The only time Leah rose from her position next to Levi was when Armin, Mikasa and Connie finally arrived at the camp. She doted on the youngsters like an anxious mother, only stopping when Armin held her hands in his and gave her a reassuring smile before muttering the words 'we're okay'.
Only then did she travel back over to the shadows, refusing to the sit with the main group, and instead resting at the base of a tree with her knees hugged to her chest and Levi asleep next to her on his make-shift cart.
She observed the group soundlessly, her eyes staring daggers into the back of the traitorous blonde girl's head who now sat in their midst. She'd never actually met Annie Leonhart before, only seen her in her crystalised form and titan form. Despite it having been over four years since she murdered the Levi Squad, Leah still wasn't willing to forgive and forget. She couldn't forget. She could still see Petra's crippled figure, burned into her retinas.
And her anger was still as hot as coals because of it. If Levi had been awake, she was sure he would feel very similar, but the man had a much better hold on his emotions than his female counterpart, and so Leah made a point of not interacting with the young female.
Conversation fluctuated in the group between simmering quietly and boiling to a climax as matters grew heated between old friends and enemies, similar to the stew cooking in the pot before them.
First an argument between Jean and Magath about the scourge on earth that was the Eldian race, a second between Annie and Mikasa which almost escalated to a fight with Annie threatening her titan form and Mikasa poised with her ODM Gear.
The next event that caused tensions to rise was Yelena recounting all the sins of the soldiers around the campfire. And while the truth hurt, and upset Jean to a point violence, Leah did appreciate Yelena's objective: get everything out now, and there'll be no hard feelings when they needed to work together in the coming days.
The night ended with a brawl. Jean pummeled Reiner's face in retaliation to the murder of a so named Marco. Leah hadn't heard the name mentioned before, but judging by Jean's extreme reaction, he was once a close friend.
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DAY 3 OF THE RUMBLING
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By the time the morning sunlight had begun filtering through the forest, the carts the alliance had travelled to the camp in were loaded up and ready to leave.
Leah crouched in the back of one of the carts, Levi lying by her feet with his eyes squinted up at her, the bleariness of sleep still present in them. There wasn't a whole lot of room in the carts, having to fit the alliance with all of their provisions meant being pressed up against each other or jammed between crates, barrels and blankets.
Levi slept for most of the journey to the coast, lulled into a dreamless sleep by Leah's fingernails softly dragging across his scalp as she massaged his head absentmindedly. For her it was a coping mechanism, a meagre distraction. She felt so open and exposed riding through the wide and open stretches of land where Jeagerists could appear at any moment and gun them down.
The cart titan was nearby, scouting the surroundings for any upcoming danger, something which calmed Leah's nerves somewhat. But when Pieck returned at a run claiming that the Jeagerists had already beaten them to the harbour, the feeling of despondency returned.
So the Jeagerists were there waiting for them, in full gear and stacked to the brim with resources, weaponry and munitions.
Perfect. Leah thought. Just- perfect.
Behind the cover of a cliff, the alliance suited up into ODM Gear. With the recent shift in power within the military, Leah hadn't be permitted to wear her gear for a while and so when it came to putting it on, her hands fumbled under pressure.
With Hange and Magath taking stock of the situation at the peak of the cliff, the rest of the alliance grouped for a pep talk. Leah stood off to the side, resting against the sandy stone with a leg bent and her arms crossed over her chest. Her gaze studied the cart in which Levi was still asleep.
"We have no choice but to kill them all with our first strike." Annie declared and instantly Leah's eyes narrowed, her head craning around to look at the blonde girl.
"That's the only way we can secure the flying boat. To pull this off everyone's gotta be in sync. We need our titan power and your fire power, understood?"
Leah scoffed, rolling her eyes at the authority in her voice. Leah's behaviour was childish, anyone could see that, but how could you blame her after what Annie did? "Just hold on a second." Connie muttered.
"What's the problem?" Annie's voice was impatient.
