Sun Tzu, : The art of war is of vital importance to the state. It is a matter of life and death, a road either to safety or to ruin. Hence it is a subject of inquiry which can on no account be neglected.
Disclaimer: Attack on Titan does not belong to me, nor are any of the characters being used for profit in the telling of this story. Believe me. I'm poor. I didn't win the Powerball last Wednesday. So don't sue. It won't be worth the lawyers' fees.
Chapter One: Lost and Found
The flare to retreat had been given almost half an hour ago. Soldiers of the 57th Expedition were already beginning to gather at their pre-designated meeting point to the north-east of the Forest of Giant Trees. As Commander Erwin rode towards them with Hange and several other scouts on horseback he noted that at least three squads hadn't reconnoitered yet. They should have encountered few titans on the way out of the forest given that the Female Titan had called all titans to her within a two mile radius where she had been ensnared in a snare of steel cable tethered lances. They had immediately begun devouring her in a feast of torn flesh and splatters of steaming blood. What a waste. He had been hoping to capture the human inside alive for questioning. Levi had been so close to extracting her before she had called the other titans to her.
Erwin glanced around the group of soldiers that had already amassed at the meeting point. He saw that the majority of the newest recruits had survived the rampage of the Female Titan in the forest – among them Mikasa Ackerman, Armin Arlet, Jean Kirstein, and Reiner Braun. The looks on all his men's face, however, told Erwin that there had been heavy losses.
The distance whinny of a horse made Erwin glance backwards in the direction of the forest. A group of about half a dozen soldiers were racing towards them. He didn't see any titans in pursuit which he counted as a small favor from god – if there could really be such a divine being in a world as cruel as theirs. He recognized his elite soldiers Eld Jinn, Oluo Bozado, Petra Ral, and Günther Schultz with Eren Jeager bringing in the rear.
Erwin dismounted from his horse and strode out several paces to meet them. Zoe followed after him. The group pulled up in front of Erwin. Their horses' chests were covered in a shiny layer of sweat and they were panting heavily. The squad must have exited the forest on the far side and had to ride around. He noted the haunted, stricken looks on all their faces. A feeling of dread curdled the bottom of his stomach. After all these years leading the Survey Corps he knew when he was about to be given bad news.
"Ral," Erwin called as they dismounted and handed their horses off to the several soldiers in charge of caring for the horses. "What happened?"
Petra stared back at him with grief-stricken eyes. The corners of her eyes glistened with unshed tears. She seemed unable to speak.
Erwin glanced at his other Elites, silently commanding someone –anyone!- to speak. Towards the back of the group, Eren averted his eyes towards the ground and stared at it with lips pressed together in a grim frown.
"We retreated after the blue flare went up," Eld finally spoke. "All of us immediately fell back to get our horses and come to the meeting point. While we were maneuvering through the forest Captain Levi suddenly veered north."
"He thought he had seen something. Said something about the human in the Female Titan maybe still being alive," Oluo chimed in. "Said she might be hiding amongst us in the retreat."
Petra finally found her voice. "We tried to follow him but we lost him in the forest. He moves so fast in 3DMG gear…" She paused a moment, as though to collect her thoughts and emotions. "We were trying to catch up to him when we found this." She pulled something from a hip pouch strapped around her waist. She held it out to Erwin.
Erwin gingerly reached for it. As he took it, it unfurled over the sides of his fist and swayed limply in the chilly breeze that blew across the field. It was the torn remains of a green scout cloak. Streaks of half-dried blood were smeared across the Wings of Freedom symbol.
"We… also found this," Günther said, holding out the crumpled remains of a 3DMG cylinder pack. One side of it was crunched inwards as though it had been bitten in half by a set of giant teeth.
Zoe gasped under her breath. "Is that-?"
Petra nodded. Her eyes were bright with grief. "We checked the identification number. It's Captain Levi's."
Erwin stared at the blood-stained cloak and 3DMG cylinder, the hollow feeling in his stomach widening. He wasn't sure what to feel at that exact moment. In a way, this news somehow felt overdue. Survival rates for Survey Corps members barely averaged longer than two years. Levi had been a Survey Corps member for many times longer than that. Yet… Levi had always seemed like such a tenacious force of power nothing in the world could ever take him down. Sometimes Erwin had wondered if Levi hadn't survived so many titan encounters simply because he had thought it was too messy a way to die.
"Commander," Petra softly intoned, her eyes imploring Erwin as if he could somehow change what had happened. "What do we do?"
Erwin paused. The loss of Levi was still too big and too devastating for him to fully process yet. He would have to do that once he'd gotten the rest of his surviving soldiers back to safety and he could grieve by himself in the privacy of his own quarters. Until then, he knew what Levi would have done if their fates had been reversed.
"Mark Captain Levi as missing in action, presumed dead," he solemnly commanded. "Then water and feed your horses and help the others load the dead bodies onto the wagons. We move out in twenty minutes."
Erwin turned sharply away from the group of stunned, staring faces. He knew what some of his squad would say once word got out about what happened: that he was soulless with no trace of human emotion left in his heart. That wasn't true. He felt the loss of every one of his soldiers and carried the weight of their deaths on his shoulders everyday. Levi's would be no different but Erwin knew the captain's death would leave a much bigger void in his wake – possibly more than everyone else combined. Levi had been his best soldier. One of his closest confidants. His friend.
In his opinion, the Survey Corps had just suffered its worst loss in history.
