000000000

Ch.32- "Hunt"

000000000

They'd been riding for just under two hours when a relay came with a message from the rear… or what was left of it.

"An Abnormal is running us down, sir! The right flank is severely compromised!"

"What kind of Abnormal?"

"I-I don't know, sir! They just said it didn't look like any Titan they'd ever seen before. They said it looks… like a woman..."

Hange squealed loudly enough to crack glass, but a chill ran down Erwin's spine. They said the Armored looked like Commandant Stark- that brick wall of a man sure as hell didn't look like any woman he'd ever seen. But… if it wasn't the Armored, and it wasn't the Colossal, then… who the hell was hunting them?

"Sir, your orders!?" The chill passed and he inhaled.

"Nifa, pass the message to the right vanguard. Tomas, to the left."

"Yes sir!" He watched as the relays from Hange and Mike's squads veered off, Levi's messenger falling back to retake her position. Only three of them were left.

"This isn't what we planned for, Erwin…" Mike told him through gritted teeth.

"No! It's so much better! Can you believe our luck!?" It was difficult to tell if Hange's confident exuberance was a good thing or not. Ultimately, he decided it was; they could go ahead and be confident for all of them.

Far as they were from it, the forest was still visible, if only just barely. Those massive redwoods, probably older than the Walls themselves, looked like the battlements of some long rotted castle from this distance.

"Gelgar, Abel- send word back- only the center convoy is to enter the forest. All other squads are to remain stationed outside and keep all but this female Titan at bay."

"Yes sir!" Erwin heard the galloping pattern fall out of sync, but did not turn back to see. If he turned back now, and saw that wall of black smoke creeping ever closer, he might lose heart. That could not happen.

All that he could do was continue riding, and hope this fresh Hell was no faster than any other Abnormal, otherwise they might not have enough time to set everything up. Levi knew his part well enough, but hopefully Eren had learned a bit of impulse control over the past month and a half.

~o0o~

Less than a minute between the signal ringing out and the Abnormal appearing.

It was fast. Freakishly fast, and freakish big too, fourteen meters at least. If it had been the Armored, they probably wouldn't have been able to stop it at this speed, it wouldn't have even felt the lines of braided steel running above the path. The hooks were pulled out, taking bits of bark and wood with them, but it slowed the behemoth down just long enough.

"FIREEEEEE!"

It was deafening even with the cotton they'd stuffed in their ears, dozens upon dozens of muzzle flashes lighting up the dark woods brighter than the sun could hope to. The smell of burning gunpowder was so thick in the air, it all but covered up the stench of Titan blood and steam. Erwin had to blink several times before he could finally see again, and even then, painful red spots still flashed before his eyes.

No, it definitely wasn't the Armored. They'd brought more canons than might have been necessary- twenty wagons' worth (it had been like chewing tin, getting the Premier to sign off on that expense) because they assumed that most of them would miss and simply glance off the hardened flesh. Not so with this particular beast. The knees and ankles and shoulders were all skewered, but so were the hips and chest and neck… but not the nape. It had twisted the moment he gave the order, raising its hands- not to strike at them, but to cover its neck. He'd be damned. Hange was right; this was so much better. He barely heard the hiss of exhaust and spooling reels as Levi set down lightly beside him.

"Hange's gonna have a field day with this. Its not putting up much of a fight…"

"I intend to make sure it doesn't. Second wave!" His throat was raw, from screaming, from the smoke. "FIRE!"

They shielded their eyes as the remaining canons fired, not only against the light but the bits of bark flying around their faces as the rear hooks sank deep into the trees behind the canons. When he could no longer hear anything but the ringing in his ears, Erwin pulled the cotton out, biting back a wince. It felt like someone jammed an ice pick into them. The soldiers on the ground were probably half deaf by now, but it was worth it.

"Good job leading it here." Levi scoffed, his eyes hard, his lips twisted in disgust.

"Thank the rear contingency… is what I'd say if any of them were still alive. This ugly bitch smashed them all into paste." His hands trembled, barely noticeable if Erwin hadn't cast a glance at them and seen the dappled sunlight wavering on his blades.

"Their deaths weren't in vain," he heard himself say. "Whoever is in there will be made to answer for their crimes."

