Later that day, we rode out into the field behind Wall Maria once again, to finish clearing out the rest of the titans that had infiltrated the area due to the beast titan.

I brought up the rear of the squad, keeping an eye on the ground we had already covered to make sure nothing snuck up on us from behind. Levi rode at the front, Jaeger beside him, as they discussed something I assumed pertained to the day's objective, even though I couldn't hear their conversation.

Miller fell back beside me, pulling her horse even with mine, and glanced over at me. Finally, after a few moments of silence, she spoke. "Corporal? Can I ask you something?"

I didn't look at her as I glanced back over my shoulder, checking the area again. "I guess I can't stop you, Miller. So go ahead."

She was silent again for a brief moment, the only sound the birds calling through the trees around us and the horses' hooves clopping along the packed dirt road. When she spoke again, her voice was hesitant. "But what if it's kind of a personal question?"

I finally met her gaze and raised an eyebrow at her as she blushed and ducked her head. "Miller, I'm not going to lie. I'm not excited about this. And I won't answer any questions about my personal life that you don't need to know."

She flicked her eyes up to mine again, starting slightly as she said in surprise, waving her hands in front of her frantically, "Oh no! It's nothing like that! It's just....." She blushed again slightly. "I need some advice. And you're the closest thing to a mom I have so...." She realized what she had said and clamped her lips shut, horror flickering across her face as her blush deepened on her cheeks.

I kept my face unreadable, but deep down, I was touched by what she had just said to me. I cared about these kids, though I'd never show them, and to know that they looked up to me as...well, a sort of parent figure...made it all worthwhile. The training, the drills, the objectives, the harsh neverending days of killing titans.

"Alright, Miller. What do you need advice on?" In order to save her anymore embarrassment, I let the previous statement drop and drove right to the heart of the matter. We were almost to the marked area for the day anyway, so we needed to hurry this conversation along.

She glanced over at me, seeming stunned for a second that I had actually agreed to help her, and then blurted out, "Thank you, Corporal!"

I waved a hand at her, motioning for her to get on with it, and she nervously clutched her reins in her hands, her knuckles going white as she tightened and loosened her grip a few times, seeming to gather the courage to go on. Finally, not meeting my gaze, she said quietly, "I just wanted to know...how do you know if someone likes you or not?"

I felt surprise flicker quickly across my face at her question, but I quickly hid the emotion and glanced over at her, a slight smile on my lips as I asked, "Do you have a certain person in mind, Miller?"

Without thinking, I watched as her gaze flicked instinctively to Armin, who rode a few horses in front of us, next to Ackerman.

"Miller." As I said her name, she brought her gaze back to me, and must have noticed that I had seen her look to Armin, because she instantly blushed a deep crimson once again. I laughed slightly. "Miller, I'm not going to tell anyone. Your secret is safe with me." I reached over and patted her shoulder lightly with my hand, and when she brought her gaze back up to me again, I gave her an encouraging smile, straightening on my horse again as I did so. "Every relationship is different, Miller. But I think, if when you're with that person, you feel completely happy, and they accept you for who you are, good and bad, then you know there's something there." I glanced over at her again and saw that she was aptly listening to me. "Listen, Miller. Being happy with someone doesn't mean everything's perfect all the time. You'll still go through hell, and sometimes you'll wonder if you're making a mistake. A huge mistake even."

I flicked my gaze toward the front of the group, where Levi was riding, and then back to her again as I said sternly, "But you know it's right, even if you doubt it sometimes, because that person, the right person, will be by your side through it all. The doubts, the hell, the happiness, the sadness. They'll always stick by your side, even when it would be a hundred times easier to walk away." I gave her a slight smile. "And that's how you know if someone likes you enough to make it matter, Miller."

I watched as she sat in silence for a moment, swaying with the movement of her horse, thinking over what I had said, and then she flashed me a grin as she said, "Thank you, Corporal. That really helps."

"Tsk." I waved my hand at her dismissively, not wanting her to see that I actually enjoyed giving her advice. "Don't thank me, Miller. I don't like when my cadets thank me. It makes me uncomfortable." I lifted my chin in the direction of the squad in front of us. "Now get back up into formation. We're almost to our area."

She left me alone at the back of the group again, and after a few more moments of silent riding, we reached the area where we would leave the horses, on the edge of our objective for the day.