"Commander," Zoe Hange said as she strode up to him. "The fortress has been inspected by the engineers and deemed secure. The walls are intact and the main gate is solid. They said it'll hold up against a titan attack. Scouts report no sign of titans anywhere in the immediate area."
Erwin nodded. "Good." He surveyed the courtyard of the fortress he and the other members of the Survey Corps' 58th Expedition Beyond the Wall occupied. Soldiers bustled about the complex, moving supplies and inspecting buildings for damage.
It had been eight months since their last disastrous mission beyond Wall Rose. It had taken that long for Erwin to convince the military that despite the heavy losses sustained during the 57th Expedition, the Survey Corps needed to persevere and create a supply line between Karanese and Shigashina District to unlock whatever secrets lay buried under the demolished remains of Eren Jeager's house. After months of arguing and pleading his case to High Command, Erwin had finally received authorization to proceed with the operation. In a stoke of further luck, High Command had also allowed Eren to remain with the Survey Corp even though Levi was no longer there to act as Eren's self-appointed failsafe. Since then, a near endless stream of small exploratory ventures had been made to map out a path to the nearest way station – a giant five-hundred-year-old military fortress nestled high in the hills east of Shigashina. Given its easily defendable location and formidable stone construction it had been deemed an ideal location for the Survey Corps to use as a secure base of operations outside of Wall Rose. It was almost perfectly situated as a quarter-way way station to Shigashina. If Erwin were to go to the top of the ramparts and looked out over the valley below he would just about be able to see the shadowy mass of the Forest of Giant Trees looming on the horizon.
The 58th Expedition had encountered surprisingly few titans on the way there. Only several regular titans had been spotted during the course of their journey and had been easily avoided without any casualties. Erwin tried not to become too excited about their streak of good luck. Things had a tendency to turn bad very quickly beyond the wall once a person let his guard down. The losses of their last expedition were proof enough of that…
Erwin shook himself out of his thoughts and focused his attention back on Zoe. "Tell the men to spread out through the fortress and assess its interior rooms. This place hasn't had any living residents for almost six years since Wall Maria fell."
"Yes, sir," Zoe nodded.
"I want you to personally go and inspect the fortress's cellars. See if it is dry enough to store ammunition and gas cylinders. Having a supply line isn't going to do any good if the supplies we leave get damaged by the elements before we get to use them."
"Yes, sir."
Erwin was in the middle of discussing plans with Mike Zacharius and Petra Ral about fifteen minutes later when a muffled scream suddenly sounded somewhere deep inside the fortress. Erwin immediately recognized the voice as Zoe Hange's.
There was a momentary pause among those spread out across the courtyard as they stared at the fortress's inner stronghold. With Erwin in the lead, he, Petra, Mike, and several other soldiers took off in the direction Zoe's scream had come, their scout cloaks snapping behind them in the wind.
Speeding through the fortress's main hall, Erwin led the group through a doorway he knew would lead them to the cellars. A stone staircase spiraled downwards into darkness.
"Commander!" Mike yelled from the back of the group, grabbing a torch from a scone in the wall. He withdrew a match from his side pouch, struck it against the wall, and held the match against the torch head. The fire flared into a full flame almost immediately. He thrust the burning torch out to Erwin. "Here."
Erwin took the torch and raced down the steps as quickly as he dared go, the others following close behind. In the glow of torchlight, Erwin recognized the faces of the other people that had followed him, Petra and Mike into the fortress. It was Eren Jeager, Mikasa Ackerman, and Armin Arlet. Wherever there was one of them, the other two were sure to be found somewhere nearby. In any other situation Erwin would have ordered them back. They were still novices and in no position to be putting themselves in danger to investigate a completely unknown danger. But he didn't have time to deal with them right now. He had to find out what had caused Zoe to scream an alarm like that. Had titans somehow gotten into the fortress?
Several of the soldiers drew their blades as they raced down the stairs. The torch sent distorted, demonic-looking shadows dancing across the walls as they descended.
"Hange!" Erwin called at the bottom of the stairs. A massive room of rough hewn stones spread out around them. "Hange! Where are you?"
"In here! Hurry!" a voice called back to him. Through a doorway to the right, the cellar branched into what looked like a former cold lauder. As Erwin and the other soldiers came around the bend he spotted light from Zoe's torch on the far side of the smaller room.
"What is it? What happened?" Erwin called, jogging up to the obviously spooked squad leader.
Zoe stared at the far corner of the room, her eyes wide behind her glasses. "There," she pointed. Her hand was noticeably shaking.
Erwin followed her gaze and sucked in a startled gasp of air.
There laying on the stone floor was a body. It lay on its side with its back towards them. Although outside of their immediate circle of torchlight Erwin could see it was male. The man was dressed in dirty, threadbare clothes. A mess of shaggy black hair spilled across the ground around his head, obscuring his face.
"Is that a corpse?" Mike whispered. His voice was loud in the cold stillness of the cellar.
"I don't think so," Armin shook his head. "It doesn't look decomposed or even mummified."
"What's a person that isn't part of our squad doing so deep inside titan territory?" Eren asked. "Even if he's dead, he obviously hasn't been dead for long."
"He's still fresh," Mikasa hollowly agreed.
"Could it be a survivor from one of the nearby villages?" Petra wondered out loud. "Maybe he's been living here since Wall Maria fell."
"Even if he he's been holed up in this fortress all this time, how could a civilian survive for six years alone in the middle of titan territory?" Mike demanded hotly. "It's impossible. Plus, we didn't see any sign of anyone living here when we arrived."
