Part Three: Behemoth

Poppy had never seen a titan. Even most people living in the outermost wall never had, at least not until the fall. Poppy lived in the middle ring. As unfathomable as it was that the outer wall could be breached, it was impossible for such a fate to claim Wall Rose.

Until it did.

Isolated in the woods, Poppy had no screams of civilization to alert her, only the faraway sirens from the wall and the eerie instinct that something had changed. Something in the sounds of the trees, in the animal noise, something off. She'd always trusted her instincts.

The previous winter had claimed her mother as it had claimed so many. The closest neighbor was a three-mile ride, and Poppy's fear urged her to seek companionship, but she didn't saddle her horse. Instead, she hitched her skirt, fastened it at her waist, and gathered up the two swords she owned (handles crafted by her, blades donated by a charming blackbird). She didn't know much, but she knew Scouts fought in the trees, and there had to be reason for that. So she belted her swords on, and as quickly as she could, she climbed high above the roof of her house, to her blackbird's perch. Long after her mind told her she was overreacting, she remained in the branches. Waiting.

As a little girl, she'd craned her neck to see the top of the trees reaching for the clouds and thought even the walls couldn't be so high.

Now she realized the trees weren't nearly high enough.

The titan was a sound before she could see it, the sound of snapping branches and rumbling earth, the sound of a bulky mass on uneven feet, like a wounded bear staggering through the forest. Poppy held her breath. She wanted to close her eyes, but she held them open until they stung, and she gripped a sword with white fingers. Eyes, she reminded herself, throat. She prayed the weak points were the same on a titan as an animal. She prayed the wind wouldn't carry her scent.

In her early memories, the ones that still contained her father, she remembered a dark winter night and a question: "Papa, why do we live inside walls?"

And his rumbling confidence in return: "The walls keep all the monsters out."

Her tree trembled. She trembled with it. The lower branches creaked and bent until they cracked, and Poppy ordered herself not to think how easily her bones could do the same.

The titan looked so close to human with its bare skin and crooked smile. A receding hairline, like any aging father. Yet its truncated legs and oversized head deformed it, and its towering size made it monstrous. Though they were human in structure, there was no intelligence in the dilated eyes. That was the horror of it, to realize the creature was both familiar and foreign, to see in it both cousin and predator. Poppy was smaller than its head, small enough to crush with one hand, small enough to fill its jaw. If it jumped, it would reach her. If it could climb—

But its lazy eyes never turned upwards. Instead, the monster lumbered on, treading her garden gate as easily as a blade of grass, bringing down the wall of the woodshed.

Poppy didn't breathe again until it was out of sight, and long after she could no longer hear it, she stayed in her blackbird's perch, clutching her swords.


News of titans within Wall Rose turned Levi's stomach to ice. While his comrades whispered about the tragedy of Wall Maria repeated, all he could think of was a winding road and a small house with a garden gate.

Twelve hours. Twelve hours from the first sighting until Thomas brought word to Commander Erwin. Once again, Levi was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Erwin gave the order, and the Scouts divided to begin the evacuation of Wall Rose.

"South team," Levi said.

His commander didn't bother to question the request; the south was the most likely point of invasion, since Wall Maria had fallen from the south. Levi had defended Trost District and helped prevent the fall of Wall Rose once before. This time, there was no warning, no chance to prevent it, just the terrifying report: Multiple titans spotted within the wall. Was Trost and its thousands of people already gone? The thought sickened him, yet somehow paled next to his concern for the rural area just to the east of Trost and a single, lonely girl.

"No active combat," Erwin ordered. "You'll have Pyxis rally his garrison and help with the evacuation. Shoot a cannon if you want, but no ODM."

Levi gritted his teeth. The bandages around his left leg were heavier than the day he'd received them. He wasn't even allowed to ride a horse with the advance team but had to take the wagon with the new recruits. His only comfort was the surrounding twilight and the knowledge that titans couldn't move without sunlight. The Survey Corps had a single night to find and seal the breach.