Below him, he could hear the other Scouts voicing a mixture of relief and confusion. He could definitely understand the latter as he deployed his hooks to make for another branch. He needed a better view of this thing. To call it "Abnormal" was putting it mildly. It had very little skin, a few patches here and there, but most of its body seemed comprised of exposed muscle and sinew. According to Hange's notes, Eren had also been able to manifest individual body parts that lacked skin, and those exposed muscle fibers were blindingly hot. And yet, the air around this thing didn't shimmer as though it were giving off heat.

"Erwin! Erwin!" He didn't even bother turning around as Hange landed behind him. "I need you to give me the go ahead to cut this thing open!"

"We've been over this, Hange- Mike and Levi will be extracting whoever's-"

" 'Extracting'? Who gives a fuck about that! I'm gonna cut it open from the front!" He did turn this time, frowning, his brows drawn together.

"…why? As far as we know, it didn't eat anyone." They grabbed his arms, breathing heavily.

"It has breasts!"

"So?" Mike hopped down beside them, locking a pair of blades into his handles. "It doesn't have nipples. A tit without a nipple is just a shoulder."

"No Titans have nipples! But this one has breasts! Distinct, noticeable breasts! Wide hips!"

"…do you wanna fuck this thing, Hange?"

"Ew! No! Look, I'm just saying- in all the recorded history we have, there has never been a record of a Titan displaying sexual dimorphism like this before. For the longest time it was assumed that Titans were males before it was discovered that they don't have reproductive organs… but this one might!" They looked back to Erwin, imploring. "I gotta cut it open! It could have ovaries- it could have a uterus! I mean, hell; breasts serve no function other than to nurse young- this Titan might be capable of reproducing! Maybe there're more like this! Maybe that's where Titans come from!"

It was a ridiculous notion, and at the same time, the idea that children could simply sprout into Titans like flowers had also been a ridiculous notion not that long ago. Mike gave him a sidelong glance.

"Hate to admit it, but crazy eyes here has a point. I'd hate for this thing to pop a squat and birth a litter of Titans right on top of us."

"Then we'll have to pull the driver out quickly. Eren's Titan body begins decaying immediately after he's dislodged from it, correct?" Hange looked like he'd just told them their puppy died.

"Well, yeah, but-"

"You'll have to get your answers later. Levi!"

"What?" he called from the next tree over.

"You and Mike get into position. Cut its hands off and slice the nape vertically- we don't need you decapitating our visitor. Not yet, at least…"

"Sir!"

As they climbed higher, Erwin and Hange swung around to a better vantage point from which the nape was visible. What odd behavior… If this really was a soldier- and they had to assume it was at this point- why bother covering the nape? This cadet, whoever it was, had spent three years using ODM gear- they had to know those ultra-hardened steel blades would cut through Titan bones like they were butter. Was it hoping that it would regenerate fast enough that all their blades would dull and snap before they got them out?

A song of wires, green cloaks flapping, and humanity's two strongest soldiers flew down, their blades flashing-

PING!

A sound that instantly transported him back to the Underground, Levi snapping his blade clean in half. Several Scouts cried out, ducking out of the way as deadly razors flew through the air, three bouncing off the trees they hit and clattering to the ground. One shot off so fast it embedded itself into the trunk.

"What just happened!?" someone called out from the ground.

If he wasn't looking right at those giant hands, Erwin wouldn't have believed it. It happened in the blink of an eye, but he saw it. The red muscle and white sinew seemed to frost over until it appeared both hands had frozen. The moment the blades struck this strange ice, they snapped off. Both men retreated, landing beside Erwin and Hange.

"The fuck was that?!" Levi gestured angrily to the hands.

"It felt like striking a rock," Mike whispered, his voice either awestruck… or terrified. "Ricochet nearly broke my damn arm."

"I think… I think it's like the Armored Titan..." Hange's voice was tremulous, the smile spreading across their face a frightful thing. "It's making its skin hard… Ah. Ahhh… I'm so excited I think I just peed my pants a little…!"

"Pee your pants later, Hange. Look at its hands." Erwin pointed his own blade at the spots where the red muscle was once again visible. The hardened skin crackled like the crust on a roast, falling away in chunks. "It doesn't seem like this one can maintain its hardened skin. Levi, Mike, back in position. When the skin around the wrists chips away, cut them off."

