The 57th Expedition
Disclaimer: I do not own Snk.
"Plug your ears." Levi commanded.
Dumbfounded, everybody followed his order. Heichou pulled out a gun and fired it.
"Sound grenade?" Ellen heard Eren say in surprise.
"Men, what's your mission again?" Levi asked, but didn't wait for an answer.
"Was it to lose yourselves to your raging emotions? That's not what your orders were, now is it…The duty of the squad was assigned to…is to do our best to make sure that the brats over there won't get a single scratch on him."
Levi gave them a cold glare.
"Even if it costs us our lives."
Ellen stared at Heichou in surprise.
Their duty wasn't to watch me?
"We'll keep advancing on our horses. Is that clear?" Levi asked, and was replied with a mighty roar of his team. Except for Ellen and Eren.
"But…if we keep advancing on our horses, she'll catch up very soon!" Eren protested. Ellen nodded his support.
"More people are dying, sir! There's a new team of backup! If we join their fight now, we might stand a chance! We need to save more lives, sir!" Ellen cried out, a look of desperation etched onto his face.
"Shut up and keep riding at your fullest speed!" Eld yelled. Ellen looked at him with a look of misery.
"Eld-san…" Ellen protested, and saw another man eaten.
"Another man killed, sir! If we acted before, we could have saved him, sir!" Eren yelled instead of Ellen.
"Another man is fighting courageously. If we go now, we can still save him!"
"If the Team Levi doesn't fight her, who does?"
"Eren, Ellen! Just look forward and keep moving!" Petra snapped. Eren's green eyes and Ellen's yellow eyes were both trained on Petra. This time, it was Ellen who spoke.
"Are you saying that we just close our eyes to the desperation behind us? To leave my comrade's life for our life, is that it?"
Petra hesitated, but hardness gleamed in her honey-colored eyes.
"Yes, that's what exactly I'm telling you to do. Because it's Heichou's orders, and we follow them without question! "
Ellen tightened his grip on the horse's rein. Then, his eyes followed his hand to the scar-covered flesh.
I can fight too. Ellen thought. I can fight the Female Titan without having to lean on others for help. I can shift into a titan…and Eren too…
Yellow eyes looked up and found themselves with a pair of sea-green ones. They seemed to be able to read each other's thoughts. An understanding passed between them, and like a signal, they nodded to each other and brought their hands to their lips.
"Eren, Ellen, what are you guys doing?" Petra hollered.
"You aren't allowed to shift into your titan forms unless your life is in danger! You promised us, didn't you?"
Petra's honey-colored eyes were wide with panic and worry. Ellen hesitated. What should he do?
"Ellen, Eren…" Levi called, making them snap to attention.
"You're not in the wrong about this. If you want to do it, then do it."
"Heichou!" Petra protested, but Levi ignored her.
"They're a real monster, I know that much, and not all from his titan-shifting power. No matter how much force he's held down with, no matter how strong the cage he's in, no one will be able to make his spirit submit to their will."
"The difference in judgment between you and us originates from different rules derived from past experiences. But…you don't have to rely on a thing like that. Make your choice."
"Will you trust yourself…"
"Or will you trust me, them, and the scouting regiment as a whole."
"I don't know which choice you should choose. I can never advise you on that. But make sure choice. Make the choice you would regret the least."
Ellen debated, biting his lips in anxiety. To choose…to choose between himself and the whole scouting regiment…
"Hurry, we don't have the time!" Levi cried out.
Eren and Ellen made their choice.
"I'll trust you, sir!" Eren shouted, easing his hand back onto a firm grip on his horse rein.
"Ellen?" Levi asked, and grey eyes met golden ones.
"I'm sorry, sir…but I can't." The golden-eyed boy smiled sadly, slowly shaking his head.
"I can trust nobody…this isn't even my world, after all…"
Ellen bit down on his hand.
Levi watched in silence as Ellen bit down on his hand. The spurt of blood, and the brilliant light showed him what happened all too clearly.
"I hope that brat won't regret his choice…" he mumbled, his brows furrowed with concern.
"Switch to your 3DMG." He commanded aloud, prepping himself at the same time.
