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Chapter 13:

Family

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Mike brought down another titan, leaping back onto his horse and riding of. They were getting closer. They had to press forward, or they would be completely surrounded. He saw a raven haired woman approaching at full speed, she was one of those foreigners that Hanji and Levi had brought back. "Is everything alright?" He called. Was she wearing 3DMG? Where did she get it? "Who are you?"

"Stella." She responded, catching up. She was indeed wearing gear. "I need a quick demo on this contraption." Sure, Erwin had gone over the basics with her when they were still on the move, it was one of the things that they talked about. "Everything is fine, Hanji has just delivered twins. It's drawing titans." She looked around, ever weary. This man seemed to know what he was doing though, she could feel it.

He looked at her, surprised. The comment about Hanji and the twins flew right over his head, "It takes two years to learn how to use our equipment. And even then, some people just aren't good at it. There is no 'quick demo'." This lady had to be insane. "Where did you get it?"

"Erwin." She looked around, unsteady. "He can't fight."

Mike looked shook, "Where is he? Is he alright?" Wherever Erwin was, he would charge right over there and save him. No titan was going to get the commander today, not when they were so close to home. He was about to talk more when Stella raised her hand.

"He's fine. He's in one of the supply wagons. He took down a titan and didn't have a… proper landing." She looked to the gear around her waist. Don't worry. I'll make good use of it, Erwin. "He gave me this." If he gave it to her, did he think that she was capable? Sure, she had tried to use it before, but it was extremely difficult. "I know to aim for the nape. I know the basic mechanics. I know how to stay balanced. I think I can do it." She had to, Erwin was counting on her, and so was Penny.

Mike saw the look of determination in her eyes, they were just like Yeager's. "I won't stop you, but I won't gather your corpse either." He sighed, he might as well increase her chances of survival, and there was no classroom like the battlefield. "Don't fuck up."

Orion clutched onto Sol, looking back for any sign of his mother. She would be alright, he knew it! His mother was so strong, and she never gave up. She would kick titan ass. She had her moss arrows after all, and no one was a better shot than Penny with a bow. No one. "Don't worry pops, mama will be fine." He smiled up at him, feeling brave and happy. "That titan doesn't stand a chance!"

Sol smiled back, ruffling his hair, "You're right." Penny would be able to handle it. She would trap that tian in the forest, and then meet them at the gate. He looked back forward, staring at the giant walls. He was starting to be able to make out Soldier's up on the top of the wall. "Can you see them?" He asked Orion. If he had the royal eyes, he would be able to. Eyes that could always see.

Orion nodded, "Yeah. They're pretty." He said, amazed. The people above the surface were just so beautiful, "A blonde woman seems to be in charge, people keep reporting to her. She has the same mark on her sleeve as Levi, Hanji, Sasha, and Erwin." He squinted, trying to make out more details.

Sol was almost stunned, Orion's eyes were better than his! Perhaps he was getting old. But he would have to ask Penny where he got those eyes… It just wasn't making any sense. "How can you see them? Do you know?"

"With my eyes, pops." He looked around again, there were forests everywhere. "I've always been able to, mama says it's normal." He never noticed anything weird about his vision, so she had to be right! "She says you have eyes like me too!" He leaned forward to try and look at Sol's face, nearly falling off of the horse, but he caught himself.

"Careful!" Sol yelled, pulling Orion back, "Just… don't move."

"Alright pops- Pops…" He looked towards the field to their right, terrified, "Pops there's too many, go, go left! We have to get away! Mama!" He called back, trying to tell her. "She'll know, right?"

"Of course she will." Sol said, sweating. Penny would have to know. She said she would meet them there, so she would. "Just keep an eye out." He fired a signal flare, telling the main group that there was danger this way, and darted off.

"How are they holding up?" Armin heard a coarse female voice ask, and turned around to see Rico Brzenska, sporting her new bolo tie as commander of the garrison regiment. "They still alive?"

"Yeah." He said with a smile, "They're holding in there. Sasha is still fighting and protecting the commander, who is currently injured, he hit his head." He saw Rico's eyes dim, she and Erwin were good friends, "He'll be alright. He has two armies on his side. Hanji just gave birth to twins, from what the reports are saying, and Levi is with her."

Rico nodded, she had been catching up on the intel on her way here, "What time should they arrive?" She looked to Armin, he had grown up in the last few months. Both of their corps had had a hard time adjusting to new leaders though. Rico's style was nothing like Pixis's, it made her wonder why he had chosen her to begin with. Armin was also so young, he didn't have the respect of a lot of the older soldier's yet.

"Less than an hour." Armin said, passing her a pair of binoculars, which she started looking through immediately. "Medics are ready for as soon as they walk through the gate. Are the MPs getting involved?"

"They want to. We're blocking them, saying that what goes on in or outside if the gate isn't the jurisdiction. I won't hold for long. It's central we have to worry about." She paused, passing him the binoculars back, "They… celebrated when they thought they were dead. Celebrated, Armin, They celebrated the deaths of our comrades." Her fists clenched just thinking about it, "I had to attend. Per Pixis's orders. I had to sit there as they bashed the names of those we respect."

