Chapter Three.
"It seems there are some that wish to see failure in the results for this upcoming expedition," Erwin explained coldly, as blue eyes never left the collection of paperwork he had scattered across his desk. His finger tapped gently against the hard oak wood surface as his eyes scanned throughout the words that littered the paperwork carefully. Standing before him in a casual stance against the wall was Levi, the young Survey Corps captain and leader of the Special Operations Squad, he glared at the window behind Erwin's desk with boredom slowly setting in as he examined the collection of dust on the window sill.
Levi silently slapped his lips together, "Aren't there always."
"Hmmm, indeed there are," Erwin commented, "We'll be pushing deeper into Wall Maria on this one."
"Is that why you've requested for an attachment of field medics?" Levi questioned him, the young captain eyeballing Erwin's smug grin on his face as the commander shuffled his paperwork aside.
"I have high hopes that the field medics will suppress the casualty list we'll accumulate during this expedition," Erwin explained with a low hum, his chin gently resting on his clasped hands as his mind traveled back towards the request he had made at the two Garrison medics from the graduation ceremony. Erwin nodded at the thought, "I've been asking for this attachment for three months now and the Garrison has been pushing my request aside."
Levi snorted lowly, "The Garrison claims they've been busy with the recent short ranged supply runs they've been making into Wall Maria. They usually go about three miles deep, throw a few bags of supply into their carts, and come running back."
"Indeed the Garrison has truly reformed themselves since their earlier days," Erwin remarked with a smile, "Those supply runs will dwindle in numbers if we begin to bring back more results from our expeditions. However, we need more manpower for success and the first step to maintaining a steady number of troops is not loosing so many in the first place."
Levi simply nodded as he had been witness to the deaths of countless good soldiers. Erwin took note of the look and spoke up once again, "One of the new cadets has a brother in the Garrison's medical regiment. I asked him to pass on my request for the attachment, I'm sure having a family member within our ranks will help him present our request in a strong fashion."
Levi sighed heavily in response, "Using others to gain a stronger fighting force will only come back and burn you one day."
Erwin titled his head slightly in amusement, "It worked on you didn't it?"
"True," Levi smirked in amusement, "I also was attempting to kill you though."
Erwin nodded with a smug smile as he sat back in his seat and allowed the sun rays from the window behind him to warm his head, "You aren't the first and I'm sure you won't be the last."
"How are we suppose to strengthen our teamwork if they have us running errands," Hanna whined loudly as she annoyingly kicked his feet in the air from the back of the cart. Riding in the front of the cart was Ethan and Oliver, while Lawrence and Sarah sat in the back with Hanna. Upon waking up the small squad were prepared for another attempt at the training course, but were instead presented with the task of collecting some needed supplies from town. While they complained that they were missing out on an opportunity to advance their teamwork, Petra had informed them that this could be a hidden chance to work on each other.
Lawrence yawned lowly, "Just see this as a chance to relax. We haven't had a day to sit back and watch the clouds in forever."
"Speak for yourself," Oliver spat out, "Not all of us can lay around all day watching grass grow."
"Not all of us can be so simpleminded also," Ethan called out taking a shot at Oliver who roughly pushed him.
"What's the first thing on the list?" Hanna asked Sarah curiously as she was the one keep tracking of the errands.
"Wool blankets," Sarah listed off lowly, "Followed by brooms?"
"Brooms?" Oliver repeated, "Are we gonna kill Titans and then clean their houses for them?
"I heard Captain Levi was a clean freak," Ethan called out, "He must of added that on there."
"I guess we better get it regardless," Hanna sighed, "No reason to have the higher ups get mad about us skipping out on duties."
...
The hours passed as the group neared their final stop, a small merchant town not far from the walls of the Ehrmich District. The cart was silent as the group became tired from the constant running around throughout the merchant towns of Wall Rosa. Their cart now packed with several crates and bags of supplies, the sun slowly setting behind the towering walls as the day was slowly coming to an end. Ethan glared off in the distance as standing near a creak was a small abounded village, the houses resembling weakly put together shacks and dropped belongings scattered the area.
"A refugee camp," Hanna remarked lowly as many of the residents of Wall Maria knew them far to well when they had to retreat from their homes.
"You're from Wall Maria," Sarah chirped out weakly, "Right?"
Hanna nodded as she was lucky enough to be from a small town relatively close to the gate of the, Trost District. Hanna and the others had been in training when Wall Maria was breached, many of the cadets who had family within that territory were guilt ridden as they feared their families had perished while they were far away from the danger, "I'm just glad my family was able to evacuate safely. I remember crying like a baby when our instructor passed on the message about the accounted family members."
"I know the feeling," Ethan added on as he exhaled loudly, "While my brother was with the Garrison at the time my father and younger sister had been at our farm not far from where the Titans breached through."
"Oh you got a sister Winters," Oliver smirked jokingly.
"She's only six you pig," Ethan laughed as the two shared a playfully shoulder bump, "My brother was stationed not far from them and luckily he was able to make sure they both got out fine."
Sarah smiled happily, "Your brother really cares."
