Hello all! Its been a while.
Just want to say two quick things before we start. First is a big hello and welcome to all the new readers Ive picked up since the anime started up again. I always hoped there would be a tick up in readers but that sheer scale of the increase has blown me away.
Second thing is that since December I have been absolutely slogged with work and difficulties. Work, Uni, writing my dissertation, moving home pretty much twice in one month (first help my parents then do my own move! Im currently writing this on a mattress on the floor cause everything else is in storage) and dealing with a few irl issues (sister caught covid. She alright but just more stress for us all.)
So as you can imagine Ive been super busy and stress out and I feel like it might show in this chapter. Hopefully its still good (next two chapters should be much better, all AM pov + a bit of Levi while they are in the underground. (And maybe a little something special... kissy kissy)
Anyway here it is!
(Chapter has torture in it again so just a heads up)
Scout Hideout basement
Sannes's head snapped to the side as a fist came crashing into his face. Another tooth was sent flying in a spray of blood. Another punch caused his head to snap the other way as a final vicious blow was delivered straight into his cracked and broken ribs.
"Where are they?!" Levi thundered as he backhanded Sannes with his bloody gauntlet.
They had been at this for hours now, and it showed.
Sannes's face was a bloody, ruined mess. He was missing several teeth, and his nose had been broken and bent, with one of his eyes completely swollen shut. The once-proud MP was drooling like a baby; long strings of bloodied saliva trailed over his split lips down onto his befouled shirt. He was a mess. Yet, despite all of that, once his vision stopped spinning enough for him to see Levi out of his one good eye, Sannes smiled.
"Heh… Is that... the best... you've got?" He slurred out, taking the momentary break from the beating to further mock his torturer. "I almost felt... that last one…"
Sannes received yet another brutal punch for his troubles, but the sight of Levi's jaw clenching in fury made it all worthwhile.
"Tell me… you lookin' for the boy... or the other one?" Sannes spat up some blood to empty his mouth. "Cause I can tell you... where she is…"
In a flash, Levi had grabbed his face, fingers digging in painfully to his tenderised cheeks, and forced Sannes to meet his dark grey eyes. Through the roar of blood in his ears, Sannes could hear the other two scouts in the room shuffling and leaning forward, believing they were finally going to get something out of him.
"Where?" Levi hissed out.
"Check the back alleys…" Sannes sneered. "You might find what's left of her."
The pain which followed as Levi grabbed his already broken nose and twisted it was indescribable, and Sannes couldn't help but scream. It felt like his nose was being torn off.
"You know what," Levi growled in his ear, "I've been too gentle with you. I think it's time I brought it up a notch."
Grabbing a small knife from the tray, Levi held in front of Sannes's face, allowing the candles' dim light, which lit the room, to glint across the razor-sharp edge. "How about I remove something that doesn't grow back? You only need one ear to listen, and you don't need any eyes to talk."
Using his free hand, Levi shoved Sannes face back, causing the back of his head to slam into the chair with a crack. When the world stopped behind a blind white light for Sannes and his vision returned, the only thing Sannes could see was the tip of the blade hovering mere millimetres away from his eye.
"What?" Levi asked, moving even closer. "No more smart-arse comments, shit head? Lost your nerve?"
Sannes forced himself to look past the knife and glare straight back at Levi. "You don't… have the balls… midget..."
"Funny," Levi fired back. "Those are next on the list, but we'll get to them."
The knife started to move.
"That's enough, Levi." The blade stopped a hair's width short of its target as Erwin's voice filled the room for the first time since the session began. "I think it's time we took a break."
Sannes swallowed thickly, ignoring the stabbing pain the motion caused to his raw throat and gave a shaky yet still mocking smirk at the visible frustration on the short Captain's face.
"Yeah, Levi… Take a break… 's not like… they're waitin' for ya..."
For a fleeting moment, Sannes thought he might have finally pushed the midget bastard too far when he saw the wild look in his eye, but then slowly, with a tiny tremor running along the blade, the knife was pulled away.
"Fine." Levi spat, tossing the knife down onto the tray and storming out of the cell without a word, leaving Sannes alone with Erwin and his other torturer, the goggle-wearing woman whose name he didn't know.
"You certainly have a talent for getting under his skin." Erwin conceded as he turned back from the door to face the restrained MP. "But I don't see how that will help you. It's unlikely he will have calmed down much by the time we return, and he can be rather… volatile when angered."
Sannes heard the scout Commander through the buzzing and general haze of pain but chose to ignore him, knowing damn well what Erwin was trying to do. It was so obvious that it was practically insulting.
Did these traitors really think the good MP, bad MP routine would work on him? Especially when he could so easily taunt the 'big bad' in the room into losing control. Sannes didn't actually know what was happening to the Titan boy and the other scout right now, but he did have a very active imagination and could just make shit up all day long to throw Levi off balance.
"Nobody knows where you are. Nobody is coming for you." Erwin continued to speak, keeping his voice low and even. "You will stay down here until we get what we're after. Is that really what you want? To spend the rest of your life in this room, being tortured day in and day out? All we need is a location and this can end."
A wheezing guttural sound filled the room, wet and unpleasant. Something akin to laughter.
Sannes shook his head derisively before turning his bloody visage towards the other scout in the room, ignoring the blond man again. He eyed the woman carefully, noting how pale her face was and how she struggled to look at him.
Too easy.
"Word of advice… people who are gonna talk… do so after the first nail… waste of energy otherwise..."
Sannes wiggled his mangled fingers and toes at the woman, only for her to quickly look away from both him and the bloody tray of torn out nails.
It was pathetic, really. Of his two torturers, one was a man who could barely control himself at the merest suggestion his squad was being harmed, and a woman who had no idea what she was doing and could barely stomach it to begin with.
As soon as she left this room she'd probably be hurling her guts up. Hell, if he applied a bit more pressure like he had on Levi, Sannes could probably cause her to break without even getting out of this chair.
"But you'll learn that soon enough… after all… what goes around comes around…" Sannes finished his remark by spitting out another mouthful of blood onto the floor.
"I think that's enough for now." Erwin stood up with an irate frown lining his face, annoyed at how he had lost control of the situation. "We'll leave you to reconsider your position, but rest assured we will get our answer. One way or another."
With that the goggle clad woman grabbed the tray of tools and left the cell in a hurry, practically bolting for the door. Erwin followed her out a few moments later in a much calmer fashion, giving the MP one last penetrating look before shutting the door behind him.
As soon as he was alone, Sannes allowed his shoulders to slump and blew out a long haggard breath that echoed around the cold, empty cell.
The scouts were amateurs, no doubt about it. All brute force and no finesse. Sloppy work, frankly. But that didn't mean it was painless, far from it in fact.
His hands and feet were in complete agony and his face felt like it had been slammed into a brick wall over and over again. His wrists were raw and bleeding from where the binds had bit into his skin during his numerous convulsions and constantly struggling.
Sannes couldn't even breathe properly without wincing in pain as his lungs pressed up against his cracked ribs. That particular injury hadn't even been from the torture. No, he had that crazy bitch in the alleyway to thank for that. She'd kicked like a damn mule! Fucking freak.
But while the pain he felt was considerable, excruciating even, it was manageable. Like the short ass Captain had said, except for a few missing teeth, they hadn't done anything permanent to him. Even if it took several months he would recover.