"All of you, be quiet," Erwin sharply ordered.
Silence immediately met his command.
Holding his torch up high to let the light fill the room, Erwin slowly edged towards the figure on the ground. He was going to get to the bottom of this right now. There was still no movement from the man on the ground despite all the talking around him. Maybe he really was dead.
Carefully dropping to one knee, Erwin leaned over the man and held his torch up higher. Firelight illuminated the figure in a wash of flickering orange light. Only now did Erwin see a set of metal shackles chaining the man's wrists and ankles together. A storm of even more questions filled Erwin's head. Who was this man? What was he doing there, chained in the basement of an abandoned fortress in the middle of titan territory? None of this made sense.
Frustrated at the lack of answers, Erwin grabbed the man by his shoulder and roughly rolled him onto his back so he could see his face.
Erwin almost dropped his torch at what he beheld. He heard several gasps ring out behind him.
There, laying on the ground, was none other than Captain Levi.
The silence of the cellar was absolute as everyone there stared in shocked disbelief. Eren could barely process what he was seeing. The man laying there was obviously Captain Levy. One didn't forget the face of the man that had beat him half to death in front of a courtroom of people. But the man laying there with his hands and ankles chained was not how Eren remembered the taciturn captain.
Once so immaculately dressed and poised, Levi looked horrible. He was dressed in loose brown pants and a frayed, possibly once-white shirt. Matted ropes of overgrown black hair framed a skull-thin face, as if the captain's skin had shrunk two sizes too small for his slender frame. Under the smears of grim covering Levi's face his skin appeared paper-thin and almost translucent in the torchlight. Slanted almond eyes were sunk in the captain's face and ringed by dark circles of purple as if Levi hadn't slept in ages. It was difficult for Eren to merge the two images of the captain together in his mind.
"Levi?" Petra finally broke the stunned silence. Within the blink of an eye Zoe, Petra, and Mike were crowding around Erwin beside Levi. Eren and the others hung back and watched from several paces away.
"How is this possible?" Zoe breathed. "Levi went missing over eight months ago." Disbelief and elation warred with each other for dominance on her face.
"Is he even alive?" Mike said, leaning over Erwin's shoulder to better see his resurrected comrade.
Petra knelt on the ground beside Levi's head and tenderly pressed the back of her hand against his forehead. "He's freezing," she hissed. Moving to the side of his neck she felt for a pulse. "But he's still alive!" she exclaimed in jubilation.
Erwin hastily passed his torch to Mike. With surprising gentleness, the commander lifted Levi's arms and inspected the thick shackles encircling his wrists. Even standing back at a distance Eren could see the raw, bleeding skin underneath the bands of heavy iron. He involuntarily winced.
"Give me your blade," Erwin ordered, motioning to Mike. The squad leader hastily unsheathed a blade and handed it to the commander.
Erwin took the blade in one hand and stretched Levi's shackled hands out on the ground to the side with the other. With a swift chop he broke the chain apart into two separate pieces. The commander repeated the process on Levi's leg chains.
"Who could have done this?" Zoe asked as Erwin handed Mike his blade back.
"I don't know," Erwin replied. His voice was tight with some emotion Eren couldn't exactly name. It sounded like elation. But shock as well. And a touch of anger as well. Eren had heard that Commander Erwin and Levi had been friends, but it wasn't until now that he had really seen any indication that Erwin saw Levi as anything more than just a loyal subordinate. As Eren watched, Erwin quickly shrugged off his cloak and draped it over Levi's frame. Levi had always been a smaller man, but wrapped in the Commander's cloak now he looked absolutely frail. What horrible thing had happened to Humanity's Greatest Hope that he had been reduced to such a state?
"Levi?" Erwin called, leaning over the smaller man. "Levi, can you hear me?"
For the first time since finding him, they saw a flicker of life from the unconscious man. Groaning weakly in the back of his throat, Levi's eyelids drifted apart just enough for glazed, bloodshot eyes to swivel up towards the crowd of faces leaning over him. He lethargically blinked against the torchlight.
"Levi?" Erwin called again, gently shaking the captain's shoulder. The urgency in his voice was palpable.
"Erwin?" a raspy voice croaked. Eren could barely hear Levi's voice it was so weak. The captain seemed more asleep than awake. His eyelids slowly began to drift close again.
Erwin leaned down closer. "Levi, stay with me. You have to stay awake. That's an order!"
As though actually obeying, Levi's eyes opened again. But just barely. They seemed to weight a thousand pounds for the amount of effort it was visibly taking the captain to do so. Despite being conscious, he barely seemed to be aware of where he was.
"Levi, what happened to you?" Zoe said, asking the question that was foremost on everyone's mind. "We all thought you were dead."
Levi stared at them for a moment of silence. "Captured…" he finally rasped. It seemed to take every ounce of strength the captain had to find words. "During retreat from Female Titan… Thought I saw body on the ground… Thought maybe someone from my squad… When I landed something hit me on back of head… Knocked out…"
Levi's eyes swiveled in their sockets, as if taking in his surroundings for the first time. "Where am I?"
"At the old East Hill Fortress," Petra replied, taking the opportunity to tenderly brush back several strands of dirty hair from the captain's face. "You've been missing for eight months."
"Eight months?" Levi whispered. "Feels like so much longer than that…"
"Do you know who took you?" Erwin demanded.
Levi weakly rolled his head back and forth against the ground. "No. The bastards always had masks on when they came for me… Were experimenting on me."
