Disclaimer: Characters and plot from canon belong to Rumiko Takahashi and Hajime Isayama.
I hope you know that I'm not planning on going strictly by the original timeline. And the chapters are going to move kinda slowly. AND I'm about to butcher the entire military hierarchy because there's nothing that lines up with this series so... yeah.
Chapter 3
She stared down the point of his weapon, eyes sliding over the evenly sectioned blade. It kind of looked like an oversized box cutter.
Many leather straps wrapped around his thighs, securing strange metal contraptions to both sides of his legs – the most probable source of the cables she had seen the group wielding earlier. A woolen, forest green cloak obscured most of his upper body, although she could see a white cravat secured around his neck. Raising an eyebrow skeptically, she finally made eye contact with the grey-eyed wielder of the sword.
"Well aren't you charming," Kagome said dryly, not able to hide the slight apprehension in her voice.
His face remained expressionless, although his lips tightened, belying his irritation. "Who are you and what the fuck are you doing outside the walls?"
"The walls?" she repeated, confused.
His free hand seized the front of her dirt-stained haori and dragged her closer, his blade now flush against her neck. "Don't act so clueless," he hissed, glaring. "I don't know how a little girl like you is alive, seeing how far away we are from the walls, but it's time to drop the shitty clueless act and tell me how and why you got past the Garrison."
Kagome took one look at his cold expression and felt a surge of indignation. Before she could stop herself, she grabbed the wrist holding her. "Okay, listen here, asshole! I've been here for the last month waiting for someone to show up in this goddamn forest! And just when I felt hopeful because you guys showed up, you have the nerve to talk to me like I've done something wrong when I clearly haven't! I don't even know what kind of wall you're talking about!"
"Squad Leader Levi."
"Tch." At the sound of a new voice interrupting the conversation, the man now known as Squad Leader Levi let go of her with a slight shove and stepped back.
A tall, blond-haired man approached from Levi's left, breaking through a line of soldiers. While the black-haired squad leader had occupied her attention, the rest of the green-cloaked soldiers must have surrounded them in a circular formation.
"I apologize for the hospitality of our troops thus far," the blond said graciously. "We were not expecting to encounter any humans during our expedition, so you must understand that your presence greatly surprised us. I am Captain Smith of the Scouting Legion."
Kagome eyed him warily, not sure what to make of his attitude. While he sounded sincere, the coldness in his blue eyes seemed to tell a different story. She straightened her posture and smiled anyway. "Kagome Higurashi. No title."
A stray thought brought a regal silver-haired taiyoukai to the forefront of her mind and her heart wrenched. A mere thirty days before, she would have called herself a general or an advisor, but there was no army for her to command here.
"It's a pleasure to meet you despite the strange circumstances. The man you became acquainted with earlier is Squad Leader Levi."
Her eyes slid towards the silent man behind Captain Smith. He regarded her impassively.
"The pleasure is mine," Kagome replied wryly.
A commotion in the ranks drew the captain's attention away before he could begin to worm any information out of her. Disheveled and heavily injured, a figure stumbled into the circle.
"Commander Shadis!" a few soldiers exclaimed in relief.
A head of light, mousy brown hair covered his head. His complexion was pale and clammy. The middle-aged man had more wrinkles on his face than she would expect; he frowned, revealing deep worry lines on his forehead and around his eyes. Not a surprise, given his title. It was a heavy burden, carrying the weight of many deaths on his shoulders. She hadn't forgotten the two cadets earlier, now deceased.
"You…" he took a few hesitant steps towards Kagome, glancing down at the broken pieces of the bow and the empty, discarded quiver behind her. "You were the one that killed those titans."
"…Titans?" Kagome asked tentatively. "Were they those giant beasts?"
Incredulous murmurs grew around her.
"Yes." The commander's faint voice faltered. "Didn't you run into any before?"
"Well…yeah…I ran into four over the last month. This was the most I've seen in a day, though – when all of you showed up. They all used to show up alone. "
A brown-haired girl in the crowd began scribbling into a notebook she procured out of her pocket, earning a glare from the squad leader.
