`I do not own Shingeki no Kyojin
A/N: This is quite short, but I've been working on "Change of Gait", go check it out!
"May I ask why I'm in this with you?" Erwin finally asked after half an hour of silence between them.
They stayed away from the main road yet kept close enough to it for the fastest route.
"You offered yourself," she flatly told him as their horses were brought to a walk to give them a break. She wrapped her cloak tighter around her body as he grimaced at her response. A breeze blew by, causing her cloak to expose her body once more.
He shook his head. "Where did you come from?"
She didn't answer him, instead, she cantered off, leaving no room for him to ask. He pursued her until he caught on to her flank, eventually, he got to her side and they rode in silence save for the beating of hooves and slaps of their Gears. It went on, even as they passed by a small, hidden village whose people were still asleep. When they reached the end of it, the grandness of Wall Rose towered overhead.
They brought their horses to a stop and looked up.
"No one's fired at us," Ymir commented, scanning what she could see,"yet I don't see anyone-"
And then a dot came from the sky.
Erwin squinted, trying to make out what was heading towards them. After a minute, it was close enough for him to move his horse out of the way of whatever it was. Within a few blinks, a dead body had appeared, thudding sickeningly against the grass face first. He expected it to be a soldier, but his heart dropped when there was no Gear or uniform; it was a civilian, a child at that.
"The fuck..."
Screams rose from above.
More dots took shape.
"They're dropping civilians!" Erwin exclaimed, he kicked his horse and rode, Ymir followed closely.
Ymir shouted at him, as though expecting him to answer,"Why are there normal people on the Walls!?"
"I don't know! I really don't!"
All around him, bodies rained all around them. Some had limbs that were missing, others were still shrieking until they hit the ground, going silent. This continued on for nearly a half mile. One could have guessed that a fourth of the Karanese people were there, falling to their deaths. Erwin reached for his grips, telling her,"Switch to your Gear, we're scaling this."
So they did, quickly gaining height with their grappling hooks, barely missing the people all around them. One could have considered this Hell, seeing non-soldiers being so close without someone to catch them. There were too many people to even try to save, and their objective was what kept them going. They pressed on, going high and higher until they broke through the last meter, only to be blinded by the morning sun.
Erwin brought his cloak, which he borrowed from Jean, up to cover his eyes, waiting for them to adjust to the blinding rays as he landed amongst a crowd of people; a few of the Garrison were about but paid mind to the civilians as they tried to usher them somewhere. Ymir appeared to his right, not bothered by the sun.
Her hand grabbed his sleeve, tugging at him to pull the cloth away from his eyes. He did so, no longer feeling strained.
"Come," she said, pushing passed a family. Erwin stayed closely behind her as she still held to his sleeve.
They pushed by people, trying to hide themselves amongst the crowd. Eventually, they broke through, ending up at the other side where there was enough space for them to stand and see the Karanese District. Upon reaching their perch, they froze, unmoving. Their blood ran cold at the sight before them.
A vicious gasp came from Ymir. "Oh my god...the bitch is right..."
By daybreak, when the sun had risen, Titans had overrun the Karanese.
With the Recon Corps gone and the Inner Gate closed, the Garrison had managed to salvage a tenth of the city's civilians. Any who had been injured or deemed too sickly were thrown over the edge on either side to distract Titans. The morning sun had greeted them with Hell.
-...-
Their group departed after their morning meal.
Hanji had taken to staying in the wagon for the rest of the trip, as did Eren and Mikasa; Armin had taken Christa's horse as she now sat by Hanji, she couldn't be trusted with her palomino. The rest quietly walked by, following the Marquis's lead despite his apparent hangover.
She was glad he hadn't approached her. At this point, Hanji could only deal with one thing at a time. Her hands stirred at a small bowl, mixing together a concoction she had gathered from Tobias's storage of medicinal herbs. It was time to dress Rivaille's arm with the needed formula, her hands shook, anxious from having to care for him.
Christa timidly reached over, offering to help.
