As the Female Titan continued to run, Levi, Elysia and Mikasa followed behind, "Maintain current distance," Levi ordered them "You know, she bit the entire nape off, it is unlikely Eren's still alive."
"Levi, leave her alone." Elysia called out, though she knew they had to figure it out.
"He's still alive in there," Mikasa refused Levi's answer, "This Titan is different and acts with purpose. If she wanted Eren dead, she could have simply crushed him. No, she needs him for something. But she also needs her hands to fight, so she's been holding him on her tongue."
"So she's just holding him there?" Elysia asked.
"It is possible she just wanted to savour her quarry, in which case, it's likely he's already been swallowed." Levi pointed out, but based on the way she had gently swallowed Eren, it was not likely.
"No, he's alive." Mikasa stated in a matter-of-fact tone.
"Someone's optimistic." Levi commented.
"Very." Elysia commented in like.
"If you had just done your damn job and protected him like you were supposed to, we wouldn't be having this conversation!" Mikasa snapped.
Levi moved closer after realizing, "Oh, I see, now. You're his childhood friend, right? Suddenly, it's all making sense."
"Will you leave her alone, and focus on the Titan?" Elysia called out. It mattered very little if Mikasa was in love with Eren or not, he was still their only Titan.
"Right," Levi started, "For the sake of argument, let's narrow down our goals. First, we forget about taking her down."
"No way " Mikasa refused, "She's killed way too many of our people for that."
"Mikasa, you may be complicating the situation we've been dealt with." Elysia pointed out
Mikasa didn't even hear Elysia, "She's dead."
"And she's got defenses that neither of us are trained to deal with. I'm telling you, it's a lost cause," Levi spoke, assessing the situation with his lightning speed, as always, "Instead, we'll act on your assumption that Eren is alive and focus on freeing him before she exits the forest. Let Elysia and I handle the cutting. You find a way to distract her."
"Right." was all Mikasa had to say now that they were listening to her.
The Female Titan seemed solely focused on Mikasa, right up until she turned around to hit Levi or Elysia, at which point and spun their blades continuously up her arm until reaching the end, at which point Levi rammed head first into her with her foot, breaking both of his blades from the impact, as did Elysia. Afterwards they lifted up off of her, took out their new blades and continued their assault, winding down her entire body and she fell against the tree. After a series of attacks on the Titan left her nape wide open, Mikasa saw an opportunity, but she wasn't thinking about why Levi didn't go for it, she only saw the chance and went for it.
Levi noticed what she was going to do and called out for her to abort the attack, but she either didn't hear him, didn't listen, or there was no way for her to do so. As a result, the Titan begun to raise her hand toward Mikasa, but Levi pushed her back, and canceled out the Titan's attack, breaking his ankle in the process, but from there, he just launched an attack toward her jaw, which fell open after revealing, "Eren!" Mikasa yelled out, to which Elysia jumped into the mouth, grabbed Eren, and got out as soon as possible. She landed on a branch next to Levi to catch her breath.
"He's alright," Levi commented on Eren's status, "Disgusting, but alright. What did I tell you about trying to take her down? Now, come on!" he said, looking over at the Female Titan, who was still just sitting there in recovery, "We've got Eren, that means our work here is done, don't screw this up by making it personal. We all get that you love him, but try not to act crazy." he pointed out, taking off from there and Elysia followed him.
"I….I was just…."
"In love with him, we know." Elysia spoke out, still being able to hear her.
Upon Mikasa following, Levi turned around to look at her, becoming completely cut off guard by seeing Female Titan cry as she was sitting down where they had left her. Elysia noticed Levi and looked at what he was looking at, "Well, what do you expect? Look at what we did to her."
Upon camping out, Mikasa had approached Eren's cart, where he was resting and still unconscious. Mikasa looked out to see the long line of Soldiers that were lost in the process, and seeing Levi and Elysia at the end of it, hoisted down toward one of the fallen. Elysia was holding still, but Levi was moving about.
"Almost done, Sir."
"We estimate about five to be unrecoverable."
"Not even an arm or a leg?" Erwin asked the man standing there with him.
"Sadly, the Titans didn't leave much behind. And, honestly, Sir, I think it would be best for the families if we didn't bring back what little there is."