"Experimenting?" Zoe breathed. She leaned closer, her eyes bright with morbid fascination. "What did they do to you?"
Levi fiercely shook his head, his features contorting in an angry grimace. "Don't know… All I remember is being locked in a cell… Whenever they came for me I tried to fight. Beat me until they could strap me onto a gurney of some kind and wheel me into a room with bright lights… Did it more time than I can count…"
"Where were they holding you?" Erwin urgently questioned.
"Don't know. The last time they came they drugged and blindfolded me… Then I woke up here..."
"So Captain Levi was left here for us to find?" Armin wondered out loud. "Why would someone kidnap the captain then leave him all the way out here in titan territory?"
An unsettled silence fell over the room. Eren felt a cold thrill run down the length of his spine. Armin's question was good.
Erwin glanced over his shoulder towards the young strategist. His expression mirrored Eren's own reaction.
"Arlet is right," he finally said. "Whoever kidnapped Levi left him here almost like a present. Whoever had him these last eight months knew we were coming here and wanted us to find him. For what reason, we don't know. But we can't take the chance of having to fight an unknown enemy with unknown goals in the middle of titan territory. Whoever brought Levi here could still be nearby. It's not safe to stay. We have to retreat back to Wall Rose until we can reassess the situation and devise a strategy for how to proceed."
"Levi needs medical attention," Petra worriedly added. "We don't have the supplies or facilities to properly assess what his kidnappers did to him here."
Erwin nodded, his expression grave. He glanced around the circle of squad leaders. "Send the order out. We leave immediately."
Stooping on one knee beside Levi, the commander reached out for the smaller man.
Levi realized what Erwin intended to do several seconds before Eren or anyone else there did.
"Don't you dare," he growled, glaring daggers at Erwin. He weakly tried to scoot away from Erwin but was in no condition to evade the commander's grasp. All he could do was feebly push against the ground in protest as Erwin slipped his arms under Levi's shoulders and knees and lifted him into his arms.
"Try and stop me," Erwin shot back, his tone indifferent to Levi's objections.
Levi stiffened in Erwin's arms as Erwin straightened. An involuntary cry of pain rang through the room. Erwin looked startled by Levi's violent reaction to his touch. Instantly, his expression of hard resolve melted into one of worried urgency.
"Hold on, Captain. We're taking you home."
Eren numbly watched as Erwin swept past them towards the door. Levi hung limp in Erwin's arms. The captain made no other form of protest as he was carried out. Somehow that, more than anything else, made Levi's return from the dead even more disturbing. Before today Eren would have never imagined he would see the proud captain of the Survey Corp reduced to such a state.
In a stunned daze, Eren and the other soldiers hurried after Erwin up the stairs. He could only imagine what sight the two officers made as Erwin strode into the open courtyard holding Levi's frail body wrapped in a cloak. It took only a few seconds for the first soldier to spot them. Within less than a minute everyone in the courtyard was staring at the Commander, Eren, Mikasa, Armin, and the group of squad leaders.
"That's Captain Levi," a startled whisper sounded from somewhere off to the side.
Almost instantly the courtyard was abuzz with whispers and startled exclamations of the captain's name repeating again and again in an unceasing mantra of disbelief.
"Everyone, to your horses!" Erwin shouted as he strode purposefully towards the line of supply wagons lining one side of the courtyard. "We're returning to Karanese immediately!"
There was a collective pause from the watching squad of soldiers before they erupted into action. Soldiers went scrambling to obey. Saddles were hastily thrown on horses' backs and cinched tight. The courtyard became a chaotic swarm of activity.
"We use the same long-range formation back to Wall Rose as we did getting here!" Mike Zacharius yelled to the soldiers. "Secure all supplies in the closest available building! We have to reach Karanese before sundown!"
Eren's mind was forced to focus on the task of preparing for a long day's ride back through titan territory to Wall Rose. But in the back of his mind the mystery of how Captain Levi had returned to them remained a lingering source of unease.
The world was a blur to Levi as Erwin carried him through a dark stone building and then into blinding sunlight. He blinked back tears at the sudden assault on his eyes. It had been so long since he'd seen natural light.
Weakly lifting his head – it took all his strength just to do that much - Levi caught sight of people in green military cloaks scattered around a massive courtyard. It hurt too much to try and figure out who they were. Everything hurt. Every step Erwin took jostled his aching, battered body. He didn't know how he had arrived there so deep in titan territory or what his kidnappers had done to him. The last eight months had felt like one long, never-ending nightmare. All he really remembered was being held in a dark and filthy cell and taken back and forth between there and a room with blinding white lights that smells of antiseptics and blood. The rest of his captivity had been nothing but a blur of pain. The one thing Levi knew for sure was that once he was better he was going to hunt down whoever had kidnapped him and kill them. Very slowly…
Levi heard his name whispered in startled tones from those watching from the edges of the courtyard. A small part of him burned with embarrassment at the indignity of being carried like an injured damsel in distress, but Levi couldn't muster the energy or really even the anger to demand that Erwin release him. He knew he wouldn't have been able to stand - let alone walk - on his own if Erwin did. In all honesty, he was relieved to be back in the company of his squad. For the first time since he'd woken up as a prisoner he felt some semblance of safety.
Zoe ran ahead of Erwin as they nearest the line of supply wagons and jumped into the back of one. Tearing through the supplies, she arranging a thick layer of extra saddle pads and horse blankets on the floor. She knelt on the edge of the cart and held her arms out to Levi. "Here," she offered, taking Levi by the shoulders. Working together, Erwin and Zoe lifted the captain up into the wagon.
