{Chapter Fifty-Four: Come Home, Soldier}
"Well, here ya are, Smith. Back where we found you, more or less." Staghorn grinned.
"Thank you for putting up with us for so long." Erwin nodded, accepting the hand the outsider-leader offered him. "And I'm sorry we brought about so many losses."
"'So many?' Well, hear you talk! You lose what, fifty, sixty each time you venture outside your safe-haven, yet you call our three a lot? Listen, Smith, they were fucking important to us and they were like family, but if they hadn't sacrificed their lives, we'da lost a lot more. And I'm positive that's all they need to know to rest easy. So you just worry about getting your lot home. We'll be back, so seeya 'round!"
Before the commander could question the redhead, Staghorn had vanished into the trees after his group, leaving the insiders to zip up the wall.
"Oi, Erwin, you coming?" Zoë teased, just about to shoot up the wall herself.
The three without gear, Ghoul among them, had to pick out someone to carry them up and down the wall. This was tricky, since the soldiers needed both hands to work their gear. So that meant those without gear would have to ride on their partners' backs, which would still hamper and interfere with their movement.
In the end, they all found someone strong enough to carry them and good enough with the gear that they wouldn't be too hemmed in with the other clinging to them. For Ghoul— Even though he was taller— this was Levi.
"Y-you're sure about this."
"Just shut your mouth and hold on." Levi growled. Ghoul rolled his eyes a bit, but obeyed. The older ravenette took off. Even with Ghoul's added weight and the hindrance on his movement, Levi easily overtook half the soldiers who had started up the wall before him.
Once everyone was on their side of the wall, they took up another knotted-rope formation and began walking. They moved at the swiftest pace possible. They didn't have any horses. Those had been returned to Wall Rose with the wounded and their escort before they'd set off. So they were walking as fast as they could, doing their best to make it home without any more casualties.
"So, uh, is it just me..." Sasha started quietly about an hour into their journey.
"Probably." Ymir said bluntly.
"What is it, Potato Girl?" Reiner chuckled.
"... Well, I'm not exactly sure if I'm just imagining it or not, but doesn't Ghoul look awfully close to Levi?"
The cadets all looked ahead. Ghoul was in fact walking next to Levi, neither of the two speaking, but it looked like they were just about brushing hands.
"... Isn't that just because they're kinda squished between Zoë and Mike?" Theresa asked doubtfully, feeling a tad possessive.
"Oh, yeah. I didn't see that." Eren stated, a hint of relief evident in his voice. A few held breaths were let out, wide eyes relaxing and dropped mouths closing.
"It's kinda weird that he isn't walking with us, though..." Armin mumbled.
"Not really. He left us plenty during our little excursion outside, normally when he didn't want to talk or when we started to chat his ears off." Jean shrugged indifferently.
Theresa stopped for a moment, looking at the taller cadet with a grin on her face. "Jean! I'm impressed! You're learning the secret language of Ghoully-ooly! And I didn't even have to teach you!" she practically squealed.
"W-well, it's perfectly obvious to anyone with half a brain..." Jean blushed as the amber-blonde hung, gushing from his arm.
"You have a brain, Horse-face?" Connie snickered. The taller cadet glowered at him, but was very quickly distracted by Theresa's mindless chatter.
"Hafta give him credit. I wouldn't be able to stand that much chitchat." Ymir commented, pulling Krista close. The petite blonde's cheeks pinked.
"Well, you don't talk much yourself. Then again, perhaps that's a good thing." Reiner smirked.
"Fuck you."
"Not my type, but thanks for the offer."
The cadets just exploded into slightly-hushed conversation and laughter. Ghoul jumped a little at the sudden burst of noise, looking over his shoulder. Levi nudged him with his shoulder, asking, "It doesn't matter right now if they're loud or not, right?"
"At the moment, no... But it startled me." Ghoul replied with a bit of a shrug. Zoë was babbling mindlessly in his ear, and Mike was occasionally adding his input to the conversation from the other side of Levi. He had been tuning them out, very well since everything was fairly quiet, but the laughter had startled him from his mindless reverie. And he normally didn't tune things out. He paid more attention to them, which he found decreased the bore of it.
"You seem out of it." the captain commented.
"Ah... Do I really?"
"Suffering one of your go-wrong premonitions?"
"No... I dunno... I guess I'm just a little disappointed to be back. I'll feel so boxed-in and out of place again. After nearly two full weeks of no walls or... things. It'll just be those first few days all over again..." the outsider sighed, reaching up to fiddle with his locket.
"If you wind up jumping at every little fucking noise again, I'll see to it you're so busy with chores you have no time to feel boxed-in."
Ghoul was forced to chuckle a little.
It wasn't exactly a nice day out. But it wasn't awful. It was... well, it just was. The sky wasn't perfectly clear, but it wasn't heavily overcast. The sun wasn't bright, wavery, weak, or dull, but normal. The air was chilly, winter having decided to set in earlier this year. The morning frost was gone, but here and there were stubborn patches of glittering ice-crystals hiding from the sun's warming light in the shade. Some trees still had most of their leaves, and there were a few flowers trying to cling to life, but the freak winter had just about overridden the young autumn, killing most plants off. The grass was drying up, losing it's color and wilting a bit, so it crunched faintly underfoot. Everyone moved at a steady, long-legged pace, hoping to reach Wall Rose before nightfall.
As Ghoul's hand went from his locket to his bangs, brushing them away from his face, Zoë gasped.
"What now, Shitty-Glasses?" Levi growled as he, Ghoul and Mike looked to her for an explanation.
"You two were just talking and now Ghoul's wearing such a dreamy expression! You two were flirting, weren't you?!" the squad-leader squealed.
"H-huh?! You're insane! I'm-I'm not... And he's...!" Ghoul fumbled, his cheeks heating up considerably.
"What the fuck have you been drinking, Shitty-Glasses?!" Levi snarled, pushing Ghoul around him so that he could reach up and grab Zoë's neck.
"Levi, play nice back there." Erwin warned from just ahead of them.
"Don't you fucking patronize me!"
Other than Zoë's misconception— Or was it, she challenged?— the day went smoothly. The wall very quickly came into view, and then came the fun part.
"The town just outside the gate is going to be crawling with Titans. We can send up a flare if we have any left and hope someone sees it, or we can go around and try to scale the walls. Anyone have any suggestions?" Erwin asked his officers.
After some debate, it was decided that a flare would be sent up and a response of some sort waited for. The flare was shot up, and barely two minutes had gone by before a response had gone up. The Scouts ran into the village, activating their gear and heading for the gate. It was close, but with the help of the Garrison, everyone made it inside.
The first one to greet them was Leopold. He was leaning heavily on a crutch, but he was alive and grinning broadly at them.
"Y'know," he started with a cheeky sparkle in his eyes, "You guys are kinda late."
OOOOooooOOOOooooOOOO
A/N: Okay, I kinda half-assed this chapter. But I wanted to get it out before my school goes into our standardized-testing. Not to mention I kinda have a bit of writer's block.
So, I've gotten two votes to keep Ghoul and pair him up. I'd like at least three more. And so far, it looks like you all want me to put him and Levi in a relationship. Is that it? Please talk to me!
Also, I'm considering getting a DeviantArt or something, so I could post pictures of my characters. Anyone want to recommend a different site, or should I just use DeviantArt?
So, I hope to hear from you guys and I hope you liked the shitty chapter! Thanks for reading!
