Chapter 20: The Burdens We Carry
In the military HQ in Karanes, Levi and Hange debriefed Erwin on their discovery of Titans within the walls; it was only a day and a half away from the expedition beyond Wall Rose, Karanes was abuzz with activity with the over hundred Scouts and Garrison soldiers making their final preparations.
"So… what you're saying is that Titans with similar heights to the Colossal Titan line the three walls that has housed humanity for a century?" asked Erwin as he stared outside the large window in his office "Who else knows?"
"Us, the Elrics and the Scout escort with us." Replied Levi who was leaning against the door "Other than that, no else."
"Good, for now let's keep it that way for now" responded Erwin "We can't let those who've been hiding this secret know that we've uncovered it; the smaller the circle the safer we'll be, we can let the others know about it when the time comes, Hange is there anything about these Titans I should know?"
"They seem docile; similar to the captured Titans when they were cut off from sunlight, so an attack by them is highly unlikely, thankfully." Replied Hange
"We'll need to plot a course of action with this new information; we must find out the people and groups who knew of this secret, I have no doubt that they must be hiding far more secrets from the rest of humanity." Remarked Erwin
"Minister Nick, the one in the court" said Hange "If anyone knows anything about those Walls he's bound to know, it would also explain why those damn cultists have been making so difficult to place some cannons on these Walls."
"We'll need to apprehend Minister Nick then" said Erwin "This will be something we'll have to discuss further after the expedition, tell me how is Eren Yeager and the Elrics doing, are they ready for their first expedition beyond the walls?"
They're as trained and ready as they'll ever be" said Levi "I had my squad teach Eren about the long distance scouting formation, I've briefed the Elrics on their position in the formation separately, though Eren and my squad are curious about the Elrics and why they won't be riding along with us, there was also speculation about what your question meant, I made up some excuse about Squad Leader Ness taking watch over them."
"Good" responded Erwin, staring out into the distance "One way or another we will uncover the Truth."
Ed, Eren and Alphonse were cleaning the stables, Eren wondered about why the two of them seemed so on edge at times these last few days, when they had arrived at Karanes he noticed how their eyes would scan the walls, it was as if they were waiting for something to happen, but whenever he'd ask them they'd snap out of it and suddenly act like their usual selves, now was one of those times.
Their nerves must be getting to them with the expedition coming up Eren thought shovelling the horses' faeces into a metal bucket, while Ed and Alphonse tended to the horses
"Cleaning the stables is a crappy job, huh?" he joked
"Yeah it is…" Ed replied back with a small smile before getting back on to what he was doing
After they had finished with cleaning out the stables, the three of them left the stables back to Oluo who was told to watch over them, they caught sight of what looked to be a large group of Cadets being escorted by a few of the Scouts, in the crowd Eren spotted two familiar faces.
"Hey that's Armin and Mikasa" said as Ed and Alphonse also caught sight of them "Oluo, sir, could we go and talk to them?"
"Yeah sure…" replied Oluo disinterred, they three of them quickly jogged over to them
"Armin! Mikasa!" Eren yelled, catching their attention, they slightly gasped when they caught sight of them "Man, am I glad to see you guys"
Mikasa quickly grabbed one of Eren's hands into hers and held it tenderly "Eren have they mistreated or hurt you in anyway?" she asked with a look of concern "have they beaten you or mentally hurt you?"
"Uh… no, they haven't." replied Eren slightly taken aback
Mikasa suddenly had a look of pure anger and hatred on her face as she remembered what Levi had done to Eren at the Court case "That damn pipsqueak is gonna pay, I'll make sure of it."
"Wait… you mean Captain Levi?" asked Eren as he and Alphonse both looked at her a bit concerned.
You and I both… thought Ed with a sly smirk on his face, remembering the incident and feeling old emotion beginning to surface up.
"Hey guys" came a voice from behind Mikasa and Armin, they turned their attention to the group walking up to them, it was Connie with Sasha, Krista, Ymir, Reiner, Bertholdt and Mina "It's been a while, huh."