"Yes, sir."

Curiouser and curiouser… Would this strange creature also grow four times its size and swat them all away like canons? How many of these things were there? Anchors sank deep into the flesh of its arms as what was left of the hardened skin sloughed off, the hiss of iceburst gas reeling the men in with a speed the other Scouts could only dream of. It was some technique Levi had devised a few years back, a method that used more gas and risked snapping ligaments if it was done incorrectly, but sliced through Titans far faster and more efficiently than their standard technique. He'd tried to teach it to the rest of them, but after three broken bones, a concussion and no less than two dozen lacerations caused by the wires, only Mike had been able to effectively replicate it. His lieutenants were the strongest and most agile of his Scouts- surely they would be able to-

PING!

The blades snapped again. Levi alighted atop the Titan's head as Mike retreated to another branch, showing Erwin his ruined blades and shrugging helplessly. No, it seemed this wasn't a problem strength alone could solve.

"Dirk!" He called over one of the captains from Hange's section. He dropped down beside the commander.

"Sir!"

"Prepare the artillery. I want this things' hands blown off." If this was a soldier, it was possible it knew when Levi and Mike would strike based on the sound of their ODM gear. He'd like to see it correctly estimate the explosion of a mortar shell filled with gunpowder. Dirk frowned slightly.

"With all due respect, sir, an artillery shell will destroy the hands, but its possible it could also destroy the nape and whoever's inside."

"A very astute observation, soldier, which is why you'll fire them at the wrists."

"Yes sir!" He watched him head down to the supply wagons before turning his attention back to their quarry. The wrists were about two meters away from the nape… but if the person inside was caught in the blast, it seemed likely that they'd just regrow any limbs and tissue that were destroyed.

According to Armin Arlert's testimony, prior to his assuming Titan form, Eren had lost both an arm and a leg to the jaws of Titans, and upon being extracted for the first time, approximately an hour later, they had regrown, fully functional. He wasn't too concerned about hurting their guest. He was, however, concerned about Levi getting caught in the blast. He was still standing atop the female Titan's head, his lips moving even though he was too far away for Erwin to hear what he was saying. It was hardly the first time- it seemed he'd picked up Hange's queer habit of speaking to the Titans before killing them.

Erwin was about to call him back when the female Titan shifted slightly, its jaw opening as far as it could with the cables locking it in place. The sound that came from its mouth was, with no exaggeration, the most bowel-looseningly terrifying sound Erwin had ever heard in his life. If he lived a hundred, thousand years, he would never be able to rid himself of the instinctive terror that sound branded on his soul. On and on and on it went, never weakening, never ceasing. And then, suddenly, it stopped.

At least, he assumed it stopped- his ears were ringing so violently, he wondered if he'd ever hear anything but the echo of that scream ever again. On the ground, many a Scout was curled up in the dirt, their hands still covering their ears. Wincing, he reached up to touch his own ear. Surprisingly it wasn't bleeding, but everything sounded muffled and odd, which was why he didn't notice Mike until the man was right beside them.

"They're coming!" 'Who' was on his tongue, but there was only one "they" that would have the older man's face so dark.

"Which direction?"

"Every direction! A horde's gonna be on us in less than a minute!" The other soldiers were supposed to be stationed around the forest, keeping the Titans out. Had they all fallen, or… that scream. Erwin had assumed it was a cry of frustration or desperation, but… Good God, was it rallying Titans to it? He called down to the soldiers beneath him.

"Double time on the artillery, people!"

"They're here. First wave's closing in from the east." He could already hear the thudding footsteps, the distant cracks of branches being snapped off, but the forest threw sounds until it seemed they were coming from all directions at once.

"Wagon defense squad- head east and intercept them! Don't let a single Titan into this clearing!"

"Yes, sir!"

They didn't necessarily even need to kill all of them, just lead them away until they could extract this thorn in their side. But that would be too simple. It had been years, so many years- hadn't he learned yet that once one thing went wrong, everything began spiraling out of control?

