Chapter Three

Chapter Three

Matthew looked over his shoulder making sure Glacies was still focused on him. He had been able to keep the horse’s attention on him and not who was on his back. He could hear a few titans around them, but managed to avoid them all together. The Canadian landed in a crouch in the clearing before rolling on to his feet. Glacies caught up with him and nudged his side eagerly. He gave the horse the sugar cube before helping the pair of Storm Hawks off his back.

"Let's get into the tree." Canada said and the pair nodded. He took Finn up first, but Stork was a little more nervous about it. He finally managed to talk him into it and hoisted him up. The merb was terrified and clung to him the whole way up.

Junko immediately pulled the pair into a hug spinning around. Matthew smiled seeing them. He turned and was about to jump out of the tree to look for Piper, but Prussia rode back into the clearing. He sighed in relief seeing Piper on Mondi's back with him.

"Mattie!" She yelled happily as soon as Gilbert helped her into the tree. Piper quickly pulled him into a tight hug. "It's you! He said he knew you, but I didn't really believe him."

"Is this everyone?" Prussia asked looking them over as Piper pulled back.

"Yeah. Thank you." Aerrow said with a bright smile.

"No problem." The scouts said in unison. They smiled at each other.

"How are we going to get them to the walls?" Matthew asked remembering where they were. The Storm Hawks couldn't really ride a horse and they definitely couldn't just walk back.

"I saw a supply vagon. It was empty and there vas no one around." Gilbert suggested. The Canadian nodded. "I'll get it. Jour gas is too low."

"Okay." Matthew said. The albino leaned over and kissed his cheek before jumping out of the tree. "Be careful!" He called after him.

"What was that thing?" Finn asked. Canada wondered if he was talking about the titans or Prussia. "Big ugly thing. What did it want with me?"

"Oh, those are titans." The nation said. "They eat humans. We can't talk to them or anything. All they do is kill and eat people. We don't have any other choice, but to kill them."

"Your world didn't used to be like this." Piper said shaking her head. He had sent them pictures of his world centuries ago before the titans came. "What happened? How long has it been for you?"

"We're not sure what happened. I'll explain more when you're safe." Canada shook his head. "It's been about four hundred years or so."

"Four hundred years?" Aerrow asked slowly. The blond nodded.

"Even longer since I heard from you guys." Matthew sighed. He had call them almost every day, but one day they didn't pick up. He tried a few more times, but never got an answer. He assumed something had happened and moved on.

"So, who's the guy?" Piper asked raising an eyebrow wanting to get to a lighter topic.

Canada bit his lip with a small smile. He was nervous to tell the Storm Hawks. He didn't know their view on two people of the same gender being together. It had never come up. They had been and still were like family to him. He did kind of want their approval.

"That’s Gilbert." Matthew said scratching the back of his neck. "He's my fiancé."

"Really? Congratulations!" Junko said pulling him into a bear hug. The Canadian smiled and laughed as the others joined the hug congratulating him too.

"Thanks guys." He said all his worries gone.

Canada looked over his shoulder hearing squeaky wheels and sighed in relief seeing Prussia return with the wagon. They quickly helped the Storm Hawks out of the tree and into the wagon. Matthew mounted Glacies as Gilbert whistled for Mondi. The horse trotted out of the trees. He rode over and grabbed his reins leading the horse beside him. Prussia climbed into the driver’s seat. He quickly gave him the rest of his gas as they started off. Canada rode along side the wagon.

"Have you seen any of the 104th?" The blond asked scanning the trees.

"No, ve're all split." Gilbert said meeting his eyes. Canada bit his lip hoping his squad mates were okay. "We vern't expecting this many titans."

The couple kept scanning looking for them as they finally made it out of the trees and slowed. They could see a few Scouts scattered in the open field. They were slowly starting to move towards the walls to let any stragglers catch up. Jean, Armin and Kirsta saw them and rode over.

"Have you seen any of the others?" Armin asked worriedly.

"I saw Eren and Mikasa go by awhile ago." Matthew said. "I haven't seen them since."

Armin nodded worriedly. The trio noticed the new people. They looked at them curiously, but didn't say anything. The Scouts started to group up and more of them noticed the Storm Hawks. Their eyes lingered on Junko, Stork and Radarr.

"Why are they looking at us?" Junko asked. Canada frowned.

"You're different, you're not human. There isn't any other species here." Matthew said sadly. In the Atmos no one cared about species, but he knew here was much different. "Humans here tend to be afraid of what they don't know. They might treat you differently. We have to be careful not to scare them."

Canada hoped to protect them from that. He knew that they wouldn't hurt anyone that didn't attack first, but no one else knew that. More and more Scouts started staring. He shot glares at anyone he caught and they immediately looked away. He'd been to busy glaring to notice Hange ride over until they poked his shoulder.

"So, new specimens?" They asked eagerly glancing at the Storm Hawks.

"Don't even think about it." Matthew growled. Hange immediately backed off. They had never seen him angry before, he was scary. The Scouts traveled quietly for a while.

"This terra is huge!" Piper said catching his attention. He smiled.

"You haven't seen a fraction of it." Canada's said.

The Storm Hawks looked surprised. They looked around curiously at the open land. The Scouts started to pick up speed not seeing any more stragglers. The walls finally came into view. The Canadian sighed in relief seeing them. Prussia relaxed slightly too. The Scouts grouped up closer as they moved towards the walls. The Garrison shot up a flair signalling there weren't any titans in the area.

Matthew finally fully relaxed as soon as he heard the gates clatter closed behind the Scouts. They could finally see how badly their numbers had been impacted. The blond could see Erwin, Levi and Hange talking up a head as they started towards their headquarters. People lined the streets to look at the Scouts.

"It doesn't look much different from the Atmos." Aerrow said looking around. Radarr chirped hopping off of his shoulder and sat next to Prussia. He looked at bit surprised, but wasn't bothered by him.

"It is a bit different." Canada shrugged. "We don't have crystals that power stuff. We don't really have and machines or anything like that anymore. A lot disappeared when the titans came."