"Yah!"
A herd of horses rode out of the now deserted wooden house, leaving nothing but a lingering dust cloud in their wake. Rooms lay bare, curtains hung still, living and dining room furniture placed as if they were never touched in the first place. Crockery and cutlery had been placed back into the pantry cupboards, sparkling clean as if they had just come out of manufacturing.
Further away, a pack of green fabric raced through the forest. More specifically, a pack of Survey Corps soldiers rode away from the scene, their green wings flapping silently behind them. No one spoke a word. With Levi leading the way, the rest of us simply followed his direction. After what seemed like another 20 miles, the Captain held up his hand and we all stopped. Trees of all sizes surrounded us.
"We should be safe here for the time being."
At this cue, everyone jumped off their horses and cautiously glanced around for any surprises attacks.
"That was too close. If we had left any later…" Armin's voice quietly echoed through the bush and I joined a small group who were peering out over a hill-side cliff. A small trail of smoke rose from the distance, most likely from the MP's trying to smoke us out of the safety house. Mikasa nodded grimly, quiet as ever.
"Levi."
Hanji's voice called out to us and we headed back into the darkness of the forest.
"What is it?" My best friend waved the younger cadets away and they began to set up a temporary camp. Hanji's squad and Levi's team gathered together, eager for a plan.
"Word is Erwin's been arrested back in the Trost district. I'm going back for him. What are you going to do with the kids here?"
I glanced over at the 104th cadets, surprisingly at ease despite running for their lives. I guess being among friends helps soothe the nerves.
"We'll be staying out of civilisation and in the forests for now. However, we'll have to gather supplies soon enough so we'll hit the nearest town for that. I'll need a few of your members."
Hanji nodded.
"I can spare you a few. Would make it easier for me to sneak into Trost anyway." Hanji split up her team, with three to stay with us, leaving her with just two. Levi then turned directly to me, calm as ever. I raised an eyebrow.
"I'm handing the Special Ops to you, Hazura."
"What?!" I exclaimed, stepping back from shock. I whirled around to take in the surprised faces from the rest of the team.
However, there were none. They didn't seem taken aback like I was. I zeroed in on Jack, who began to explain it.
"I know it seems sudden but we talked about it while you were back in Trost. With no leader to the 104th group and with 2 of those members needing protection, Levi can't handle two teams efficiently. Everyone thought it was best that Levi assume the role of leader over the 104th and you step up as Special Ops."
"Everyone?" I questioned, doubtful. "You didn't all just nod and agree with the Captain, did you?"
"We'll be happy to follow you Hazura. That's the truth." Sophie declared, saluting. Four other fists copied her own, held proudly over their hearts. I looked over my friends and at their unwavering faces. My resolved strengthened and I saluted back to them, clenching my fists tight.
"All right then. I'd be honoured to lead you all. Don't expect me to go easy on you just because I'm no Levi."
The tension broke and we all broke out into chuckles. Sighing in relief, I crossed my arms and flicked my head towards the horses.
"It's getting late. Help out the kids with setting up camp and we'll organize watchouts later."
The Special Ops nodded and walked off. Hanji and her team also left us, discussing something else. Soon, it was just me and Levi.
"I was not expecting that." I commented, glancing over at him. His grey eyes met mine easily.
"I have faith in you. It wasn't something hard to do."
Something hard to do…
With that, my mind wandered back to earlier in the day, when I made the difficult decision to fight against the MP officers. My eyes squeezed shut automatically, blocking the scene temporarily.
I chose to fight for the Survey Corps. I chose to fight for Humanity. Never did I think I would fight against Humanity too.
"Hazura. Hazura. Rina."
I gasped at the loud voice and my eyes flew open. I realised that it wasn't a loud voice, but a close voice. Levi had stepped closer, one hand on my shoulder and a slight worried look in his face. It smoothed out into an annoyance when I locked gazes.
"Is this the time to be daydreaming?"
"Uh no, sorry." I gently pulled from his grip and turned to leave. "We should go help-"
"Stop."
I paused, registering Levi's soft grip on my wrist.
"They can handle unpacking the horses. We can take first watch." He dragged me further into the darkening forest before indicating upwards. I sighed in defeat and reeled myself up into one of the bigger trees. Levi always had a knack for reading my face. The Corporal followed suit. I sat on a branch while he leaned against the trunk, gazing at me.
"How many?"
Of course, there was no beating around the bush with him.
"Two." I answered, interlacing my fingers together. We remained quiet after that, lost in our own thoughts.
"You need to accept that you now have blood on your hands. We all have for a while now actually. There's a theory, and unfortunately there's evidence, that suggests Titans were once humans."
My eyes widened and I spun to face Levi's resting face.
"If you don't come to terms with it, it's likely even more people will die. If you didn't make it out of the district alive and with Erwin's note, the whole of the Survey Corps could have collapsed then and there. If we want to survive-"
"-we can't hesitate." I finished, clenching my fingers. "I know. It doesn't make it any easier though."
"The Survey Corps is never easy." There was a slight scruffle as the Captain took a seat next to me, our legs swinging off the branch.
I smiled as I recognized the saying. Levi had said that once before when we had met Petra's father. I snuck a look over to my friend, taking in his side profile. I swear he still looked the same to when he first joined the Scouting Legion. The world as we knew it was changing but I guess not everything has to change with it. Grinning, I leaned over and bumped his shoulder with mine.
"Thanks."
His steel grey eyes glanced over at me, taking note of my wide grin. He rolled his eyes and turned away again, but not before I caught his mouth turning up into a smile.
"Tch. Anytime."