That being said though, Sannes wasn't a young man anymore and it wasn't every day he had to put up with being tortured for hours on end. He could feel the exhaustion and fatigue catching up with him. Sannes needed rest, and fortunately for him, the scouts had given him that chance. They might not realise yet but a moment of rest was worth its weight in gold in situations like this.
Oh well. Their loss was his gain.
As his one good eye started to close and his head started to droop, Sannes considered what Erwin had said. As far as he knew the scouts had captured all three of them in the alley, but Norman may have escaped. And if that lazy, feckless piece of shit goes straight back to Kenny instead of cowering in a safe house for a few days then help would eventually be on its way.
But if the scouts had captured him as well like Erwin suggested…
No. It didn't change a thing. Even if no one was coming for them, Sannes wouldn't break.
If he had to die to protect his King's secrets, then he would do so with his head held high, loyal to the very end.
'Breathe in. Hold. One, two, three. And breathe out.'
'Breathe in. Hold. One, two, three. And breathe out.'
'Breathe in. Hold. One, t-two, t-t-three. And-'
"FUCK!" Hanji sent a small table flying with a kick, shattering it against the wall in a hail of splinters. She thought she had been ready, her heart already hardened by what she had experienced in life. But nothing could have prepared her for that.
She knew the science of what she was doing; it wasn't complex. Most creatures experience pain in some way and will do whatever they can to avoid it. Even Titans react to painful stimuli as she had seen when stabbing Sawney and Beane with a spear.
Ultimately, torture was simple. Just inflict enough pain on someone who can't flee or fight back and eventually they'll break and do and say whatever you want just to make the pain stop.
That's how it would read in one of her textbooks if she had such a thing on that topic. A cold, clinical statement of fact, dispassionate and aloof. Like describing a dissection.
Real life wasn't like her books, however. There was no warning that her ears would be left ringing from the screaming, or that she would taste the coppery tang of blood in the air from being in the room for so long. There was no warning about how tiring it was, or how exhausted it would leave her both mentally and physically. Her arms felt like lead weights dangling from her sore shoulders, and her fingers were stiff and numb and it took noticeable effort to get them to stop trembling and curl into a fist.
"This is fucked up." She whispered, staring down at her blood-smeared hands.
They would have to keep doing this as well, for however long it takes until one of the MPs finally breaks. It was the only way they would find Eren and Petra, but Hanji didn't know what else they could do to the MPs.
Using both their bare hands and the tools, they had beaten the two men until they barely resemble human beings. Bones had been cracked and broken, teeth pulled, nails ripped out. Even holding a cloth over their battered faces and pouring water on them to mimic the sensation of drowning hadn't worked.
They had done almost everything they could without permanently maiming their captives and had nothing to show for it.
Maybe Levi was right. They would have to bring it up a notch.
There was a strange tightness in her throat as she thought about her fellow officer and what he had said. Levi had always been a formidable person, ironically larger than life and able to dominate any room he was in with his mere presence. He could tear apart Titans like they were made of wet paper, and had taken on nearly a dozen other scouts simultaneously in a training spar without breaking a sweat.
But despite all the perfectly valid reasons to be so, in all the years Hanji had served alongside him, she had never once been afraid of Levi. Wary and cautious, sure, especially in the early days when they first met, but fear had always been an absent emotion for her when it came to Humanity's strongest.
That wasn't the case any more.
Watching him tear into that MP without pause or mercy, brutalising and threatening to gouge out his eyes and cut off his balls had frightened her. That wasn't the Levi she knew. That was something else. Something dark and vicious.
Something Hanji never wanted to see again.
Hanji let out a shuddering breath, wringing her bloodied hands together, idly looking around for something to clean them with. Normally she would just wipe whatever was on her hands directly onto her trousers or shirt (something which caused Levi no end of disgust) but this time the thought of doing that made her feel queasy.
She settled instead on cleaning her hands with the backside of her apron, which she had tossed on the floor before booting the table in a fit of anger.
This wasn't how it was supposed to go. They were the good guys! The ones who dedicated their hearts to Humanity and would lay down their lives in its defence. Who else brought the fight to their enemies rather than just hiding behind the two remaining walls, and praying for salvation?
They weren't the ones who went around hurting people. They weren't the ones who went around kidnapping people. They weren't the ones who go around torturing people!
With a groan, Hanji dragged one her now cleaned hands down her face, pulling at her lips. She didn't want to think any more about this right now. She was too tired.
'Maybe a nap will do me some good.' She thought, slowly making her way towards the stairs which lead out of the basement. 'Could even ask Nifa if there's any more wine left. That'll help me sleep.'
Hanji didn't often drink, hating how it dulled the senses and always left her with a splitting headache in the morning. But right now, having all her worries temporarily washed away by the fuzzy glow of drunkenness was exactly what she needed.
She'd rather deal with a hangover then spend the whole night tossing and turning about how they had traded one act of evil for another.
Hanji froze mid-step. All the pain and tiredness racking her body faded away and was replaced by an almost giddy excitement as an idea started to take form.
It was reckless, dangerous, totally desperate and absolutely, positively, unquestionably-
"Brilliant." Hanji breathed out, a bit of light returning to her eyes.
Gah! It was so simple! Why didn't she think of it before?!
Oh sure, there would likely be a lot of resistance to it, especially from the recruits (and they might need to physically restrain Ymir) but they could end this tonight!
No more torture. No more screaming.
Everyone wins.
Well, almost everyone.
Later
Sannes couldn't tell how long he had been asleep when a piercing screech of a rusted iron hinge jolted him awake. Lifting his head up, Sannes looked through his one blurry eye, expecting to see the three scouts returning for another round of torture.
However, the person he saw slipping through the partially open door like a cat, stunned him to his core. Sannes thought he might be hallucinating at first, and had to blink several times just to make sure.
"You." He croaked out, bloody spittle running over his dry and broken lips. "What are-"
In a flash, Historia Reiss (the real one this time, and not that freak in a dress) stood before him and clamped a hand over his mouth, forcing him to stay quiet as she glanced fearfully back at the ajar cell door.
Then after a long moment of his heart beating hard in his chest, the girl faced him and cautiously pulled her hand away from his mouth.
"Is it true?" She asked, speaking in a low whisper. "Is my father really looking for me?"
Sannes' gaze hardened immediately. So this was Erwin's game was it? To send in the bastard and hope he'd immediately spill everything to her? Had they already grown that desperate or did they just think he was stupid?
However, just as Sannes was about to open his mouth to tell the girl to fuck off back to her scout masters, she pulled a tiny blade from her sleeve, no bigger than a kitchen knife and held it out before her.
"If… if I can get you out of here, will you take me to him?" She chewed on her lip, nervously wringing her hands around the blade's hilt.
Sannes's mouth shut with a click, stifling the scathing remark about to leave it.
Okay… He hadn't been expecting that. What the hell was going on?
"Why?" Sannes decided to humour the girl, looking her dead in the eye. Even with his face likely resembling mincemeat, he could still pull off an intimidating look.
Reiss didn't waver under his penetrating gaze or turn away like he half expected but instead returned his look with one of her own. Cold and hard, yet brimming with fury lingering just beneath the surface. Around the blade, her fingers and knuckles were turning white from the tightness of her grip.
"They want to trade me." Reiss spat, the tip of the blade trembling in her hands. "I heard them talking about it, planning to offer me up for Eren, as if I was a piece of meat they could barter away."
Sannes blinked in surprise. A trade, huh? Interesting…
Utterly futile though as there was no reason at all for the King to accept, seeing how he held all the cards and that it was only a matter of time before his daughter was caught and brought to him. The scouts might as well try to offer to trade the King's own clothes for the Titan boy for all the good their offer would do.