It took everything Levi had not to scream as he was eased onto the pad of blankets. His entire body felt like one giant, bleeding wound. His bones felt like they were made of splintered glass that ground together with every movement. Whatever the bastards that kidnapped him had done to him had made his body a prison of unending agony. Even the gentlest touch burned like acid against the nerve endings under his skin. He grit his teeth together to stop from crying out as Zoe gently arranged his strengthless arms across his chest and draped Erwin's cloak overtop him. The heavy wool was rough against his skin and stained in places with ground-in dirt, but it was warm and familiar.
"Hang in there, Levi. We're going to get you home."
Levi grimaced. It was too much effort to try and actually respond. The edges of his vision were fuzzy. A heavy pressure was building behind his eyes, urging him to let his eyelids drift shut. Unconsciousness tugged on his senses like an insistent siren's call. He was exhausted from just being carried out of that filthy cellar. It was really quite pathetic. If he wasn't so tired he would have been disgusted with himself. He was going to kill whoever decided to make the mistake of kidnapping him.
Horses neighed and wagons creaked as they were moved into position in front of the fortress gate. A solider leapt onto the front seat of the wagon with Levi and Zoe. With a shudder, the wagon was backed away from the wall and a team of horses was hitched to it.
"Hange, stay and keep watch over him," Erwin yelled over the din of activity.
"Yes, sir!"
As Zoe continued to bustle over him, Levi realized that the overenthusiastic titan specialist probably wouldn't have left him even if Erwin hadn't commanded her to stay. He and Zoe had never been particularly close on a personal level but they had worked together for years and had a good working relationship. He trusted her judgment and battle skills. Having her fuss over him so intently now was a bit disconcerting. He'd never really felt comfortable with people getting close to him or touching him. Erwin was probably the only person he felt truly understood him or who he felt comfortable enough let get near him without wanting to snap off some harsh comment towards. But then again, it wasn't often that a previously assumed-dead comrade appeared alive in the middle of titan country without any explanation. He supposed it only natural his squadmates would be a little overprotective of him after such a discovery.
"Move out!" Erwin's voice rang out across the courtyard. There was a rumble as the fortress gate rose to make way for the squad of horses and soldiers. The wagon lurched forward into motion. Levi grit his teeth against the jolt.
Zoe sat down close beside him, her eyes bright with unconcealed worry. "Levi, do you need anything?"
Levi blinked lethargically at the question. He needed a lot of things right now. A bath and clean set of clothes were the foremost things on his mind. His skin crawled with the filth that covered him. But that would have to wait until they were safely back at headquarters to take care of.
"Water," he rasped.
Zoe produced a canteen from the pile of supplies lined against the other side of the wagon. Unscrewing the top, she held it out to Levi. The captain tried to extricate one arm to take the proffered canteen but was frustrated to find he was too weak to even shrug away Erwin's cloak from overtop himself.
"Here," Zoe said, realizing the problem. She gently snaked one hand underneath Levi's head and lifted him up. She pressed the edge of the canteen neck to his cracked lips and tipped the container forward until a rush of water sloshed into Levi's mouth. He didn't remember the last time he had had anything to eat or drink. It had been difficult to judge time in the cell his capturers had held him. When his thirst was finally sated, Levi collapsed backwards into his nest of saddle pads and blankets, utterly exhausted.
"You've missed a lot while you were away," Zoe said as she replaced the canteen lid and set it aside. "I think I might have made a breakthrough in titan physiology that explains how variant titans are formed."
Levi lay there in a semi-conscious daze as Zoe effortlessly fell into one of her classic titan rants. She didn't even look to Levi for feedback as the words tumbled from her in a breathless stream of thought. Levi should have been annoyed with her given the amount of pain he was in, but Zoe's babbling was strangely comforting. It reminded him of when he and his other squadmates would have to endure one of her windlessly long theories on titans back at headquarters. It gave Levi back a sense of normalcy.
Levi let his mind drift as Zoe's voice faded to a gentle drone. When his eyelids became too heavy to keep open anymore he didn't try to fight the darkness that rushed to pull him into its inky embrace. His body didn't hurt when he was unconscious.
He drifted in and out of consciousness several times. A few times he thought he heard Zoe still talking beside him but never stayed awake long enough to be sure. The sun was warm on Erwin's cloak and he had been so cold for so long it was too luxurious a feeling to want to ruin. He was back with his squad. And even though they were traveling through titan-infested territory Levi felt safe.
When Levi fully woke again –sometime much later if the height of the sun was any indication - it was to a wagon wheel sharply hitting a bump in the road. An involuntary scream tore from his throat. Spasms of pain shot through his body's torn muscles. It hurt so much Levi couldn't even draw air into his lungs to scream a second time.
"Hey! Be careful! We have an injured officer back here!" Zoe's voice shouted over the rush of wind and creaking of the wagon. As the pain receded to semi-tolerable levels, Levi looked up see Zoe glaring daggers at the back of the wagon driver's head. That was surprising. Levi couldn't remember ever seeing the usually easy-going squad leader look so mad.
As if sensing Levi scrutinizing her, Zoe glanced down and met his gaze. Her eyes instantly softened. "You alright, Levi?" she asked, leaning down over him.
Levi grit his teeth. His entire body hurt. The constant bumps and jarring of the wagon were too much for him to bear anymore.