"You'll make it just." Armin said, smiling at her. She was the one with the permanent position after all, even though Pixis was pulling the strings from backstage. "Bide your time, Rico."

"All we've been doing is waiting-" She froze, taking the binoculars from Armin again, looking, "Who the hell is that? What are they doing?" There was a raven haired woman, alongside Mike Zacharius, taking down a titan with some sort of… glowing green plant in the woman's arms. "Look."

"I could if you didn't have the 'nocs." After she passed it to him, he nodded, "She's not one of ours. So she's a foreign soldier that was taught to use 3DMG. That's technically treason." Who would have been stupid enough to… Erwin? "She's shaky with it though." The plant… What was it? "Someone find out what those soldiers are firing at the titans!" He shouted, and people scurried off, "Any ideas?"

"Not a damn clue." She put a hand on her hip, watching the chaos below. Half of her wanted to rush down there and help, but that wasn't her job any more. Damn politics. "It must have been something that Hanji figured out while they were gallivanting. Gallivanting?" She questioned her own choice in words, "You know what I mean."

He nodded with a small smile, glad to have the company of someone competent. "We're losing people out there. I can't control the formation from here. Even if I could, the foreigners don't know our tactics. What should we do?"

"Pray." She said, putting her hand on one of the stones that dotted the walls, "You've played all of the cards you can. So you just have to wait."

"I suppose you're right." He looked to her. He could tell she was scared. Not for herself, but for the people out there, risking their lives, to bring some of their greatest assets home. He put a hand on her shoulder, and she looked up at him, "It'll be alright."

Rico shook her head, There was always a need for a backup plan. "Listen. Armin. If we get in trouble… We executed all of the foreign soldiers as per the anti-treason mandate issued by the king." Did he see this coming? How strange. This timing was just too… perfect. "Hanji died in labour. Levi committed suicide. Erwin and Sasha died in battle." She looked to Anka, who always followed her around, it was her job after all. She had previously been Pixis's assistant. "Anka, prepare a space to hide them if need be. Inside the walls, and then we can transport them to…" She looked to Armin, she was about to drop a big secret of the garrison regiment, "Base 2B."

"Yes ma'am." She saluted and headed off.

"And where might Base 2B be?"

"Are you aware of the 'To Be or not To Be' speech? One of the ancient poems?" It was one of the few that had survived. Apparently before the walls, everyone knew the speech. "It's about a young man pondering his own suicide. Death. So… The garrison may or may not have… Built a base illegally underground." Armin looked stunned. "Oh come on, don't act like the scouts don't do anything illegal."

"...All the time." He sighed, getting prepared for their arrival. "They won't believe that I executed all of these people. Can you pull it off?"

"Yeah. Just look like you want to kill me." She smiled, looking to the setting sun. "Let's hope it doesn't come to that though."

Hanji woke up due to the shakiness of the cart. She looked up at Levi, who was holding the sleeping twins, studying their faces, and her heart melted. "How are they?" She whispered, happy that they were no longer screaming and attracting danger.

Levi smiled at her, happy to see that she was awake, even though she should be resting. "Peaceful." He motioned to the wall with his eyes, "We should arrive in ten minutes. Nanaba says to be ready to move, apparently some people aren't happy that we're coming back alive." And apparently… Three of Sol's soldiers might be giving their lives to fit a plan that their comrades came up with. These people were dedicated, albeit a little sick in the head. "Don't worry." Levi said, kissing the top of her head.

She sighed, nodding. "I can't wait to be home." She smiled, "I want to see everyone. I want to see my parents." She furrowed her brows, thinking, "My parents are dead, Levi, why did I say that?"

"It's natural. You just had kids of your own, of course you would want to share that joy with them." She looked like she was about to cry, "Hanji…"

"Are we going to live to be grandparents?" She looked back up to him, neither of them had parents alive. Levi didn't even know his dad.

"Hanji. We're not going to be grandparents any time soon. So for now… Let's focus on being parents." His eyes focused on a red signal flare, aimed from the top of the wall to directly on the ground. "We'll be going into hiding for awhile." He looked to Nanaba, who was now stationed beside them. They had been juggling guards all day. "That includes you, they'll think you died in combat protecting us."

Nanaba nodded with a small hair flick, "I have Mike, I'll survive." She replied with a wink. "Plus, going into hiding sounds so... Once in a lifetime."

"Ha." Levi said, unable to count the times that he had to lay low for a bit. Though it made him glad to see that Mike and Nanaba had finally made themselves public. He could make out in the distance the soldiers riding along Sol, who were going to give their heads for him. The story, as Nanaba told him, was that all the foreign soldiers died in transit, except for those three, which the Garrison promptly executed as part of the latest royal mandate. Why? How could the king have known to expect their return, let alone with people from beyond the walls?

Sol was greeted at the gate by Armin, who was rushing them into hiding. "So you're in charge?" Armin asked, looking up at the man who was still on his horse, with Orion in tow. "I apologise that we can't welcome you more warmly, however the political situation here isn't exactly stable."