"I don't know how you killed those two titans earlier, especially the last one with just an arrow, but had you not intervened –" he cleared his throat. "– I would not be alive right now. So, thank you for that," he nodded, the shadows under his eyes appearing darker at the mention of his near-death. "We have lost enough –"
The commander paused for a few moments, and then began to cough, a wet, guttural sound escaping his mouth as he clutched his ribs. He spat out a wad of blood.
"Sir," Captain Smith intervened. "You need medical attention."
Commander Shadis stumbled, his expression pained. Sounds of alarm were coming from the crowd and soldiers began to step forward.
Seeing him begin to tilt forward, Kagome caught him before he fell and braced his weight on a shoulder.
The adrenaline from the battle must have worn off.
Up close, she could see the sweat on his forehead. He was wheezing now, a desperate sound rushing past his lips. He must have sustained some broken ribs and internal bleeding. It sounded like he had punctured a lung. Would he survive out here with those injuries? What if another titan showed up?
She bit her lip. It was possible for her to help, but it would involve revealing more of what she could do. They had already shown some wariness over abilities and her presence in the clearing; was it worth drawing more attention to herself? Maybe she wasn't giving them the benefit of the doubt. Sure, she had been accosted by them at the very beginning, but given the lack of humans in the area, perhaps they had a good reason to be skeptical. She didn't know enough about this time period to be sure.
"T-the titan… c-crushing." Small flecks of blood dotted the shoulder of her haori as he struggled to breathe against her.
Kagome didn't want to take a chance. She had the ability to help him, so there was no way she wouldn't.
"Allow me, Commander," Kagome said softly.
She pressed a hand against his ribs, feeling him jerk at the touch. A pink light enveloped her hand and his ribs as she closed her eyes in concentration and summoned up energy to heal his wounds.
The soldiers began to protest, but kept their distance at the emergence of the foreign energy. Captain Smith settled an iron grip on her free shoulder in warning, but by then the miko had already accomplished her goal.
The commander's noisy and laboured breathing settled into a more even rhythm. He took a few deep breaths before he shot up and away from Kagome, coughing out the residual blood in his lungs.
Palpating his ribcage, he gasped. "How – what did you just do?"
Kagome smiled, slipping into a more familiar role. "Although your ribs have been healed, they will still be slightly tender for a few days. It would be best to rest until they are fully healed; at this moment they are still susceptible to fracturing, so you must allow it to fully strengthen again."
He looked at her in disbelief.
"My…abilities," she began delicately. "They allow me to heal… up to a certain extent."
For a few moments, the commander merely stared at her with no small amount of wonder. Kagome held his gaze with her head held high, only her pride keeping her from fidgeting out of self-consciousness.
His previously pale pallor had darkened back to what she supposed was his regular light complexion, and he seemed physically well again. That was a good sign.
"Well, Miss…"
"Higurashi. Kagome Higurashi."
"Miss Higurashi. It seems I have fallen into your debt for many things today," he sighed. "Please, although I don't know how or why you are out here, and I don't understand what your… abilities are, I would not want you to remain here without us. I can tell that you are a kind and honourable individual… you don't have any harmful intentions towards our soldiers. Let us escort you back into the walls. I know you may have many questions, and we do as well; however, this area is not safe and we risk losing more soldiers the longer we linger."
At the mention of their deaths, a haunted expression crossed his face. The shadows under his eyes became more prominent, and Kagome could see the tension in his jaw.
With a slow nod of her head, Kagome acquiesced. "Thank you for the offer…although I do not know what these walls are."
The commander smiled grimly. "They are humanity's last and only defense against the titans. Besides you… no humans exist outside those walls."
What?
Her blood ran cold. She didn't know what she had anticipated, but this wasn't it. The sprawling villages of the Sengoku period, the dense bustle of modern-day Tokyo… all of humanity supposedly reduced to a smaller population hiding behind some kind of wall. Was this before or after her original era? The Sengoku period? Did it even matter anymore?
Belatedly, she could hear the commander issuing orders to his soldiers around her.
Why did the Shikon send her here of all places? Did it expect her to make a difference? Whatever fate sent her here for, Kagome knew she couldn't just stand by as people were killed. Futile or not, she would be involved in this mess.
"Sir, this was found by the treeline," a soldier said, breaking the miko out of her thoughts. "We could not handle it directly. It burns when you touch it."
Kagome turned around, spotting Junsaiga nestled in the folds of the soldier's cloak.