"What happened? Is Levi alright?" Erwin's voice suddenly boomed beside them.
Levi weakly rolled his head to see Erwin's face bobbing up and down over the side of the wagon. He must have rode up beside the cart to investigate when he'd heard Levi cry out.
"Erwin. Stop the cart," Levi rasped. It was difficult to make his voice come out any louder than a whisper. "Stop. Please." Levi hated himself. He could hear the begging in his own voice but he was nearing the end of his personal limitations. The pain was becoming too much to bear. He had been in pain so long – almost for a long as he had been a prisoner – and even after being rescued he was still forced to suffer.
Erwin's expression betrayed how Levi's words effected him. He looked like he had just been dealt a physical blow to the gut. For a moment Levi thought the commander might relent – that he would order the squad to halt and rest their horses for a few minutes. At least long enough for Levi to collect himself and let the pain of his torn muscles recede back into a manageable agony.
"No," Erwin sharply shook his head. "We press forward. We still have at least five miles of open terrain before we come within sight of Wall Rose. We've already had to redirect our path three times because of titans. We have to reach the wall before it gets dark. Please endure a little longer. We're almost there."
Levi grit his teeth together as another bump made the wagon rock up and slam back down on all four wheels. The shudder vibrated through Levi's frame. He swallowed back another scream.
A soft popping sound came from somewhere nearby. Levi gazed upwards from his pallet of blankets. A long trail of red smoke was arching upwards almost directly overhead. A thrill of horror dampened the pain of Levi's body.
"Titan!" a cry went out somewhere much too close.
A second red flare went up, this time from the other side of the wagon.
Levi forced himself up onto his elbows. Two titans. And coming from opposite directions by the looks of it. This wasn't good. How did two titans gets so deep into their long-range scouting formation?
Heavy, reverberating footsteps thudded against the ground behind them.
Panicked cries flew down the line of soldiers on horseback.
One, then two more red flares streaked up into the sky.
"Two more titans spotted: a 20- and 16-foot are approaching fast from nine-o-clock!" another voice screamed.
"We outrun them!" Erwin cried. He lifted a flare gun and sent a green trail of smoke streaking into the air. The wagon lurched as the formation diverted in the direction of the commander's flare. Levi strained his neck to see between the side panels of the wagon. A small town lay in the distance. It looked like an abandoned mill town. The half-collapsed remains of the buildings rose up from the ground like the blackened spines of some buried, long-dead monster. The sky on that edge of the horizon was painted a deep shade of yellow. The sun was beginning its downwards arc to the west. Thin clouds streaked that side of the sky. They looked like bloody gashes against the sky in the light of the setting sun. Somehow the fading sun along with the red-tinged clouds and hulking black outlines of the abandoned buildings had a distinctly sinister quality to them. The hairs on the back of Levi's neck stood on end. The feeling was tangible: they shouldn't go there.
"Levi, lay down," Zoe urged. "There's nothing you can do right now. The commander knows what he's doing. We'll protect you."
Everything in Levi screamed at him to grab the nearest set of 3DMG gear and go to his squad's defense. It was his fault they were out here. If Zoe hadn't found him in that cellar all of them would have been back in the relative safety of the fortress – not out here in the middle of titan country with an injured officer too weak to even push himself onto his knees.
The center column barreled down the main road that bisected the abandoned town in half. Several soldiers took to the air with their 3D gear as the buildings rose up on either side of them. At least here in the town they would be able to use their gear and fight. Heavy titan footsteps shook the ground all around them.
"Watch out!" a cry suddenly shouted.
Before Levi or Zoe could brace themselves the glaze-eyed head of a titan moving on all fours appeared above the side of the wagon and slammed into it. Its mouth was a yawning black abyss lined with teeth. The world upended. Levi experienced a moment of weightlessness and then he hit the ground. The blow was so violent and fast he didn't even have time to scream.
He rolled like a thrown rag doll. He felt the bones in his right arm snap underneath him. Pain even more intense than being jostled in the back of the wagon exploded through every nerve ending in his body. Levi slid to a stop facedown on the ground. The taste of blood filled his mouth.
The upended cart smashed against the ground only half a dozen away. Splintered chucks of wood rained down on Levi. Darkness danced along the edges of his vision but somehow he didn't pass out. Painfully lifting his head, he looked around. He appeared to be on the edge of a large town center. Beside the smashed remains of the wagon the horses and driver lay dead in a tangled pile of bloody limbs. Another figure lay a good twenty feet away from Levi. He recognized it as Zoe. His initial reaction was to assume the worse. But then there movement from the downed squad leader. As Levi watched Zoe staggered to her feet. She seemed dazed but not seriously hurt.
Chaos was breaking out all around them. The titan that had upended their cart was currently going after two soldiers swinging above the buildings on the far side of the square in 3DMG gear.
A set of horse legs slid to a halt in front of him. Dirt swirled up from the ground and choked the air. "Levi!" A pair of booted feet hit the ground and suddenly Erwin was beside him, pulling him off the ground into a semi-sitting position. The broken bones in Levi's arm ground together. He estimated it was broken in at least two places. Darkness threatened to close in around Levi like a shrinking tunnel but the captain stubbornly blinked it away. He would not faint. Not here. Not now. Not when danger was all around them and men were dying.
Several more soldiers appeared seemingly out of nowhere. He thought he recognized Mike, Petra, and Oluo. They formed a protective circle around the commander and Levi. Weapons were drawn. The sharpened blades of steel cast bright flashes of fading sunlight off their sharpened edges.