"They lied to me. They said they would protect me! But they just want to use me like everyone else."
"Why come to me then?" Sannes wheezed out, still doubtful. "Why don't don't you just run away?"
"You think I haven't thought of that?!" Reiss fired back, almost petulantly. "Where would I go? Back down south? One of the districts? How long do you think I'd last on my own before either you or the scouts find me?"
Not long, Sannes privately admitted. While he might not be privy to why the King wants his bastard daughter back, Sannes knew he could bring a tremendous amount of influence and resources to bear to find her. If he wanted to, the King could have her face and name plastered in every newspaper and posters across the land. That alone would make it impossible for her to hide anywhere remotely close to civilisation. At best she'd have to survive in the wilderness, and with the scouts looking for her as well, the bastard wouldn't have a chance.
For all their treason and duplicity, the scouts were unmatched when it came to recon and tracking. That was their primary reason for existing after all. That and being a division to funnel would-be rebels into so they can kill themselves by charging headfirst into a Titan's mouth in their idiotic pursuit of 'freedom'.
"No matter what I do, I'm going to end up with my father eventually, and if that's the case then I want it to be on my terms, not anyone else's!" The girl let out a huff, clearing forcing herself to calm down. "Now, will you take me to him or not?"
Sannes was torn. Everything about this was just a bit too convenient for him. He gets ambushed and captured in the middle of a district, dragged to some unknown location, tortured for hours on end in a fruitless attempt to get information, and then, once the scouts had worn themselves out and taken a break, the girl he was tasked to find turns up out of the blue, offering to free him as long as she can tag along.
Awfully convenient indeed…
But if this wasn't a trap, and Reiss really was acting on her own accord as she claimed, then this might be Sannes's only real chance of escaping this place and to fulfil his orders to retrieve the girl at the same time.
Could he really afford to lose this chance?
"...Alright," Sannes grunted through his missing and blood speckled teeth. "Get me out of here and I'll take you to him."
Reiss's shoulders sagged in relief before nodding and quickly dropping down in front of him to start sawing through the thick ropes holding his ankles. It took longer than expected for the girl to cut through them, but with the cell door still ajar she had to be careful not to make too much noise. Eventually though, one after the other, his legs were freed and Reiss moved to liberate his arms.
Sannes thought about going for the blade as soon as he was free, but decided against it as the last rope fell away freeing his raw bloody wrists. A fight right now would be messy and noisy. Difficult as well, seeing how the girl had stepped back as soon as she finished her work and eyed him cautiously. Clearly the level of trust they had in the other was about equal.
'Fine. I'll get the knife later. Just focus on getting up first.' Sannes told himself, gripping the sides of the chair and fighting through the pain to slowly push himself up. His arms trembled like reeds, threatening to give out at any moment.
But when Sannes took a small step and placed his full weight on his mangled feet for the first time, he knew he was in trouble. It was only through sheer force of will that Sannes stopped himself from crying out in agony as his legs buckled and he was sent tumbling forwards like a falling tree.
No one could walk on with a set of broken, nailless toes like that. It just wasn't humanly possible.
It was only thanks to the girl's impressive reaction time that prevented Sannes from face planting into the ground, as she lept forwards and threw her slender arms across his chest, holding him up as his body convulsed and writhed in searing, white-hot pain.
"No, no, no…" Sannes could faintly hear Reiss's panicky mutterings as she held in steady. "Com'on, you've got to get up. Please!"
Sucking in deep, unsteady breaths in a desperate attempt to centre himself, Sannes managed to bite out a reply. "I-... I can't. I need a few minutes… My feet..."
The girl looked down at his ruined feet, winced, then looked over at the door. Was she planning on leaving him here and making a run for it?
"I'm sorry but we don't have a minute. I only managed to sneak down here cause they're with the other MP right now. We have to go now." She said, tearing her gaze away from the door. "What if I carried you? Would that work?"
Sannes almost laughed. Her, a five foot nothing child with a pair of arms like twigs wanted to carry him? Had being with the scouts rotted her brain or something?
His scepticism must have shone through his battered facial features, for Reiss pursed her lips in annoyance. "I went through the same training as everyone else. I'm not weak." She firmly stated, before muscling herself under his right arm and lifting him up with a surprising amount of strength. "Here, just lean on me. We'll do it this way."
Sannes let out a hiss as he felt his ribs shifting around and weight was once again put on his ruined feet. However, while it still hurt like a bitch, the pain wasn't as indescribable as before. This might just work, as long as he took light steps and leaned heavily on Reiss.
Unfortunately, that didn't bode well for his plan to wrestle the knife from her at some point. Even if he somehow managed it, all it would take was one good kick or shove from her to put him down and as she had just proven, he wouldn't be getting back up without her.
Until they reached the underground or came across other interior squad members, Sannes would be completely reliant on her.
'How the mighty have fallen…' Sannes thought bitterly. 'Relying on a child to walk. Kenny would have my head if he saw this.'
To be honest, Kenny would probably still have his head if he ever found out how he and his men got captured. Returning with Historia was probably the only way he would escape Kenny's wrath, especially if he ended up leaving his team behind.
"Girl, the other MP… did you see who it was?" Sannes asked as the two of them shuffled towards the cell door, remembering what she had said earlier about the scouts being with him.
"I only saw him briefly out the window when you arrived, but I'm pretty sure he had a beard. Bald too."
'Callister.' His squad member's face flashed before his eyes. "And he was the only one? What about a man with a moustache? Did you see anyone like that?"
Historia shook her head. "They only brought back the two of you."
'So they caught Callister but not Ralph. Did he escape the ambush?' Sannes furrowed his brow, hoping his old friend had. Unfortunately, that wouldn't help Callister right now, who would likely be worked over by the scouts day and night if Sannes managed to escape.
"You know we can't help him, right? I can't carry both of you." Historia quietly pointed out, as if able to pick up on his thoughts. And she was right. There was nothing they could do.
"I know." Sannes's mutilated fingers curled into a fist and he forced himself to stay calm, knowing he'd had to leave the man behind. "Let's just get the hell out of here."
'Stay strong you old bastard. I'll be back for you.'
Normally Sannes hated being out in the rain. Being cold, wet and miserable was the life of grunts and footsloggers, not officers like him. But right now, standing outside under the starless sky, feeling the cold drizzle running over his battered face, Sannes didn't mind it.
Not one bit.
It hadn't been easy sneaking through the scout's hideout, limping around and wincing every time his bare feet touched the ground. It felt like stepping on glass shards and Sannes was reduced to leaning even more weight onto his liberator/would be hostage to lessen the pain.
Sannes had to admit to developing some begrudging respect for the girl, as she carefully guided them through the base, not showing any strain at carrying his weight.
Still the brief foray through the main building had been extremely nerve-wracking, hearing faint voices or snoring through closed doors, reminding Sannes with every agonising step they were surrounded by enemies. If they heard so much as a gasp or a creaky floorboard, then they were screwed.
They nearly were as well when one scout, a boy with cropped blond hair wandered out in the hallway right in front of them, rubbing his bleary eyes and yawning as he crossed over to the bathroom without spotting them.
Sannes was sure his heartbeat could have been heard a mile away after that.
Mercifully, that was the closest they came to getting caught before reaching the front door and stepping out in the dark of night, where Sanne now found himself enjoying the rain as it washed away some of the blood and filth he was coated in.