"Three Titans have broken through! Lieutenant!" Levi stopped kicking the female Titan's head long enough to change his blades, firing his hooks just as the first Titan of the horde lumbered into the clearing. He moved with an inhuman speed, cutting away at three napes and dropping three carcasses onto the rotting leaves below. With all the steam already rising from their corpses, it was little wonder he didn't notice the three-meter toddling over the bodies of its fallen brethren. Erwin wouldn't have noticed it either had the movement by the Female Titan's leg not set him fearing that the capture canons were coming loose.

No, they were holding fast, leaving it unable to pull away as dozens of flat, stumpy teeth sank into the exposed muscle of its calf. The horde had fallen upon them, most of the Titans between five and six meters, hardly the most fearsome creatures the Survey Corps had faced, but it seemed that for each nape his Scouts cut, another monster took that ones' place. They did not grab or snap at the soldiers whizzing around them, their focus intently on a single target. It felt as though an iron band tightened around Erwin's lungs, keeping him from breathing. That was also in the report from Trost. Multiple cadets reported seeing Titans swarming Eren's own Titan body, attempting to… devour it…

"All hands, commence combat! Defend the Female Titan at all costs!" Whereas Titans tore through human flesh as though it were overcooked cabbage, they were having more difficulty with their current meal. They worked at the immobilized body with a single-minded ferocity, however, dull teeth and dull fingers ripping and tearing skin from flesh, flesh from bones and breaking those bones to get at the steaming marrow inside.

The blood ran so heavily, from sliced napes and rent apart throats and bellies that the ground quickly became a muddy soup. Red painted the massive trees, even reaching him all the way above the carnage. He could feel it, soaking into his clothes, scalding his bare skin… and could do nothing to stop it. Erwin shut his eyes tightly, pressure mounting behind them.

"All hands, withdraw!"

"What? No!" Hange's anchors struck the branch too close to his feet for comfort, and when they attempted to land beside him, they missed their mark, hitting the tree. Their goggles had completely fogged over, steaming blood still dripping from their hair. "Commander, there's still a chance-"

"There's nothing to be done about it now. Leave the wagons, leave the canons- leave everything! Head west and the moment you're clear of the forest, redeploy the formation! We make for Calaneth!" He yelled over the din. The horde had successfully torn the Female Titan limb from limb, and were currently gorging themselves on the flesh even as it turned to ash in their bloody hands. With all the chaos, they might be able to slip away unnoticed… As the other Scouts set out to unhitch their horses, Hange however reluctantly, Levi retreated beside him, hanging from his wires and using the inside of his lapel to wipe the blood from his lips.

"Are you serious…" he panted, an unusual waver in his voice that someone else might have mistaken for exhaustion. "We're retreating…?"

"We've been bested."

"Don't give me that shit! Not yet…!"

"It's true." Erwin almost laughed. That was the sound trying to work its way up his throat, through his gritted teeth. "The enemy was prepared to abandon literally everything rather than allow their secrets to fall into our hands. You'd think I'd have expected something like that, but no. Who could possibly have accounted for the enemy of humanity having some fail safe in place in case they were captured?" Not him, clearly. All the time he spent, trying to narrow down the possible list of suspects, thinking of ways to stop the unstoppable juggernaut that was the Armored Titan, and he was too much of a stupid, brainless idiot to consider that a spy might take their information to the grave. 'I am the stupidest man who has ever lived…'

"Stop beating yourself up, Erwin. This is more my fault than yours, running my stupid fucking mouth…" Levi shut his eyes for a second, pain flitting across his features. "The Assembly's gonna have a fucking field day with this failure…"

"We'll worry about that when we get back. Right now, making it back to Calaneth without sustaining anymore casualties is our top priority." That wasn't going to be easy by any measure. They'd lost the right rear, so they could be flanked by another horde and not notice until it was right upon them. Hell, with all the steam and cinders filling the air, he could scarcely see the Titans right below him. He couldn't see anything. None of them could see… Mike could smell them, but… they smelled just like normal people… Levi was talking, something about fetching his squad…

"Hold, Levi."

"What?"

"Replenish your gas and get fresh blades before you head out." Levi stared at him as though he'd lost his mind.

"We don't have time for that- why-"

"Because I said so. And be on your guard. Expect another attack at any moment." Narrow gray eyes widened, but the lieutenant was smart enough to not ask any questions.