"That would be mine, thank you."
"Miss, it'll burn! Don't –" the soldier tried to pull away from her, but Kagome effortlessly grasped the hilt and pulled her sword out of his hands.
"Don't worry, it won't burn me," Kagome smiled. She inspected the blade for any damage, and then used the edge of her sleeve to clean it before it was returned to the sheath on her hip.
While the soldier tried not to gawk, she turned her attention to the comrade beside him who was cradling her arm.
"Did you break your arm?" Kagome murmured in concern. "Please, let me help you with it."
The teenager, for her face seemed so young that she must have been, flit her eyes nervously towards the commander before holding out her arm trustingly to the miko.
Commander Shadis approached as she finished setting the girl's arm. He acknowledged the return of her weapon with a nod and turned towards the healed, wide-eyed soldier. "How are our numbers?"
The girl looked down at her boots, biting her lip. "Fifty-seven dead and twenty-one unaccounted for, sir."
"Thank you."
He remained standing there silently after the soldiers had left to help the others out, looking lost and helpless. Kagome wanted to offer him some form of reassurance, but felt her words would just be empty.
Instead, she listened to the quiet rustling of the leaves and watched the few surviving purple flowers in the field sway in the wind.
"Miss Higurashi, do you know how to ride a horse?"
"Kagome. And yes I do, although I can't claim any mastery over the skill." Horseback riding had not been a priority for her, considering the company she usually kept.
"That's good to hear, Kagome. We can spare an extra horse now that our…numbers are lower, and our wagons are full," the commander sighed.
At a glance at the line of soldiers preparing to go, she understood. The bodies or pieces of their fallen soldiers had been recovered from the forest, wrapped in cloth, and placed on the wagons. Some soldiers sustained lower body injuries, making riding an unlikely option. They would have to sit on the cart. Others needed to be supported by their comrades; they would share a saddle with someone who didn't have any injuries.
The commander led her to the side of the field where some soldiers had corralled most of the recovered horses. He patted a smoky, dark grey horse and held onto its reins as she hoisted herself onto the saddle.
While the horse didn't protest, it was slightly skittish with Kagome's presence on its back. She coaxed it to relax by running her fingers through its silky mane.
"Stay with our squad leaders," he said, gesturing to three soldiers at the front of the formation. "It will be safer for you that way. Squad Leader Levi and Squad Leader Zoë will group together on the left flank – you will join them. Captain Smith and Squad Leader Zacharius will be on the right."
Kagome didn't head straight to her position, though. She meandered through the ranks, offering to ease the bite off of some of the more serious injuries some soldiers held. Unfortunately, she couldn't completely heal them; much of her energy had been spent wrangling the commander out of the arms of death. She had not had a proper meal in quite a while, either.
Twenty minutes later, they finally took off at full speed.
-XXX-
It had taken just under an hour for them to finally leave the cover of the forest.
Wide, grassy plains had greeted her – a welcome change of scenery for Kagome. Nothing seemed to be around them for as far as she could see, leaving Kagome free to enjoy the wind rushing past her face, whipping her hair behind her. Her spread out senses were not alerting her to any danger.
The commander rode a hundred metres ahead, leading the legion in a direct path towards their destination. Kagome was positioned between the two squad leaders, both visible in her peripheral vision. The formation brought all the squads into a tight line beside each other, close enough for easy communication.
Considering the dark atmosphere, she felt surprisingly more relaxed than she had since she arrived in this time period. Kagome let out a long exhale. The steady gait of the horse made her eyes droop.
"You're tired," a voice stated.
Kagome glanced at the squad leader beside her. His façade remained stoic, but Kagome could read his unasked question.
"Healing took a lot out of me," she admitted. "I feel like I sprinted several hundred laps... and then some more. I wish I could've done more for them. But we both know that's not why you're talking to me right now. How can I help you, Squad Leader?"
He broke her gaze, choosing to survey their surroundings. Kagome let out a huff, recognizing his dismissal.
In all honesty, this was more of a welcome than she had expected. She had a feeling that the soldiers would have been more hostile towards her if Commander Shadis had not shown up. They seemed to defer to him not only because of his rank, but because of the level of trust and respect he held.