"Come on, the horses are over there." Historia murmured, blowing a wet strand of hair off her face. Her boots squelched in the muddy soil below as she gently carried him towards a barn-like structure. While it was still far too dark to see where he truly was, Sannes guessed he was on some kind of farmstead which probably meant he was within Wall Rose, instead of Sina. Farmland in the interior was such a premium that even the wealthiest noble wouldn't leave a place like this abandoned.
Trying to think in this state was difficult however, and Sannes found his head swimming more and more, as he pushed his already battered body beyond its limits in this escape attempt. Who knew trying to move with broken bones was so exhausting…
His head started to lull, and it was only when Reiss lightly shook him by the shoulder did Sannes wake up and saw they were now in the barn. He had been propped up against one of the support columns and could only make out rough shapes thanks to the smattering of moonlight that shone through the open barn door.
"Hey, don't pass out yet. Just hold on a little longer; we're almost out of here." Historia pleaded before standing and darting over to one of the horses and tugging on its reins. The large brown stallion snorted and shook its head, protesting at its sudden awakening in the dead of night.
Fortunately it only took a few hushed words and a few gentle strokes to soothe the beast enough to allow Historia to quickly slide a bridle onto its head. It was a testament to the only other thing the scouts were good at, and that was breeding dependable mounts, both quick, intelligent and steadfast.
"Girl," Sannes wheezed out, trying to catch Reiss's attention as she pulled the beast away from the water trough where it had been tied towards them, only for him to break into a fit of coughing which sent flecks of blood spilling out of his mouth. Once the fit had passed, he tried again.
"Historia," Sannes corrected himself, realising that since he was in no condition to ride on his own and would have to cling to her like a cripple for a while longer, he might as well start using her given name. Calling her Reiss out loud left a bad taste in his mouth.
"Where are we? What wall?" He stressed, briefly glancing at the open barn door as if the answer would suddenly present itself. Obviously it did not, for beyond the opening only the sound of rain could be heard.
With a final tug on the side strap, the bridle was secured and Historia guided the horse over to him, her pale face standing out in the darkness, strands of damp hair trailing down her face.
"Wall Rose. We're a few miles northeast of Orvud I think." Historia replied, also stealing a glance at the door. Her tone was soft and nervous but not dithering or evasive. He wouldn't have believed her for a second if she said she didn't know but there had been no delay or hesitation in her reply and the answer she had given lined up with what Sannes already suspected.
"Shit…" The faint curse escaped his lips.
"Something wrong?" Historia asked, scratching her cheek with a single finger.
Sannes let out a huff, a cloud of mist forming before his lips. "We've got a long ride ahead of us."
"Well we better get moving, it won't be long before the scouts realise we've-" Was all Historia managed to say before a distant thud of a door being thrown open cut her off and was then followed seconds later by an almighty bang.
It was a deafening explosion of noise, a piercing soundwave which carried through the air and stabbed into the eardrums of all who heard it, leaving them reeling like a physical blow to the head.
Sannes can't even hear himself cursing over the ringing in his ears, but he can make out Historia recoiling and clapping her hands over her ears, pained by the loudness of the bang.
There were only two things which could make a sound like that. One was a cannon and Sannes hadn't seen one of those around so the only other option was an acoustic shell. And that meant...
"PRISONER ESCAPE!" A woman's voice bellowed out, partly muffled by the rain and the residual echo. "SECURE THE HORSES THEN SPREAD OUT AND FIND THEM!"
Panic seized Sannes's racing heart as his head snapped towards Historia. Her ghostly pale face had twisted in fear, lips parted and eyes wide with terror. She had seen the state the scouts had left him in during his captivity and likely feared they might do the same to her if she was caught, especially after trying to betray them.
It would take the scouts less than a minute to cross the field between the main building and the barn, nowhere near enough time for Historia to pick him up off the floor and get him on the horse, especially without a saddle.
They had run out of time and Sannes knew he wasn't getting out of here.
There was only one option left for him to fulfil his duty to his King.
Swallowing down the fist sized lump in his throat, Sannes summoned all the strength he had left into his voice and pointed a crooked finger at the horse. "Get on." He ordered.
Without him to slow her down, Historia might make it out of here and get back to her father. But she had to go, now!
"But what about-" She started to protest, gripping the horse's reins tightly.
"No time!" Sannes fired back, hearing the heavy footfalls and shouting drawing closer and closer. "Just get out of here, girl! Go to your father, tell him where we are."
Historia jumped at his raised voice and moved to obey his command when she paused just before clambering up onto the beast's back.
"Where? Where do I go?" She asked, her bright blue eyes begging him for an answer. "I don't know where he is."
Sannes hesitated. He hadn't been told exactly where the King was, only that if found his daughter was to be taken to the underground city.
Taken to the underground, not sent. There was a big difference between the two and Sannes had sworn an oath. Telling her would be a violation of that promise to keep his King's secrets, but if he didn't tell her then she would either be recaptured here and now, or just wander around lost for Walls know how long.
'Forgive me, your Grace. This is the only way.'
"Head to the capitol." Sannes instructed, putting all his hopes on the shoulders of a 14 year old girl. "Find the entrance to the underground. Someone will be waiting there for you. Now go!"
However, as soon as the words left his cracked lips, Historia's face changed. Like ice being exposed to a roaring fire, the fear in her eyes vanished and her panicked expression at the rapidly approaching footfalls melted away and was replaced by a smug, self-satisfied smile.
"The underground, huh? Interesting..." Historia brought her hands together, letting a single clap ring around through the barn. A split second later two figures shrouded in darkness dropped from the rafters above, landing either side of the stupefy Sannes, their blades coming to a halt a hair's width away from his neck.
One was Captain Levi, who glaring down at him in disgust and the other, the freak in the alley who sent him flying.
"Wha-" Sannes choked out, instinctively flinching away from the blades pressing himself tight against the post, stunned and reeling at what had just occurred.
He… he had been betrayed… it was a trap… a set up...
"Excellent work Historia." A commanding voice filled the barn as a third figure landed before Sannes, broad-shouldered and tall, towering over everyone else with ease. His presence was the final twist of the knife in Sannes' back, a lump of cold poison settling in his stomach as he realised what he had done.
"Thank you, Commander." Historia said with respectful nod, as a fourth and final person, a tall and slender girl whose face was covered in freckles, landed beside the short blond and pulled her into a hug.
Ignoring the overt display of affection between his troops, Erwin Smith knelt before the horrified Sannes, victory shining in his icy blue eyes.
"As I said before Sannes, one way or another. Take him back to his cell."
Sannes barely felt Levi's hands grabbing his collar as he was dragged away, broken with despair.
Two in the morning wasn't the most desirable time to start planning an operation. Still, seeing as everyone was already awake Erwin decided there was no reason to delay, not when their comrades' lives were on the line.
And so, the scouts once more filed into the temporary operations room where they had planned the strike on Orvud, with only a few bleary eyes and muffled yawns after such a long night.
However, before they could even start planning in earnest, there was an issue. An issue that came in the form of the bare table where the map of Orvud had been laid out that morning.
"Okay, so first problem." Hanji cleared her throat, catching everyone's attention as she gestured to the table. "We have no map of the underground city, and we're unlikely to find one. They simply don't exist, and unless we're prepared to break into the Royal Archives first in the hope they might have the original blueprints of the city, we'll be going into this blind."