"We'll put them down as 'missing'." Erwin concluded from that.
"Sir," the man said, "Also, Sir, our spotters reported several Titans exiting the forest, but none appear to be heading in our direction."
"We move out immediately," Erwin ordered, handing him a clipboard with paper on it, "Inform the squads."
"Sir."
"No! I refuse! It's inhumane!"
"Damn you, shut up!" The man spoke out in return.
"We can't just leave him out here! He was there, I saw Evan's body, he was right in front of us!"
"And if you didn't notice, there are Titans nearby. Go back, and we could wind up dead ourselves!"
"So? If they attack, we'll fight. It's what we do, right?"
"Ivan and me, we grew up in the same town together, his parents are like family to me! I can't face them again if we leave him!" one of the men explained.
"Sentimental garbage!"
"Stop shrieking." Levi spoke, Elysia right behind him as she usually was.
"C-Captain Levi!"
"If you've already confirmed his death there's nothing more to do. Whether we have his body or not makes no difference now, he's just as dead either way." Levi explained to the men fighting to retrieve the body.
"Babe, was that really necessary?" Elysia asked Levi, and he shook his head, but explained that it was necessary for them.
"That's cold…" one of the men spoke.
"Ivan and the others will be listed as 'Missing in Action', that's my decision and it's final, now let it go." Erwin concluded and began to walk away, with Levi and Elysia following him.
On the way back, things were going smoothly, right up until the two men from earlier called out, and Titans were chasing them, but they had their friend.
"Those idiots…" someone called out before firing off a flare.
"Full speed, all soldiers!" Erwin ordered. But the Titans has already grabbed one of the boys, and they lost their friend.
"Our best chance may be to circle back, make a beeline for the trees…we can't put up much of a fight out here." Levi suggested to Erwin, but his suggestion was declined, being told that their best bet was continuing back to the wall.
"But they're so fast. They may catch up to us." Elysia commented, looking at Levi, who was now scowling.
As the Titans began gaining on them, more soldiers were going to prepare to take on the Titans, but they were told by Levi not to bother, "Dump the bodies." he said.
"B-But, Sir…"
"Do you know how many corpses we've already left behind? These aren't special, dump them. Consider it the last service to the cause."
Levi looked ahead, holding his leg and cursing for the break in his ankle.
"Baby, it's okay…" Elysia spoke out, "We can do this."
He nodded his head, looking back just as Petra's body was thrown out of the cart. Just as they began to lose the Titans as there were no corpses left, with the dead weight gone.
When they finally reached a point of rest, one of the men who attracted the Titans was standing there, unsure of what to do with himself, considering he almost got eaten before Mikasa saved him.
Levi and Elysia dismounted their horses, and Levi began to dig into his pocket, "Captain, I…wanted to say…" but Levi took a step towards him.
"We cant always bring our fallen comrades home, but we carry their memory." Levi spoke as he handed him a Scout patch, "This was Ivan's."
The man began to tear up, "Thank you. Sir."
Levi and Elysia got back onto their horses, and took off to rejoin her brother.
Upon returning, Petra's father approached Levi, not even noticing Elysia who was right next to him, so began to speak, "Excuse me, Captain Levi, g-good evening, I–yes. I'm Petra's father, Sir. Might I bend your ear before she sees us? I received this letter from her somewhat recently. Apparently you hand-picked her yourself? She's very excited, I can assure you. In fact, it sounds like she's utterly devoted to you in every way. So devoted that, well, to be honest, her mother and I are a bit concerned, you see." he laughed nervously, "Now, I know that fathers can have trouble letting go, but still, I can't help but think she's far too young to be thinking about marriage. She has so much yet to experience before settling down."
"Sir, Petra is not marrying Levi. I am. Petra is going to marry Oluo." Elysia commented, to which Levi looked over at her, shocked. They'd never spoken about it before, but her reassurance made it sound like perhaps, one day they would settle down and get married. Maybe even have children.
"Oh, my apologies. And where is this Oluo?" he asked. Levi looked at her, wondering how she was going to handle this situation, but he knew she was more than capable of putting the man at ease. What he didn't know was that she was severely rattled from the events that took place earlier that day.
"H-He died...with Petra…" Elysia admitted, to which the man stopped walking, falling behind.