Captain Smith had appeared benevolent, but something told her he wasn't what he seemed.
Squad Leader Levi, well… Kagome observed him through the corner of her eyes. He seemed pretty stand-offish and rude, but it didn't really bother her. She couldn't even claim to know him. Okay, it could get irritating, but she didn't think he was that bad. Even now, he didn't appear affected by the situation – from what she heard, they had begun with many more soldiers than they had now. Despite the general air of curiosity surrounding her, she could sense the somber mood and exhaustion of the soldiers as they headed towards the wall. Squad Leader Levi was outwardly calm, a supporting figure amidst a sea of turmoil.
Her eyes followed the sharp angle of his jaw up to the nape of his neck, where the black hairs had been cut down close to his skin. Longer hairs above the nape fell over the shorter cut and caressed his ears, falling over his forehead in a neat fringe. It was a military-esque, but surprisingly elegant style.
"You said you were out here for a month before today. How did you survive?"
His question startled her and her eyes shot forward, afraid that he had caught her staring.
What was I thinking? She could feel her cheeks warming in embarrassment. Kagome chanced another look at him, only to find that he most likely hadn't been looking at her at all. She realised he was waiting for her to reply.
"Well, um… I'm sure you already know about my abilities. I've also had a lot of experience fighting… and a lot of experience out in the wilderness, too. Seeing those titans for the first time scared me shitless, but I guess they're just another kind of enemy," Kagome said vaguely. "It's either kill or be killed."
She didn't know how much she should reveal about her past, but knowing the military, she'd be forced to elaborate sooner or later anyway.
"I guess it's an impressive feat for a little brat like you," he smirked. "You didn't wet your pants when you saw your first titan, did you?"
Kagome bristled at the backhanded compliment, ready to fire back a retort.
The squad leader looked past her and raised his voice. "Shitty specs, take your four eyes off your notebook before you create more goddamn casualties on this expedition."
The brown-haired woman grinned, jokingly gracing him with a half-assed salute – at least, that's what the strange movement looked like – before tucking the book back into the folds of the cloak.
He scoffed.
She broke away from her position, sidling up to Kagome's horse. Squad Leader Levi rolled his eyes and moved away as she approached.
"Well aren't you just a fine specimen," she smiled at Kagome, giving her a once over.
Kagome hesitantly returned the smile, unsure how she should interpret the comment.
"Hange Zoë, at your service!" She said and continued on, not missing a beat. "So! How exactly did you heal Commander Shadis? Do you have superpowers? That's so cool! I've never seen such superb cell regeneration before! Tell me, did you simply re-adhere his tissues, or did you accelerate cell division? Did you create any cells yourself? Are there any after effects?!"
"Uh, I just –"
"Does it matter what tissue has been damaged? Can you heal brain tissue? Cardiac?"
"Well, to be honest, I just –"
Kagome sent a distressed look at the other retreating squad leader, but he acted ignorant. Damn it! Did he know this was coming?
"And! I saw when you killed that Titan! I've never seen necrosis at that speed! Is it an ability of yours or is it a specific response by the titan? Is it limited to titans? Can you do that to humans, too?"
"Listen, I –"
"How did you –"
"Well –"
"– and the titans –"
"Squad Leader Zoë!" Kagome exclaimed in desperation, drawing the attention of the surrounding soldiers.
The squad leader didn't seem the least bit put off by the interruption; her grin didn't falter. "I guess there's plenty of time to find out more about you later," she laughed. "I can't help myself! I'm just so excited to meet you! Call me Hange. And don't mind Levi, he's just gotta pack a lot of snark into his little body to make up for his size," Hange winked.
The miko laughed, and the sound caused Hange to brighten further. It was nice to actually talk to people again after spending so much time alone.
"Your captain said earlier that you were part of the Scouting Legion. What exactly do you do?"
"Scouting Legion, Survey Corps; we're the part of the military that goes beyond the walls to discover more about the Titans. There's also two more sectors: the Garrison, who are in charge of guarding the walls, and the Military Police Brigade, who act as the king's guard."
Kagome got the feeling there was a whole lot more to it, but she didn't ask.
