Disclaimer:I do not own Shingeki no Kyojin or the characters

Rated T for mild violence. Will contain coarse language

Summary: Levi is listed MIA after an expedition; unable to find closure, Eren blames himself for his corporal's apparent death.

Chapter 1 ~ Broken Wings of Freedom

The morning sun illuminated the land for the new day, today would be the 58th expedition, a simple expedition enough. The objective was only to clear a path of Titans, extermination was a better word to use though. Eren sat on his bed as he starred at the picture he had taken with the Levi squad on the second week together, Petra had been bugging him that they should get a squad picture for memories. She was so persistent but he could not say no, definatly not to Petra; she was so nice and sweet, it was no wonder that the corporal liked her a lot.

Eren studied the faces he would never see again, all of them were dead because of his poorly made decision. Even though the corporal had told him several times that no one could have predicted the outcome and he should not dwell on the deaths, he still could not accept it. They should not have died the way they did.

He stood up, placed the picture on his bed taking a last look at his deceased comrades as his eyes trailed onto his corporal. Always serious and emotionless, however with the little time he spend with him, Eren learned that this was simply just a façade, Levi was a gentle heart and hurt easily but was just good at hiding it.

"Eren, it's time."

He quickly bolted his eyes off the picture and turned towards the voice of Mikasa who was standing under the door frame. The time to go back into the fields of hell, this time will be different; he would not let his friends die, with Annie frozen in that Crystal, they only would have to keep an eye out for aberrant types.

Eren joined Mikasa as they walked through the empty hallway, quiet as always; she would often ask him questions on how he felt at the moment. That always drive him nuts, he appreciated the concerns she may have for his well-being but he was now a soldier, he was capable of taking care of himself. As they exited the castle and entered the courtyard, they were quickly joined by Armin as they walked towards the rest of the Scouts.

He eyed at the faces, searching for one in particular; since their squad had practically been wiped out, Eren had no idea if he would still be with Levi or if the squad would be formed anew. His corporal had not said a word about that when he had told Eren about the upcoming expedition.

"Eren, get on your horse."

Levi already mounted on his horse hands Eren the reins to his horse, his corporal had already readied his horse for him, and that was a first but considering he was kind of late, he would have to shape up fast.

"Corporal allows me to accompany you in this expedition." Mikasa quickly asks as she does a strong salute, her fist firmly clenched over her heart as she looks up to meet the smaller man's stare.

"That's not up to me, stick with Erwin's formation." Sharp and direct as usual from the corporal. Eren mounted his horse and looked at his two childhood friends before riding off with his squad leader. Mikasa was disappointed, but she had to follow Erwin's orders, the formations were made for a reason.

Eren followed Levi closely, never to fall back two horses like he had been told before when he had first joined. This time Eren was surprised to see that they were going to be up front along Erwin, Mike and Hanji but once in Titan territory, they probably will split up into small groups as they kill the giants.

The Scouts on Erwin's orders begin to make their advancement to the Karanese District, like usual the people come out to greet them; to wish them luck on their expedition and to kick some Titan ass but Eren knew all too well how they would be received on their return when some would not return.

"Don't take any unnecessary risk unless you are certain to come out of it alive." Levi said without looking at Eren. Levi did not have to tell him twice, he would make the right decisions this time, no one would die on his account.

"It's the Titans who are going to be afraid this time." He confidentially declared, he was ready for this.

Erwin began his speech to boost up the troops morals as the bells rang followed by the opening of the gate. This was it, time to show the Titans exactly what he could do; giving a kick in the flack of his horse with his heels and off he was, riding right behind Levi. The adrenaline beginning to pump through his body, he was hitching to kill some Titans.

He could hear the gate closing in the distance, always looking around for one of the giants through the abandon houses. Some growls and hurls could be heard alerting everyone that battle was coming as the troops began to split up into small groups. Eren quickly tugged on the right rein turning his horse towards the same direction his leader had taken. Erwin however had continued forward, his duty was to find a spot to get their camp set up so all the soldiers could resupply.

A loud crash filled the air as debris fell in front of Eren separating him from Levi; quickly looking up to find a seven meter Titan to his right and a duo of a eight meter and a fifteen meter to his left.

"Eren take care of the one on the right." Levi ordered as he flew into the air, drawing his blades to fight, launching his anchors towards the two Titans. Eren quickly complies, launches his anchors; flying through the air towards the seven meter, completely oblivious of Eren closing down towards him. Titans were really stupid creatures that deserved to die he thought to himself as he drew his blades a sliced the nape of the Titan's neck, landing on a nearby rooftop.

Eren quickly looks for the two other Titans, they were gone but he could see steam coming up towards where they had been. Without any delay, Eren launches his anchors towards where his corporal had gone. The dead bodies of the two Titans were starting to disintegrate; however, there was no sign of the short man.