Sol got off of his horse and helped Orion off before kissing Armin's hand, "Please, being greeted by such a beautiful woman and saved from the terror of the titans is exactly what I would call warm." The flirt that had dwelling inside the king came back full force.

Orion nodded in agreement, "Just wait until Mama sees all the pretty people! You're very pretty, Miss!"

Armin blinked, baffled, "Actually I'm a-"

He was interrupted by the sound of a gun, someone at the top of the wall had been shot! "Rico!" He gasped. Had they already been found out? No, they were still rushing everyone into the gate! "Go go go!" He started rushing more people in, including all of the scouts that they had supposedly lost, before shutting the gate. "Anka, take care of this. Rico and I will meet you there."

He rushed up to the top of the wall, coming upon one of the captains of the MP having the barrel of his gun to Rico's chest, "I should kill you for this incompetence! The largest component of our military deserves a better commander!"

She was clutching at a wound in her gut, blood leaking from her mouth. "I was following orders from the King. Yes, we could have learned a lot from them, but the risks did not outweigh the benefit. We risk revolt if the public knew of the existence of a society other than our own." Yes, that was probably the king's logic. "I don't like what I did. I saw three young men die because of my orders. But that's my job-" He kicked her, walking off. She would have his head for this. Then again, he was probably following orders too.

"Brzenska!" Armin called, running up to her, "This is bad, are you lucid?"

She nodded, feeling his hands in her wound, trying to stop the bleeding, "I'll live. Did it go well?" She asked quietly, sure that there was no one around.

He nodded, "They're safe… For now."

Hanji looked around at the security of the walls. She felt… relaxed. For the first time in so long. Ah! She would have to teach Penny and Orion about all of it! "Erwin, how are you feeling?" She asked once they had stopped. They needed to give the wounded medical attention as soon as possible.

"Alive, thanks to Sasha." He smiled at her. She had grown up a lot. "You're going to make a great squad leader, Braus." She replied with a simple thanks, grateful for the praise. "Though I am covered in my own blood." He laughed, feeling a bit lightheaded. "How are the twins?"

Levi had the biggest, happiest grin on his face. "Meet your god children, Gloria Rose Ackerman and Seigfreid Trost Ackerman." Gloria was starting to wake up, her sleeping fingers grabbing at her daddy's hands. These had to be the cutest kids in the whole world.

"Oh my goodness…!" He cooed, taking Gloria into his arms, "Wow. Babies are magic." Normally, Hanji would have corrected him to give him the science of just how babies came to be, but in this instance, she agreed with him. Those kids were magic. When Gloria started to cry, he passed her back to her mother, "She's hungry."

"Wow, you speak baby." Hanji joked, holding Gloria to her. "Who's the cutest little girl in the whole wide world! You are!" The little ones were still swaddled in Hanji and Levi's capes. They would have to get something more suitable soon.

It wasn't before long before the couple and their children were swarmed with curious scouts. Mike and Nanaba among them, who just couldn't get over how cute they were. Nanaba told Mike that she wanted a thousand, which terrified the man. Sure, they were cute, but a thousand was way too much!

"Oi!" Armin called, clapping his hands, "We've got stuff to transport!" Mikasa and Jean stood by his sides, of course, he didn't expect to be hushed by the entire crowd, pointing to the still sleeping Seigfreid. "Oops." Mikasa was supporting Rico, who was too dizzy to walk on her own. She had lost a lot of blood up there. "Mikasa, please take the Commander somewhere she can rest. She pulled quite an act today."

Rico sighed, "To think that this morning I thought it would be an easy day." She looked up to Mikasa, who was taking her off, "Hey, you have really pretty eyes!" Mikasa laughed it off, whatever painkillers Armin had slipped her had been pretty strong.

"Congratulations Commander Arlert." Jean teased, even though Armin was not in the mood, "A successful operation."

"It's successful when they can return home to sleep in their own beds, Jean." He turned to face him, "Plus, I-"

"I understand. You're stressed out Armin. Take a breather."

"If you're implying that I cannot handle this, you're sleeping on the couch for a week." Perhaps he was being too snippy. "If… You're just trying to make me feel better… Carry on." Jean pulled him into a hug, petting his back, continuing to watch the scene before them unfold. The foreigners were off separate from the scouts, probably trying to gain their bearings and count their losses while those who had gone missing reunited with their comrades.

Eren in particular was in shock over the little ones. Sure, he knew Levi and Hanji were human but… They could produce offspring?! The thought had never even crossed his mind!

"Wait, so does this mean that they had sex?" Connie asked, confused. This didn't make sense! Hanji was too… Hanji! And he could have sworn that Levi was gay!

"Oh my god." Levi sighed, overhearing this. "You have until the count of ten…" He glared, giving them a look and they bolted off. Ah, it was good to be back. Back where people were terrified of him. "I love you, Hanji." He kissed her cheek, and the whole crowd cooed.

"I love you too." She responded as Seigfreid started to stir. Ah, life was just so beautiful. So precious and pure. So… sacred. Whatever she had to do to get her children someplace that they could be happy, she would do it. And she knew that Levi felt the same way. After all, they were a family now.