"Understood, sir." They set off in different directions, Levi stopping at one of the wagons that held their supplies as Erwin found his horse, untying its reins and heaving himself into the saddle.

He hazarded a glance over his shoulder, at the Titans digging through what remained of the burnt bones. With no flesh left to burn away, the steam was clearing, but hopefully it would remain long enough to obscure the soldiers' scent and allow them to retreat unmolested. He heard Hange's stream of muttered curses and laments before he caught up with them.

"Are they following us, Mike?"

"No. Thank god. I guess all of those ones were Abnormals." The taller man sighed deeply. "When I said I didn't want that thing birthing a litter of Titans on us, I was fuckin' joking."

"What the fuck was that?" Hange cried out in dismay. "What the fuck was any of that?! Titans calling out to other Titans? Titans eating other Titans!? The first time this kind of behavior has been observed in over a century, and it happens today?! What kind of shit luck is that?!"

"Luck has nothing to do with it, Hange. This is simply our ignorance coming back to bite us in the ass…" Erwin gripped his reins so tight, his hands shook. Not just ignorance, though. Foolishness. Stupidity- his stupidity. How many bodies were they leaving in this forest alone? Levi said the entire rear contingency had been wiped out… He barely even heard Hange over the ringing in his ear, the clattering of their gear, and his own heavy thoughts.

"-vi restock? He needs to get back to Eren as quickly as possible."

"We saw the Female Titan get eaten; did we actually see the person inside suffer the same fate? I didn't. You yourself posited that no one saw the person inside the Colossal because they had ODM gear and used the steam as a cover."

"I also immediately scrapped that theory, remember? Eren had ODM gear when he first became a Titan, too. The gear was destroyed, his uniform was destroyed, and it exhausted him so much, he passed out."

"That was Eren. This person, whoever they were, clearly isn't. This Titan was capable of hardening its skin. This Titan could draw other Titans to it with its scream- things we've never seen Eren do. We assumed we had enough of the facts, and were ruined by that assumption." He ground his teeth together. "You once told me we should expect everything. You were absolutely right. We should expect that this enemy is armed with ODM gear, and is amongst us right now. We should expect that they can transform again… and that they will strike again at any moment…"

~o0o~

They couldn't ride straight back to Wall- they'd lost so many soldiers that the formation was in shambles. Levi caught up with with them about a kilometer from the forest, on a horse that wasn't his own.

"Where's your squad?"

"You're looking at it." Erwin had assumed the dark look on his lieutenant's face was also the reason he was favoring his left side, but whatever injury he'd suffered appeared to be the furthest thing from his mind.

"And Eren?"

"Tossed him in one of the wagons. Got a lot to tell you…"

"It can wait."

They stopped along a small stream to water their horses and themselves. It hadn't even been noon when they'd ridden out, and now it was nearing six. Cecile sniffled and constantly rubbed her eyes as she informed him that they'd lost over fifty percent of the convoy, but her voice was firm.

"Between the center and the right flank, we've lost a fourth of our force. We might need to turtle up to-" Her voice cracked suddenly and she shut her eyes. "I'm sorry."

"It's fine."

"I'm sorry…"

Erwin laid a hand on her shoulder, squeezing it, but he wasn't looking at her. What few dead they'd managed to recover were being loaded into one wagon, the injured into another. Eren had transformed into his Titan form, and just as he had in Trost, was rendered unconscious afterward. His gear and uniform had remained intact this time. Hange theorized that, with experience, the person within could perhaps control where and how their Titan body "attached" to their human body.

They'd shown none of their usual giddiness as they put forth this theory, however, their attention focused solely on Levi. He'd broken his ankle fighting the Female Titan- his only explanation was "the Ackerman brat has a problem following orders"- but one would never know without having seen the bruised, swollen flesh. He didn't so much as bat an eye as Ramirez set the bone and tied a splint around it, his face almost frightening in its stillness. He should have gone to sit with the other injured, but he instead pulled his boot back on- pointedly ignoring the medic's panicked cries for him to stop- and pushed himself to his feet, limping over to where the dead were still laid out.

