Chagara - Chaos in the Darkness (Levi x OC Fanfic / AttackOnTitan)

61. „'Tschii."

Little Cloudy looked into one of the caves. A group of people were getting ready. They climbed into sturdy nets surrounded by thorny bushes. Only the basket on the back for the wood was uncovered. At the shoulders, the nets had larger holes. The eagle had realised during a flight that they were putting their arms through it to pick up the wood. As the group started moving and headed for the narrow path through the cliffs, Little Cloudy opened his wings and jumped into the air. Most of the people here lived in the caves. But there were also some who lived in a small hut just in front of the caves - like Toshi's family. When they weren't making a fire, they were invisible from the water because the huts were camouflaged with stones which had the same colour as the rock face.

For two days, Little Cloudy had not seen any of these people. The monster ship had come. Only when it had disappeared again on the horizon and the sounds of the Titans could no longer be heard did the residents reappear. Today they seemed to think it was safe to leave their valley to collect more firewood for the winter.

In one of the small boats on the beach, the eagle spotted the little boy. His sister was collecting washed-up driftwood. Little Cloudy looked at her feet with interest. These people here never walked barefoot or in shoes on the sandy beach. They had carved bird feet out of wood, which they always tied under their shoes before they stepped on the fine sand.

"Toshi, come and help me," Yoko called over.

But her brother sulked. "They've left. To collect wood, right?," he asked Little Cloudy. "I am never allowed to go, Bird," Toshi complained. "Because I'm too young. Grandfather was already alone on the sea at my age." The boy threw a stone into the sea. Little Cloudy watched it bounce across the water. Twice, three times, four times. Then it went down. "You know, Bird," Satoshi began, "Grandfather says we would have enough wood if we took apart one of the monster ships." The boy stood up and jumped out of the boat. "Maybe I'll do that one day. And surprise them with it. You know, Bird, there's another way to get here over the rocks. Grandfather showed it to me once from the sea. It's dangerous. But when I come back with all the wood from the monster ship, they can't scold me. And then they'll see that I'm no longer too young. And then they'll take me outside this valley too."

"TOSHI!," his sister shouted.

"I'm coming," replied her little brother. "Bird, if you wait, we can go fishing later," he said to Little Cloudy as he ran to his sister.

***

"'Tschii." Levi wiped with his handkerchief over his nose and pulled his hood deeper into his face. But the fine drizzle that had been falling since the early morning hours had completely soaked his clothes anyway.

"OH! You're alive after all." Hanji stood beside him. During the entire wall inspection, Levi had been even more taciturn than usual. And since they had arrived at the most western point of the wall at the gate of Krolva a few days ago, their comrade had fallen completely silent. Only his gaze was even darker than usual. Hanji followed Levi's stare and also looked down in front of the gate. A few Titans were wandering along the wall. But the female soldier could not see anything unusual.

"Do you want to kill them?," she asked.

But Levi remained in his world of thoughts. When they had lost Wall Maria, Peter's team had tried to get behind the Wall Rose through this gate. "So this is where she was standing. And pleaded for her life." Levi clenched his hands into fists. His knuckles turned white. But it wasn't the only thought running through his head. Only the other thoughts triggered in him not anger but fear. Since he had been assigned as a wall guard, some memories slowly came back to him. What had Paul really been looking for at the Wall back then? Why had Paul and Peter secretly disappeared in the night of the accident? "In the middle of the fight against the Titans." Not that he had needed them. But he had never experienced such behavior from soldiers of the Scout Regiment before. And did they really just want to get the priest back? "Or did they have some other reason for disobeying all the rules and going outside the walls?" Levi had no answers to these questions that kept him from sleeping. He always lay awake in a panic, because he knew one thing: Peter's former team was also like a closed wall. Nothing leaked out. "What if they know more? What if they are planning something?" Because why had Erwin and Mike been monitoring Ayumi's beginner training? Out of fear she would give them a brainwashing?