"Hey! Alphonse!" she said smiling, she was happy to see Alphonse looking alright; the last time she'd seen him was when Captain Levi beat him in court, she then turned her attention to the others "Eren! Ed! How're you guys been?
"Great" replied Alphonse with a soft simile
"So all of you joined the Scouts?" asked Eren
"Well… That's why we're here." Replied Connie
"Yeah, right" replied Eren
"So, you two joined the Scouts too?" asked Connie "Got a handle on the ODM gear?"
"Yeah, we've got a pretty good gasp on this thing" replied Ed "Looks like we won't need to hitch a ride on you guys anymore."
"So did Jean, Annie and Marco leave to join the Military Police?" asked Eren, the sound of footsteps behind Eren, Ed and Alphonse caught everyone attention, they turned to see who it was; it was Jean and another group of Cadets "Jean?" Eren said surprised to see him here "You joined the Scouts?"
"Marco's dead…" Jean responded, everyone around them went silent for a while with sad expressions on their faces.
"He… Marco..." Eren stuttered "Marco's… dead?"
"Apparently no one was there to see it..." Jean said "He died alone and there was no on there with him." The mood was now bleak as everyone fell silent for a moment over the death of their friend; Ed and Alphonse were silent out of respect for their loss.
"Hey rookies!" came a voice to the side, it was one of the Scouts, standing in front of a wagon "Your uniforms are here!" The Cadets then huddled towards the wagon and were individually handed their new Light brown jacket and hooded cloak with the blue and white wings sewn onto it, they threw their new green cloaks over their shoulders, Eren, Ed and Alphonse watched as they adorned their new uniform.
"Eren" said Jean "When you have the time, we'd like to have a word later today" he then looked to Ed and Alphonse "You two should come along."
In the dimly lit storage room of the Military HQ, Eren, Ed and Alphonse met with the others to catch up about the last two months.
"I'm sorry about your friend, Marco" said Ed to the group
"Back during the recovery operation in Trost, when everyone was leaving he was the one trying to convince everyone to stay." Said Connie, Ed and Alphonse both looked to the floor somberly
"So you guys are…" said Eren
"Yes, we're all going on the expedition a day from now" said Mikasa
"Eren, I heard you tried to attack Ed here while in Titan form, is that true?" asked Jean accusingly
"You're wrong, that's not what happened…" argued Mikasa
"With all due respect Mikasa, I wasn't asking you and you weren't the one who was attacked, if I want verification on what happened I'll ask him" Jean said pointing towards Ed
Ed was silent, he wondered whether he should answer truthfully, Mikasa looked at Ed with a look in her eyes as if she was desperately telling him to lie for Eren sake. "Yeah… Ed said
"Apparently I attacked Ed while I was in Titan form…" Eren said apologetically
"Apparently?" interrogated Jean "You don't remember? So you can transform into a fifteen meter tall Titan whenever you want, but when you're in Titan form you don't have complete control over it?"
Eren looked down to the floor, like a child being scolded by their parent "Yeah… that's about it…"
Jean sighed "Thank God we and the rest of humanity doesn't have to rely on you completely; if we were then it's likely we'd all end up like Marco or almost like Mina; dead before Eren could even realize what happened or dead because we followed him"
"Stop it-" said Mikasa, but Jean wasn't paying attention
"Of course we don't know whether we can totally rely on you two either" said Jean focusing his attention to Ed and Alphonse "word been going around that you two aren't exactly doing this out of the goodness of your own hearts; some people are even saying you two are spies, so tell us Elrics why exactly are you here? Tell us, that way we'll know whether you're in this for the long haul or if, just like you came here, you'll both vanish into thin air one day and leave the rest of us to rot" he tone then became more authoritative, he marched up towards them the three of them "the reason I'm asking is simply because we don't want to die for your sake just because we're ordered to, we want a reason, the truth, otherwise we'd hesitant when the time calls for decisive action, what we need from you guys is a guarantee; tell us why you two are worth dying for."