After everyone had dismounted and tied the horses together against the wall, we checked over our 3DM gear and began to split into groups for the day. Levi walked over to stand beside me at the front of the attentive cadets, and called out loudly, "Alright brats. Here's your groups for the day. Jaeger, Ackerman, Arlert, Miller, you're with Corporal (L/N)." I glanced over at him, surprised he had given me the golden trio, but he ignored me, his focus still on the cadets in front of us. "Braus, Kirschtein, Springer, you'll be with me today. We'll take the west side of our area and the other group will take the east side. We circle around the edges, clear the titans, and meet at the far side before we come back through the center of the objective together. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, sir."

As the cadets shuffled into their formations, talking amongst each other and adjusting their harnessed and 3DM gear, I turned and said quietly to Levi, "You're letting me have the golden trio today? Why is that?" I raised an eyebrow at him teasingly, a smirk flicking across my lips. "Aren't they your personal lapdogs?"

"Tch." He glanced up at me from securing his blades, shooting me a slight glare as he said, "You told me to quit protecting you. So since I'm not allowed to personally make sure you don't make stupid decisions in the field today, I figured the trio would be a good substitute." I opened my mouth to protest, not liking the idea that he had stuck them with me to babysit me, but he continued on before I could say anything, grasping my chin in his slender, cool fingers as he said in a low voice, "I'm just protecting what's mine, (F/N). You know I don't like when others touch my things."

He released me and without another backward glance, walked over to the three cadets that made up his group for the day, already barking orders at them as he approached.

I stood there for a moment, thinking about what he had just said to me, and then with a shake of my head to clear my thoughts, I turned to face the cadets of my group, who were watching me expectantly. "Alright, idiots. Let's get started. The faster we clear this area, the sooner we can go home."

I shot off into the trees on my 3DM gear, hearing the cadets take off from the ground close on my heels, and we headed east, keeping an eye out for titans as the forest flashed by below us, the wind whistling in our ears.

Ahead of us, I spotted the first titan.

It was rambling aimlessly through the trees below us, and was on the smaller side, around ten meters or so. I heard Ackerman call out from behind me. "Mine." She whipped past me, headed downward toward the back of the titan, her blades drawn.

I didn't even bother to slow down to see if she had taken care of the bastard. I knew she didn't need any help.

A few more moments went by, and another titan appeared below us, this time, ripping into the flesh of another titan, downed and helpless because of broken legs, but still very much alive. I flicked my fingers and called over my shoulder above the wind, "Miller, Arlert."

They understood what I was asking without me having to tell them, and they both dropped altitude quickly, headed toward the battling titans on the forest floor below, their blades flashing in the sunlight as they headed in for the kill.

Miller swiped her blade across the nape of the titan that was on top of the other, and as it fell, Arlert swooped underneath, cutting into the neck of the downed titan with a spray of crimson blood. As they rose toward us again, their lines whipping through the trees in blurs of steel, I couldn't help but feel that they worked well as a team. They had handled those double titans exceptionally well.

As we neared the end of our terrain and the meeting point for the other squad, we saw another titan crashing through the trees below us. It was larger than the others had been so far, around fifteen to twenty meters, and as it heard us whip overhead, it raised dark empty eyes and reached out clawed hands to try and snatch us from the air. "Jaeger!" I called out loudly so he could hear me from behind. "Take that one out."

I saw him drop down toward the titan, and I slowed down just a bit to watch him take out the monster. I knew, other than in titan form, that he hadn't had many titan kills in the field, and I was interested to see how he would handle this.

He swung out wide behind the titan, dodging its grasping, curled fingers, and came in for the kill, angrily yelling out as he brought down one of his blades across the titan's neck. It went down, crashing to the forest floor in a cloud of fallen branches and debris.

Jaeger rejoined the group, titan blood splattering his face and rapidly evaporating in the humid air, and shot me a grin as we continued onward. "How was that, corporal?"

"Don't get cocky, Jaeger." I called back to him, but honestly, watching all the cadets just then, take out all their titans so smoothly on their own, without any help, I had felt proud. They had all come so far since the beginning.

We reached the designated meeting point with no more titans in sight and one by one, landed beside each other in the grove of small trees.