"Thanks," Hanji told her quietly, giving her the bowl and spoon. Christa took to mixing it. "...my apologies for last night."
"Ymir violated your agreement," Christa simply told her, though she was nervous herself,"I don't understand why she wouldn't say anything if she knew."
Mikasa watched them, then turned over to Eren as their conversation drew on.
"Are we going to continue on with all these people?" She asked in a hushed tone.
Eren nodded. "For your sake, yeah...you need Hanji to keep you alive. She doesn't have medication for you but she knows what she's doing, even if we try to find a doctor, we wouldn't have enough coin to pay for services." He grimaced and looked at her torso despite it being covered by the cloth of her dress. "...what happened?"
Mikasa started slowly. "When Sasha lost her mind at seeing Connie, we all decided to flee since they were geared to killing us rather than speaking; the wall occultists we're up to this, I'm sure. I got worried, scared, the morning after, so I tried to head back to headquarters..."
She armed herself to the teeth, ready to depart the first moment she had risen from bed. Armin and Reiner soundly slept in the other beds nearby.
A sweeping look at them stalled her for a moment, but she knew that waking them up would prompt them to hold her back. Her heart hammered in her chest, she barely slept that night as she tossed and turned in the sheets, worrying for Eren. Whatever Sasha had seen was definitely not a good sign, whatever happened to Connie was even worse, whatever they were doing involved Eren.
That was her mindset. It all had to do with Eren. As she tiptoed down the stairs hurriedly, her mind tried to formulate a plan on what to do, where to go, who to fight. Her largest guess would be that Eren would be held in the jail cells below the headquarters, beyond levels of the labs.
She exited the bar.
Why Reiner would lead her here was a wonder, but at least it was near the headquarters.
With a foot out the door, the sound of horses galloping down the street caught her ear. She ducked back into the establishment, hoping that they didn't see her. But much to her horror, they arrived and halted their horses; a familiar voice came about, telling her,"It's me, Bertolt, we got horses for you to run with."
She flung open the door and saw Petra standing by.
Bertold asked her,"Where's Reiner and Armin?"
"Upstairs," Mikasa told him as she mounted the horse nearest to Petra,"are we going back?"
"What?" Petra asked with a near laugh, face contorted in disbelief. "No! We're going elsewhere, Corporal has a place to-"
"Mikasa!" Armin's voice called from the bar.
Reiner's came after. "Shit, she fucking left!"
They had awaken. At the sound of them, Mikasa turned her horse, trying to gain a distance from them. They would stop her from getting to Eren. She went down the road, uncaring for the morning commute. She had to find Eren, only then would she agree to leave. Her fears for him overtook her, she was driven to reach him. Soon enough, a set of hooves came thundering after her; Armin and Reiner had taken to use a horse to catch her.
"You're not thinking right!" Reiner tried to reason with her as he caught up, horse galloping directly to her left. Only Armin wore his Gear.
"Mikasa, I really, really don't want to do this! Please, we'll get Eren once we're safe!" Armin cried to her, whatever he was planning irked her but she brushed it away, only facing forward. When she ignored him and pressed on, she heard him release his grappling hooks. She watched him fly overhead and ahead of her. Distracted by him, she didn't notice Reiner slip himself onto her horse, settling himself behind the saddle.
His arms wrapped her shoulders from below, then pulled upwards to immobilize her. She tried to wriggle away, her focus now on him.
"I have to get Eren!" She shouted to him, slamming her head back to bash him in the chin.
He let out a grunt at the pain, then bellowed,"DO IT!"
His voice boomed into her ear, it was a deafening call. Her eyes drifted upwards, only to see a blur of yellow diving for her with silver blades drawn.
Amongst the sudden appearance of Armin, she heard him scream,"FORGIVE ME!"
Eren quietly took it in, nodding in understanding. She was at fault, but he wasn't going to say it. She said nothing more and leaned against the crate; Eren sighed and looked over his shoulder to see Armin, wide-eyed and shaking out of fear. He was listening in on them.