"So..." Kagome chewed on her bottom lip. "I'm guessing your sector is the only one that gets any real contact with the titans, then? I mean, if these walls are supposedly impenetrable, then the Garrison wouldn't have to deal with too much, and if the Police Brigade guards the king, then, well, I doubt the king would stay anywhere near the titans."
"Right-o," Hange replied. "The Garrison gets a titan every now and then at the outer wall, Wall Maria, but they just have to watch it from the top since the titans can't enter. Most of them have never even seen one before."
"Have the titans always been here?"
The squad leader frowned. "They appeared approximately one hundred years ago, but nobody knows where they came from. Humanity has been safe since the walls went up."
If the civilians never had any contact with the titans, Kagome wondered what they thought of the Survey Corps, who willingly went into titan territory.
The loud thundering of a titan's footsteps alerted Kagome to potential danger. It approached slowly from their front, right in the path they were currently taking. This one looked about six metres high, with a disproportionately larger head than the rest of its body.
"Stay on your horse, Levi and Erwin will handle it."
Sure enough, an anchor shot out from Squad Leader Levi's contraption, attaching itself to the shoulder of the titan once it was close enough. With a whizzing sound, he leaped off of his horse, reeling himself into the titan.
The captain mirrored his actions on the other shoulder, and both of them swung in an arc past each other until they were in position behind the titan. They shot their cables out again at the nape of its neck, the squad leader first carving out one side, followed by the captain, who neatly sliced the other side, taking a clean chunk of its neck out.
It landed on its face by the soldiers, forcing some of them to skirt around the titan's body.
Without much ceremony, both attackers were back on their horses and the formation was realigned.
"Wow, that looked effortless!" Kagome exclaimed. The gear wasn't as fast as a demon, and it sure didn't match up to their jumping or flying abilities, but it was slightly reminiscent of them. That was enough to make her want to try it out.
"We got lucky," the brown-haired squad leader replied. "Engaging a titan often leads to casualties, but that was one of the weaker, predictable kinds that we've encountered, and Levi and Erwin are some of our most skilled. I think the civilians are starting to call Levi humanity's strongest soldier, actually." She sounded amused.
Time passed slowly as they continued on-route. Twice, titans showed up again, but they were far enough from them that the commander could turn the legion in a different direction.
Kagome concluded that she could not sense the titans coming. Sometimes her instincts would tell her that something was up, but she wouldn't be able to pinpoint where a titan was coming from.
Her purifying powers, however, still somehow affected the giant beings. It sizzled, but didn't seem to exactly purify them – the moment her arrow had hit a titan earlier, its skin had started to rot. Or burn. Or a combination of both, Kagome wasn't sure.
"We're almost here," Hange said, breaking the silence that had surrounded the two.
Sure enough, as they galloped over the crest of the hill the wall came into view, stretching left and right as far as she could see from her position. It was what she always imagined the Great Wall of China would look like if she had ever gotten the chance to see it.
They slowed as they approached, giving time for the Garrison soldiers to spot them. Soldiers that had shared a horse began to dismount and walk the rest of the way.
To Kagome's horror, the wall only got bigger and bigger as they got closer. As they crossed into the shadow of the wall cast by the late afternoon sun, she began to feel absolutely dwarfed by its height.
This was the wall? How had it been possible to build something of this size while they had been trying to fend off titans?
Glancing up fifty metres of evenly-stacked stone reaching towards the sky, Kagome felt a wave of nausea wash over her. Outside was the wide expanse of the unknown where she had come from, filled with the beauty of nature and marred by the existence of titans; inside, the last of human civilization.
How could they live within something like this? Kagome could have never imagined humans resigning themselves to such a fate, but the truth was quite literally towering over her.
A memory bubbled up from long ago, and Kagome didn't resist the words slipping softly out of her mouth.
"Kagome, Kagome, the bird in the cage.
When, oh when will it come out?
In the night of dawn, the crane and turtle slipped.
Who is behind you now?"
The black-haired squad leader fixed her with a narrow stare, appearing slightly unsettled by the eerie melody.
Kagome returned his gaze with a wan smile.
At the top of the wall, the loud gongs of a bell began to ring, and a deep, resonating sound signalled the opening of the gates.
The last of humanity behind these walls… a glorified cage.
Please, please review! You're all so encouraging and it makes me sad that so many people are apparently following this, but not saying anything. Thank you so much!