"And that leads to the next problem," Erwin spoke up, taking over the briefing. "There is only one way in and out of the underground, through a tunnel network in Mitras, which is guarded at all times by the Military Police both on the surface and where it enters the city. Since we have no way of knowing how far this conspiracy goes with the division, we have to assume that every MP we encounter may be working against us. If we're spotted approaching the entrance, the alarm will be raised, and our enemy will have plenty of time to prepare."
A wave of grimaces swept through the room as everyone from the Commander to Connie could see how tactically unsound that was. The seventeen of them going in totally blind against God only knows how many MPs, many of which would be wearing gear that had been purposely designed to counter them, all while having to find their comrades in one of the most densely populated areas within the Walls.
It was a bloodbath in the making, and that was coming from the division where a 30% casualty rate was considered 'normal'.
"Is there no other way?" Nifa asked, sounding as disheartened as everyone else felt. "What if we disguised ourselves and snuck in? The MPs might recognise you and Captain Levi, Commander, but the rest of us are nobodies to them."
Erwin shook his head. "I'm afraid that won't work. Our enemy is incredibly resourceful, so we can't dismiss the possibility they have a profile on everyone within the corp. Their attacks on us weren't just opportunistic strikes, but two extensively planned, near-simultaneous ambushes. They knew exactly where we were and our strength in the area, so must have been monitoring us for a while."
A few eyes darted towards Historia who wore a small scowl on her face. The high she had been feeling from successfully tricking Sannes into revealing Eren's location had quickly turned sour in the face of the numerous issues standing between them and their missing friend and comrade.
"And even if that wasn't the case, there's still the issue of licenses." Erwin continued, absently tapping his finger against the table. "Everyone who passes through the underground requires a license and those are only issued by the central government. Acquiring or creating enough forgeries in time would be... problematic."
And problematic for Erwin Smith meant downright impossible for everyone else.
"So a frontal assault is our only option?" Mikasa asked, drawing some eyes of her own. It was unusual to hear her voice during these planning sessions, since the ebony-haired girl was normally content with simply observing the proceedings.
It was impossible to tell what she really thought of the idea, but few doubted her willingness to try.
"If we cause some kind of large scale incident in the Capitol as a distraction, perhaps starting a fire or setting off an explosion, we might be able to draw some of the MPs away, but otherwise, yes, we will have to force the entrance." The grim confirmation from their Commander was like the final nail in a coffin.
How were they going to get their comrades back like this? This wasn't like the chapel. They didn't go in blind at the chapel, and didn't have to worry about civilians and non-combatants, and their foe hadn't been expecting them. None of those advantages would be present in the underground.
The Survey Corp might be used to desperate gambles, but at least those plans came with a modicum of chance. This would be more like fighting a Titan with their bare hands. Their little strike force simply didn't have the numbers or the intel required to pull something like this off.
"No."
The word rang out from the corner of the room, harsh, gravelly and bitter. Spat out like a curse.
Ever since the MP's blurted confession in the barn, Levi had been quiet, disturbingly so, even by his own standards. He had spoken to no one, barely acknowledging anything going on around him, and scaring off anyone who might dare approach him with the truly thunderous expression which was stuck on his face.
Now that he had finally broken his own silent brooding, Captain Levi pushed himself off the wall, movements stiff and rigid. The other scouts eyed him warily as he stepped towards the table, the old floorboards creaking under his heavy footfalls.
Sasha, who had previously been standing in between Levi and table, had nearly tripped over in her haste to get out the Captain's way, bumping into Jean who quickly pulled her to his side without a word.
"There's another way." Levi announced, grinding his teeth together as he forced out the statement. "I need a map of the interior."
The Captain looked pointedly at Hanji as he said this, causing the scientist to scramble over to her stack of maps without any of her usual quips or teasing. Eccentric she might be, but Hanji could still read a room, and she could tell that Levi was not in the mood.
Flicking through the numerous maps she had acquired, Hanji pulled out one that covered Wall Sina's interior and slapped it down on the table, rolling it out so everyone could see. It was a few years old, made just after the fall of Maria when the government had carried out extensive surveys of their remaining land, in the hopes of finding new farmland and resources which had been lost with Maria.
That was one of the few all-round good decisions made by the government in those first few chaotic years.
Leaning over the ordnance map, Levi's dark eyes swept over the features and landmarks which filled the brownish paper. He ignored the urban areas such as the Capital, and the factory towns. Instead, he focused on the numerous wooded areas and forests dotted all over the interior between the hubs of Humanity.
His finger came down hard on one such place, a few miles northeast of Mitras, flanked by a spine of mountains.
"Here." Levi grunted out. "There's a sinkhole which connects into the underground city through some caves. We can use that to bypass the MPs."
Pulling his finger back, Levi rested his hands palm down on the table as he leaned forwards. "Too many new faces will draw attention but a small team could sneak down without being detected."
That was all he said, but it was enough to make the group of scouts look at each other in surprise. Most of them had only heard rumours and tales of the underground city before, and yet here was their Captain revealing a hidden entrance into this already secretive place. Some may have been curious about how Levi knew that, but of course, none were brave enough to ask.
"I see." Erwin said slowly, narrowing his eyes at the spot Levi had pointed out. "So we send a small infiltration team down the sinkhole to lay the groundwork for this mission. Set up a forward base, carry out recon and get a precise location on Eren and Petra."
"It's better than a full-on blind assault, that's for sure." Hanji added with a thoughtful look. "But with a smaller team would we even be able to rescue them? The crystal cave was sketchy enough but the underground is pretty much hostile territory. We could be up against dozens of MPs, tens of dozens even."
"A larger team would be preferable." Erwin admitted with a muted sigh.
"But the more people we sneak into the underground the more likely we are to be detected. Damned if we do, damned if we don't." Hanji concluded with a grim smile, running a hand through her hair. "Well ain't this a doozy."
"What if we kept the reinforcements above ground?" Armin suggested, gesturing towards the spot Levi had pointed out, his face flushing as Erwin and Hanji turned to look at him expectantly. "Um, if we set up a camp around the sinkhole then once the underground team has gathered enough intel we could bring everyone down and start the attack. We'd keep the element of surprise then."
Hanji let out a faint hum as she ran the idea through her head. She had a similar thought, but had been very sceptical about its chances of success. Like most forests within the walls, it was almost inevitable that poachers would be operating in or around it, and one could wander across their camp. If the poacher wasn't… dealt with… they might report their location to the MPs or start spreading rumours, both of which would bring the MPs running.
But the biggest risk of all was how thin they would be spreading themselves by splitting up like that. If something happened and the underground team needed help it could be hours, days even before the surface team realised something was wrong. And the same in reverse, if their campsite was discovered, the underground team wouldn't know they had been compromised until it was too late.
Until the time came to launch their rescue mission, they would essentially be two separate entities, unable to easily communicate or assist the other in a pinch.
Admittedly it wouldn't be much different from their strike force's current situation with the rest of the corp, but splitting up even more before heading into enemy territory flew in the face of the corp's operational doctrine. Communication and support. The two most vital components of a successful mission, and the two things they would be lacking by splitting up.
However, while the risks were high, so were the potential rewards. Reconnaissance, intel, maps made with first-hand knowledge, a proper plan. If they managed to keep their forest camp hidden, they could safely bring in additional reinforcements from headquarters while they waited.
Seventeen scouts against the MPs would be a tough fight, even with Levi among them, but what if they had thirty scouts instead? Seventy? A hundred?
