The forest we had found was different from any I've seen in my lifetime; the trees are giant, branches scarce and high up on the tree, it's leaves are big enough to hold an infant, and everything is either hot or wet. The ground is covered by crazy colored plants and greenery we've never witnessed.
Hange is dying with excitement on the inside, you can see it in the way keeps molesting the trees she scales, and every few minutes I have to grab her bloody attention off of something as silly as a bird.
I can't judge her, the bird's here range in many colors, reds, blues, and yellows they're tails and wings look as if they were painted by a master, this whole place is looks like a fantasy dream.
There is a calming rumbling coming from ahead of us, a sound never heard before, Erwin stops on a branch close to the source of the sound.
"What do you think it could be?" I ask once I land beside him.
Erwin shakes his head, "I'm not sure, stay here a minute, I'll be quick." He says. I nod in understanding as Erwin continues on.
The cadets are quiet staying low down on the branches, some have looks of fear in their eyes, this has all been dramatizing.
Soon Erwin comes through the leaves with a huge smile plastered on his face. "I think we are going to be okay," Erwin says, his smile growing larger, "Follow me." He says and starts off into the trees, I turn giving the cadets a signal to move and harpoon myself into the direction Erwin is going.
Breaking through the high trees, meters below me is a-
"A WATERFALL, THEY EXIST!" Screams Hange swinging herself to the ground and instantly poking at the moist soil, "IT'S PERFECT FOR GROWING CROPS!" She yells. I roll my eyes but zip down to ground level with the cadets that followed Hange and Erwin, the rest followed behind me.
Armin is right next to Hange and Moblit whispering furiously about fucking soil, dirt, fucking dirt, I can't help the nasty look on my face, I hate my friends sometimes.
A soft hand rest on my shoulder, I look over to see the boy from earlier, "Leon." I address him. He smiles lightly, "Captain Levi, I just came over to ask if you're okay, I'm a medical assistant normally with Squad 8 and you seemed to be looking a little sick." I shake my head politely, "I'm fine, but thank you any way Le, you should go check on the others first."
Leon nods his head quickly, "I'll be close by if you need anything Sir." I nod and the boy runs off towards a group of blood covered people Eld, Gunther, and 3 others are there.
I walk to Hange grabbing her collar and pulling her away from a mud ball she was making and towards Erwin who is observing the water with Captain Sangwoo.
"Hello Levi." Says Sangwoo stoically. I wave once and stand with them pulling a pouting Hange to her feet.
"Alright so what are we doing first, we have water, obviously, but what about shelter and food." I ask.
Erwin hums to himself, "All of the rations and sleeping bags were on the supplies carts, I think we need a specials team to look around for the horses, since they're our only hope of getting home, a group for food finding, and the rest will help me create a makeshift camp with our sticks and capes." Erwin finishes.
"I guess that's all we can do," I say looking around me, "I should lead the search for the horses, I suggest Mikasa Ackerman, and Armin Artlet come with me."
"Don't you think you'll need more people than that Levi?" Asks Erwin, I shake my head, "No the less we send the better." I say
"Alright, the food scout will consist of Jade Wincton, Henry dockworth, Alberto Sanchez, and Fernando Sanchez being led by Captain Sangwoo."
Erwin turns to Hange who has been playing with the mud on her hands, "Hange you and Moblit will test the water to ensure it is safe to drink as well as observing plant life and the scientific stuff you do, the mission is far from over." Erwin says.
"I'll gather my team and we'll head out right away Erwin." I say.
"Everyone is dismissed, please go about your duties." With that the circle is broken and we head in our separate directions.
Once I reach a still digging in mud Armin I tap his shoulder bringing his attention to me, "You're coming with me, clean your hands and hurry on." I say, "Yes Sir." Armin says quickly getting up and washing his hands in a puddle. I roll my eye and make my way to Mikasa who is sitting calmly on a log playing with her straps.
"Mikasa you're coming with me." I say, she pops up with no questions and follows me, Armin joins us and we make our way up what looks to be a worn out path.
"May I ask what we are doing sir?" Asks cadet Armin, I don't turn back but say, "we're going to search for any horses."
The rest of the walk is pretty quiet, the only noise is of some birds squawking from above as we walk aimlessly farther and farther from camp.
In fact, we walk for so long that the next time I look up It's night time and our walk had succeeded us in finding a total of one horse, Commander Erwin's horse to be specific, the stupid all white mare was walking in a circle around a tree neighing every few seconds.
