~Chapter 19 - Wrong Choice~

The trip back was quiet. I haven't said a word to Erwin and Mike after my breakdown and close attempt on murdering him. We were around 100 soldiers when we left. There were only around 20 survivors that made out of this expedition alive.

I stayed close to Levi the whole time on my horse not leaving him out of my sight. Soon enough, the wall Maria showed up and I sighed both in relief and disappointment. I wanted to get back into the walls and feel the safety the walls provided, but I disliked the trapped feeling. I battled with myself on wither I liked or disliked the walls but it ended in a tie.

The bell on the wall rang to inform the citizens that the Survey Corps returning. The gate slowly opened and we rode into the Shiganshina district. This time, Levi and I were in the front of the line so we get to enter the district with Erwin, Mike and commander Shadis.

The district was crowded. Many people and citizens were standing along the road to look at us. I heard mumbles about how we failed again spread like wildfire among them and soon that was all I heard. I even heard someone talking about me, a kid, and already out of the walls seeing people get killed.

The soldiers that survived were mostly bandaged up, some were so severely injured they had to be transported on a trailer. Most of the soldiers had a blank expression on their faces, due to the amount of expeditions they've been on, others, the first-timers, were crying silently for themselves at the horror they've seen outside the walls.

I swept my empty eyes among the citizens' faces to see if I could recognize anyone, which of course I didn't. But there was one person, more like one kid, that caught my eye. He was short and stood on some wooden boxes to be able to see us in the crowd. He had messy chocolate hair and a pair of emerald green orbs.

Just like Isabel…

I shook the thought away as our eyes met for a short second. His lips spread into bright smile as if he just met his idol.

I returned a small smile back and turned away from him.

Suddenly, commander Shadis stopped. An old woman had run out onto the street and blocked the way.

"Brown! Brown! Where are you?"

She looked desperately among the survivors, not finding Brown. She must be Brown's mother.

When she saw Commander Shadis get of his horse, she ran up to him and down onto her knees.

"Excuse me…I can't….Brown…my son Brown…Where is he? What happened to him?"

She clutched onto his cape and tried to drag him down to see her in eye-level.

"This is Brown's mom…Bring it here…" Shadis said and faced a soldier that was nearby.

The soldier walked to a nearby trailer and opened a square tent-looking box and took out something that was wrapped in cloth. He walked back to the mother and gave it to her with darkened eyes.

"Here. Sorry, but that's all we were able to recover."

The mother took the clothed item in her trembling arms. She gently opened the cloth and inside, was a bloody arm.

She wrapped the arm with the cloth again and hugged it tightly against her chest. She dug her face into the blue cloth and let her tears go. Her sobs were so loud that you could hear it from the whole Shiganshina district.

After her sobbing had grown lesser and her captivity of speaking has returned, she looked commander Shadis and said.

"My son has been useful hasn't he? He doesn't have to be anything outstanding! He contributed! His death contributed towards humankind's retaliation, has it not?"

When the woman asked the unexpected question, Shadis was completely taken aback.

Everyone stood still and stared at the chaos that was going on the street.

"O-of course…" Shadis mumbled after a moment of silence.

The ride was silent. I threw a few looks towards Levi a little now and then to make sure he was still there.

Suddenly, a loud "bang" made us all stop and look back. The sky was all foggy, or was it dusty? I couldn't make out. Loud shriek like in a choir was heard which sent chills up all our spines.

What's going on?

I looked at Commander Shadis' worried face. Wrinkles were deep and it looked like someone had cut it into his skin.

"We'll continue. It mustn't be something important. Maybe a canon failure." He turned his head and started his horse. His face was doubtful and worried about his choice.

We didn't question him, and did as we were told.

Yeah, it must have been a canon failure. What else could have happened?

The wooden door to the canteen was kicked opened with a lot of force. The door slammed to the wall and in the door frame stood a young panting man with a horrified look on his face. His brown cape, that signified that he was a messenger boy, was wet due to the rain and his legs were all muddy. He must've ridden on a horse here in top speed.

"Commander Shadis, sir, urgent news from the Shiganshina district." He exclaimed as he saluted the commander.

Commander Shadis rose from his bench and dismissed the salute with a tense wave.

"What news?" He asked.

"Wall Maria has been breached. The Shiganshina district was the first district to get affected."

It was all silent. Horror and regret was written all over Shadis' face. He had made the wrong choice.

"How….many?" He managed to get out.

He was sweating heavily and was fidgeting all over.

"We don't know yet. But around 1/5 of the citizens were slaughtered, sir."

"O-ok, you are dismissed. Thank you."

The young man nodded and left the room.

"Now that was a mess." I exhaled as I dropped onto Levi's bed.

"What was?" Levi asked as he sat down beside me.

"Everything. I mean like, just this morning, everything was just fine. And now, Wall Maria has been breached, many people were killed and they…they aren't here anymore."

"Hey, hey, hey! Nothing is going to improve if you keep thinking like that. Now get to bed and sleep. You need to rest."

"Yeah…I guess." I chocked down a sob and gave a sad chuckle.

I got up and walked to the door, feeling Levi's stare on my back the whole time.

I turned around, smiled and wished him a good night before I left.

The rest of his comrades were all fast asleep, and even if they weren't and saw me in the male barracks, they wouldn't tell me off to our superiors.

As I walked back to the female barracks, I heard some muffled voices. Tiptoeing, I followed the noise and reached to a door that was slightly opened. I walked up to the creak and TRYCKTE my ear to it and tried to make out who were talking and what about.

I had expected that it would be hard to make out the words, but it was quite easy since it was so quiet in the HQ.

"I'm calling the Military Police. Those kind of actions are not allowed in the Survey Corps." A deep voice announced. The voice seemed familiar, but I couldn't put my finger on what his name was.

"It's my responsibility to look out for them. My mission was to make sure that they knew about the documents and make them join the Survey Corps. I have failed to keep 2 of them alive and I'm not making that mistake on the other two." Erwin. That was definitely Erwin's voice.

"She nearly killed you! If her dad dies, how would she react then? She might burn down the Head Quarters and murder us cold-bloodedly for all I know…"

"If she does so, it'll all be on me. I'll take good care of both of them and make them into excellent soldiers. Their skills are already above ours. I don't know yet how they managed to be so talented, but if we send them to the Military Police, we'll never know. Give them a chance; I surely believe they are on our side."

"I don't know, Erwin."

"As I said, I'll take full responsibility for them."

Shuffling noises neared the door. I shifted so that my body was covered by the shadows.

"Hey, Mike, would you mind doing me a small favour?"

"What favour?"

"Would you mind go to (f/n) (l/n)'s and Levi Ackerman's documents and rinse their criminal history?"

Erwin didn't wait for any answer, and walked out through the door and walked down the corridor on the contrary side from where I was standing. Luckily, he didn't notice me.

I sighed in relief and continued my way to the female barracks.