Levi glanced around the square. This wasn't good. The square was too narrow and the buildings too low for the soldiers to have a proper advantage over the titans attacking them. Over the rooftops of the buildings Levi saw the heads of two titans slowly plodding towards them. Less than two streets separated them and the approaching titans. By the heavy footsteps thudding the ground Levi figured the fourth titan was lurking somewhere a street or two behind them.
"Commander!" a familiar voice cried out over the sound the screaming, dying men and titan bellows. "Orders?"
"Jeager, do it!" Erwin yelled.
There was a violent, hissing explosion of energy somewhere out of Levi's line of vision and suddenly another titan appeared against the orange sunset sky between the dark outline of buildings. The earth shuddered as Eren in titan form lunged at the titan on the other side of the square. It was the one that had knocked Levi and Zoe's wagon over. The titan dumbly turned towards Eren. Eren crashed into the mindless brute at full force.
Grabbing the titan around the neck, Eren swung it aside – away from the two soldiers it had been chasing along the top of a long, two-story warehouse. Howling in mindless rage Eren attacked the titan. The titan howled back in response. The two met in a meaty crash, two sets of titan feet whirling around each other and dancing across the ground. As Levi and the group of other soldiers watched, one of Eren's feet bumped into the upended remains of the supply wagon Levi had been riding in. It scuttled across the ground, missing their huddled group by only a few feet. The vibrations of the two titans grappling sent tremors through the ground.
Something inside Levi's chest clenched. That brat Jeager… even after all this time he still had no control over his titan form. He was like a child who'd just been handed a loaded gun. He had no concept of the power he possessed or how to properly wield it. If Jeager didn't learrn to control himself while harnessing his titan powers he could kill more people than the titans he fought.
Levi's breathing quickened. A tremor began to build deep inside him, blossoming outward like a budding flower. The corners of his vision fuzzed with red-tinged darkness.
"Levi?" Erwin called. He shook him by the shoulder. "Levi, what's wrong?"
The commander's voice sounded like it was coming from the other end of an extremely long tunnel.
"Levi?!"
"Captain! What's happening?" Zoe's voice joined the chorus of concerned voices around him.
Levi couldn't answer. All he could see was Eren and the other titan's massive feet dancing around the courtyard barely a dozen paces away. One wrong move and Eren would squish everyone there. A rush of intense heat washed through Levi and red light engulfed his senses in a surge of something that could only have been described as raw power. He let it engulf him and drag him into its depths.
Mikasa had heard the Commander's order to Eren over the rush of wind as she maneuvered between the dilapidated buildings of the abandoned town near the town's main square. So it had been no surprise when an explosion of lightening cracked the air and popped her eardrums as Eren's titan form appeared over the tops of the buildings and released a blood-curdling howl of indignant fury.
What did come as a surprise was only a minute or two later that same explosion of energy crackling the air again, flaring a brilliant green-white in the fading sunlight. She was not the only Survey Corps member to look back in the direction of the unexpected flash of light.
She almost stumbled and had to scramble to find her footing as she landed heavily on the tile rooftop of a tall building – the apparent remains of the town's market house. She stared unbelievingly at the sight she beheld.
Eren was locked in violent combat with the titan that had upturned the supply wagon transporting Captain Levi. The second titan that had appeared out of a small copse of trees as they'd approached the town was closing in from the west towards Eren and the first titan. The heads of two other titans were visible above the rooftops just south of the town square.
As Mikasa stared in stunned silence, yet a fifth titan appeared out of the cloud of burnt ozone that lingered over the site of the explosion and lunged at the approaching titan to the west. She estimated it to be maybe 40 feet tall. It was hard to tell by the way it moved so low to the ground.
The newest titan moved unbelievably fast in a stalking, hunched gait. It was lithe in frame. Like a cat, it sprang to the rooftop of the nearest building and scuttled across it on all fours. A disturbingly wide Cheshire grin split its face almost to its ears which were long and tapered to elfish points that curved towards the base of its skull. Slavering, razor-sharp canines protruded between the titan's lips. A mop of shaggy black hair hung down in front of its face.
It sprang at the approaching titan, its jaws viciously snapping the air. It crashed into the other titan. Before Mikasa could track it with her eyes, it bit into the other titan's neck and ripped the titan's away from its shoulders with a sharp twist of its neck. The dead titan's head hit the ground and rolled away between the buildings. It was already beginning to dissolve in a cloud of steam before the rest of its body hit the ground.
Scuttling like a spider across the rooftops in a blur of motion, the variant titan gave a growling roar that sent a chill racing down Mikasa's spine. In an instant replay of its first attack, the variant titan dispatched the 20- and 16-foot titan with the same brutal swiftness as the other. Mikasa's blood ran cold.
By now, Eren had his opponent in a head lock. With a sharp swivel on the ball of his foot he toppled the other titan to the ground and began stomping on the titan's neck between its chin and collarbone until its neck was nothing but a pile of smashed bone and sinew. Instantly, the corpse began dissolving into a puddle of steaming gore.
With a victorious howl, Eren's titan form turned to look for its next opponent. He seemed surprised when it found no others immediately there to attack him. Instead, the variant titan that had so easily dispatched the other three titans was carefully approaching – slinking across the rooftops on all fours like a giant cat. How it moved so quickly or with such unworldly grace mystified Mikasa. Never had she seen a titan move like that – not even human-variant-titans like Eren or the Female Titan.
