Chapter 27
Things have been very tense in the Survey Corps headquarters. What's remained of their forces have all been ordered to 'stay put', as Commander Nile had put it. Many were not fond of their new orders, namely Hanje and Levi, the latter growing more and more suspicious of the Military police' presence as they've slowly but surely added more and more security to the wing in which Commander Erwin is recovering in. Hanje has noticed it herself, and the pair have wordlessly come to the same conclusion. Something's gonna happen that may very well end the Scout Regiment.
If Erwin has come to the same conclusion, they are none the wiser. As long as Levi has known him, the commander he's never been completely sure of what he is thinking. Many sleepless nights have been spent trying to figure out the leader of the survey corp, but Levi has made just as much progress as he had when he first was inducted to the Survey Corps. Hanje on the other hand is worried. Not only of Erwin, but the future of humanity. Connie's confirmation of his mother's transformation should've been earth shattering, it should've spread like wild fire among the ranks of the military. And yet, they've been shut out. Garrison leaders and military police commanders alike had locked themselves away in the inner walls after honoring the fallen and have been mum ever since. Hanje, for lack of a better word, was frustrated. It didn't make any sense. The survey Corp was created to retake the land that was stolen from them, to search for the answers that maybe, just maybe, give humanity the hope for an actual future.
And after a century of failure, they've finally come up with something. Two impossible truths. Titans were once humans. And there is a previously unknown faction of other humans that want them dead. Why aren't they involving us? Rallying behind us? Are they planning defenses? If they are then why haven't they sent word to us? The Survey Corp would end up as the first line of defense, not to toot our own horn but we should be at the fore front of any debriefings. This doesn't make any sense.
She's broken from her thoughts by a knock frantic knock on the door to her laboratory. Slapping the pen down in her notebook, Hanje huffs, leaning her forehead on the palm of her hand, willing the headache she's been ignoring for the past 4 hours to subside for just a while longer. The frantic knock returns and she finally decides it's time to face whatever comes next. Her entire demeanor returns to the energetic and eccentricity she's known for as she opens the door,
"If it's moblit, please tell me it's the samples I ask—"
"Section Commander!" Moblit exclaims, and Hanje stops at the sound of his tone.
He's leaning on his knees, panting and clutching his chest like he just can't get enough air.
"What's wrong?!"
Her worries though, melt away once he meets her gaze, disbelief is evident, shock as well. But there's something else that the section commander was not expecting at all. Relief?
"Moblit?" She asks, her heart beating faster in anticipation.
He can't stop the ear to ear grin that quickly finds its way to his face.
"You need to see this Section Commander!"
Connie sighs, fiddling with the potato he saved from being thrown away by another Scout. These past few days have been rough. He hasn't had much sleep and when he does… his dreams weren't pleasant. It got to a point that he feared to close his eyes at night sometimes. whenever he does, he sees his mother turning into a bloody mass of flesh like a tumor that erupts into a titan. He shivers as the memory fo the nightmares ending comes to mind. It's always the same, he begs for his mother to return even as she devours him.
He realizes a moment later that the hand holding the potato had a violent tremor, reflecting his emotional state. He grabs his left wrist tightly as he subtly checks his surrounding, making sure no one had witnessed his emotional leak. Deciding he had wasted enough time wallowing in his pain he finishes his journey back to the table in the mess hall where the rest of his cadet friends had convened. It felt like forever ago when they had sat together like this, but he wishes it were as simple as it was during the early days of their training. Back then, they were still bright and as carefree as someone could be in this world. Now, there was a noticeable lack of color in the group. Jean was just about the same as Connie, they've both woken up at night from their respective nightmares, glaring at the beds that were once used by the traitors, Jean has taken to leaning into that rage. Connie's guess? It distracts him from the emotional toll this past week has taken. Eren seems to be doing as well as he could, to which Connie is sure Mikasa was the reason for. She looks to be as unaffected as she always is whenever she's around Eren but her eyes, Connie could tell, they've lost some of their brightness. Reminiscent to their time fighting to stay alive in Trost, he vividly remembers how soulless and dull her grey eyes when they had all believed Eren had been killed.
