The next day preparations were made until sunset from lifting supplies up the wall to Erwin making some last-minute meetings with all the command staff, Lando was finishing tying up extra gas canisters when Jean came over to him.
"Commander Erwin is on his way up," Jean said. "Asked for us."
"Just me and you?" Lando asked.
"All of Levi Squad," Jean said.
"Got it," Lando said.
"How do you feel about retaking Wall Maria?" Jean asked.
"I don't really think anything," Lando said. "But a lot of us are going to die. You can't retake a whole city without casualties."
"Just hope it isn't any of us," Jean said as they arrived at where Erwin was.
Lando looked down from the top of the wall, it seemed the whole city was here.
"Hey!" A voice rang out that sounded Familiar. "Good luck!"
"Oh, it's that one merchant's son, Flegel." Lando thought.
"Take back Wall Maria for us!"
"The future of humanity is in your hands!"
"Captain Levi! Thanks for saving our city!"
"You all come back in one piece, all right!?"
"But go and reclaim our territory."
"Woah," Jean said. "This is the first time in my lifetime that the Scouts got a send-off like this."
"Yeah, there are a lot of people here," Lando said. "Can't they go home or something?"
"Why do you want them to leave so badly?" Jean asked. "Enjoy it."
"Where is the rest of Levi Squad?" Lando asked.
"Probably over there," Jean said looking past all the Scouts lined up. "Let's go!"
Jean and Lando made their way through the crowd of Scouts until they found their Squad.
"There you guys are," Armin said.
"Well, this guy loves to be far away from everyone," Jean said. "He was helping with the farthest one."
Conny and Sasha were yelling back at the Citizens of Trost.
"Yeah! You can count on us!" Sasha yelled.
"You know we will!" Conny yelled.
"This is new," Eren said. "The Scouts getting cheers."
"The Scouts were hated this much?" Lando asked.
"Yeah," Eren said. "Didn't you see every time they came ba-"
Mikasa elbowed Eren
"Anyway," Armin said. "Do you really think we can do this?"
"I don't know," Lando said.
Armin was about to say something when Erwin raised his arm up in the air screaming the citizens did the same.
"The final operations to retake Wall Maria…will now commence!" Erwin screamed out.
The Scouts all climbed onto the lifts with their horses and after they got down they all got into formation.
Erwin climbed onto his horse while every Scout was behind him.
"Advance!" Erwin screamed out.
All of the Scouts rode out.
Timeskip.
It was night out with no moon to light the way, so the Scouts got off their horses and walked with them to let them recover their stamina.
Lando pulled out his lantern and lit it.
"Oh!" Conny panicked when he got off his horse.
"What?" Lando asked.
"There was something on the ground I couldn't see it," Conny said.
"Light up the ground," Lando said.
"How are we not there yet?" Eren complained.
"I thought we were at the foot of this mountain, it's almost dawn," Lando said.
"Shiganshina should be right over the mountain," Eren said.
"We're probably going to get there as the sun rises," Lando said.
The Scouts were split up into three-man Squads since it was dark out.
"We should keep moving," Lando said.
"Right." Eren and Conny said.
The three of them started to walk and after a little while they heard a voice say something.
"Conny switch with me," Mikasa said.
Conny shrugged.
"Sure."
Mikasa immediately grabbed hold of Eren's horse reins so he wouldn't have to.
"You're supposed to be saving your energy," Mikasa said.
"Yeah, I know," Eren said.
"She's right," Lando said. "You're going to fight Berthold or Reiner, maybe even both, maybe even another Titan entirely."
"Ere-" Mikasa was saying before getting cut off by Lando.
"Don't say his name," Lando said. "Assume enemies are all around us."
The three of them kept walking until Lando thrust his hand out at Eren and Mikasa to stop.
"Titan on the left!" Lando screamed out. "Light up the area!"
All the Scouts put their lanterns up, lighting up the woods.
Hange came running over.
"It's one that can't move at night," Lando told her as she came over.
"One of the older ones?" Hange asked.
"Yep," Lando said.
"That's too bad," Hange said. "Let him be."
The three of them walked by the Titan, Eren kept turning his head around to look at it again.
"I can't believe we didn't see it till that close-up," Eren said.
"Assume enemies are all around us," Lando repeated. "The moonless night must be protecting us."
"How can the new Titans move even when there is no light?" Eren asked.
"Hange said that she thinks that the Titans only need a minuscule amount of reflective light to move," Lando said.
"Using the new moon was the right move," Mikasa said.
"Those Titans could still be one of those Moonlight Titans for all we know.' Lando said. "Hange probably wants to catch one."
They walked in silence for a little bit until Mikasa said.
"Eren.."
Lando turned around and saw Eren shaking and holding his wrist.
"Why are you shaking?" Lando asked. "Are you nervous?"
"Huh?!" Eren said. "I'm not scared!'
"Look at your hand," Lando said.
"That is…It's cold!" Eren said. "My hand's damn freezing!"
"You're not the only one afraid," Lando said. "A lot of these Scouts it's their first mission."
"I'm not scared…" Eren said.
"Remember Trost?" Lando asked. "This is their Trost, what do you have to be afraid of?"
Eren said nothing.
"Think of this as saving someone, or giving people freedom since you love it so much," Lando said.
"I don't know why…" Eren said. "When it comes to giving people freedom… strength flows through me."
"Use it," Lando said.
"I bet, by next year we'll be looking at the sea," Eren said. "Right, Mikasa?"
Mikasa looked at a tree and stopped on a dime.
"I recognize this area," Mikasa said. "I think…we came here for firewood."
"I can see the foot!" A scout yelled out. "There's a sign of a trail."
"It's so close," Eren said.
"I can hear the river…" Mikasa said.
Lando motioned with his head for them to move.
The Scouts walked through the woods while they were walking and Lando listened to what Eren and Mikasa said about the old times. Eventually light shone through the trees as Lando looked out past the trees, there was a huge abandoned city in front of him.
End of Chapter 46.
It's been a little bit and this chapter is really short but I got very sick, like bedridden sick for about 3 weeks now. I'm slowly getting better but I wanted to write something. I don't really know when the next chapter will come out but hopefully soon.