Chapter 6 - The Winter Retreat
The next day, they were all saddled up and rode north, towards the mountains.
Dante groaned as he fiddled constantly with his hat, "Come on, for goodness sake, we have to be nearby!" He called out for the tenth time in 2 minutes
Al sighed impatiently and gave him a backward glance, "For the 10th time. We'll be there, it's close, just half an hour more..."
Dante groaned out loud and his shoulders sagged in disappointment. Sasha's eyes darted from the two of them and then leaned in towards Connie and Jean "Er...guys…We're going to be ready if they ambush us, right?" Sasha asked a little too loudly. Al and Dante's head perked up and they slowly turned their heads to Sasha, blinking and their expressions unreadable. Sasha blinked and managed to show a wide, uncertain smile. Her eyes averted to Jay and her smile cracked as she saw his head looking in her direction and her head tilted at an angle, as if glaring at her with sick anticipation.
There was a long silence but for what felt like hours, they looked forward and kept on riding. Jean stayed quiet but after making sure they were out of earshot leaned in and whispered, "Yeah, right now I'm just concerned about him," he gestured to Jay who was saddled up about 15 m away from them, just staring ahead without moving an inch like a statue. His hood was pulled up and he had his mask on, "For all we know, he could kill any one of us if he wanted to and he's a bomb waiting to go off."
"Armin, what do you think?" Connie asked, as all of them turned their heads towards his direction.
Armin spurred up to them and sighed, "To be truly honest... I don't know, I really don't. Erwin wouldn't force us to join up with them if he didn't trust them? Shouldn't we at least give them a chance to prove themselves?"
"Yeah, let's throw our weapons down and let them rip us apart and dump our unrecognisable corpses somewhere no-one can find them?!" Sasha hissed.
"Before we lose our heads, think back, "Mikasa replied coldly, "when those two threatened him, he didn't care, when he threatened us, he lost it,"
"But we don't do things like that, threat or not… I mean, could any of us bring ourselves to do something like that?" Eren asked but was answered by a long period of silence.
"No, and I don't want to know alright," Jean grumbled.
"But still doesn't that scare you the least bit? We have a cold hearted killer and his two accomplices who now happen to be a part of our squad" Connie interrupted, "For all we know they could turn on us at any second and we'd be history."
"Valid point but still we have to stay open minded...," Armin looked up in front of him at Dante and Al, then back at Jay and turned back to others and looked away in deep thought, "From what we've seen them do in action, they could kill us here if they wanted to. I mean it's the perfect place. Perfect cover of the trees, no bystanders and once it's done they can just dump our bodies into the forest or place them up in the trees where nobody would think to look...and they've known each other for a while so it's only safe to assume that their teamwork should be impressive ...Even I'm wondering if any of us would be able to react in time if they do choose to kill us here and now, they know their surroundings, we don't…"
"That's my point exactly, and why we can't trust them. I don't have to remind you again of what just happened yesterday" Jean looked at Armin, "but if you trust Commander Erwin that much then I guess you must have your reason."
"Well it's not a whole lot but here it is," Armin cleared his throat, "over the past few months things have been quiet, too quiet. All we've been doing is sitting around just waiting till the preparations for the expedition are complete"
"Up until a few days ago when he informed us of a gathering of some First Interior Squad members in that church in Klorva district." Mikasa added.
"Precisely what I was getting at," Armin continued, "didn't it ever seems strange to you that suddenly out of the blue, Commander Erwin gave us intel with that level of detail."
"Then why didn't you say anything then, why now?" Sasha asked.
"I had to be sure of it. It was like trying to figure out the Female Titan's identity, I had to be sure that it was Annie before I told Erwin, the same applied to this." Armin replied, pondering over the theories he came up with.
"Did you figure out why?" Mikasa questioned.
"My most likely theory is that Erwin is actually desperate. He wants us, Squad Levi, the most known squad within the Survey Corp ranks, to merge with the Golden Spear Company, a group whom only Erwin knows about, but for what purpose is what I'm still trying to figure out", Armin thought out loud.
"But what would make Commander Erwin desperate enough to do that. He'd know the risks of doing that, especially the risk of us killing each other. Although somehow he believes that we'll cooperate with people who barely know" Eren wondered.
