Part 27
The Return
(I'm gonna be leaning away from the anime for a bit, guys. I want more of the fanfiction to be added in first before going back to the main plot of AoT.
Hope that's okay!)
"Commander Erwin!" A lookout informed from a nearby rooftop. The remainder of the formation lurked within a destroyed village that they used to wait within for Levi. "Captain Levi is approaching!"
Erwin nodded, looking over at the clinging Mikasa who was sitting within a waiting cart alongside a weakened Eren, who was now awake from his unconscious. Erwin wanted to get these soldiers back to the walls as quickly as possible, even debating earlier on leaving Levi to make his own way back.
"Prepare to leave once the Captain reaches us!" Erwin ordered, being saluted by nearby rookies.
"Commander, he's not alone!" The lookout continued, causing Erwin's gaze to trace back up to him. "He has some woman with him!"
"Most likely a survivor." Erwin muttered, dismounting his white stallion whilst bodies of deceased soldiers were placed into the nearby horse carts to be taken back to their families.
Levi soon entered into the torn down village, his horse rearing as he pulled back the reins to stop. He gave a subtle nod to Erwin, as thanks for allowing him to return to his fallen squad. The raven-haired male looked back on himself as the cart that carried his squad approached him, along with the hooded Fury who sat quietly in the back; contemplating everything she saw this day.
The cart came to a calm halt; the horse's puffing their mouths from the sprint they just endured out of the enclosed forest. Keeping her face hidden, Fury jumped down from being within the cart itself, wanting the bodies of Levi's squad to have their own space. As she finally looked ahead of her, Erwin was stood before her with widened eyes, which caused Levi to roll his own as he took his own gaze over to his squad, feeling a familiar gnaw in his chest.
"Impossible…" Erwin muttered, slowly blinking as Fury emitted a sigh. What use was it now to keep her hood over her? She lowered it, revealing her grown light blonde hair and her deep blue eyes that looked like pools of clean water under the blazing sunlight. "4 years…"
What could she say? That she was sorry? No. Saying sorry would be a lie. Fury left for answers. She left to grow and she has managed to do such a thing. Thanks to Hexis and his knowledge of a world beyond Paradis Island.
"How could you survive beyond the walls for 4 years..?" Erwin continued. The man fought against how he wanted to cradle the woman. He remained professional, remembering his goal and how he viewed Eren to be humanities only hope. Little did the blonde male know that his old bedtime stories from his father about Bloodborn's were all true to some extent.
"I'd rather not openly talk about it here among prying eyes." Fury responded, folding her arms, making it clear that her insecurities still somewhat haunted her.
"We leave for the wall!" Erwin commanded, an almost harsh tone within his voice as he struggled to tear his eyes away from the woman he almost invested emotions into. He would most surely be talking to her later, but more about how Fury is still alive more than how he felt about her so-called 'farewell' letter. As for Fury herself, she could not bring herself to allow her own gaze to linger over Erwin for too long as he made his way to the frontline of the remaining formation. Her gaze did, however, glance over at both Mikasa and Eren, who both looked grim from most likely losing many Scouts on this day. Surely they were either aware of the unknown Female Titan or Erwin planned himself among a select few to capture her, which she knew Hange was most likely involved with. But what about Levi? And his squad? Did he know and leave them in the dark? Because they were surely untrained in how to confront the female Abnormal upon their initial contact with her and there was no way Levi would allow them to fight so blindly. These questions of hers would have to wait as Fury climbed back upon the horse cart which still contained the remainder of the bodies of Levi's squad themselves. What a waste of talent…
It felt strange, knowing she was soon about to be back behind the towering walls after being free of them for 4 years. What has changed? Who has changed? With the revelation of people becoming Titan's, Fury expected things to be highly different from when she left. Her head remained lowered as she drowned herself in these thoughts, only to be distracted with the sudden scare of a flock of birds in the distance gathering themselves to fly off from within the forest they were all once in. Gritting her teeth, Fury quickly lifted her body to stand defensively within the moving cart as her eyes narrowed heavily.
"Titans!" She called out, seeing not one, but three clear Abnormal's exit the forest, flailing their arms and twisting their bodies to increase their movement speed as they were clearly giving chase to the small formation ahead of them. The driver of the cart looked behind him with panicked eyes as he commanded both horses to hurry in their speed. But with the weight of the bodies in the cart, they could only move so fast.