Armin was no better. For lack of a better term, the man was a wreck. He took Calian's death hard, everyone had heard his shouts at night, berating himself for thinking so lowly of his friend and wishing to have died in his place. Jean and Connie were angry at first but of all people, Sasha had reminded then that they themselves had shared his opinions, what right did they have to demonize Armin for it? Speaking of sasha, Connie was worried. He wishes he could laugh at the thought but, she's even stopped eating. Many times she's broken down and just as many times she's sworn viciously that he's alive somehow and will find his way back to them. They all wish it were true but, Sasha actually believes it. It got to a point where Mikasa has admitted to being worried that she may have snapped and if she hasn't, she will.
Before taking a seat, Connie eyes the potato in hand, Not on my watch. Calian made me promise to take care of Sasha, I'll make damn sure she is. He gently sits beside her and tentatively places the potato in the space between their arms, "Hey sash'. Check out want I swiped."
Sasha glances at the food laying there and gives Connie a smile that doesn't reach her eyes. "Thanks but, I'm not hungry right now."
He still doesn't give up though, "Not even for a potato?! Weren't you the one who told Shadis that it'd be a waste to let a good potato just lying around and that it should find refuge in your stomach!"
The group share a scattered chuckle that quickly dies down and Sasha decides to appease Connie and his earnest efforts and takes the food into her hand. She plays with it for a bit before taking a bite. But just like her previous attempts, she can barely taste any of it. She just can't enjoy it. The bite felt rough as she swallowed it down and she was about to give Connie some poor excuse for why she'll eat it later instead of now when slowly they all realized that that a rush of soldiers clamored and ran towards something. Eren even turned to acknowledge it as he wonders aloud, "What the hell's going on?"
They all get up from their table and follow the flow of the soldiers, who all seem to be convening to the medical ward. Sasha's hearing picks up some scattered comments that gave her heart a rush.
"I can't believe it!"
"Are you sure it's not a corpse?"
"How did he survive!"
"He's still alive?!"
Her eyes widen, her hands shake and her hearing muffles all sounds as she hears nothing but the blood rushing in her head. Every is just as shocked, with Jean voicing, "It can't be… can it?"
Sasha drowns out whatever response they have and she starts first walking, then jogging and then she speeds up into a sprint, knocking away any soldier that stands between her and him. Please be him, please be him! She prays loudly in her head. She finally pushes through the last of the soldiers but two scouts who were standing before the doors leading to the medical wing block her way, "No one is allowed through at this moment!"
Before the teen could respond, of all people Levi appears and grasps the soldiers arm tightly. His cool gaze makes all the soldiers around take a few steps back as he simply orders, "Let them pass."
Without wasting another second they do as told and Sasha gives him s grateful look . His face is as stoic as ever, but she swore she saw his glare soften just a little. Steeling herself, she gulps before slowly pushing the doors open.
She takes 9 steps forward and stops, unable to move a single muscle. Slowly before her eyes, the dreary grey that enveloped her world returned to color. The dim noise around became louder, more harmonious than the jumbled mess it was to he the days prior.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
"It's like I said darlin, ya just can't get rid of me that easy." Calian, despite his pain, smirks.
A mix of a cry and a laugh escapes her mouth but she's too overwhelmed by emotion to care. She rushes then collapses to his side by the bed, her hands motioning frantically over him before she grabs him into a tight embrace. Everything hurts him, but he wouldn't have this any other way. "Yer back! Yer back! Yer back!"
She repeats over and over in her native accent, a tear falling with every repeat of the phrase. She buries her face in his injured shoulder and one of the doctors try to pry her off, "I'm sorry soldier but you may be causing him more pain!"
But Calian stops them, staring lovingly into Sasha's eyes. "Doc, I fought through hell just for this moment right here. A little pain ain't nothin."
Their drenched eyes lock onto each others, the pain they had suffered all but forgotten. The only thing that mattered is that they were together once again.
She bites her lip in a smile as she rest her forehead on his, whispering,
"Hey."
Calian smirks, slightly strained but doing his bets, "hey yourself darlin."
She giggles and finally plants a loving kiss upon his lips. It didn't have the same intensity as their kiss during the battle. This was a slow kiss of love, a kiss that served as way for the two souls to reconnect after being apart for too long.
The loving moment had an audience as well, as the rest had finally made it through and witnessed the reunion. They were of course incredulous, with Jean voicing it,
"I…don't believe it! He's alive!" He starts chuckling and it slowly turns into a crying laugh.
It was like the world had decided to show them mercy by returning to them a beloved friend they had thought lost.
Armin steps forward, eyes wide like an owl, believing that if he were to close them for a second, everything would disappear like as if it were a figment of his imagination. "But how?"
