zephyr was shifting restlessly beneath you. Once everyone was moving, though, Levi let you pull up to the same position you'd been in last time, allowing you to lead them in the proper direction back since the formation had pulled so far away by now and you would be the one to hear the other Scouts moving and therefore the one to make sure you guys found the formation despite the distance that had accumulated between you and the formation.

During the ride, once the bloody mess was left behind and you had a clear head to think again, you could think of plenty you wanted to say when you got the chance.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thankfully, there wasn't anything else drastic that happened for the day, and the formation still managed to reach it's checkpoint to rest and relax for the night. Camp was set up and Gunther went to medical to get officially checked out and attended to instead of the quick patchwork he got on horseback with the supplies they had on hand. The others were eating around the campfire, though you had slipped away to try and clean up your filthy uniform to the best of your abilities under cover of darkness down by a nearby stream. Your hands were red from the cold water you were scrubbing in, but you ignored it, enjoying the relative silence, even though you could hear the chatter and activity of the camp a short distance from where you were now. You were allowing it to dwindle into background noise while you worked, happily breathing in the scent of fresh air without any other smells in the air.

Like rationed food, body odor, blood, and horse shit.

When the stains were fainter, showing that your scrubbing was, in fact, getting somewhere, you caught wind of Levi's familiar scent, followed by your ears picking out the sound of his quiet, well-paced footsteps through the thin, small wood towards where you were currently cleaning. You didn't look up from what you were doing, simply listening as he gradually came to a stop just behind you.

"Is Gunther still doing all right?" you asked after a few moments of silence from Levi.

"He'll be fine. He'll stay out of the action for the rest of the expedition, though." He shifted behind you, taking a step closer. "You cut it close today."

That made you look back at him, unable to quite tell what his expression was saying, especially with what little he just gave you to go off. Was it concern or admonishment, maybe disappointment?

"Which part? The bloodlust part or coming back?"

"The bloodlust. It looked like something we should be worried about. That won't be the last of scenes like that you'll see."

You kept your head down, gaze focused on the clothes in your hands you were cleaning. "I'm afraid the best I can do is say give it time–that's usually what it takes, in my experience. I'll just have to make sure I stay well fed and figure out a way to deal with it." You stood up, shirt in hand. It looked like that was the best you were going to be able to do out here with just cold water–a proper clean would have to wait for your return. It still needed time to dry up in a tree branch or something, tonight, anyway. "Though, can I at least ask that next time, don't send me away–let me deal with it, even if that means I just keep my distance for a bit. I'll claim I'm being a lookout for more Titans or something."

"If you're a danger to the squad, you shouldn't be around them," Levi returned pointedly.

"Yes, but if my presence is going to call down Titans on anyone in the vicinity of me, I should really be around to handle the situation. And I can put the bloodlust aside in a fight–that's what I've been doing. It's only afterwards I was struggling, when there wasn't something to distract me. And the best way for me to adjust is exposure. Avoiding it is only going to make it harder to deal with in the future."

"But can you guarantee pushing your limits isn't going to put the others at risk?" Levi asked pointedly.

You were very well aware that Levi's priorities were more inclined to human life, to making sure no one ended up hurt or killed because you were here, to keeping the collateral to a minimum. Both of you knew that there were always going to be risks, but he was going to quickly cut back on any risks he deemed unnecessary. And right now, he was weighing risks, benefits, necessities, possible costs, all against each other to try and decide if that really was how he wanted to proceed.

You considered what you wanted to say carefully, mulling over the best way to handle the situation as well. As much as you would both like to do this without risk to others, that couldn't be promised.

"There's always going to be some element of risk, I can't guarantee nothing will ever go wrong. But it's also never going to get better if I don't push those limits. It's not like I'm not going to be mindful of the others, though. I don't want to put them in harm's way, either. It's more of a balancing act to do in the situation itself. I mean, each situation is going to be different. I'll just have to do my best in those moments, right?"

Levi sighed. It didn't take a genius he didn't like the thought of being touch and go with your bloodlust in the field, especially around injured Scouts, or around his Squad, which he probably valued above others at least slightly, even if he wouldn't admit it out loud. Maybe. It was just a theory. You were still learning about him and figuring things out about him. Right now, figuring out what was going on in his head was still a guessing game.

"I'll still send you away if I feel like you're going to lose control," Levi said briskly.

"Fair enough. Then I'll just have to stay close enough to be on hand if something goes wrong," you added, hiking over to the trees and hanging your wet clothes up on a branch to dry. There were a few moments of silence as you hung your clothes to dry, before Levi piped up again.

"How are you feeling?" he asked, a bit more concern peeking through in his tone now that the Captain part of the conversation had passed.

"A little worn out, honestly. Having that much blood waved in front of my face and having to resist it does nothing for...well, let's just say I think I might be going out early in the week next week. Like burning through a lot of gas in the ODM gear faster than normal. But I'll be okay for the rest of the expedition, at least," you said honestly, leaning against a nearby tree as you turned to look at him. "I wasn't thinking of it at the time, but, have they mentioned anything?"

You inclined his head towards the direction of camp, arms folded over your chest. "I had to jump off Zephyr and close the distance on foot to get there in time. And I wasn't focused much on restraint while I was taking care of those Titans."

"They haven't said inhuman or vampire, if that's what you're worried about."

"Well...I just know I appeared out of nowhere, practically, and the rookie just took down four Titans back to back, solo."

"You could have avoided going through two sets of your left blades," he said in an almost distant voice.

"I'll remember to work on it. I'm sure you'll think of some kind of lesson I can look forward to," you answered almost as a reflex.

"Don't forget those in the morning when we have to head back," Levi said pointedly, nodding towards the clothes.

"I won't. Besides, even if I have to make a dash back to get them, I can do it quicker than most."

"Are you going to take another night watch?"

"Not tonight. I'm going to get some rest so I can be refreshed for tomorrow."

"Then what are you waiting for?"

Your lips quirked towards a smile. "Just making sure you don't have any more questions for me tonight."

"Tch," he muttered, turning his head away. "Not tonight."

With a nod, you straightened up to start heading towards the camp. "Good night, then, Captain."