When it saw us it had given a happy yip bouncing up and down on it's hooves, It is being held by Armin as we continue our venture to god knows where.
The sky is darkening making it even harder to see anything, "Captain, shouldn't we head back." Says Mikasa. I turn to her with a deathly glare, I don't want to tell them I'm a bit lost, but I am, "I'm fucking lost."
I clamp my mouth shut realizing I had said what I so badly wanted to hide. "Ugh, my feet hurt, can we just turn around and go back." She says.
I grit my teeth, "If you want to turn and leave and get even more lost then go right a fucking head." I say stalking towards her with a grim expression.
I would have said more but the leaves to my right start to shake furiously and neighing sounds loudly. "werden Sie verdammt Pferd Ruhe, die die Wachen werden könnte." The language of the voice is foreign to me and I have to stop all my motions focusing my eyes on the leaves.
It moves more before a young man falls out of the shrubbery onto the path with about seven horses on his tail. Some of the horses go right around the boy walking to us and nuzzling our faces happy to finally see a familiar face, especially Blossom, fuck I thought I lost her forever.
I nearly forget the boy on the ground who is looking up at us with frightened eyes, "We-wer bist du, du bist nicht mein Stamm vertraut, habe meine dumme Vater senden Sie." He says quickly as he swings his feet around standing tall and giving me great image of what a sex god must be.
The boy looks shorter than me, but it's hard to tell with the big head piece he is wearing, it's decorated in white feathers dipped in red and it has two feathers hanging down like earrings. His chest is bare, a scarf maybe is tied around is hips covering his manhood, his body inked with red and black drawling's of designs, they bring out his beautiful tanned skin and bright green eyes. On his feet are a pair of comfortable looks slippers or something of the kind. He's beautiful this boy.
His hand reaches back to an all black horse painted like his body, and pulls a long spare to point it at us. Mikasa is the first to react, pulling out her blade and chopping off the end of his spare, his horse gives an enraged 'neigh' stomping down in front of the boy in a protective stance, I pull Mikasa back by her collar, "Fucking stop, I'll handle this." I say pushing her aside.
I step forward slowly and the horse jerks it's body towards body in an attempt to scare me off, I hold out my hand towards it snout and slowly reach out until my hand is resting on it. The horse buckles and slides back slightly allowing me sight of the boy. I offer him my heart and bow to him hoping he will understand I mean him no harm.
The boy's green eyes analyze me before he smiles, I give a small smirk to him and watch him shudder and a blush cross is cheeks. "Was ist Ihr Name Bauer?" He says again in that language.
I look behind me to a puzzled Armin and a pissed off Mikasa. I turn back to the boy and decide to try something different, "Do, you, speak, English?" I ask slowly. The boy looks at me confused and a bit scared again. I sigh, "Levi." I point to myself. "My name is Levi." I say again pointing harder when the boy still looks confused. A look of curiosity crosses his features, "Name Eren." He says pointing to himself now. I nod laughing lightly.
The boy also laughs, "Levi can't you ask the strange kid how to get to the waterfall." Says Mikasa in an annoyed tone. I look back at her clicking my tongue but It would be best to see if he can help.
I know he doesn't speak English, but maybe he speaks drawings, taking a stick from nearby I draw out the waterfall with the log in the picture. Eren immediately says "umgestürzten Baumstamm fällt." I make my fingers walk to the falls hoping he understands and he does.
He let's out a sound of understanding and laughs a little, he taps my shoulder and pats his chest twice. I watch him get up and secure himself on the black horse from before. I guess he wants us to follow him. I turn to the two cadets, "Board your horses and tie the rest securely to you, we're going to follow Eren to the waterfall."
Eren waits around for us and when we are all ready he starts off to the east. Armin rides close to me as we gallop through the thick greenery, "Captain, is it really safe for us to follow this savage in a place like this." I side eye Armin, I know he is correct this is foolish but what else do we have to loose. I don't answer just turn back to Eren watching his muscular back at it tenses up riding the horse.
We follow the boy for a long while before we hear yelling barely audible over the sounds of water rumbling.
Eren speeds up a bit and we come down a path familiar to the one we came up earlier. There I see Erwin being held at spare point and well as many cadets, and some people who resemble Eren. Worst of all, Hange is speaking their language.
Fuck.
(1920 Words)
Edited