3 days later
The sounds of birds chirping and cicadas humming provides Calian a comfort he'd forgotten. He doesn't open his eyes just yet as he's rousing back to the land of the living. A decision his body seems to agree wholeheartedly with, as the past weeks events have finally caught up to him and he feels it. The exhaustion that's sunk right down to his bones. But before he wills himself back to slumber, he notices a weight on his chest. Cracking one eye open, he looks down and half smiles, seeing a familiar nest of red hair. Any thoughts of sleep fly right out the window right then and there. As much as his body protests, there's no way he'd waste another second he could spend with Sasha. The woman had carefully placed herself on the least injured part of his body, between his right arm and torso, curled up like a cat with her head resting on his chest. With considerable effort, he raises his right hand and gently places it on her left cheek, his thumb feather light as it draws circles on her soft skin.
He doesn't miss the nearby table that's covered in plates of food, empty plates that is. He let's out a pained chuckle, How an angel like her can have such an appetite I'll never know.
It seems that the rumble of his chest when he laughed was enough to rouse the brunette out of her rest. She moans lightly as she shifts a bit as if to get more comfortable, "Five more minutes cal… CAL!"
Her eyes shoot open and she straightens out ram rod still. "Now ya remember me huh?"
She glares, "If ya weren' so beaten up Ida smacked ya silly fer dat crack!"
He sighs, "Yea I'd probably deserve it."
He notices that she was on the verge of tears again, breaking his heart and he pulls her into his chest, her arms slithering around his wounded body carefully until she could safely embrace him. "Why did you do it?" She whimpers.
"I'm sorry darlin, but I couldn't let any of ya'll die. I couldn't live in a world without ya."
Sasha's wet face bore a pained expression as replies, "But you made me live in world without you."
He's stunned silent and she goes on, "Cal… it felt like a part of me was ripped out. I couldn't eat, I couldn't stop crying!"
"I'm… so sorry sash'. I am—"
She places a gentle finger on his lips, and she smiles. "But I always knew you were still out there. I knew you'd come back to me. And I was angry, I still am! But right now I'm just happy you're alive."
He pulls her into another kiss and keeps whispering to her how sorry he was. "I know why you did it, but please Cal, don't do that again."
"I promise darlin. I promise."
They embrace each other for a while longer before he asks, "How'd ya get so much food here?"
He feels her lips curl on the side of his neck, "Got Connie to sneak into the officers pantry for me."
"I knew he'd pull through for ya."
She grins slyly, "He muttered something about you making him promise to take care of me."
To her enjoyment, he blushes. "W-Well yea, besides me he's always with ya, I knew I could rely on him."
She kisses his cheek, "My hero", she dramatically states, "Taking care of me even in the face of death!"
He nuzzles her cheek, "Your always my priority darlin."
The door bursts open, and Hanje enters with Moblit and Levi. "Well isn't this sweet!"
Hanje laughs with her fists on her hips. Levi rolls his eyes, "Alright enough fo this nasty shit. You're scouts, act like it."
"Tch, missed ya to Cap'n."
Levi's glare doesn't have the same intensity as it normally does, so I guess he really is relieved. Sasha murmurs, "we still need to talk things over." And she climbs off the med bed and salutes her superiors.
He nods, "I know."
He begins to push himself up but Hanje holds out a hand, "You don't have to salute, honestly it's best you don't anyway."
Grateful for the small mercy, he relaxes back. Moblit, carrying a cup of tea, moves next to him and begins stirring it. Cal asks, "How long have I been out?"
"Since your miraculous return, 3 days."
"Hh. How bad am I?"
Hanje gives him the go ahead and Moblit explains, "You have 14 broken bones, including your left femur and multiple ribs. Contusions and lacerations throughout your body that definitely came from titan teeth, the most prominent being on both sides of your torso. And you lost a considerable amount of blood. Not enough to kill you, but enough to make it all the more unlikely to return on foot from the Forest of Giant trees to wall Rose."
The Vice commander hands the Teen the cup of tea, who uses his good hand to tentatively grasp it and bring it to his lips. The warm bitter taste was welcoming, helping to wash away the memory of the vile taste of titan blood that ghosted his tongue.
Hanje grins, her brows scrunched in a giddy curiosity as she cuts in, "Which is why it was all the more surprising to see you hear and alive. By all intents and purposes it should've been impossible! Even if it was 'Humanity's strongest," Hanje throws a thumb over her shoulder pointing at Levi, who rolls his eyes, "I'd still say the chances would be slim."