All eyes were now on Ed and Alphonse; Ed was really starting to dislike Jean for placing them on the spot like this but he completely understood why and, in a way, respected him for it. Ed and Alphonse looked at each other, Alphonse nodded to Ed as if to show him he'll support him with whatever decision he'd make, Ed sighed "Alright, we'd have to tell you guys eventually so we might as well do it now… remember what I said about there being something in it for us if we helped you guys defeat the Titans, Armin?" he asked as both Ed and Alphonse looked to him
"Yeah, I remember" Armin replied "I'm guessing this isn't exactly the circumstance you'd like to talk in."
"Believe or not we made a deal with…God" Ed said, everyone, except Eren, in the room either gasped or looked stunned
"So what… are you trying to say that you two really are angels or something?" questioned Ymir
"No, we're human and we are from a different world" replied Alphonse "we're telling you its God because it's easier to understand, its name is the Truth and from our understanding it's like a God; all powerful and all knowing and it's able to regulate our Alchemy."
"We've had run ins with it in the past, I'm not about to go into detail about that, but one day we were just snatched from our home and it made us an offer; we'll get a demand, a wish, which would allow us to do anything, we're going to use it to bring back all the people we lost over the years and for our part we would have to help a group of people on another world fight an enemy they do not understand but seeks to kill them all, we succeed by helping you prevent that." explained Ed, everyone who was not privy to this information were hanging off their every word.
"So believe us when we say; we will do whatever it takes to reclaim Wall Maria for humanity on this world and beat back the Titans" Alphonse then walked up to Jean, the two of them looked each other in the eyes "We'll never ask you to die for us but what we will ask of you is this; trust in us when we say that we are in this one hundred percent of the way."
"Alright then." replied Jean, he then turned his attention to Eren, he grabbed him by his shoulders and brought him close so that he could look him straight in the eyes "Can we count on you too, Eren? If so then we're with you till the end"
Eren was taken aback for a second, but was quickly able to regain his composure, he straighten his back and Jean by his arms to pull him closer "Yes, you can trust me… all of you can trust me, I won't fail you guys, we won't fail you guys."
Ed and Alphonse stood with their backs lean up against the wall outside the military HQ; Ed looked to the ground, his arms crossed while Alphonse stared up into the night sky watching the stars
"You know brother" said Alphonse "If you just stare into the sky, it's almost like I'm back in Resembool."
"Is that right, Al?" replied Ed as he too looked up "That was a pretty intense meeting"
"He did have a good reason though" said Alphonse "For putting us on the spot like that."
Ed sighed "I guess"
"Hey guys" came a familiar voice from their side, they both turned their head, it was Mina
"Oh, hey Mina" said Ed tiredly
"Hi again, Mina" said Alphonse
"Sorry about that back there" she said apologetically "whole thing was emotionally draining."
"There's no need to apology, we understand." Replied Alphonse
Mina sighed with relief and smiled "It's good to see you're alright, Alphonse, you don't seem to have any marks or bruises on you."
"We've had worse" joked Alphonse as he rubbed his face.
"You know this is the district I grew up in" she told them "My house is just a few streets from here, I'm going to visit my parents tomorrow for dinner, I was wondering if you'd like to come along?" Her request took both of them off guard "If you'd like; I wrote to them about you guys and what you did and they'd like to thank you in person."
"We'd love to come." Said Alphonse cheerfully
"Great, I'll meet you guys here in the afternoon and take you there." Replied Mina, she then went up and hugged Alphonse and then Ed "Thanks guys." She said before walking off.
"C'mon brother" said Alphonse "It's getting late, we should head to our sleeping quarters." He then began to walk off
"Sure" said Ed staring at Alphonse, still leaning up against the wall What exactly are you playing at, Al?
Ed and Alphonse both arrived at the same spot they were last night to wait for Mina, they wore their knee high boots, white trouser, a plain white shirt and a long dark brown coat with the Scout Regiment insignia sown on it.