Growls caught Eren's attention as another Titan came into view. This one was a measly three meter, nothing to worry much about; these ones had barely any sort of intelligence. So far they had been lucky, no aberrant had been spotted, he noticed several red flares being shot into the air but no black ones which was a good thing. Eren wasted no time in slaying the small Titan, there was still much more Titans to kill and he had to regroup with his leader not that he was worried or anything.

Another Titan and another kept showing up as his blades started to get low, his gas was also probably starting to be low also.

"Eren!"

Eren looked around for the voice, Armin standing on a nearby rooftop, he was kind of relief to see a familiar face, he had been alone for a while now. "Eren we should head to the encampment." His friend said, there was no way he was going to argue with that but something felt strange to him, something did not feel right but he did not linger on it, he would talk about it back with the corporal in the encampment.

"Did you get a good kill number?" He casually asked, Armin answered with a smile. Today was surely a good day, no aberrants and it seemed that they had received little casualties. Some injuries but it was not that bad. Mikasa quickly caught Eren's eye, he was relieved to see that she was okay and unhurt but she wore a rather gloomy expression, maybe things had not gone well on her end.

"Hey Mikasa!" He quickly joyfully greeted but did not receive the same. A grim expression plastered her face as she remained seated, refusing to look Eren as she looked to the ground.

"Hey what's wrong?" Armin asked with a worried tone as he sat next to the raven haired girl he had known for many years. She was always the strong one, seeing her filled with grief was not something he was used to seeing.

"I searched everywhere…" She said never looking at Eren with the shame that filled her as she looked at a piece of blood stained fabric she held in her hands. "I'm sorry…"

Eren remained frozen as his eyes starred at the cloth Mikasa held in her hands, he recognised it all too well but it could not be. Surely it was just a mistake, he can't be dead… Mikasa just missed him that's all, Levi probably just lost his cravat and it got dirty. Any moment now, Levi will show up, he would give his usual bored looked as if he cared of nothing.

"You mean?... Corporal…" Armin's voice was shaky as his voiced killed the silence that filled the air. Mikasa nodded her answer of which Armin could not bring himself to say as he looked around, not wanting to believe that their strongest soldier had fallen. Searching around, trying to find the short man but nothing.

Mikasa finally stood and handed the cravat to Eren, forcing herself to look at her adopted brother "The commander is aware but he did not say anything." Was all she could allow herself to say; not wanting to cry or show weakness.

Erwin's presence was quickly made apparent as he voiced out that they were to head back to the walls the moment everyone had finished resupplying.

Anger began to build up, he could not believe that Erwin would just abandon Levi like that without finding his body. He just did not accept that, as long he would not lay his eyes on a body, there was no way that he was dead. He refused to believe that Levi would fall to a bloody Titan, not him. "Commander! We can't leave now, Corp-"

"He's gone and that's final." Erwin quickly cut Eren off with a stern voice, Eren wanted to jump at his throat but allowed himself to cool down as he felt Armin hold onto his arm. He looked at the other Scouts, most of them wore a gloomy expression and some he could say shared the same feeling he had. How could they just abandon a comrade like that?

"I don't want to believe it either Eren but we can't stay here any longer. The fog will surely bring us some trouble if we stay any longer." His commander said with a gentler tone than earlier. He could not argue with that as he could see the fog in the distance, coming closer and closer by the minute. If they stayed, a lot of the troops could die and that was just not worth it just to look for one man.

Eren mounted on his horse when a black stallion caught his eyes, he knew that horse all too well. That's his corporal's horse, it was rather restless as a soldier pulls on the reins to make it follow. After a few struggles, the horse complies but would give a tug here and there. Eren understood how it must feel, even though it was just a horse, he often saw his corporal stroke the horse for no reason. On normal circumstances the horse would be put down, after so many years having the same rider, there was no way it would accept anyone else. It would be just a useless animal to feed but the commander had refused. Even though Erwin had decided that they should leave, he probably was just as conflicted by Levi's sudden death. The black horse Levi had called Black Tundra was the only piece of the corporal left.

Wall Rose came into view as they rode, he was never able to take his eyes off Black Tundra, and his corporal sat on him this very morning, now it was vacant. He had promised himself that he would not let any of his friends die today; why could he just not make the right decision. He should have looked for him instead of fighting that three meter. He should have prioritized that over killing those filthy beast; he forgot that Levi was also human capable of death. Because of his poorly made decision, he had managed to get everyone killed in the squad he had been placed, he had cursed them all.

The loud stone gate brought him back to reality, the villagers stood on the side of the street; eyeing for any missing faces. Words of disapproval followed like usual, it was not long before some asked for Levi and all got quiet. Not really sure if the people were just shocked but none of the Scouts answered their question, Eren fought back the tears that wanted to escape his eyes. Even though they had lost little lives, today was a great lost for humanity; not a body, not a proper funeral could be given to the man who had saved many lives and never asked for anything in return. The gate loudly shut, the echoing of the bells filled the air; usually they are only rang for going out or in the walls, it was probably the Garrison's way of saying that they also mourn the man who was Humanity's Strongest Soldier.

A new fanfic, review and tell me what you think.