To his surprise, The section commander's whole demeanor turns somber, "We all thought you were dead. H-How did you survive?"
The sincerity in her tone shocked him. Even Moblit and Levi were surprised, with the latter realizing that Hanje had asked the question not as an eccentric scientist, but genuinely as a friend.
Howlett sees this too and is touched by how much he was truly missed by everyone, even people of higher rank than him.
Deciding to be merciful, he replies, "It's a bit of a story not gonna lie. I'll be honest, I could barely think straight the entire time. All I can really remember were bits and pieces. Ya want the cheesy answers or the interestin ones I can remember?"
Hanje grabs a chair slams it next to Calian's bed and plops down, her glasses shining with manic energy and her fingers laced underneath her chin as she leans forward. "Tell us everything!"
"(Sigh) There ain't much to tell really. Like I said I don't remember much, it was all a blur. But it was hell. Them titans had me good. I killed a good lot of em but they just kept comin and comin. I was gettin pinned. I got smashed to the ground a few times, I got swatted. And at the end one caught me after I ran outta gas. It caught me good, that's probably how my ribs got broke. When it had me between its teeth, I swear, I swear! That, tht was it. I-I was gonna give up…. But somethin weird happened."
"what?" Moblit asks, intrigued.
"Maybe it was the stress or the hysteria, but I swore it felt like someone said in my head, 'Fight". Over and over again. 'You can't win unless you fight.'" He clutches his head as a spark of pain shoots from one temple to the other.
Somewhere in the Scouts headquarters, Eren feels the same thing. Mikasa notices and quickly places her hands on both sides of his head. "What's wrong?"
He gazes in her eyes for a moment before pushing off her hands. "It's nothing, just a headache."
The members in the room share looks of astonishment, wondering what this could mean. Wordlessly, Sasha steps closer and grasps his hand comfortingly. To which he squeezes back, grateful for her support. And Hanje asks quietly, "Then what happened?"
He hesitates to answer for a moment, his mouth opening and closing several times. "Before I answer, do ya remember what I made ya promise me?"
Hanje looks back and forth between him and Moblit trying to figure out what it was. Howlett sighs, "I made ya promise me that if we do anything to 'investigate' what's goin on with me, that it'd be off the books, ya know private?"
"OH! Oh yea! Yes that still stands. You have my word Cal." She reassures him.
Knowing he could trust his boss he finally answers, "There are times when, I get like a-a rush. Like I'm stronger. Everyone says I go beserk or somethin. But maybe it ain't that far from the truth, cause at that moment, I went wild. I felt stronger than I ever did and I shattered it's teeth with my bare hands."
Jaws drop at the statement. Levi remains stoic but inside his mind is working over time. Remembering the time he came across Isabel and Farlan in the midst of their being devoured. Hit's a memory he wishes could be wiped form his mind but this moment it was useful. Because he remembers as well how he felt as he decimated the monster that took the only family he had away. It was like his strength was increased tenfold. Another similarity. A voice in his mind says. He screams, 'SHUT UP', in his mind in return.
"After that, I crawled into the back of its throat and ripped it's nape apart from the inside and got to solid ground. I booked it right away. Even with the adrenaline and, whatever was happenin to me, they were hot on my trail. Nearby was a river and I just hopped into it. Let the current take me. Eventually I got back to land with no titan in sight and form there it gets spotty. I managed to walk back here without seein any other titans. It's weird and maybe I'm crazy, but I feel like I was guided or somethin."
He surveys the room seeing various expressions and reactions. Levi was unreadable as always, Moblit looked disbelieving. Probably thinks I'm still delirious. Hanje so far is the only one who looks like she's taking it serious and Sasha, she still looks worried for him. "I-I guess it's just the heat of the moment or somethin."
Moblit nods his head as he takes the tea from him, "Maybe we should ask these questions once you've had more time to recover—"
"No." Hanje interrupts.
"Section Commander?"
"No. I don't think it was the heat of the moment."
"Section commander do you really believe that some force was helping Cadet Howlett?"
"Come on moblit, so many impossible things have already happened! Humans turning into titans! The walls hiding a titan! Other humans outside the walls!"
"That want us dead for some reason." Levi points out.
Hanje pouts, "Not the point but wheel circle back to it! The point is, once we eliminate the impossible, whatever remains however improbable must be the truth. Calian already has abnormal strength, and during moments of stress humans can display hysterical strength. It's not unreasonable to think that his version would be a bit more … extreme."