"Think we might be a bit overly dressed?" asked Ed
"It's what the Captain told us to wear when going out." Replied Alphonse
"I know; he went on a whole spiel about how looking presentable is everything for like ten minutes." Remarked Ed
"Hey Guys!" yelled Mina walking towards them, she was dressed plain brown trousers and a long sleeved teal blouse "You guys didn't have to dress so smartly" she joked
"Captain's orders" replied Ed
"C'mon, I'll show you the street I grew up in." she said waving her arm at them to follow, they walked down a narrow dirt path lined with houses made of wood and stone on each side "I remember I use to play with the other kids on this street, this one big kid use to chase all of us down the road pretending to be a Titan"
"Hey" came a young voice to their side, the three of them turned to see it was a little boy and beside him was a little girl who they assumed is his sister "Are you guys from the Scout Regiment?" he asked excitedly
"Yeah, did the big white and blue wings on our backs give it away?" said Ed
"They're called the wings of freedom" said Alphonse as he pointed to the badge on his left shoulder"
"Have you guys killed any Titans?" he asked
"A bunch in Trost." said Alphonse
"That so cool" the two little kids exclaimed "When I get older I gonna join the Scouts!" he then ran off with his sister down the street, the three of them looked back at the two kids running off.
They continued walking for a minute and stopped at one of the houses in the middle of street "This is my house" she then knocked on the door and a middle-aged woman open it; she was the slightly taller than Mina, had light blue eyes and long thick black hair done up in a single ponytail which rested on her left shoulder.
"Mina" the woman said with a large smile as she went in for a hug
"Hi mom" replied Mina as she hugged her, as they let go she then introduced the Elrics "Mom, this is Ed and Alphonse Elric."
"It's a pleasure to meet you two" she said "Mina told us a lot about you two, please come in." they walked inside the house, the lower half of the house looked to be separated into an open space with a wooden table and chairs in the middle and some candles attached to some wooden beams near the middle of the open space, a kitchen in a separate room and in front of the door was a staircase leading up.
"What a lovely house you have, Mrs. Carolina" said Alphonse
"Why thank you." She responded "please have a seat at the table" she then looked to Mina "Your father upstairs getting dressed he'll be down soon." She then walked into the kitchen while the three of them sat down at the table, the sound of footsteps coming down the stairs caught their attention; it was Mina's father, he too was also middle-aged, light brown hair, clean shaven with grey eyes and looked to be a few centimeters taller than Ed and Alphonse.
"Dad" greeted Mina as she walked up to him and hugged him tightly
"Mina, it's good to see you again." He said "And you two must be the Elric brothers, I'm guessing you're Ed?" he said extending his hand
"Yeah, that's right." Ed replied as he shook his hand
"And you must be Alphonse?"
"Yes, sir" said Alphonse politely shaking his hand
"You're actually like what Mina descried, it's an honor to meet you two" he said sitting down, at the end of the table "Mina said a lot of good things about you boys in her letter, thank you for saving her"
"It's no problem." Replied Ed "We're just doing what we can."
"Mina, honey, could you help me for a little bit." Asked her mother
"Coming, mom." She replied as she got up from her chair and into the kitchen
"Honestly boys, thank you, my wife and I owe you so much for saving daughter's life" he said somberly, only looking at the table, Mina stood near the doorway, listening on the conversation unknown to the three at the table "We never told her this but when the news came about what happened in Trost and the Cadet Crops being a part of the evacuation and recovery efforts, we were just terrified and then the military officials starting coming to people's doors to tell them the bad news about their kids, even a street across we could hear the cries, my wife prayed they'd never visit and every time I saw one pass the house I swear my heart just stops beating, she's our only child you see, when we got that letter from her it felt as if mountains had been lifted from our backs and then we read that she joined the Scout Regiment… if feels as though that weight that left us only for a second has come back." He turned to face Ed and Alphonse "You've two have done a lot for this family already, but please I ask you, look out for her tomorrow when you go out beyond the walls."
