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Part 9 - City of Filth I

Even after being briefed on my role in the 57th Expedition, I still couldn't believe Commander Erwin himself had chosen me to join the Special Ops Squad. I didn't feel worthy of their calibre, but I wanted to trust in myself - and whatever potential Erwin had seen in me.

Needless to say when I told Ymir of my promotion, she had an absolute field day.

"Hahahaha! This is too good to be true, Captain Shortstack better watch out now that he's got you watching his tiny ass all day!"

And for the rest of the day and well into the evening she gave me no end of grief about it. She came up with make believe scenarios where I was a damsel in distress crying out for help. I'd be seconds away from my doom when the dazzling Captain Levi would suddenly swoop in from nowhere to slay any foe and save me. I didn't find it funny at all, but she found herself hilarious.

I was glad I'd have Eren in the squad with me to ease the apprehension of meeting my new squad mates. As if there weren't enough guys around me already, I'd have to deal with 3 more of them. And I was a little nervous to meet Petra Ral; I'd seen her around plenty and as soon as I saw her next to Levi I knew she had feelings for him. Levi was a tough nut to crack even for me at times, but watching them together I had a hunch he didn't feel the same way for her. But I thought maybe I was just telling myself that to keep from the hurt I'd feel if they ended up together. Petra was kind, much kinder than me. She seemed like a nice person to have around.

When I first trained together with the Special Ops Squad, because of our similar stature I was paired with Petra. It was strange, at first Levi seemed like he was going to have me fight Eld, but he hesitated ever so slightly and chose Petra instead. Of course I was relieved he changed his mind, but I did feel bad on the poor girl. She wasn't very good in hand-to-hand and I held back a lot when we fought. We didn't train much in hand-to-hand, we had a few spars before practicing 3DMG and going through the titan course in the woods. I never did see the point in fighting each other, I mean, it's titans we're supposed to be taking down right? Not people.

Petra made me feel welcome, all of them did; except Oluo. I thought he was kind of arrogant, but only for show, it seemed obvious to me he wanted Petra to look his way. Petra was too busy waiting for Levi to look her way, so Oluo put on an act similar to that of the Corporal in hopes Petra might see him.

They were a nice family for Levi, I was glad about that. He had a family before, from the Underground. All three of them were taken away together by the Survey Corps after being given the choice of life in jail, or life as a soldier. When I found Levi I had hoped to see all three of them together, but I didn't hear their names uttered once by anyone and I never saw their faces around HQ. It was clear Isabel and Farlan weren't with him anymore, and Levi seemed less himself because of it. If I had known that the last time I'd see Isabel's rambunctious grin, and Farlan's kind nod towards me would be on their last day in the Underground, perhaps I would have called out to them.

I wondered if I'd be able to shake Farlan's hand had he still been alive without being scared. Would I have been able to hug him? Thank him for the bread he used to give me and for keeping my presence a secret from Levi? I liked to think I would have.

At that point, standing alongside the most esteemed members of the Survey Corps, I couldn't believe how far I'd come.

Flashback

"If you think I'm going with you, you have another thing coming."

"You're going back to the underground, you filthy sewer rat! You're lucky I--"