I wiped a hand across my brow, sweating due to the humidity of the hot day, and glanced over each of the cadets, who were wiping bloodied blades on their pants and hands across their foreheads. "You all did well." They all met my gaze, surprise on some of their faces at my praise, and then I said, "For a group of idiots I mean."

There were a few scattered chuckles and they went back to adjusting their gear, talking quietly amongst each other as they did so. I hid a smile as I saw Arlert talking to Miller, smiles on both of their faces, and a slight blush hinting at Miller's cheeks.

I turned my gaze from the cadets and searched the edge of the forest on the west side of our area. No sign of Levi or his group yet. They must have found more titans on their side than we did.

"Corporal!"

I flicked my gaze back to Jaeger, who had run up beside me, his voice suddenly excited and eager. I raised an eyebrow at him, curious what had gotten him roused up, and he quickly said, "Mikasa and I just spotted a couple of titans to the north of us. Is it alright if we head over there and take them out?" He pointed in the direction he was referring to.

"Jaeger, that's not our area. And we're supposed to wait here for the other group." I turned to him, my voice stern.

His face dropped. "Please corporal? This is our last mission to clear out the area behind the wall. After this, we won't get a lot of practice with the titans until we get cleared to go on another mission outside the wall again." He sent me a pleading look, his green eyes full of mischievousness. "And isn't it always you who says that we need all the practice we can get?"

I let out a tired sigh. What could it hurt? I trusted them enough to handle themselves, and Levi's group still wasn't here. Might as well spend the time doing something productive. "Fine, Jaeger." His eyes lit up with excitement, and I held up my hand to stop him from interrupting. "But you don't do anything else than handle that group and come right back. And you take Arlert with you to make sure things don't get out of control. Have I made myself clear?"

He nodded as he turned and headed back to his friends, calling over his shoulder as he did so, "Understood, Corporal!"

I watched them all take off together, headed north, until they were out of sight, and then I turned to Miller, who had walked over to stand beside me after they had left. "We'll wait here for Levi's group. They should be here soon."

She nodded to me and we stood in silence, waiting for either of the groups to get done and head to the meeting spot where we waited.

After about ten minutes of silence, and neither of the groups showing up, Miller turned to me, a slight worried look on her face, and said, "Corporal. Is it alright if I go North? Just to check up on them?"

I glanced over at her, knowing she was worried about Arlert, but I felt nervous sending her off by herself. But I couldn't leave the meeting spot, in case Levi and the other squad showed up. Miller was one of my best. I had chosen her for special forces after all. I could trust her to handle herself out there. Finally, I gave her a brisk nod. "Alright, Miller. But you find them and you bring them back, even if they're not finished. Ackerman will have my head if he knows I let those three go off by themselves."

She nodded and shot off into the trees, headed for the area where we had last seen the trio before the disappeared.

I listened to the sound of her lines fade into the distance and swore quietly under my breath. Maybe I had made a mistake thinking they could handle themselves...even after all this time.

I paced in agitation around the small clearing of trees that marked the meeting spot, each moment that ticked by making me more and more anxious. What if they didn't come back? Holy hell, Levi was going to kill me for losing his prized cadets.

Just as I had decided that I needed to go after them, I heard 3DM gear headed back toward me from the North. I released the breath I had been holding as Arlert, Jaeger, and Ackerman came into view above the treetops and dropped altitude, landing beside me on silent feet as they sheathed their blades. There was titan blood splattered across their faces and uniforms, and Jaeger flashed me a grin, his teeth white against his stained skin as he said triumphantly, "Took them all out. They didn't stand a chance."

Without acknowledging his statement, I walked up and cuffed him hard alongside the head, causing him to let out a small yelp of pain and rub the back of his neck as he said, "What was that for?"

"Do you know how long I've been waiting? What took you so long?" I grabbed him by the ear, pulling him toward me, and said loudly, getting in his face, "If you hadn't come back, Levi would have had my head. You all are a bunch of idiots." I shoved him away from me, causing him to stumble slightly as he regained his footing, and glared at the three of them, before I said in a dangerous voice, "Where's Miller?"

They glanced amongst each other, and then Jaeger spoke again, still rubbing his offended ear. "Miller? Wasn't she with you?"

My heart dropped into my stomach at his words. Hell. This was bad. "No, I sent her out after you. You didn't see her coming back?"

They shook their heads, and panic rose into my chest. Where in the hell was she?