Eren turned to face the approaching variant. He howled threateningly at it.
The variant responded with a guttural growl that was so low it shook the air around Mikasa. Saliva dripped from the tips of its fangs. Where it hit the rooftop the tiles sizzled and began to dissolve in a pool of acid.
"What the hell is that?" a breathless voice whispered close beside Mikasa.
Mikasa had been so engrossed in watching the spectacle she hadn't even heard Armin or Connie land on the rooftop beside her. Both of them stared in open-jaw horror at the variant titan.
Mikasa had no answer to Connie's questions and turned back to watch the two titans face each other.
Eren roared and lunged at the variant. The variant gracefully sprang to the ground just as Eren's fist smashed into the rooftop where it had been crouched not more than a second before.
It landed on its feet. Dropping into a crouch, one leg shot out and swiped Eren's legs out from under him. Eren's titan form hit the ground. He scramble to get his footing again, fists swinging and roaring madly. The variant put two strides of distance between them, its body hunched forward in a fighting posture. Eyes of burning green hellfire stared back at Eren as if taunting him to try and touch it. Its speed was frightening, Mikasa thought. Eren hadn't come anywhere close to landing a blow.
With a roar, Eren lunged at the variant. For a moment Mikasa thought he might actually grab it. But at the very last second the variant feigned left and dodged Eren's grasping, outstretched hand. In a flash of movement too fast for any watching human to see, the variant's jaws snapped down around the nape of Eren's neck as he fell past.
Horror gripped Mikasa as the variant wrenched its head back with a massive chunk of steaming flesh clenched between its teeth. Framed against the chunk of red muscles and sinew Mikasa caught a glimpse of Eren still half-buried inside it.
The variant snapped its head and send the chunk of flesh with Eren inside it crashing into the nearest building. The section of steaming flesh hit the wall with a meaty slap that seemed to echo through the entire town. Slowly, it slid down against the wall to the base of the building where it lay like a butchered piece of meat.
"EREN!" Mikasa screamed. Instantly, she was in the air, speeding towards him.
Zoe stared as the variant titan spat out the chunk of flesh containing Eren's body. It was so weird. It was as if the variant had known Eren was a human in titan form and what his greatest weak point was.
Several paces away, Erwin and the other squad leaders looked on in equally horrified silence. Other members of their squad stood around gaping from all corners of the town square and rooftops as Eren's titan body collapsed to its knees at the variant titan's feet. Torn bits of muscles hung from the variant titan's fangs, sending clouds of steam curling up around its face. The effect gave the variant an even more sinister look.
As if sensing the eyes of all those around it, the variant shifted its weight to one foot and viciously spun in place. A foot slashed through the air and sent Eren's dissolving titan body hurtling into the nearest building as if it were nothing but an empty sack.
Frightened screams of panic rose from the soldiers scattered around the square. There was no way any of them would be able to fight such a monster. It was too fast. Too agile. Too deadly.
But as Zoe stared at the variant titan, horror was slowly replaced by dawning realization: the variant titan was doing nothing to attack any of the soldiers or go after Eren again. It merely stood there, its chest heaving as if it were suddenly out of breath. Which was strange, Zoe thought, since there was no scientific evidence to suggest that titans actually needed to breathe. Trails of steam began to curl from the corners of the titan's mouth and nose.
The variant's shoulders suddenly slumped and it pitched forward face-first. It hit the packed dirt of the town square with an earth-shaking crash and lay still. Steam rose off the titan's skin. Through the curtains of shifting steam and rapidly fading daylight, Zoe saw something extricate itself from the back of the titan's neck.
Shakily, she glanced across the distance separating her and Erwin.
"C-commander…?" she stammered in disbelief. She frantically groped for some sort of explanation, for some kind of meaning to what she was seeing. She looked to Erwin as though expecting him to have the answers.
Erwin's eyes were as wide as hers.
Wordlessly, the commander staggered to his feet and raced across the square towards the downed titan. Zoe shook herself out of her daze and struggled to find her own footing to follow after him.
Erwin reached the titan first and grabbed at the form still half-buried in the variant titan's neck muscles. It lay draped lifelessly over the side with one arm dangling down. It was a man, as limp and lifeless as a rag doll.
"Help me!" Erwin yelled as he grabbed the man's arm and pulled.
Zoe grabbed hold and pulled with all her strength. The heat coming off the dissolving titan was overwhelming. Her skin blistered. She could barely breathe in the soupy miasma of steam. She estimated it had to be over 300 degrees.
The titan body seemed unwilling to release its hold on the unconscious man, but finally with a slurping squelch the man was pulled free and limply tumbled into Erwin's outstretched arms.
Erwin cradled the figure to him and retreated several dozen paces from the titan to get out of the corona of scalding heat.
Zoe followed and stared in stunned silence as Erwin lowered Levi to the ground. His head limply rolled on his neck like the top of a dandelion with a broken stalk. Only the faintest hint of awareness lit the captain's slitted eyes.
"Levi!" Erwin yelled, shaking the barely conscious man.
Levi's eyes swiveled to look up at Erwin in pained disorientation. Lips trembled as though struggling to form words. But before he could, a violent cough seized him. A misty spray of blood flew from his lips and speckled the front of his shirt. Erwin and Zoe stared in helpless horror as Levi's eyes rolled towards the back of his head and he mercifully sank in darkness.
To Be Continued?
Thoughts? Comments? Questions? I'm looking for feedback to see if I should continue this.