Blinking rapidly, Erwin looked away. He'd seen Levi's strange little ritual once or twice before with past members of his squad, cutting the embroidered Wings of Freedom from their breast pockets. He didn't really know why he did it. They returned the cloaks of the fallen to their next of kin, and when there were bodies to be burned, a scoop of ashes in a box. Maybe Levi kept the patches for himself, a reminder. He hadn't taken anything from his friends, but… maybe he didn't want to remember that they'd died in service of a cause they didn't truly care about.

Erwin didn't know which bodies he was bending over this time- the Special Operations Squad had been left in the forest along with the crushed bodies of the rear contingency. A mercy, if the carnage they'd passed was any indication; they didn't have any shovels to scoop up the fatty red paste that remained of the Female Titan's victims.

"Commander." Horace looked as though he'd aged ten years since that morning. Erwin had to wonder how terrible he looked by now. "The spotters have noticed movement at the edge of the forest. It looks like the Titans from before might have caught our scent." He pulled the watch from his pocket. They'd spent a little under half an hour out here. The horses were probably still exhausted, to say nothing of the new recruits, but they had no more time to waste.

"Have everyone saddle up immediately." He inhaled deeply. "Your section will once again be forming the right rear. Tell Mike his section's back in the van." Horace frowned.

"Is that wise, sir? The van needs the most soldiers-"

"Normally, yes, but we have no idea what's become of the Female Titan. Levi says he left it in the forest, so it's most likely still behind us. If it screams again, it's going to be attracting Titans from the rear." His jaw tightened as he lowered his voice. "That bitch caught us unawares once- I'm not falling for that trick again." The older man looked like he was going to be sick, but he swallowed and nodded.

"Alright. I'll tell-"

"No! I refuse! It's inhumane!"

"Shut the hell up! Do you want-" Sand and rocks and dry grass crunched underfoot as a blonde man ran up to him, young but not as young as the new recruits. His cheeks were wet.

"Commander! Commander Erwin, please; you have to give me leave to go back, you have to!"

"What for, soldier?"

"Ivan's body! Ivan Santos. He was right there, I saw him!"

"Titans are coming, you absolute walnut!" Captain Ian was hot on the blonde's path, another younger Scout trailing behind him, this one with stringy brown hair and red, swollen eyes. "You want more of us to die for your friend's corpse?!"

"We can fight them!" The blonde shouted back to his captain as the brunette approached, wiping his eyes with his sleeve and turning an entreating look at Erwin. They'd probably joined the year before last.

"Please, Commander- me and Ivan were like brothers… I can't tell tell his mom that we just left him behind…!"

"Stop your shrieking." Levi's voice was low, but cold and hard as steel. He'd already mounted his new steed, but his left foot hung out of the stirrup. "His death has been confirmed- that's more than a lot of families get. Body or not, dead is dead."

"How can you say that…?" the brunette asked, fresh tears spilling over his cheeks. Erwin's stomach turned. This was not the time to grieve, not here, not now.

"If you don't want to tell Ivan's family that you left him behind, then don't. Those whose bodies haven't been recovered will be listed as MIA."

"But he's not missing!" the blonde shouted at him. "He's less than a kilometer back! We can get him!"

"You will not. You will saddle up and remain in formation. Do I make myself clear?" No understanding showed in those pale green eyes, only shock that quickly gave way to pain and fury.

"This is how you treat the men who give their lives for you…? Heartless bastard!"

"Hey!" Ian grabbed the younger Scout's arm, restraining him. "Shut your insubordinate trap; you don't talk to the Commander like that!" Erwin had already begun walking back to his horse, but the voice behind him was still yelling.

"When you finally croak, I hope you rot out here, Erwin Smith! I hope they don't bring back a single fucking finger!" All things considered, that would probably be for the best. Thomasin was the one who would get his remains, and she didn't want them.

You can't die…

I can't bury you…

What would she do with his bloody cloak; hang it above her bed so she could have a reminder of what a great commanderhe'd been? Maybe that was what he should do- collect all the blood soaked, torn jackets of his Scouts that had fallen today and sew them into a tapestry to hang on his wall to remind himself of the price of his complacency. Stupid, stupid…! The soft clattering of tack and the heavy breathing of a horse was almost soothing as Levi rode up beside him.

"You just gonna let him talk to you any sort of way?"