"And what about the voices in his head?" Levi asks with his arms crossed.
"I ain't crazy." Cal growls.
"It could be a number of things, but with how much our understanding of the world has changed in just a couple weeks, we can't afford to rule anything out without solid proof."
"So how can we test this?" Howlett asks.
Hanje rubs her chin, deep in thought. "I'm not sure. But for now, this doesn't leave the room except to inform Erwin and Erwin alone."
Levi raises an eyebrow, "You're serious about that?"
Hanje grins, "Course I am, why wouldn't I be?"
"How should I know? No one can make out the mess in your head." He grumbles.
She laughs raucously and slaps his shoulder, "Thanks for the compliment."
A knock was heard at the door and Hanje, already standing, opens it to reveal Calian's friends. Looking over her shoulder Hanje tells Calian, "We'll continue this later on."
She allows the teens to enter and goes on her way with moblit and Levi tagging behind. At this point night has fallen. Many scouts have already situated themselves back in the barracks and to their surprise Hanje notifies Moblit that he could take the rest of the night off.
Levi and Moblit share a look before the latter decides to take advantage of the very rare break and heads off to his chambers. "You've never done that before."
"That's cause I wanted to talk to you alone shorty."
He glares, "Don't call me that Shitty glasses."
He begins marching to his room with Hanje quickly getting into stride with him. "Let's be frank. We both know something weird is going on right now. It feels like we're in the hot seat against the rest of the Government, worse than before."
"Is that why you agreed to keep Howlett's 'investigation' a secret?"
"yes."
He pauses momentarily, surprised by her quick answer and honesty. "That's not protocol and you know it."
"The Garrison and MP always break protocols, I think we deserve to do so every once in a while." She retorts slyly.
She groans at his silence, "Come on. Even you've noticed how similar you two are. Chances are whatever is going on with him is connected to you too. If they try to take him like they did Eren, you'd be next."
"He and I are nothing alike." He grabs the door knob to his room but Hanje slams it shut and holds it with her body, putting as much force as she can to it.
"Yes you are! The only other person who could walk through titan country with no weapons left and live to talk about it would be you. Even the brain dead wealth of The Capital could put that together."
He ignores her reply, "You have 3 seconds to get off my door."
3 seconds pass and he pulls the door open, the force throwing Hanje off her feet and sliding on the ground a few feet away. She yelps and grumbles as she strains to get back off. "That was rude." She pouts as she enters his room, to which he sighs exasperatedly.
"No what was rude was you preventing me from entering my room. And you continue to be rude by staying here with each second that passes." He crosses his arms and glares.
"Now get out before I throw you out four eyes."
She rolls her eyes her hands up in defeat. "Fine fine! Don't get your panties in a bunch. I'm going, but this discussion is far from over!"
"It is to me. Now go."
"Yea Yea—Since when did you have a hat?"
She grabs a black bowler hat that was hanging on Levi's coat rack and inspects it, having no memory of the short Captain ever owning a hat let alone wearing one. Levi stares at the hat in the Section Commanders hands, an uneasy feeling growing as he realizes that there was something familiar about that withered hat with a dirty white band around it. Hi eyes widen alarmed and quickly takes out a knife that was under his pillow. Hanje is startled, "Wha—mmph!"
From the shadows a tall slim man shoots out with speed beyond what is humanly possible and restrains Hanje from behind, a hand over her mouth and a knife to her neck. The man grins smugly, his wrinkled eyes twinkling teasingly as he presses the sharp blade uncomfortably against Hanje's throat.
Levi glares, his jaw shifting with tension.
"Hello runt."
"Kenny."
Authors Note: Sorry for the long wait! Not much excuse i got except life getting in the way and also wanting my other My hero academia story to catch up to the chapter number i had for this. I will be updating more regularly though so stay tuned! And yes, Kenny mde an earlier appearance, we'll see how that goes in the next chapter as well as Calian's reunion with his friends. Next few chapters before season 3 starts im gonna be exploring the ackerman abilties a bit, mostly to explain how i've personally power scaled them. I had to use mikasa for the calculations given she's the ackerman with the msot feats we've seen on screen. She's definitely a lot stronger than i thought, basically lifting tons with no problem so i had to figure out how i'd manage it with Levi and Calian. you'll see when it comes up though. anyway, thanks to everyone who's followed favorited and reviewed! Sorry i didn't answer them here but i will in the next chapter! See ya then!