If everything worked out perfectly, they could bring the strength and fury of the survey corp crashing down on Mr Reiss like an avalanche for daring to take two of their own.
If.
Hanji clicked her tongue. "Well that could tip the scales in our favour if we're able to gather enough strength before the attack, but it would leave us vulnerable to being taken out piecemeal."
It was times like this when Hanji was glad she wasn't in charge. Having to decide between splitting up and waiting, possibly for days until the right moment, or sticking together and launching an all or nothing assault sounded like a nightmare scenario to her.
The longer they waited the sooner Braun and Hoover would return, and bring about Humanity's subsequent extinction. There was also the growing chance that Mr Reiss might eventually give up trying to capture Historia and carry out whatever ceremony he had planned without her.
But if they gambled everything on one desperate assault and failed, then they would have lost everything. Even if some of them managed to survive and escape the underground (which was by no means guaranteed) it's unlikely they would have the opportunity or the power to try again.
"Your call, Commander." She said, looking at the man whose job it was to make this kind of impossible decision.
Erwin didn't answer straight away, as he scrutinised that map with a critical eye. This was not a decision that could be made at the drop of a hat, not with all that rest upon it.
Slowly, Erwin turned his head towards Levi and asked softly. "What are our odds if we go straight in?"
Levi held Erwin's gaze, and while he gave no response, the sour look in his eye was answer enough for the imposing Commander.
Erwin looked back at the map, his eyes rapidly darting between the Capital and the sinkhole. He said nothing for several moments as he carefully weighed up his options and arrived at the same conclusion Hanji had.
Waiting was dangerous but going in blind was worse. And with that, Erwin made his decision.
"Very well, we'll go with the sinkhole." Pushing himself back from the table, Erwin addressed the room with a firm voice. "Levi will lead a team into the underground while the rest set up camp on the surface. In the meantime, I will head back to HQ and gather the reinforcements we need."
Maybe start a few civil disturbances here and there as well, just to keep the MPs busy. It shouldn't be too difficult to instigate a riot in one of the inner districts with all the frightened people crammed into them thanks to the partial evacuation.
"We'll be moving out at first light, so I suggest you grab some shut-eye while you can. We have a difficult few days ahead of us and I need you all at your best. Dismissed."
A string of salutes and "Yes Sir"s followed the dismissal and the room was quickly emptied. However, Hanji and Levi stayed behind, easily picking up on Erwin's unspoken request for them to remain. There was still much for the three of them to discuss, topics which couldn't be brought up in front of the younger and more junior scouts.
Despite there only being three bodies in the room, the air felt stuffy and hot, with a noticeable tension hanging over them like a sickness. Levi hadn't moved a muscle since he last spoke, fixed to the spot like a statue, the muscles in his back drawn tight like a coiled rope.
It was time to address the Titan in the room.
Erwin took a calming breath.
"Levi," He started, all too aware of what the man must be thinking but was off by a sharp bang which resonated loudly through the modest room.
"Don't," Levi warned, his fist now embedded half an inch into the solid wood table top, missing the map by an inch. "Just don't."
Erwin was unperturbed. "The underground was just one of many possibilities, Levi. We had no way of knowing for sure."
"I should have known." The shorter man spat, glowering at the web of cracks fanning out from around his fist. "Everything is a game to that psycho. Of course he would take them there."
Hanji looked warily between the two men then down at Levi's fist. "I'm missing something here, aren't I?"
The question hung in the air like a bad smell and when neither Erwin nor Levi rushed to answer, Hanji let out a small huff and probed further. "I'm guessing this 'psycho' you're talking about the Kenny person you warned us about, right? The one who attacked you. Why would he take Eren and Petra to the underground?"
Hanji knew that Levi had been born or at least lived down there for a while, remembering that odd mission many years ago when Erwin had gone down there with Mike and a few others, and returned with three new recruits who lacked any formal training yet could operate 3DM like the best of them. It was impossible to forget the introduction ceremony of three underground criminals who were to be their new comrades.
Flagen looked like he was about to combust when Shadis had assigned them to him.
However, while that explained how Levi knew about a secret entrance it didn't explain who Kenny was or why Levi thought he should've known where Eren and Petra were. Obviously there must be some kind of history between the two men, and her inquisitive nature pushed her to find out.
"Because it's his city." Levi answered, yanking his fist out of the table, bringing a few splinters with it. "His own personal kingdom in the depths. Just hearing his name is enough to make the worst gangs cower in fear."
"Ah. So I'm guessing you had run-ins with him before then?" Hanji suggested, starting to put two and two together as she watched a drop of blood trailing down Levi's middle finger from his grazed knuckle.
With a deepening scowl, Levi removed the blood with a flick of his hand. "Something like that." He reluctantly confessed, sounding almost pained by the admission.
If Hanji was curious before, now she was intrigued. This didn't sound like bad blood from an old fight or gang war in Levi's past. This sounded personal.
Levi grit his teeth. After years of keeping the many secrets of his past hidden close to his chest the idea of telling anyone, even the two people he trusted the most, was almost unthinkable. He had got by for years without saying a damn thing, but now he had no choice.
With what happened Kenny was no longer just a dark shadow in his past, but a real and present threat to everyone in this building.
It was time.
With a sigh Levi started to speak, rubbing his thumb over his bloodied knuckle. "You know I was born there, right? In the underground?"
It was a rhetorical question, but he got two quick nods in reply.
"The whole place is a dirty, poverty ridden shithole. Practically lawless beyond what rules the local gang has. Crime is only way most people can survive down there, if the lack of sunlight doesn't fuck up your legs first. Not even the Titans would want that hell hole."
"Tsk. For the first few years of my life it was just me and my mother. Things were pretty shitty but we got by… for a while."
There was a pause as Levi's eyes took on a distant look, as he recalled the handful of memories he still had of his mother. When he started up again, his voice lacked any of its usual sharpness. Now it was alway soft, gentle.
"She died when I was around six years old — some disease she caught. We had no money for medicine, and her sickness meant she couldn't… work anymore. I didn't have anywhere else to go, so I stayed in that room for weeks after she died. Stayed until all the food ran out… didn't leave even when I started to starve. Stupid little brat I was." Levi blinked hard and for a split second Hanji could have sworn she saw his eyes glistening.
It must have been a trick of the light, however, for when Humanity's strongest blinked again it was gone, replaced with a hard granite stare that bore into the table between them.
"Then, one day, he turned up, throwing open the door and striding in like he owned the place. Didn't even notice me at first, just looked at my mother and shook his head, mumbling her name to himself like an idiot. When he finally spotted me, he just asked if I was alive and told me his name. Then he just slumped against the wall and sat there for nearly an hour. Didn't say anything else until he got up to leave. Told me to follow him if I wanted to live. I still don't know why, but I did."
"He fed me, clothed me, then started to train me. How to fight. How to deal with others. How to carry myself in the underground. He 'raised' me, if you could call it that." Levi's hand twitched at his side as more red droplets threatened to fall. "Kenny stuck around until I was a teenager, then he just left without a word and the next time I saw him it was in Hermina."
"Kenny always treated the world like one big joke where everything was either not worth caring about or some fleeting amusement to pass the time. This whole thing is his latest game. He knew I would come after him and my squad, so he brought them to where it started between us. That sort of shit appeals to him."
Hanji let out a soft 'Oh.' as Levi finished his story, unsure what else to say. At least she finally understood why Levi had been so on edge recently. This was still a deep-seated personal issue for him, and this upcoming mission to the underground wasn't just an unwanted homecoming but a really twisted reunion as well.
