Chapter One

Darrin pushed his horse ahead, dirt flying as he went as fast as he could. Beside him rose his fried, Thorin. Darrin peered over his shoulder to see a massive Titan chasing them. He gritted his teeth. At this rate it'd catch up. He never thought it'd be so fast. Thorin looked at Darrin.

"What do we do? We're too far from the formation so we can't get help," he wondered. Darrin looked past the Titan as the green smoke that was far away and fading away. He looked ahead and saw something. It was a small building with a huge oak tree towering high above it. Darrin smiled and readied his 3D Maneuver gear.

"Aim for that tree, it'll be easier to attack it from up there," he explained. Thorin looked at the tree and smiled. Darrin launched the grips on his gear and waited till they latched into the tree. He was instantly pulled off the horse and into the tree. He pulled himself onto a branch. Thorin followed his lead and pulled himself onto another. Unfortunately they were as higher than the Titan, but they were higher than before. Darrin launched the grips again as they pierced the Titan's shoulder. He swung down from the tree and up near the back of the Titan's neck. He quickly pulled out his blades and swung them at the nape of its neck. The hunk of flesh fell to the ground and the Titan fell. Darrin hopped off it and looked at Thorin.

"And that's the end of that," he smirked. Thorin came down and looked at the house. He saw the fabric curtains in the building suddenly close. His eyes widened.

"There's someone in there!" he exclaimed. Darrin walked over to the door and knocked on it. "Hello?" There was silence. He opened the door since it was unlocked. The building was fairly clean and well kept. It obviously hadn't been sitting for long. The gently wafting of a just-used fire floated through the building with the additional sent of cooked meat.

Darrin stepped in and looked around. "It's alright," he comforted, "We won't hurt you." Just then someone walked out of a room. It was a girl, a teenage girl at that. She was dressed in hand-made garbs made from scraps of old clothing. Her hair was fairly long, but was probably kept at that length with a knife. She touched her brown hair and pulled it in front of her.

"Who are you?" she asked. Darrin put his swords away and approached her.

"My name is Darrin Forester, I'm a part of the Survey group," he explained. She girl shuffled.

"You mean that huge group of people that pass her sometimes?" she asked. Darrin was surprised; had she never heard of the Survey Group. He looked around.

"How long have you been here?" he asked. He had never heard of anyone living outside the walls. If it had only been a few days it'd be impressive with all the Titans around. The girl walked closer to him.

"Me? I've been here for five or six years," she replied. Both Thorin and Darrin were surprised. Five years? That was insane for any level of the Survey group, but for a normal person it was unbelievable. He looked outside.

"How did you survive with the Titan's around?" he asked. This was most curious; rather she was lying or she was something more than he thought. She walked past him and Thorin then outside. She looked over to where the Titan once stood.

"How? Simple, they don't care about me," she murmured. Thorin walked over to Darrin.

"She might be making it up, we should probably take her back into the city walls," he offered. Darrin rubbed his chin. He was right, and if Titans really didn't care about her she'd make a great soldier. He walked out and over to her.

"How would you like to come with us? We can take you somewhere safer than here with easy access to food, water, and clothes," he offered. The girl looked at her roughly made dress. She turned to them.

"That'd be nice," she agreed. Darrin whistled for their horses and watched them run over. He stroked its dark coat before pulling himself on. He offered a hand to the girl.

"You can ride with me," he told her. She grabbed his hand and he pulled her up. She sat in front of him and he held his arms around her, grasping the name and keeping her steady. Thorin pulled himself onto his horse and saw in the distance green smoke.

"Come on, we might be able to catch up with them if we hurry," he stated. Darrin pulled over to him and the two got their horses running towards the smoke. They needed to get as closed as they could. It was hard enough to fight with two new recruits, it would be harder with the girl. They just prayed that they wouldn't run into many Titans.

It took a while but soon they were close to the group. There was a lot of smoke, most of it was red. They were obviously engaged in battle. Darrin cussed a bit, knowing this would be troublesome. Thorin looked around, wanting to be sure there were no Titans attacking them. He wanted to be ready for them.

Just then another Titan appeared. Thorin knew he'd have to fight it on his own. Luckily it was only a 4-meter class so it wouldn't be too much work. He launched himself off the horse, using his maneuver gear to attach himself to the Titan. He started to swing when the Titan suddenly grabbed him. He felt his heart throb; he was dead, there was no doubt about it. Darrin looked at him.

"Thorin!" he exclaimed as he turned the horse. He had to help. Suddenly the girl grabbed two of his spare blades and hopped off the horse. She dashed off to the Titan quickly, taking Darrin by surprise. Was she insane? She didn't have a maneuver gear; she was going to get herself killed!

The girl jumped up and stabbed the Titan's arm. She quickly began using the blades to climb the Titan. The strangest thing was that the Titan didn't care about her. It wasn't that is was focused on Thorin, it just didn't care about the girl. Soon she made it to the top and jumped behind it. Quickly she cut deep into its name, notching out its flesh. The Titan released Thorin and topped over. Darrin lead his horse over and caught the girl. Thorin used his maneuver gear to swing from the Titan to his horse. He looked at the girl surprised. She sat back down the way she was before and slid the blades back into the gear.

"There, that wasn't hard," he smiled. Darrin were awestruck. He never saw anyone take out a Titan without a maneuver gear. Even more so he never saw a Titan ignore someone like that. He looked at Thorin who was still a little shaken but alive. He then looked at the girl. So many questions danced about his head. What was she? How did she know to attack the nape? How did she climb the Titan with no fear? He was so curious it was hard to decide what to ask first. He shook his head. I can ask questions later, right now we have to stay with the team, he thought.

The three went back to the group. Often the girl would take Darrin's spare blades and right the Titan. Many members were amazed and confused. She was a good fighter and didn't seem afraid of anything. However, even with their help, they were losing too many fighters and had to retreat back to Maria's walls. The girl seemed so at ease with everything, even watching people die didn't seem to faze her. She was so bizarre, even for being 18. Both Darrin and Thorin were 19 and it was hard to watch people die. But the way she looked at the walls showed she hadn't seen them before. The walls were hundreds of years old; she said she'd been out here for five years. For those other thirteen years, where had she been?