"He's young, and hurting. Yelling at him won't do any good, especially not out here. He'll be disciplined once we're back at base." Insubordination could not be tolerated, but it was hard to be mad at the person he used to be.

It had been near ten years at this point, and he could still feel the weight of Lisa's limp body, her blood soaking into his pants, She's dead. Drop her… He hadn't been able to back then, but as the years went on, it became an easier and easier task to leave the dead behind. There was a cart full of bones in the woods just outside Wall Maria. A box of ashes or a bloody cloak weren't going to bring anyone's children back. About a dozen of his Scouts hailed from Calaneth.

Three of the Titans from the forest came after them, however the Female was not amongst them. Whoever was controlling it would probably have to wait until nightfall before they could escape back to the Walls They probably wouldn't try to scale it at Calaneth, they'd choose some remote section and head back through the rural territory of Wall Rose. He needed to consult with the others and see which, if any, of his leads had paid off. He'd put half of the 104th in each side of the rank, but he couldn't recall who'd been where off the top of his head.

All of the plans, all of the theories- everything had blended together in his mind until he couldn't pick out a single thought. He had to report to the Premier, he had to inform Zachary that the mission had been a failure. They'd have to turn Eren over to the Military Police to be executed. Another death on his hands. How many would that be today? Seventy? Eighty? The harder he tried to grasp the number, the quicker it fell through his fingers.

The sun had set almost completely by the time they passed through the outer gate of Calaneth, the Bell of Freedom reverberating painfully in his temples. The chatter was not happy and excited as it had been only a few hours ago, the voices that reached him through the fog in his mind confused and grim.

"They're back already?"

"I thought they were setting up a base…"

"There's a lot less of them…"

"They've been doing so well all this time- what happened?"

"I bet that Titan boy has something to do with it."

"Yeah."

"Yeah, he probably went nuts outside the Wall and killed all of them…!"

"They better not have brought him back in here…"

Slowly, the confusion began blending into anger. Frustration. Outrage. The quiet whispers and murmurs growing louder, the people no longer talking amongst themselves but calling out to the Scouts. It had been a long time since Erwin returned from an expedition to a chorus of bitter, hateful scorn. The people were right- they had been doing so well. They'd lost plenty of soldiers, to be sure, but they'd set up a supply line halfway to Shiganshina. People cheered and waved when they set out on missions, and even when they returned with wagons piled high with the dead, the curses hurled at them were usually kept to a minimum.

They gave people hope.

And he'd gotten spoiled.

Spoiled into expecting things to stay the way they were, to continue going right. Into expecting the parents and siblings of his soldiers to remain unseen, names he addressed condolence letters to, not people pushing their way to the front of the crowd to look for their loved ones, to rush up to his Scouts asking where So and So or What's their Name is. Wails filled the air, furious curses.

"Nooo! My boy! My baby boy…!"

"You killed my daughter! You monsters!"

"She was supposed to come home!"

"He said it was a simple mission; how did you get him killed on a simple mission?!"

"Commander Erwin!"

Erwin did not stop, he did not break pace.

"How many people died today?!"

He did not even glance to the side to meet the eyes glaring hate up at him.

"Did you even accomplish anything!?"

If he stopped, if he spoke to one of them, tried to reassure them that their child or lover or whatever died bravely and helped bring humanity one step closer to victory, he might slip.

"Was it worth it!?"

He might falter and confess that all their deaths had been for nothing.

"Give us some answers, damn you!"

He would die before he let himself break down sobbing in the middle of the road. The bell had ceased its incessant ringing, even the echo had gone silent, but the ringing continued in Erwin's ears, a horrible, horrible scream that left him lightheaded.

~o0o~

Night had fallen by the time he reached Stohess, the streets unusually dark despite the abundance of lamps. Clouds completely obscured the moon and stars, leaving nothing but an empty black void above him as he walked into the Central building. Colonel Aleister had been sitting in the Premier's office, the only member of the Assembly that deigned to hear the results of the mission first hand, and the moment Erwin walked through the door, satisfaction gleamed in his beady eyes. The Premier's mouth was set in a hard, thin line. There was no surprise, not even a questioning look; the chance of this mission being a success hadn't even crossed their minds. Which was good, in a way. There was no disappointment as he debriefed them.