Ed and Alphonse looked at the man speechless, they didn't know what they could tell him we'd love to, but we're kind of on a secret mission which means were posted away from your daughter so protecting her is out of the question…
"We-" said Ed, who was then abruptly interrupted
"Of Course." Replied Alphonse, almost blurting it out, Ed turned towards Alphonse with a perplexed look on his face
"Thank you." He replied with a tender smile on his face "You know she told me that you were the one who saved her, Alphonse, if you plan on marrying her you have my blessing." He teased
Alphonse face immediately turned bright red "uhhhh…"
"I'm teasing of course." He said grinning "guys like you two; you probably have someone special waiting for you back home."
"Ed does, don't you brother?" Alphonse joked "You and Winry?
"Shut up Al" said Ed playfully "What about you and Mei? Last I remember she was crazy about you"
Suddenly there was a loud clang in the kitchen, catching everyone's attention "Sorry" said Mina "Dropped something"
"I haven't seen her in two years." replied Alphonse thinking back to Mei "She's probably grown out of that phase by now."
Ed eyed Alphonse questioningly, his attention was quickly drawn to Mina and her mother coming though the kitchen door, holding a bowl filled with different vegetables and a wooden cutting board with two large cooked fishes.
"This looks lovely, Mrs. Carolina" said Alphonse
"Why thank you" she replied as she and Mina sat down to eat, throughout the dinner and the conversations, all Ed could do was glance over to Alphonse every so often.
"Alright you two get in the wagon" said Levi "Gate goes up in five minutes"
Ed and Alphonse climbed onto the lone wagon, parked at the corner of the street, out of sight from the main column of soldiers; it was filled with crates and stacks of gas canisters. Alphonse made a last minute check of his ODM gear and adjusted the button on his green hood cloak, while Ed took out his pocket watch from the front right pocket of his brown waist coat and looked upon the picture of him, Winry and Alphonse We'll be back soon, Winry…
"You boys on?" asked the driver
"Yeah" they both replied
"Alright, its full speed ahead when the gate open, so hold on tight." Said the driver as he moved the wagon to join up with the other wagons in the large column on the main road, the wagon ever so slightly shaking as the horses began to pull up towards the others and coming to a halt.
"You nervous, Al?" asked Ed as the sound of the large bell rang overhead
"A little bit, brother" replied Alphonse as he gripped his hands together
"Hey don't worry before you know it we'll have that wall plugged up and we'll be back home in no time." Said Ed
"Yeah…" Alphonse replied simply, in truth he was wasn't worried about making it out alive, he knew that both he and Ed could handle themselves, he was anxious over keeping his promise to Mina's dad, he was trying his best to convince himself she'd be fine being on the left-wing with Mikasa
"Thirty seconds!" came a yell from ahead of the column
Eren stared ahead at the many other Scouts ahead of him and the large gate, beside him to his right was Petra and his Left was Oluo, his attention was caught by the sound of light gasps to his left, he shifted his head to see two small children peering through a window staring at him with wide eyed wonder "Awesome" said the little girl "It's the Scouts." "You see that symbol?" said the little boy "They call it the wings of freedom." Eren smiled at them softly, remembering back to the time when he was their age and stared in wonderment and felt humbled by the presence of the soldiers of the Scouting Regiment, now he was one of them and was now about to embark on his first expedition beyond the walls to face the Titans and prove his worth to humanity.
Krista, Armin, Connie, Sasha and Mina gripped the reins of their horses tightly, their hearts frantically pounding away as the adrenaline coursed through their veins, Jean, Reiner, Bertholdt, Ymir and Mikasa looked calm as they sat on their horses waiting for the gate to open.
"This is it people, it's time to show those bastards once more what Humanity is capable of, it's time for us to take one more step in pushing the Titans back into hell!" declared one of Scouts to a loud war cry from his fellow comrades.
"Open the Gate!" came a yell from in front, even from where they were sitting Ed and Alphonse could hear the loud rumbling of the large stone gate and the clanking of massive steel chains, ending on a loud boom of the gate reaching its end point. Commander Erwin, flanked by Squad leaders Hange and Mike, stared into the long open path ahead of him, he stared into the lands currently occupied by the Titans, the lands which will one day be reclaimed by Humanity.
"FORWARD!"