Perennial Rose | {Levi x OC} | Shingeki no Kyojin |

Chapter 18: The Expedition

Within Wall Maria, Humanity's Lost Territory

"The gate opens in thirty seconds! All hands prepare for departure!"

My back receives a frigid chill from all the eyes directed towards the giant emblem of Wall Rose on the gate. Because of this, my body shivers involuntarily. Never in my entire life have I witnessed the true monstrosity of the towering walls, for this is the closest I have ever been to the structure. I feel the veins in my head pulsing at the thought of a world beyond the safe land of the interior.

I grip the reins of my steed tightly when I hear the rumbling of the earth beneath me. Wall Rose's gate is gradually lifted up in the heat of the moment as the majestic sideview of a woman's face disappears from sight.

The commander's imposing voice booms in a resonance that shakes all the individuals anticipating the soldiers' leave, "Let us fight for humanity's freedom! Commence the 31st expedition to our lost land!"

The large mass of soldiers gradually starts to advance towards the wall. The speed accelerates to a nerve wracking rush into the gate and my stomach churns as I approach the tunnel leading to the unknown. As the world around me darkens, the sound of galloping hooves echoes rhythmically. A brief moment later, I find myself blinded by the quick transition from obscurity to a sudden shower of light. With my vision finally adjusted to this sudden change, my breath is lost in the low breeze as I absorb the magnificence of my surroundings.

There is only one word to describe what makes this vast land I have submerged myself into different from the enclosed land within the walls.

Freedom.

The fields and plains are eternal. I feel as if I have been unknowingly trapped inside a box and have finally escaped into a space in which I can stretch out my arms that have been restrained for so long.

I tilt my head up and marvel at the grand sky. All my life, I never could have imagined that I would be able to witness more of the sky than what I have seen inside the walls of the Trost District.

I finally realize why we strive to reclaim this land. Humanity cannot stay within bars forever. Although the land inside Wall Maria is not the untouched world that humanity originally wanted two years ago, we need space. We need freedom. And once we reclaim this land we once called ours, I can only imagine how breathtaking the world beyond Wall Maria is. From my immersion into this new land of mine, I speculate that the world outside is as eternal as the fields and plains I see now. It will be everlasting, never-ending like the sky I am under.

I want to go there.

I want Kilian to see it.

I want Engel to see it.

I want the whole of humanity to see it.

However, I know that this land and the world beyond is not entirely free from restrictions, for it is our job as the Survey Corps to obliterate these limitations we call Titans.

"Get into formation!" Erwin yells up ahead.

Another man orders in the distance, "Left flank, advance west!" A large group of people on horses diverges away from the entire group as they organize themselves into smaller, dispersed groups of four to five members.

"Right flank, advance east!" Immediately, I angle myself towards the right along with my comrades. The center formation which the commander is leading continues in their straight path as they become more distant.

Erwin formulated a plan in which there would be three separate multitudes heading in different directions: the left flank would head southwest, the center flank would continue south, and the right flank would continue southeast. The main goal of this expedition is to set up supplies in three locations: a small village southwest, a dense forest in the south, and another village southeast. This is in preparation for a future expedition to reach Wall Maria. These supply stations would serve as resting points in the middle of our future journey to the wall and Erwin reasoned that it would be more efficient to have supplies already prepared than to carry them on this potential expedition. The wagons will surely slow us down. After setting up the supply stations, we are to all meet at the forest in which the commander is in and return to Trost together as one formation.