A/N: Hey guys! Fifth chapter is here :) Enjoy!

DISCLAIMER: This is a non profit fanfiction. Shingeki no Kyojin is owned by Hajime Isayama and Kodansha. Please support the official release.

"JEAN! DON'T YOU DIE JUST YET!"

Jean opened his eyes as something rode past him in a blur. He caught a flash of yellow hair and his eyes widened. "A-Armin?" The rider drew his blades and jumped off the horse, latching onto the Titan. It tried to grab the wire, but he withdrew the hook after skirting around to its back. Hooking onto the base of the nape, he zoomed towards it, swords in hand. Jean watched in shock and awe as he sliced the Titan's nape and proceeded to jump from the body of the beast and land in front of him. Seeing the identity of the person who saved him, he backed away in surprise.

"Reiner! What are you doing here? Why did you –"

"You're not going to die here, Jean. I won't allow it. None of my comrades will die, not before I've made up for all of my sins!"

There was a moment of silence as Jean processed what Reiner said. He said, "Reiner, what on earth are you talking about? What sins?" Reiner opened his mouth to say something, but his eyes widened and he abruptly turned around, mumbling incoherently. Jean strode toward him and put his hand on his shoulder. "Reiner – what's going on?" By this time, Armin had caught up with the pair. Getting down from his horse, he said, "We need to keep moving. If we stay here for too long, someone's going to know something's up. Or worse, they'll presume we're dead."

Reiner nodded enthusiastically and said, "Armin's right – we need to move, now."

"Bu-"

"Now, Jean." Armin's firm voice made Jean realize the implications of being presumed dead. He begrudgingly got onto his horse, with Reiner doing the same. The three of them rode forward, moving at a moderate pace. Jean kept looking at Reiner out of the corner of his eye, wondering what the hell he meant with those cryptic words. He remembered how petrified Reiner looked when he asked him about it, and how he turned away and babbled to himself.

'Could it be that he feels that guilty about the deaths of Connie and Sasha that he thinks it was his fault?' At this, Jean felt a twinge of pity for his friend. He knew that it was nowhere near his fault, no more than it was his or Armin's. He was sure that on some level, all of them blamed themselves for their deaths. However, there was nothing they could do about it, and however bitter a pill to swallow, it must be swallowed, nonetheless. He made a mental note to talk to Reiner about it once they had reached the next rest stop. He glanced over at the soldier in question, and saw that he was looking straight ahead, an unwavering expression on his face. Sighing, he spurred his horse forward.

"Commander Erwin, why have we stopped?"

Erwin glanced up from his map and saw Armin standing in front of him. Levi said, "Arlert – we could actually use you here. Erwin, explain." The commander sighed and pointed at the map laid out in front of him. "Up till here, the Scouts have more or less laid down a path for safe travel. However, from here on out, it's essentially uncharted territory. We have to be careful so as to not run into any unnecessary losses. The scouting formation will hold, but operating on the assumption that more and more Titans will appear as we get closer to Wall Rose, we may need to make some modifications. Do you have any ideas?" Armin studied the map in front of him, thinking about various possibilities they could encounter on the way. All around the three of them, the Scouts were tending to their horses or to injuries sustained since the last stop. There were lookouts posted in the four cardinal directions to ensure that Titans didn't sneak up on them.

Armin pointed to the corners, and then to the center. Furrowing his eyebrow, he noted, "The members on the outer ring are most susceptible to attack. This, of course, means that our eyes are basically being picked off one by one." He turned to Levi and asked, "Is there a possibility of your team members being stationed at each corner of the formation?" Levi raised his eyebrows in response and said dryly, "And what good would that do? It's mostly open terrain out there, Arlert. I'm not going to have members of my squad engage in a battle where they start out at a massive disadvantage." Armin nodded, looking at the map thoughtfully.

"Armin, the main goal here is avoidance, not combat. We don't want to engage them head on. Or rather, we can't afford to." Erwin reminded the young man. He grit his teeth and tightened his fists in frustration. It was something that Erwin always hated – the fact that they had to take the defensive route, especially now more than ever with humanity on its last thread of life.

Armin nodded, not taking his eyes off the map. "How long until we reach Wall Rose, roughly?" Erwin replied, "If we go as per the plan, we should reach the wall by nightfall." Armin narrowed his eyes. "Are you sure that's safe? We won't have too much of visibility at night." Levi shrugged. "It's a tentative plan made in the best case scenario. In all probability we will turn back before we get that far. The positive is we haven't lost too much time here because this is a route we've already laid out, so time isn't the most pressing concern we should have right now." Erwin nodded and said,

"For now, let's just focus on getting to the Wall. We won't change the formation, but advise all members on the front line to be extra cautious. We can't afford to lose many men, not when humanity is on the brink of extinction."

"Huh?! We're not changing the formation?!"

Jean looked at Armin like he had just suggested that they all ride on without their maneuver gear. The other members of the 104th paled at the news, realizing that they would have to go back to their old posts in unfamiliar territory. Krista said in a small voice, "But isn't that too dangerous? We don't know the terrain – if Titans appear en masse, there's virtually nothing we can do about it." Annie replied in a low voice, "We just have to be quick to react. Honestly, isn't this precisely what we trained for?" Krista pursed her lips, sweat visibly dripping from her forehead. Armin sighed and said, "Look, it's Erwin's decision, all right? Honestly speaking, I think that it's a good move. Think of the panic that may ensue if people don't follow the new formation. We could all end up dead."

"I think Armin's right – Erwin's not the kind of guy to risk all our lives for something liken this." Marco nodded at Armin and gave a small smile. Jean looked between the two and shook his head. "You two are so daft." Ymir raised her eyebrow and looked Jean up and down before saying,

"Look who's talking about being daft. You were all ready for a comfortable life inside Sina, sipping on your fancy ass wine and serving the gluttonous king. If it wasn't for Jäger, you wouldn't even be here right now."

There was a stunned silence among the group as all of them stared at Jean and Ymir. Jean looked away pointedly and said, "Yeah. If it wasn't for that bastard I wouldn't be in this hellhole, watching my friends drop like flies." He walked away, the only sound being the crunch of his boots against the grass. Armin was the first to break the silence, saying, "Come on guys, we should go get ready. Erwin will want to leave soon." He turned around and started to walk back to his horse.

"Everyone, stop. I have a confession to make."

Armin turned around to see Reiner, looking down at the ground. He slowly brought his face up and Armin was surprised to see traces of tears in his eyes. He said in a broken voice,

"It was me. It was me all along. I'm sorry…I'm sorry!"