Mikasa carefully observed what Al and Dante were doing. They seemed to be talking about something when Dante nodded and rode ahead, leaving Al alone. Al took out an apple from his saddle and a file, opened it and began reading. Mikasa leaned to the side on her horse and saw a drawing of her. "Why the hell does he have a picture of me unless..., "she thought, "Wait, he has my file?". Mikasa spurred her horse forward, halted next to Al and grabbed at the report. Surprisingly to Mikasa, Al intercepted her hand right above the report, still eating the apple with the other hand.
"You almost startled me there," Al smirked, lifting Mikasa's hand up in front of her, "seems like I caught you red handed.", Al loosened his grasp and allowed Mikasa to slip her hand out of it.
"Why and how do you have my report?" Mikasa asked, staring at him.
"Oh, Commander Erwin entrusted this report to me along with the rest of your squad's. You all have such interesting backgrounds." Al replied, still looking down at the report and reading it, "Let's see, it says here that you were captured at the age of 9 but fought back, even managing to kill your assailants alongside Eren and you graduated at the top of the class with flying colours according to Instructor Shadis. No one else even came close to you. Impressive."
"Well you still haven't answered my other question. Why are you looking at it? Especially now" Mikasa inquired, anger beginning to boil inside of her.
"I'm reading yours specifically because in the likely situation currently that the GSC and Squad Levi don't get along and try to kill each other, again, you would be my primary concern." Al turned his head to face Mikasa, his smirk staying fixed on his face.
"Should I be taking that as a compliment and anyway, why me. I'm pretty sure the Captain would be your biggest concern" she remarked, clearly annoyed by Al's comment but even more so by his nature.
"Actually you should feel honoured. There are very few people whom I deem a viable threat, you being one of them. And Captain Levi, All Jay needs to do is buy us time...Simple as that..." Al stated simply..
"Aren't you arrogant? What makes you so sure that just the three of you can take on the eight of us" Mikasa asked him, thinking she had finally asked him something he couldn't answer."
"It's simple. If we were to take you on this instance, it would take me less than ten seconds to finish you off, at the same time Dante will take out Jean and Sasha, I'll go on to Connie and Armin there all the while Jay keeps Levi busy long enough till we go back and kill him. Of course by this time Eren would have transformed but he's weak anyway, killing him would be a piece of cak-", Al was cut off when Mikasa lashed out her hand but was intercepted again. Al looked at her arm then at her, his head tilted at an angle and a curious expression on his face. "What got you so mad all of a sudden?"
"Don't you ever talk about Eren like that ever again?" Mikasa said, her anger taking over and her voice a little more than a growl.
"Oh, so you're that protective of him. Makes sense I guess since you and Armin were there with him during the fall of Shinganshina" Al gave in, "I promise I won't talk about him like that again...okay?"
Mikasa pried her hand free and looked coldly at Al, "How can I rest assure?"
"If you knew me properly you'll know I'm a man of my word. Trust is an important aspect to me when it comes to deciding who's friend and foe...But... If it helps, I suppose I can lend you this..." Al took out another file from his saddle and held it out to her. Mikasa eyed the report suspiciously and Al nodded to it "...Go on, take it, the worst thing that can happen is that you end up getting a paper cut…"
"You think giving me your report will just make me trust you instantly?" Mikasa she asked, opening up the file and reading through it.
"Of course I don't, I'm smarter than that for your information-" Al took another bite from his apple and swallowed, "I just see it as a start...But you'll have to give that back soon"
Mikasa read through the report as fast as she could, trying to learn as much as she could about Al and find a weakness. For starters his full name of Alphonse "Al" Der Macht, son of Lord Der Macht, a prominent noble in the North. "No wonder he's so arrogant," she thought, "having a father with that much power must have made him think he can get away with anything. Not to mention he's also a-".
"And no, I'm not arrogant because of my father if you're wondering" Al sighed in annoyance and then bit into his apple.
"Who said I was?" Mikasa snapped back.
"Deny it all you want...you were looking at my family background page for quite a while and I figured you were trying to link it to my arrogance, I told you I'm smarter than that..." Al tossed the eaten apple away over his shoulder and into the bushes, "Besides your times up". Mikasa had no time to react as Al swiftly took the report back and placed it back into his saddle. Mikasa stared at him angrily.