Aleister didn't care for an explanation. There were no exonerating factors. This mission was pass/fail, and they had failed miserably. They had seven days to turn Eren over to the Military Police. There was a hint of something sympathetic in Zachary's eyes, but Erwin paid it no mind, nor anything that was said. He had his orders, and he simply waited for the other men to stop talking and dismiss him. He had to write an official debriefing for the record. There would be a stack of death certificates waiting on his desk, ready to be filled out. Almost eighty casualties; there hadn't been a singular mission with such a high death toll in almost four years.

Mike and Horace and Cecile and Hange would have to help him return the deceased's' belongings to their families- it would take him months to do so on his own. Condolence letters alone would take weeks. There were probably angry parents crowded around the door of the Garrison warehouse they were staying in, demanding something- some answer, some reason, some scrap of their children. If they'd picked up any of the soldiers from Calaneth, they could be returned- Mike would see to that. Erwin had ordered what was left of the convoy to take the wagons outside the district, as far away from the village outside the Wall as possible. They'd return to Trost at first light, and set about building pyres.

The ferry was all but empty- he was lucky enough to catch the last one running for the night. Lucky… The darkness behind his eyelids was little different from the darkness of the night sky. He prized them open as the boat jerked to a stop, the pneumatic hiss stinging his ears.

There were few lights in the windows. The people of Calaneth had mostly gone to sleep, the image of wagons piled with bodies six deep probably already gone from most of their minds. It would be prudent to get started as soon as possible, to discuss with his ranking officers what this blow to the Corps would mean. Their temporary base was near the center of the district, near the Garrison hospital, but Calaneth was completely foreign to him in the dark. There were no lamps illuminating the dirt roads, the twisting maze of row houses and bars and general stores incomprehensible to his mind at this late hour.

Erwin simply followed the sound of running water, putting one foot in front of the other in an entirely mechanical process, his wrists knocking against the iron bamboo tanks at his hips. They wasted so much fuel, so many blades, trying to stop the Titan horde from devouring their quarry. He should have realized what was happening sooner, ordered the squads to station a perimeter around the area. All that death for burnt bones and no answers. He passed a small coop, a tiny plot of dirt perfuming the air with garlic and onions and mint and chamomile, and stopped in front of a familiar door. His arm moved like a creature with its own mind, raising and hitting the warped wood before him.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

He had no idea what time it was. Well past midnight, at least, given that even the taverns had closed up shop for the night. The house was silent.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

If he had any sense in his empty head, he'd have gone back to base, to show his soldiers that he stood beside them in their grief, to get more details from Eren, to offer condolences he knew would be rebuked to Levi because they always were.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Faintly, he heard shuffling through the door… or maybe, he just wanted to hear something. He had no business being here. It was late, people had work in the morning… and yet, his hand rose again.

Tap. Tap.

Click.

The door opened a fraction of an inch before swinging open all the way, nearly hitting him. A single lantern offered up the dimmest of light, barely enough to silhouette the woman standing before him. All he could see in the shadows was a halo of wispy curls lit up from behind.

"Erwin? What… what are you…?"

"…may I come in?"

000000000

A/N- Mixing and matching a lot of things from the anime and manga, here. I'm torn on the scenes the anime added. On the one hand, I love them fleshing out Levi, but on the other, it kind of throws logic and continuity out the window. So, like… the Scouts went back into the forest to get Petra's (we know it was supposed to be Petra) body? Knowing full well that there were Titans there and the Female Titan was unaccounted for? Did they also scrape up the remains of the other soldiers into garbage bags, or are they not as important because they're not cute girls? Also, on a purely fangirling note, the fact that Mike is shown to pull off the same beyblade technique as Levi, not only in the manga and anime (when they're trying to cut off the F!Titan's hands), but also that he's one of the few characters that can learn it in AoT: Final Battle makes me so giddy. I just love the idea that this is at least one thing that Levi taught to another person, instead of just passing it down through his stupid Hackerman genes, and that he tried to teach Erwin and Hange, but couldn't because Mike is the only non-augmented human capable of achieving Ackerman physicality. God, Isayama made such a fascinating character with Mike, then he just threw him in the trash.