~Chapter 8 - Freedom~

-Few months later-

"Open the gate!" Commander Shadis commanded with a powerful voice.

The brown gate in front of us moved. The painting of Maria slowly lifted from the ground.

What I've heard, we were now at the southern gate of Shiganshina district.

"ALL SOLDIERS! ADVANCE!" Commander Shadis roared as he started his horse and galloped out of the protecting walls.

The whole army followed him.

Levi, Isabel, Farlan and I were at the end of the line. We each had our own brown horse. The months that were past were incredibly busy for all of us. We had a lot of things to learn that wasn't needed in the Underground. Take horse-riding as an example, down in the Underground district, we never saw any animals except the usual rats and insects. Even stray dogs and cats were rare since starving people would eat them. They didn't touch the rats though, but only because they were hard to catch.

Isabel and I were very excited. Both of us wanted to have some fun outside the walls instead of the usual training. The others thought of us as idiots who didn't cared about our lives. But they don't understand how it feels like to be trapped under the ground with filthy people who would backstab you as soon as they get their chance. I was among the few lucky ones who could trust my friends.

Humans are greedy, once we get a taste of something we like, we would crave more of it. I don't need to hear their excuses about not being greedy, because after all, they are humans as well.

Farlan's fist clenched around the rope that was connected to the horse, just like his fists, his jaws was clenched as well. Sweat drops pearled around his forehead and he was twitching slightly.

"Hey…Now would be a good time…someone…no way. Someone tell me this is a joke." Farlan murmured under his shaky breath. "This sounds like a made up story…"

"Yeah, I know. A few underground thugs going beyond the wall." Levi replied.

The soldier in front of us yelled a loud "Hyaaa" and the horse galloped after the others. The four of us did the same.

I lifted my head and saw as the cave-looking gate got closer to me. I grabbed roughly to the rope to suppress my eager. As I popped out on the other side of the world, the view made me lose my breath.

White fluffy clouds took over the heavenly blue sky. Far away, as far as my eye sight could reach, were green grass plains. A few trees grew in groups of two or three and were scattered around a little randomly. Mountains and hills covered the horizon and the little birds flying in with their friends made the whole view look heavenly.

The sun warmed up my tears that had leaked out of my eyes. These weren't painful tears of sorrow, but joyful tears. One word echoed over and over again in my mind and each time I think about the word, the more hopeful and glad I became.

Freedom

"Amazing…." I breathed and wiped away my tears before anyone could see them. But of course, it was too late, Levi had seen them.

"Yeah, not bad." He said with a ghostly smile on his lips.

"This is the worst part, I mean; we actually went outside the walls." Farlan sighed. His eyes flickered among the nearby soldier as if in any second they send us back to the Underground. He sank his voice and continued. "We were supposed to have the documents by now, but where is Erwin hiding it?"

"Don't worry; I'll take care of the titans." Levi said without facing him. He kept his eyes on the road in front of him.

"Levi, even you can't handle all of them-"

"Do you not trust me?" He shifted his head slightly so his steel grey eyes could meet Farlan's.

"That's not what I implied-"

"Hehehe, Farlan's scared." Now it was Isabel who interrupted Farlan. Her giggles could be heard over the loud thumps from the horses.

"Hey! Who's scared?" Farlan snarled at Isabel. His tone was deadly and anyone who didn't know Farlan in person would have run away. But Isabel was too close to Farlan to get afraid.

"Just leave it to me Farlan! I'll kick those titans' asses one by one! Just watch me!" Isabel said with pride. A smile never left her face.

Farlan narrowed his eye.

"Listen here you little-"

"Quite screwing around!" A voice from behind interrupted Farlan's threats. It was one of our squad-mates, Sayram. He was pissed, wait, not pissed. He was furious. "The titan's aren't the easy prey you thugs think they are. Countless excellent soldiers have been devoured by them! You filthy thugs from the underground…You guys are getting to cocky!"

The smile from Isabel's face disappeared and a serious look took over.

"You say that but, when I take down a titan it's going to mean all of those 'excellent soldiers' you were talking about are less than some thug." Her confidence made Sayram even angrier.

"Wh- What did you say? You…." Sayram was struggling with words. Anger made him stutter and his thin brows were deeply furrowed.

I was on my way to say "Ooooh!", but Levi managed to make a move before me and pulled his cloak away revealing his 3DMG and swords. His eyes glared daggers at Sayram.

No matter how brave Sayram was or ever would be, he would never dare to mess with Levi. Nobody would. Levi would be able to chop their head off before they could say the word "thug".

"You bastards…" He growled through gritted jaws. His eyes were burning with fury and his hands were shaking due to how hard he held to the rope.

"Knock it off, Sayram." Fragon interfered.

"But squad leader…" Sayram tried to protest but was cut off by Fragon.

"Calm down! For now, we need to remain in our new formation that we practised. We don't know when the titans will appear, so don't break the formation." He faced Isabel and Levi as he said the following with narrowed eyes. "Once they actually fight some real titans, they'll change their tune. There's a difference between practice and the real things after all."