Fourteen hours. Sixteen. Finally, an excruciating seventeen hours after the first sighting, they arrived in Trost. The first comfort in seventeen hours was the sight of the southernmost gate still intact, the district still bustling within unbroken walls. Levi did his duty and alerted the garrison commander to the breach. In return, Pyxis told him they'd defeated a titan at their northern gate. They'd sounded the sirens and sent word to the capital.

The breach in Wall Rose was not from the south. East or west? Which was it, how many titans, how far had they progressed? There was no point in speculation, and Levi couldn't bear another wasted moment. He ordered the survey recruits to work with the garrison teams to examine the wall in both directions.

And he pulled one recruit aside to borrow his ODM gear.

"Captain, I thought you were injured," the wide-eyed boy protested.

"Injuries heal," Levi said through gritted teeth.

Not that his had. Not that he cared. He fastened on the familiar harness buckles, grimacing as he tightened the ones around his left thigh. After leaving Thomas in charge, he borrowed a garrison horse and made his way east across the top of Wall Rose. Just as the sun began to crest the horizon, he repelled down the wall and into a familiar section of forest. His flight lacked his usual grace, and his propulsion speed was half what it normally was, partly in an attempt to avoid jostling his leg and partly out of caution as he scoured the land for titans.

Not a titan, but the evidence of one. The sap was already dry on the branches it had blundered through.

The ice returned to Levi's blood. Less than a week since his injury, since he'd lost every member of his squad except Eren in the 57th expedition. Was he about to lose more?

Had he already lost it?

He shot his grappling hooks into a tree just ahead and reeled himself in, careful to land with his weight on his right leg. Sweat had broken out across his brow; he ignored it. All his attention focused forward through the woven branches to where he could see the outline of a little house. The fence had been trodden down, the woodshed broken. No smoke rose from the chimney.

Levi set his jaw. He hesitated only a moment before he shot his hooks once more and kicked off his branch.

Then he heard a small shriek.

Few things ever jarred him while in the air, but that was one. Levi only landed one hook and had to twist midair to keep himself from swinging directly into a tree trunk. Instead of landing in his usual perch, he reeled himself into the neighboring tree.

His usual spot was taken.

Poppy lowered her extended sword as recognition dawned. For his part, Levi released a breath that held more weight than he'd realized it was possible to carry. Carefully, he swung over to her branch, unable to help a little grunt as he sat beside her. His left leg ached, and he could only imagine he'd strained the muscles further despite his care.

"Have you been here all night?" he finally asked.

Poppy dragged in a shuddering breath. Moisture shone in her mismatched eyes, but somehow she managed her smile. "I didn't know what else to do. I thought at first I should ride for the closest settlement, but . . ."

That was where the titan had headed; she would have been caught for sure. The beasts were always drawn to groups.

"You did well." Levi almost managed a smile of his own, seeing the undeniable artistry in how she'd shaped her own sword handles but also the undeniable naivety in how she gripped them.

"I thought it would eat my horse."

"Only humans. They never eat anything else."

The horror of that sentence hung in the air. Poppy leaned back against the trunk of the tree. For the first time, she seemed to notice the bloody scratches covering her arms and hands, likely from scaling the prickly branches and rough bark. But instead of commenting on her own state, she said:

"You're injured."

Levi didn't deny it, though he was a bit irritated to be so transparent.

She smiled, softer now. "You flew here anyway."

He couldn't deny that either.

"I'm Poppy Bauer." She waited.

"Levi Ackerman," he managed at last.

If she knew him as "humanity's strongest," she didn't mention it. She only said, "Thank you, blackbird."

It was pointless to thank him since she'd rescued herself, but Levi was thanked for so very little, he couldn't bring himself to protest. Had he been in peak condition, he could have carried her back to the wall himself, but as it was, he watched over her from the treetops while she evacuated to Trost.