Freedom Fighters League of the Exiled

Dying

The training was harder than anyone thought it would be and none of us thought it would be easy to start. These last two weeks were hell. I can barely move a muscle, and I didn't even have to train as hard as the others since I already knew hand to hand combat as well as how to use my power. Pixis wasn't messing around when it came to this training. I swear all anyone did this week was train, eat, then go straight to bed. Most of us had to be dragged out of our beds every morning by Mikasa who was the only one who remained unaffected. Curse her and her stamina.

"Eren, come on get up," Mikasa said tugging at my foot.

"You too Levi."

"Go away, we aren't even training today. Pixis said today we all get to rest," I groaned holding the pillow over my head with shaky arms that throbbed even when I didn't move them.

"He did say that, but he also sent me to grab you two so he could talk with you guys about the mission."

"Then tell him to bring his stupid ass in here," I said before instantly regretting it. I sat up trying to tell her to stop, but she was already out of the room. "I'm so dead," I mumbled to myself.

"I'll be at your funeral if I can get my legs to move," Levi mumbled, still lying face down in the bed.

Pixis came in a minute later with a puzzled look on his face. "Bring my stupid ass in here?" he asked and my cheeks went red with embarrassment.

"Sorry, I was half asleep and didn't know what I was saying," I mumbled, not looking him in the eyes.

"Liar, you were wide awake," Levi said, throwing me under the bus.

I just poked his good arm and watched his whole body tense up from the pain of his sore muscles getting jabbed at. "I'll fucking kill you," he said laying perfectly still. We both knew if he moved he would be in even more pain, and that was the last thing he wanted.

Pixis just laughed and crossed his arms, "I guess I have been drilling everyone a little too hard."

"Ya think," Levi groaned, forcing himself to sit up. He winced as he got halfway up before collapsing back down. I doubt he will try that again.

"Well, I don't think you guys will have to worry about that anymore," he said and my ears perked up. I like the sound of that. "I think everyone's ready. We can start planning for the mission and actually set a day."

"Well everyone needs time to let their muscles repair themselves," Levi mumbled, turning his head so his face wasn't smooshed into the mattress.

"How does a week from now sound?" Pixis asked and we both nodded.

"Sounds good to us," I said looking at Levi.

"Perfect, I'll let you get some rest for now, but tomorrow let's finalize the teams and figure out what plan will work the best," Pixis said patting me on the shoulder before turning to leave. I felt my soul leave my body as all of my muscles screamed at me.

"He did that on purpose," I hissed out.

"Hard to say if he did, but you deserved it," Levi laughed, still mad about me poking him earlier.

After a full day of rest, my muscles were still throbbing, but it was a little more bearable. I got up and headed to Pixis's office. I told Levi he could wait in bed if he wanted but he insisted on coming with me. He seemed to be in worse shape than I was, but then again during training, he was worked hard and could only use half of his powers since his arm still isn't healed yet. Neither of us even bothered to change into actual clothes we just headed to his office in sweats and baggy shirts that we had slept in. We did slip on our shoes first, but a part of me regrets even doing that.

We walked in and Pixis had us take a seat. He handed me the notes we had on the plans and the teams. I looked over the groups we had planned out before training and nodded, "I don't think we need to change anyone. These teams seem like they will work just fine," I said handing the list back to him. He looked over it before nodding. "As for the plan, do you think we will need to do any run-throughs?"

"Definitely," Levi cut in. "Just because everyone did good in training doesn't mean they will get the plan first try."

"How do you guys suppose we go on about training?"

"Well," I started, "I think we should do it one team at a time. The other team that's not going through the training will be the guards that the others have to defeat. "No holding back from the team in training they can use powers and hand to hand combat, however, the team playing the guards will have paintball guns and can only use those and hand to hand combat," I suggested

"I like it," Pixis said with a nod. "Should we move the mission back a few days?"

"I think we should see how everyone does in the mission practice before we decide if we have to move the mission back," Levi said.

"You're right. We will start mission training tomorrow."

"Actually," I let out an awkward laugh, "is there any chance that we start in two days? I don't know about everyone else but Levi and I still feel like we're dying, and I'm sure the others are feeling a lot worse."

"I haven't seen anyone else come out of their rooms at all these last two days, not even to get food," Levi added on.

"I suppose you're right," Pixis smiled, "alright, I'll give everyone another day."

"Thank you," both Levi and I blurted out.

"So how did you settle on a week from now as the best time to raid the camp?" I asked. Yesterday he seemed to already have planned that answer before we asked him.

"Molbit has been listening to the guards around town. He heard them say that more of the guards would be returning to town which means they are pulling some out of the camps. I figured it would be best to hit them the day after they pulled them out since they might not have the new schedules down yet."

"Ah, so they would be off their game and short-staffed."

"Exactly."

We came up with a few backup plans before heading back to our room and laying on the bed. We kicked off our shoes and planned on spending the rest of the day laying around in bed. We didn't have the energy to do anything else.

We heard a knock at our door and I nearly said go away rather than come in. Before I could even tell the person to come in, Levi beat me to it. "Go away," he yelled before looking at me. "It's Jean."

"He knocked?" I asked a little surprised.

Before anyone could answer Jean walked in anyway. "Rude, I actually waited for you to answer before barging in this time and that's how you treat me?"

"Eren, I'm too sore to hit him, can you do it?" Levi asked and I just shook my head.

"I wish, but as much as I want to, my muscles say no."

Jean just laid down on the bed next to us, "I wasted all my energy coming in here to hang out with you guys and this is the thanks I get," he said pretending to be offended.

"You're only in here because Marco is on lookout duty with Armin and you're bored." Levi rolled his eyes.

"So, I would rather be with you two idiots than bored and lonely doesn't that say how much I love you," he said sarcastically.

"No, you just wanted to annoy us," Levi said again and Jean shrugged.

"It's out of love."

"Sure it is," I sighed.

The room got really quiet and Jean let out a groan. "It's as boring in your room as it is in mine."

"Then go back to your room," Levi groaned.

"No. I'd rather be bored with you guys than be bored alone," Jean said, closing his eyes. I just shook my head and thanked whatever god that he was quiet now.