"Can't deny that," Hanna giggled softly, "I've never heard of anyone interrupting a military ceremony to give his younger brother hell."
Ethan smiled weakly as his grasp upon the reins tightened, "He really does care. Ever since my mom died back when we were kids he always cared too much, would always take over my side of the chores on the farm so I could play with the other kids. Took care of my younger sister while my dad was out working, never let me go to bed without a smile on my face."
Oliver nodded, "Sounds like a good guy."
"He is," Ethan muttered under his breath, "That's why I can no longer be a burden on him."
"I guess Sarah and I got lucky then," Oliver commented loudly, "Our families are from the Wall Rosa territory and pretty close neighboring towns if I'm correct. So we didn't have to worry ourselves during training with the fear of bad news."
Sarah nodded as she was simply happy that Oliver remembered that the two of them were from relatively close towns, "I was still pretty sick to my stomach though seeing all our friends so scared during those earlier days. I felt so useless because I couldn't understand what they all were going through."
Hanna happily threw her arms around Sarah, "However that's how we met. It was you who attempted to make me feel better."
"It was also you who yelled at me for accusing you of being sad," Sarah giggled softly as Hanna blushed in embarrassment.
"Lawrence you with us?" Ethan called back as his words snapped the day dreamer out of his trance.
"With who?" He yawned loudly.
"We're just talking about back home," Sarah chirped happily as she truly enjoyed when they were getting along and not fighting over about the training course.
"Talking about back home," Lawrence repeated, "A soldier's favorite pass time."
"How about you stop trailing off in your thoughts and tell us where you're from," Oliver called back as he was easily annoyed by Lawrence's habit of getting lost in his thoughts.
"Yeah!" Sara chirped out excitedly.
"In the three years of training I don't think we ever asked you about where you're from," Ethan admitted as the dark haired soldier was always getting lost in his thoughts during training that no one really bothered him about personal questions due to his habit of not answering them.
Lawrence leaned back, "I'm from the Shiganshina District."
The cart became silent.
"I'm s-sorry," Hanna stumbled with her words, "We have no idea. You just didn't seem fazed at all when the word about the breach came through or all those days of waiting for the condition report of our families."
Sarah weakly looked down at her feet as she had been the one to push the question on everyone, tears slowly beginning to form in her eyes. As she could feel the warmth of a single tear roll down her cheek she felt another warm sensation on her leg. Looking up she made eye contact with a rather cheerful Lawrence who smiled widely at her as he had placed his hand on her leg, "No reason to cry Sarah. I was an orphan anyways."
"An o-orphan," Sarah sobbed.
"I was only one years old when my father was killed by some loan sharks due to a gambling problem and my mother in an attempt to pay them back started to work at a brothel. However, with such close customer service that job has she quickly became ill and passed away when I was three years old, "Lawrence admitted as Ethan cringed at the dark family history he had and the fact he could say such things without shedding a tear. Lawrence calmly pulled his hand away from Sarah's leg, "By the age of sixteen if you had yet to be adopted you had two choices, be thrown into the streets or join the military."
"That's rough man," Oliver admitted, "Sorry."
Lawrence shrugged, "Reality isn't a happy lullaby. It's a dark and rough river that not many can reach the surface before gasping for their last breath."
"Is that why you get so lost in your thoughts?" Hanna asked as she knew it wasn't a proper question to ask but she felt like after knowing Lawrence for three years she should at least know more about him.
Lawrence exhaled with a smile, "It's just who I am."
Sarah weakly sat back, "You're all so strong."
Everyone looked over at her as they were surprised by her sudden comment.
"I know many were surprised that I was able to graduate from the 103rd," Sarah admitted as even she was surprised she made it through the three years of endless training, "I'm sure even more were surprised when I joined the Survey Corps."
"Surprised is putting it lightly," Oliver chuckled as he was quickly punched in the arm by Ethan.
Sarah smiled weakly as she giggled, "I'm just tired of being a burden. I want to get stronger and help everyone."
Ethan's eyes became wide to hear Sarah admit that she no longer desired to be a burden. All this time he had been secretly blaming her for the squad's failures at the training course and yet here they were, both of them with the goal to no longer be a burden. A smile grew on his face as he turned his head to look at the frail looking girl, "Don't worry as long as we're all together no one will be a burden in this squad."
Hanna nodded in agreement, "Yeah! I know if we just put our heads together we can show those veterans that we're ready for the Survey Corps!"
"If any of them having anything negative to say just tell me and I'll put one right in their smug faces!" Oliver added on with a powerful punch in the air.
"Always one for violence," Lawrence sighed at Oliver's comment as he sat up, "The sooner we finish up this training course the more relaxing time I'll have."
Sarah's eyes lit up as Ethan threw her a thumbs up, the reality that they were slowly becoming a functioning squad was setting in. Ethan grinned widely as he gazed off at the walls in the distance, the image of his brother appearing in his head as his desire to become strong burned brightly within him. Ethan wanted to prove not only to his brother, but to himself that he could be strong and not need to depend on others for everything.
"I guess Petra was right," Ethan chuckled loudly, "I guess this really did bring us all together."