"Oh, come on, there's no point making that face. I did warn you in advance that i'll be taking it back in a minute" Al looked back at her.
"Hey Al how much further!" Dante called out to Al.
"Oh for crying out...You should be seeing it any minu-" Al began.
"Never mind I see it!" Dante called out again.
"What's he talking about?" Mikasa asked.
"The place where we've riding to for the past two hours. I call it our home away from home". Al answered back, looking out in front of him as they made their way into a large clearing and found themselves approaching a large manor.
Mikasa looked forward as well and gazed at it, "It's quite big. What do you even use it for anyway?"
"It's more or less the main headquarters of the GSC. We come back here after each mission to report back to Commander Erwin and get ready for the next one," Al looked back at the others, "you should go and tell everyone that we've made it if they haven't seen the manor yet."
Mikasa grunted and turned her horse round and rode back to where Armin and the others were.
"So I see someone was getting all friendly with the enemy." Connie smirked.
Mikasa ignored Connie, "We've made it in case you didn't know".
"Wait, you mean we're staying in that mansion over there" Jean asked, surprised.
"The place looks huge!" Sasha stared, her eyes wide in amazement.
"Jeez I didn't know Al could afford something like that" Connie said, looking ahead of him at the manor.
"He's a noble." Mikasa informed them. "It said so on his report…Son of some Lord who owns quite a lot of businesses and land."
"Well that explains that. The guy must have everything he could ever want with all that money" Jean looked at Al, who was talking to Dante and Jay.
"Well not necessarily. After the uprising heavy taxes were imposed onto all noble families no matter what their position was, even heavier ones for those who didn't side with the new government. We'll have to assume that Al's family didn't go with the latter and instead followed the Corps" Armin stated.
"Well there's only one way to find out then, isn't there…" Levi noted finally and he gave them all a dull stare, his voice low and hostile "...And if things get from bad to worse… don't even hesitate to kill…"
"Hey! Hey, wait a minute," Dante shook his head, "Did you just say Erwin gave you the reports to practically every single person here!?"
Al nodded as he glanced at Dante and Jay, "Yes, I did. He intrusted them to me before we left and asked me to show the others when we get to the Winter Retreat…"
Jay snorted, "It only makes sense if he hands it to you, I guess… but why would he give us the reports and not them?"
Dante shrugged as he rubbed the back of his head, "I don't know. Maybe he's still wants to keep the whole GSC thing as secretive as possible?"
Al sighed out and rubbed his eyes, 'They're right… Just what the hell is the Commander planning?' "Look, all we need to know is that Erwin wants us to join forces and the only way we can do that is to gain their trust, that's why-" He paused slightly before shaking his head, "That's why I showed them the reports…"
Dante's eyes widened and his jaw dropped momentarily as Jay tilted his head to the side. He looked around at Squad Levi. Luckily, they weren't paying attention and he turned to glare at Al, "What do you mean you showed them!?" he asked in a hushed yet deadly serious voice, "You showed all of them!? All of our reports!?"
"No!" Al retorted back, "...Just mine, and not to all of them...Just her..."
"Her?" Jay tilted his head to the side.
"Mikasa, the girl with the red scarf…" Al nodded.
Jay let out a low sigh while Dante rolled his eyes and folded his arms, "Of bloody course...Of bloody damn course…" He muttered to himself, catching Al's attention.
"What are you on about?" Al asked, his face with confusion and annoyance. Jay glanced at Al, clearly knowing what Dante met but chose not to say anything.
"Let's face it. Your judgement is a little misplaced when a gorgeous girl is involved," Dante stated firmly. Al began to protest but Dante interrupted him, "No, no! Let's face it, it's the truth! It may have been alright with you flirting with god knows how many before but now is different! Commander Erwin said to trust and work with them, not flirt with them!"
"Oh, that's rich…" Al snorted, "Don't get me started on-"
"Enough! Al told us this, so we should trust him on this one," Jay cut in smoothly before turning to look at the others, "The question is what we do with them?"