Well shit.
But just then a stray thought crossed her mind. Levi had told them before how Kenny would be the most dangerous enemy they would ever face, beyond even the Titans. A merciless, psychotic serial killer with hundreds of murders to his name.
Kenny was the serial killer. The Ripper.
A heartless monster who kills for fun, and hunted MPs like it was a sport, spreading fear and terror through the interior for untold years.
A heartless monster who was just as strong and dangerous as Levi.
A heartless monster who had taken in a starving child and kept them - if not safe - at least alive until they could manage on their own.
A heartless monster who had apparently known Levi's mother by name...
The question about who exactly Kenny was to Levi was already half-formed on her lips when Erwin cleared his throat, cutting Hanji off and preventing her from stepping on that particular eggshell of a topic.
"Can you beat him?" Erwin plainly asks.
Levi, for perhaps the first time in years, hesitates. He had asked himself that question so many times before yet could never answer it. Kenny had always been holding back every time they had trained; never breaking a sweat even as he effortlessly kicked him around.
Levi had hoped that the man might be weaker thanks to age. Kenny would be near fifty but if his performance at Hermina was anything to go by, Kenny had only gotten stronger.
"I don't know, but I can hold him off long enough for you to get Eren and Petra out. That's all that matters."
Erwin and Hanji shared a quick look. Losing Levi like that, even if it allowed them to rescue Eren and Petra, would be a devastating blow to the corp and one they would struggle to recover from. He had been their ace in the hole for so many years that it was hard to imagine what they would do without him.
"And before you ask, Erwin, I've already told Ackerman to stay away from Kenny. I am not throwing a child at him as a distraction."
"She's probably the strongest soldier we have after you, Levi." Erwin replied, not denying Levi's accusation.
"And Kenny would still kill her just as easily. Have Ackerman focus on securing Eren instead, get him out safely. There's no point throwing her life away down there, not with her potential. Have Mike or Petra train her for a few years and she could be better than I ever was."
There was a brief lull in the discussion following Levi's oddly calm announcement that this could be his last mission. Even more so at him naming Mikasa as a successor of kind.
"Have you decided who's joining you for the infiltration?" Erwin questioned, deciding to move away from the topic of Kenny for now. They would have words about it later though.
It would be a cold day in hell before Erwin Smith allowed Levi to die like that.
"Yeah. No one cares about kids down there, so the brats would be able to move around more freely."
"I guess that makes sense. I'm concerned about Jean and Marco though, they went through a lot earlier, they might not be ready for another mission." Hanji pointed out, still shaken from what she had learnt. "And what about Historia? Is she coming with us or going back to HQ?"
"I'll leave Jean and Marco's participation up to you two. If you believe they can't handle it then leave them at camp. As for Historia," Erwin's eyes briefly flickered towards the closed door where the girl in question had passed through a few minutes ago. "She stays with you."
Hanji cocked her head and raised an eye, wondering why Erwin wanted them to bring Historia towards her father?
"She's proven her loyalty to us and between Mikasa and yourself, Levi, there are few places safer for the girl to be" Erwin evenly explained before his expression hardened and his voice turned cold and calculative. "And as we have seen she's a very effective weapon against our enemy, and while I have my doubts Mr Reiss cares about his daughter on a personal level considering how he treated her before, Historia clearly has a role to play in whatever it is he's planning. You may be able to use that need against him."
It took a moment for Hanji to catch on to what Erwin was suggesting.
"What, you mean like a hostage?" She blurted out, while Levi clicked his tongue in disdain.
Erwin didn't even blink.
"Yes."
Historia was undoubtedly one of them now, Erwin freely acknowledged that. She had told them about the cave, and played a vital role in extracting much needed information from the MPs. They'd still be trying to beat an answer out of the MPs without her.
However, while her deception of the MP had been laudable, by getting them a location, Historia had lost her status as the corps only lead and thus was no longer the irreplaceable asset she had been before. She was still important of course, more so than most, but compared to Eren's importance to Humanity, she was just another soldier now. And Erwin had always been willing to trade soldiers for victory, no matter how heavy it weighed on his heart.
There was no future for them without Eren and if the cost of guaranteeing his freedom was Historia's trust or even her life, then it was a price Erwin was willing to pay.
Omake #2 - Cold hands and Girl power.
As the broken MP was dragged back to his cell, and Historia hoisted up onto Ymir's shoulders in celebration, Connie watched on in befuddlement, scratching his head and looking around as if everyone had just lost their minds.
"I'm so confused right now." Connie mumbled to himself as he tried to deal with the mental whiplash of the last few minutes.
He had just been on the verge of sleep after coming back from the toilet when all of a sudden Hanji had come bursting into the room he was sharing with Jean and Marco (and Armin as well, but the blond had been strangely absent at the time) and woke them all up for a wordless shout.
Years of conditioning and training instantly kicked in, and all three of them, semi-undressed as they were, snapped to attention before the occasionally unhinged woman. Fortunately, before the mortification and embarrassment even had a chance to rear its head, Hanji had told them to get dressed and follow her.
Connie didn't even have the time to put on his socks, and just forced his bare feet into his boots and scrambled out the bed room. Hanji and her squad were waiting for them at the door, and as they approached Hanji pressed a finger to her lips, silencing them before they could ask what was going on.
Connie feared they were under attack, a repeat of what happened at the ranch with the MPs. He felt totally exposed then, even more than in the bedroom as he stood awkwardly by the door lacking any sort of weapon.
Hanji was peering through a peep hole in the door, and after what felt like an interminable long time, she stood up, slotting one of those ear-splittingly loud acoustic shells to her signal gun and threw the door open. Connie just managed to clamp his hands over his ears as she fired it into the air.
Those things were loud enough to wake the dead, and before Connie's ears had even stopped ringing, Hanji pointed towards the barn and yelled "Prisoner escape!" at the top of her lungs.
And so through the rain and mud, they ran to where the horses were being kept, making a ridiculous amount of noise frankly, like they were actively trying to alert every living thing for a hundred miles.
Connie wasn't sure what they would find in the barn when they all skidded to a halt by the open door, but seeing one of the MPs sprawled out on the ground, held at sword point by Captain Levi and Mikasa, while Commander Erwin crouched in front of him was not it.
Seriously, what the fuck was going on?!
"Guess who?" A familiar voice chimed as a pair of cold, wet arms were wrapped around his chest from behind, further soaking his already rain spotted shirt.
"GAH!" Connie jumped and let out a cry as the frigid water seeped through the thin fabric and reached his skin. He tried futility to escape the entrapping arms as a mop of waterlogged hair entered his peripheral vision and rested on his shoulder, causing yet more ice-cold water to infuse into his clothes.
"Get off Sash. You're freezing!" He protested, gingerly pawing at the arms. However, that only succeeded in making Sasha tightening her chilly embrace.
"I know. That's what happens when you're out in the rain for hours. So shuddup and share the warmth." The sound of her clattering teeth as she said that caused Connie's struggling to falter.
Had it been Jean or Ymir resting on him like that, Connie would have shoved them by now, knowing they were only doing this to annoy him, but he could feel Sasha genuinely shivering against his back and he was pretty sure her fingers tips hadn't been blue the last time he saw them.
So with a defeated sigh, Connie allowed his shoulders to slump and accepted his new reality as a living hot water bottle. It's not like pushing Sasha off now would magically make his shirt dry again.