Hanji looked at Levi with her mouth open. Her comrade had slapped himself. A red handprint remained on his cheek. "Tired?," she asked, confused. After all, Levi had not left the wall since last night.

Levi shook his head at himself. "Why do I suspect her?" He closed his eyes. He was unable to organise all these confused guesses. Facts were missing. And this chaos inside him he could not put into words. He didn't suspect her of planning anything bad. But there was something strange about Peter's team. And probably Ayumi knew more about this world than he did. "And then she'll do something stupid." Levi's eyes widened. That was what he was most afraid of. He took a deep breath because he felt nauseous.

The whinnying of horses sounded up to them. Levi turned and walked to the edge of the wall. The required soldiers from the Garrison Regiment and the Military Police Regiment had arrived.

"Finally," he heard Hanji say with relief. "Then I guess we will ride back tomorrow."

The state of the security of Wall Rose was everywhere in need of improvement. Whether it was the equipment or the number of soldiers. But at every stop, things escalated between the soldiers of the Garrison Regiment and the Military Police Regiment.

"We can't take soldiers, cannons and ammunition that are meant for Wall Sina." How many times had they heard Nile Dok say this? "We cannot leave the centre and the royal family unprotected."

"If we don't restructure and allocate existing resources more wisely, it won't do us any good to have one cannon standing beside the next one on Wall Sina. If we lose Wall Rose, we will lose everything," had always been Commander Pixis' brutal but honest response. Erwin became quieter day by day. He also no longer tried to settle the disputes between the Military Police and the Garrison Regiment. Even when they arrived at their last stop, he simply accepted the statements of the other Commanders - to Hanji's and Levi's surprise.

When they arrived at gate Krolva, their biggest fear was already a reality. The flu had spread among the soldiers and caused the first deaths. When Levi jumped off his horse upon their arrival, he counted just six soldiers standing guard on the wall. Two of them already had the first symptoms of flu.

"Good heavens," Pixis had called out in horror. "Where is Konrad?" But Konrad had lost consciousness the day before. Whether he would survive was uncertain.

"The Scout Regiment could step in. We are more experienced in fighting Titans anyway," Erwin had explained. He and his unit did not like the idea of inexperienced soldiers from the centre guarding the outer wall.

But Nile Dok had declined. "Forget it. You have other things to do. You should lock your soldiers up for the winter anyway. If you get the flu too ..." The Commander of the Military Police Regiment had shaken his head and sent his messenger. Surprisingly, it was the first conversation during the wall inspection in which Commander Pixis and Nile Dok agreed.

Hanji moved aside when she noticed that Mike was about to land next to them.

"We will be replaced shortly," the Vice-Commander began. "Then we shall rest. We are not supposed to leave our quarters until we leave tomorrow."

Hanji watched in horror as soldiers once again took dead comrades wrapped in blankets from the infirmary to one of the warehouses. "Because of this?"

Mike followed her hand gesture. "Yes. Any contagion has to be avoided."

"Why don't I see anyone digging a grave?," asked Hanji, barely audible.

"When the weather is better, they'll burn the warehouse down," Mike replied quietly.

Silently, the three watched their comrades. Wearing poor protective clothing, they walked back and forth between the infirmary and the warehouse. It just wasn't their year: the loss of Wall Maria, the refugees, the hunger crisis and now the flu would kill more people.

"We have too little of everything. Will that change before we have nothing at all?," muttered Hanji to herself.

"'Tschii!"

Hanji looked at Levi, grinning broadly.

"What?," her friend grumbled.

"They say when you sneeze, someone thinks of you. I wonder who that someone could be. Huh, huh, huh?" Hanji poked her comrade several times with her elbow.

"Watch out that no more rain is running into your ears. Otherwise your brain will completely drown, four-eyes," Levi snarled at her and walked away from his friends. But neither Mike nor Hanji had missed their comrade's quick smile.