"I had no choice," was all that he could tell Eren, he looked ready to cry. So this was what he felt guilty for. Now, Eren understood Armin's reasoning.
"It's alright," Eren told him, trying to offer comfort with words. "I would have asked you to do the same."
"Really?"
"I would have," he reassured him with a nod, though he wasn't smiling. He glanced over at Mikasa to see she had fallen asleep. "...from what Erwin told me, we all rarely have a choice from here an out."
Hanji had finished administering Rivaille's medication, she spoke up,"Do you know what the deal is with Erwin? Why did you transform? How did you get out of your cell?"
As she bombarded him with questions, Eren held both his hands up. "Hold on..."
She grew silent but he could tell she was thirsting for answers.
"...he wants to lead a revolution," he began slowly. Despite her awestruck face, he went on.
As the carriage bumped over the gravel, Erwin leaned over, propping himself on his knees. Jean leaned back, languidly resting his back though his eyes were following the conversation.
"I share the same ideas as you, Eren," he began,"the belief that humanity can go beyond the Walls. Our ragtag army of men, being slaughtered by the enemies, are the closest we can have to being free. At first, I was content with the open space, to be beyond the Walls, but now...the military had stripped us of our purpose as the Recon Corps. The work we've done, the dedication we've placed, all in good work for the King and people; they decided to obliterate us."
Eren remained quiet, he had never learned much about the Commander but he idolized him as much as he had done so for Rivaille. To have the man sitting before him sharing his beliefs was something he could hardly comprehend, it amazed him.
"Amongst that, we serve the people, protect them from the creatures outside our doors...and also themselves."
"Sir?" He questioned. "Isn't the Military Police supposed to care for-"
"What good are they? Handling a couple bandits and thieves yet not touching the Underground Mall, what I meant...are those who threaten humanity. I care for these people, the innocent, not the corrupt; I would do what I can to serve in my own way. Those two Titans Hanji had, they were murdered because of the information they had, those who butchered them are the enemies to mankind. Do you understand?" Eren nodded. Erwin spoke with a gusto, as though he were entreating Eren to follow his already established belief. "With our Recon Corps gone, what can we do? What can I do? Nothing...unless those who still live are willing to stand up and fight-"
Isidor barked out a laugh,"You want to start a revolution? Force the King to reinstate the Recon Corps!? You've seen the bodies piling up at the funeral pyres! You can hardly call yourself a Legion, be lucky the survivors can amount enough arms to be a Squad! You are certainly full of surprises-"
Erwin threw a piercing glare at the Marquis, the man instantly silenced himself.
Suddenly, he reached out to Eren, taking his hand.
"Will you join me in bringing back the Recon Corps before the traitors of humanity destroy what we have left of ourselves?"
Eren tried to pull away, but his grip was like iron. A revolution? How could he? With the few Eren heard Jean spoke of, they would never amount to anything against the King's guard.
"In all due respect," Jean intruded,"you can't have people go for your cause if they no longer trust you nor see you as a leader. You can try to reach to them...but don't be surprised if they point a blade or gun at you; you are, after all, the one who issued the orders to kill the. Orders are orders, but the people who give them make the impression..."
And just like that, Hanji was the first of many Eren was sure to reject Erwin's proposal.
She was living proof from what he learned from Jean when they spoke of how he and Erwin found their convoy outside of the Karanese. Jean himself had no interest in following Erwin's cause; Sasha would most likely leave without looking back; Eren himself...he wanted to go beyond the Walls.
"Eren, you said you wanted to go beyond the Walls," Christa pointed out.
"I do."
"So...what did you tell Erwin?" Hanji said, though she looked like she already figured out the answer.
Eren met their eyes, both were staring back in silence; they looked accepting for what he was about to say. Taking a deep breath, he let out,"I want to go outside. I told him I'd join."
They didn't speak to him, save for Mikasa as she murmured,"It'll be a lost cause..."