"If you're honestly thinking of using violence like before, then forget about it completely!" Al stated, "Look, so far...just let us handle it. They shouldn't have a problem with me or Dante…"
"You can be my guest…" Dante admitted as he pulled the rim of his hat over his eyes, "I'd probably say something as a joke and we'd end up as a bloodbath on our hands…"
"Fine then. So both of you follow my lead and don't do anything brash...Understood?"
Al looked back at the others and shouted out to them, "Hey guys follow my lead!".
Everyone looked from where Al's voice came from and then back to Levi. Levi nodded curtly and looked at Al who spurred his horse forward and began galloping away with everyone else behind him, leading the way to the manor stables. Everyone else kept on looking at the manor with amazement, even Levi was surprised by the size and look of it. Al slowed down his horse and led everyone to the back of the manor, where the stables were situated, and stopped. He got off his horse and walked it over to the stable door, took a key out from his pocket and opened the door. "Just leave your horse in any pen and take the saddle off" he told everyone, walking with his horse into the stables.
Once everyone had dismounted and placed their horse in a pen, they all gathered in front of Al, Dante and Jay standing beside him.
"Okay look I know we all started off on the wrong foot but I believe that we work out our differences-" he began.
"Easy for you to say," Sasha muttered but was silenced as Jay looked at her, his head tilted to the side and staring at her through the blood red visor of his mask. He growled and took a half step forward, causing Sasha to flinch slightly and everyone to tense up anxiously.
"Jay, easy…" Al ordered as he glared at Jay with clear warning. Jar returned a long stare through the visor before mumbling something beneath his breath before stepping back, "I'll just cut to the chase." Al continued "Rule one: My manor, my rules. Rule 2: No one kills each other while we all here. Rule 3: Have as much fun as you want so long as you don't break anything. Any questions?"
"Yeah, what happens when you guys slit our throats when we sleep? Or rip us apart and dump our bodies where no-one can find them!?" Connie asked, eying all three of them suspiciously.
"Ohhh, that stunt on the walls was a really intelligent idea…" Dante leaned in and remarked snidely as he whispered to Jay. Jay turned his head to him for a moment and then looked to the others standing before them, his fists clenched behind his back.
"If it helps all your bedrooms will be locked and you'll have your own keys. I don't have a master key. As for your second question, no one is ripping each other apart. That I promise!" Al answered back at Connie.
"Who said anything about you?" Connie turned his head to Jay, "it's him that's gonna rip us apart just like he did to those guys ba-"
"Quit whining!" Jay snarled "Whatever happened on the walls, it was necessary. It was messy, but it had to be done!" When everyone stared at him, he slowly sighed out and rolled his eyes, his voice a little lower this time "When we're done showing you around, I can hand over my gear to you… It's the least I can do..."
"How do we know you don't have a spare set, huh!?" Jean blurted out, "hell for all we know you could have a whole room full of these in this huge manor".
"I was planning on showing you all around the place so you can see for yourself that I hold no secrets. I value trust most dearly, for us to work together we need trust, the building block of any kind of relationship between people. That is why I want to gain your trust as soon as possible," Al paced around in front of them, "As you all know and have most likely figured out is that Commander Erwin wants Squad Levi and The Golden Spear Company to combine forces for reasons that are unknown as of yet. Now this is the Commander who we're talking about and you should know that he doesn't act without reason, so bearing this in mind, it is likely this a part of one of his elaborate plans that will benefit mankind greatly. And in order for that to happen, we need to work together as a team...So we don't fight you and you don't fight us… Are we clear?"
Everyone glanced at each other before looking at the three people before them. Dante was fiddling with his gun handles, clearly uninterested while Jay's head was tilted slightly as his eyes scanned all of them, standing up straight and his hands clasped behind his back and not moving an inch.
'Well...what do we have to lose then?' They thought as they all hesitantly nodded. Al nodded, his shoulders visibly relaxing and a mysterious smile appeared on his face.
"Alright then…Welcome to the Winter Retreat…"
AN:
Hey there! :)
After all of the crazy action that had happened in the previous chapters, the following chapters will be more on character and relationship development and how both the GSC and Levi Squad respond and interact with one another with the past events and future decisions ahead.
With that said, we hope you enjoyed this chapter. Have a nice day!