Levi rode alongside the cart, his own face showing distain as he clutched his pained leg. There was no way even he could deal with the three of them without himself sustaining more injury or worse. Not only that, but the formation galloped within an open area. ODM's were granted useless right now.
"Dump the bodies!" He ordered with grimaced eyes, causing Fury's to widen. "Fuck… It's the only way!"
"No!" Fury called back to him, her hair flowing against the wind as she clenched her fist and stared at Levi almost. "We can't! Levi… That's barbaric! I can-!"
Levi snapped back, cutting the females words off before she could finish. "Do you want to live or do you want to be eaten alive?! I don't believe in your fucking magic tricks, Fury! Dump the bodies!"
Well she'd have to show him then. However, could Fury control more than the one here? As much as she practiced to do so, it was always too overbearing for her to maintain such concentration to control more than one Titan at the same time. Nevertheless, it was leave the families of these dead soldiers with nothing to remember their children by or at least try to give the cart some leeway to get away.
Frowning deeply, Fury stared out behind her and she began to drown out the surrounding noises. Ignoring Levi's orders, ignoring the panicking cart driver, ignoring the wind itself. Slowly, her blue eyes became heavily bloodshot and she stood within complete concentration.
"What the hell is going on here?" Came the voice of a 104th cadet soldier as he had fallen back from the formation to give aid.
"Jean, get on that cart and dump those damn bodies!" Levi barked, his hand remaining clutched on his thigh, as he felt useless. As Jean himself leapt from his horse onto the cart, Levi stared down Fury as she stood still whilst Jean scattered around her as he began to drag the bodies off the pile they were consisted of within the cart. However, the boy's gaze darted over to the three Titans as one of them had halted in their chase and seemingly began to roar in what appeared to be pain.
His eyes widened as he looked at Fury. Though he did not know of her and initially thought she stood in fear, it was now evident to both him, as well as Levi who too watched on at the pained Titan, that Fury was doing something.
"What the hell?!" Jean called out; continuing to drag a body to the edge of the cart, breathing heavily as there were still two of the three Titan's following them. Abruptly, another of the two Titans left then crashed to the floor. Its body twisting and becoming locked in place as it was somewhat pinned to the ground by some force. At this point, Fury was now struggling. Blood began to fall as tears would from her eyes as the amount of concentration she was maintaining was taking its toll. "Captain?!" Jean then called out, unaware of what to do with the body he held.
Though in disbelief of what he was watching, Levi couldn't risk allowing the third Titan to reach any closer to the cart and so he nodded his head over Jean to allow him to start dumping the bodies from the cart. One by one, the lifeless shells of Levi's squad left the cart. With each one leaving, the cart began to slowly pull away from the last Titan. Levi watched in pain, as the last body to be dumped was Petra's herself. Her body being caught under the feet of the chasing Titan, causing the monster to trip and fall to the ground, giving the cart enough time to get away fully.
Being shook violently by Jean, Fury snapped out of her concentration and gasped for air as she fell back into the cart, clutching onto anything she could at this point as her cheeks were stained by the stream of blood that had left her eyes. "What… What are you?" Jean asked quietly. He didn't know whether to be cautious or thankful. Levi himself was evidently speechless.
Giving one last look behind him, Levi subtly thanked his squad for their final aid in this moment. Now he was left with the responsibility of telling their families of their deaths. This was part of his job that he truly hated the most. For every soldier that died under his command, his guilt became ever heavier. Despite now having Fury back, Levi was also highly conflicted. He'd only just recently come to terms with the facts over Eren's abilities. Now Fury was capable of pushing back the Titans he so mercilessly killed too? How he knew Erwin was going to relish in these facts. God only knows how Hange was going to react.
"I'm… I'm so sorry…" Fury breathed, her eyes shaken as her bloodshot orbs returned to their natural colour. "I tried…"
What could be said? Jean sat in confusion and Levi continued to ride alongside the now empty cart that was catching up to the small formation that was still by lead by an oblivious Commander Erwin. Fury herself sat with a lowered head. She just couldn't withstand the pain she experienced from controlling two of the tree Titans. There was a lot of things Fury still felt guilty about these days.
The walls soon approached the remainder of the scouts that set out on this mission. Everyone felt a sense of failure as the gates into the walls began to rise to allow them all entrance back into safety. Here she was again. A place Fury once called home. With everything she just allowed to be revealed, would she be able to call this place home once more? Or will she be subjected to the treatment of a soldier who went AWOL to begin with?