"Why are you even out here anyway?" Connie grumpily asked as a similarly wet-looking Armin walked past them, heading towards Historia, Ymir and Mikasa, as he dripped water everywhere.
Now that Connie had a clear moment to think without the rush of adrenaline coursing through his veins, it finally dawned on him that of the four of them only Historia was missing her gear.
'What the- when did they have time to put their gear on?! I barely had time to get dressed!'
More confused than ever, Connie glanced down to his right and spotted a sword box and gas canister jutting out at Sasha's hip.
"And why do you have your gear on?!" He added as he looked back up and stared at the sodden mass of hair still resting on his shoulder.
"Well how else were me and Armin supposed to get on the roof? 's not like we can fly..." Voice muffled against his shoulder, Sasha replied almost sarcastically, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world and he was an idiot for asking.
Connie closed his eyes and exhaled through his nose. Why did he even bother...
"Why were you on the roof in the first place?" He tried again, pressing the point and hoping to get a proper answer this time.
No longer shivering, Sasha let out a yawn as she leaned further onto him, causing the bowstring crossed over her chest to press into his back.
"All part of the plan, dummy. Had to relay Historia's signal to Hanji somehow."
"...Eh? What plan?"
That seemed to wake Sasha up as she lifted her head from his shoulder, revealing her pale lips and tired, bloodshot eyes. "Eh? Wait… You don't know?"
"Know what?!"
"About the fake break out plan?"
"The what plan?!" Connie's mouth dropped open and his eyes went wide. "You're just pulling my leg, right? Right?"
Sasha stared at him for a moment with wide-eyed disbelief before her shoulders started to shake and she bit down on her tongue, trying to hide her giggles.
"Hey! Don't laugh! It's not funny!" His protests fell on deaf ears, and only seemed to encourage Sasha's sniggering.
The giggling fit and Connie's humiliation only ended when Mikasa walked over and bopped Sasha on the head with the flat of her hand.
"Stop that, you're making a scene." Mikasa softly chastised, as Sasha let out a pitiful whine, finally releasing her double armed grip so one hand could rub the spot where Mikasa's hand had landed.
Mikasa rolled her eyes at Sasha's pouting before giving Connie something close to a sheepish look. "The Captain needed people on the roof to flag Hanji when to set off the acoustic shell. Sasha forgot to bring her cloak."
"Mikasa!" Sasha moaned, embarrassed by the admittance but Connie was too busy dealing with what he had just heard to pay much attention to the brief interaction.
So Sasha wasn't bullshitting him.
"Wait, so the Captain let you guys take part, but not us us?" Connie gestured at the two girls' 3DM gear then over Jean and Marco who were nearby and listening in.
Connie caught the scowl on Jean's face as he nodded in agreement, visibly upset at being kept out of the loop while Marco just watched on silently, deep shadows under his eyes.
"Aww, don't be upset cue ball." Ymir smugly announced, having heard Connie's complaint and rested a hand on her hip. "There's no shame in being left out. The Captain just knew he needed a bit of girl power to get the job done right, ya know?"
Armin raised an eye at that, and rested a hand on his hip box, with a pointed look through his matted hair.
Seeing this out the corner of her eye, Ymir gave a small shrug, causing the still grinning Historia to bob up and down. "Eh, still counts. You can rock a dress better than me, Arlert, so you've got honorary status."
The look on Armin's face at that remark was very familiar to Connie, having seen that look of resigned acceptance on Shadis's face whenever the old instructor had caught him doing something stupid or screwing around for the thousandth time.
It was the look of a man who knew he'd never be able to change Ymir's mind and had finally accepted the futility of trying.
Amusingly Mikasa looked more annoyed at the comment than Armin himself. However since it was Ymir who said it, and thus one of the few people immune to Mikasa's glares, the taller girl just reached over and clapped Armin on the shoulder with a smirk. "Come on, crack a smile. We've found your wayward boyfriend, just like I told you."
The look was still plastered on Armin's face, but this time there was definitely a small smile there as well.
"Ya know, I'm surprised you didn't kick off more a stink about this plan, Ymir." Sasha pointed out, still leaning against Connie. "It was pretty risky if you asked me."
"She wanted to at first." Historia intersected before Ymir could answer, tapping the top of her girlfriend's head. "But I brought her around. Wasn't too hard really."
There was a loaded pause at that, giving each member of the 104th the chance to jump to their own conclusions before Ymir clicked her tongue and folded her arms across her chest, trapping Historia's dangling feet.
"You guys are perverts. Hissy here just reminded me that the sooner we get Yeager back, the sooner we can stop sleeping in abandoned buildings and shitting in the woods like animals. Honestly, what sort of girl do you take me for?"
Connie coughed into a fist. "Well since you asked…"
"Finish that, cue ball, and my boot will be planted so far up your arse that you'll need a Titan to pull it out."
After carefully considering his options Connie wisely decided to save that particular insult for another time. Maybe when he was geared up and Ymir wasn't.
"So what do we do now?" Marco asked, his hoarse voice breaking the quiet.
Connie suppressed a flinch at how different the soft spoken boy sounded. That was probably the first time Marco had spoken aloud to everyone since they had returned from Orvud.
While he may not have witnessed what happened, Connie was smart enough to piece together what had happened in that alleyway and what Marco had done. He didn't know what he should say to Marco or if he should even say anything at all.
There was a small part of Connie however that was almost glad that Marco had been the first one of them to kill someone and not him. It was a terrible thing to say about a friend, and Connie hated himself for even thinking it but it was true. Ever since that night in the old castle where the Captain and Commander had explained the mission, Connie knew it would happen eventually.
Things had already gone too far. A few months ago he had been training to fight Titans, now he had taken part in a mission to kidnap some MPs so they could be tortured for information. They were already bad people, but at least he wouldn't be the first.
"We go get the suicidal block head back." Jean announced, the sheer determination in his voice shaking Connie from his somber thoughts. "We get him back, then ask how he got his dumbass kidnapped in the first place."
"Ha! Jeanboy's got it!" Ymir let out a cheer before cocking her head towards the older scouts' retreating forms as they headed back to the main building. "Let's see what Commander Eyebrows has planned, then we can go get our pet idiot back."
"Ymir." Mikasa warned, but the audible relief in her voice at finally finding out where Eren was had ruined much of the effect.
"Sorry scarfy, I can't hear you over the sound of all the chores I'm going to unload on Yeager as payment for rescuing him. Goodbye laundry duty!" Ymir let out another cheer as she strode past Mikasa, heading toward the main building as Historia shot Mikasa an apologetic smile.
Mikasa let out a huff as Armin came over and stood beside her, arms lightly brushing together. While maybe not happy, it was clear to Connie that now that they knew where Eren was both of them appeared far less troubled than they had been recently, and not even Ymir at her most Ymir-ness could change that.
Connie was happy for them.
"...so can I give Eren my cleaning duty once we get him back?" Sasha asked after mulling over Ymir's parting statement.
The withering glare Mikasa gave her before shooing everyone out of the barn after Ymir ended the huntress' hopes and dreams of the cleaning duty free life right then and there.
It was worth a try at least.
"Hey Rowboat, can you express your thoughts on the recent snk chapters in six words or less?" I hear no one ask. Well here's your answer:
There have been some interesting decisions.
Take of that what you may.
(However, man, that scene with Levi and him tearing up when thinking of all his now dead friends really got to me. Just let the poor man rest.)