"Our mission is to protect Ellen as well as we can while trying to capture the person inside the Female Titan. Understood?"
"Roger, sir!" chorused the rest of the team. Levi looked pointedly at Eren.
"Oi, Eren, don't shift yet. We might need you for later."
"Yes, sir!"
Levi stood up from his horse, wobbling a little from the shaky ride.
"All right. Go!"
XXXXXXX
Against the Team Levi and Titan-Ellen, the Female Titan was clearly overtaken in the first glance.
Levi fired his grapples, lodging them firmly into the titan's flesh. The wires went taut, sending the Humanity's Strongest into a spin as he reeled the wires in.
His subordinates were doing the same thing, and Levi kept spinning, waiting for the moment his swords would cut into the soft flesh…
And it broke into a thousand pieces.
"F***!" Levi swore loudly. He didn't have time to land another shot, because he had to back out to give Ellen the space to attack the Female Titan.
"It seems that the Female Titan can harden her skin, sir!" Eld reported, holding up his own broken sword.
Levi stared at the Female Titan silently.
"Well, then we could have to cut her up so fast so that she won't have time to harden her skin, right?"
Every glance, every move, every gesture signaled each other as they formed a plan.
We'll have to maneuver around Ellen, since he can't understand us right now.
And we'll have to attack the Female Titan too fast for her to harden her skin.
We'll attack chronically; hit the same spot right after she lets her guard down…
And we go…NOW!
Every connection was fluid. A spot after another was smashed and weakened until it broke off, than the sword dug into her flesh before she could harden it up again.
The tendons were cut, rendering the Female Titan defenseless. Every time one healed, it was cut off again, and the Female Titan was served to Ellen like a well-cooked dinner dish.
Titan-Ellen tore at the Female Titan's nape, revealing the core inside.
"Gunther! Take Ellen out of his titan form!" Levi commanded.
"I'll take the Female Titan's core out!"
Levi watched Gunther swing toward Ellen before he made his move. The short man dodged Ellen's gigantic form, weaving his way toward the Female Titan's nape.
"What's Gunther doing, not taking Ellen out?" Levi muttered when Ellen kept moving longer then he ought to. He had finally approached the core, which lay unmoving, buried in the flesh.
"Oi, you…" Levi grabbed the core, jerking her out. At the same time, the figure drew her swords which were hidden by her cape, slashing at Levi's chest. A red ark was drawn through the air. Blood spurted to his lips, dripping onto his shirt.
Everything had stopped moving. Literally everything. Even Titan-Ellen was still.
I guess Gunther did his job and took Ellen out. Levi thought as he was surrounded in the thick fog of Titan mist. It blinded everything. Everything except for himself and the core. The core stared nonchalantly at the injured man, and then turned around to run away. She would had, too, but…
Found herself on the ground, flat on her stomach with a sword pointed on her neck.
"Your sword would have slashed right through my heart." Levi unemotionally said.
"But unluckily for you, I leaned back at the last moment, giving my chest a shallower cut. Good thing that the place I used to live had a bunch of back-stabbing people, just like you."
The core struggled, but now, there was no way to escape. Levi calmly held her down as he waited for his squad members to find him.
"Heichou!" Eld appeared out of the fog.
"Are you all right?"
"I'm fine. Deliver this core to Erwin." Levi commanded, turning so that his wound was hidden. Best not to alarm them right now.
Eld tightly bound the core to make sure there was no way for her to harm herself, carrying her over his shoulder like a sack. Levi watched him go, silently following him.
Everything was going to be all right.
They caught the core alive.
Nobody was harmed, well, except for him.
He can be treated once they arrived back.
Hopefully he didn't lose too much blood yet.
If he can hold out until he reached Erwin, everything would be all right…
If they treated his wound, they would see…
He had to hold out…
He had to…
Levi saw his sight go blurry just before the moment his head hit the ground.
A/N: Um, yeah, a little early. But I decided to post them now. End of the 57th Expedition. Will Levi live? How's Ellen? What does the Team Levi think about him now that he just told everybody that he doesn't trust them? Keep reading for the next chapter! And oh yeah, I changed my pen name from JS0726 to Tian Lee, but keep it in mind that neither of them is my real name. Thanks for reading, please review!