Connie sighed, looking away from the female's cold gaze and forcing Mikasa to continue for him. "The Jeagerists are holding all the Azumabito hostage. We need you keep them out of the line of fire."
"Uh- yeah, exactly." Connie stammered in agreement.
"You expect us to care about that? We won't protect people who have attacked our homeland just because they're your distant cousins."
Leah pushed herself from the rocks and marched straight at Annie, her brows drawn together. Annie took a step back but the Captain snagged a handful of her sweater and dragged her forward until their eyes met. "I don't think I remember anyone putting you in charge." Leah hissed in a dangerously low tone. Annie stared back, not a glimmer of fear or bother in her eyes.
"If you think we're going to let our only allies die because of some grudge you hold, think again-"
"Slow down, Annie. Leah's right, we can't be so ignorant. If the hostages are killed the rest of the plan falls apart. Right, Onyankopon?" As Pieck spoke, Leah sent Annie one last murderous glare before shoving her back and stalking away towards the cart Levi resided in.
"Yeah, we need 'em alive. I should be able to pilot their boat. But first we've gotta get it into flying shape. That's the problem. We need the mechanics to set up the wings. Otherwise, none of us are going to be flying anywhere. The wings are folded up to make it easier to tow, so they'll need to be extended and secured, and even then, there's still more to do before we can get airborne. The original plan was to hanger it 'til we had some pilots trained, so we're skipping a lot of steps. But they'll at least need some time to service it before take-off." Onyankopon explained.
"Start to finish, how long is it gonna take to service?" Reiner posed the question on everyone's minds. Time wasn't abundant and if they wanted to save humanity, they'd have to stop the rumbling sooner, rather than later.
"I couldn't say. It'll be up to the mechanics."
"I get it. But to confirm, you're asking us to protect the Azumabito technicians from the Jeagerists long enough to get the boat ready to fly. And let me guess, you want us to hold the enemy off for this unknown length of time, without killing any of them." Annie retorted.
"If at all possible. We've known these guys ever since we were cadets." Jean replied gloomily. Leah tightened the straps already hugging her body, now leaning on the wooden cart for support. Her aversion to killing had slowly taken a backseat, and now dirtying her hands with the blood of enemies and comrades alike was a necessity to survival. She didn't know Eren's followers as well as the younger cadets did, so killing them would be as easy as shooting with her eyes closed.
In a world where 'kill or be killed' was a driving force, Leah was prepared to shoulder the burden of murder, to stain her hands with blood, if it meant preventing putting the younger soldiers in that position.
When it came to action, it was clear they were easily outnumbered at least four Jeagerists to one alliance member. Armin and Connie went first, charging in on horses and trying their best to play into the roles they were given: soldiers desperate to prevent the Marleyeans from fleeing. As much as Leah wanted to play along, after the stunt she pulled to save Levi, she knew Floch wouldn't put his trust in her and they'd achieve nothing.
Instead she tapped her foot against the stone pavement, the anticipation of the wait as Armin and Connie tried to get the detonator attached to the ship unwired was driving her mad. There was no way of telling if they were successful and when three gun shots echoed in series, Leah's muscles tensed. The only relief was the fact they didn't come from the port that the two allies were working on, instead from inside the building Leah was crouched behind.
Hange cursed under their breath. "Let's go. If we wait any longer, Floch will kill the engineers."
Mikasa and Leah shot into the air and onto the rooftop, and as they landed the flash of black hair in Leah's peripherals fooled her brain into thinking the girl was Levi. Leah clenched her jaw in focus as they sprinted for the edge of the roof tiles where it gave way to a thirty foot drop.
Anchoring to the roof, Leah leapt down and swung into the first glass-pane window she came into contact with. The window shattered against her boots, giving way to allow her entry. She and Mikasa, the only two impartial to spilling blood and the best two fighters they had, rocketed into a meeting room. Glass flew everywhere as confused and dazed Jeagerists spun their heads this was and that, trying to make sense of what was happening.
Leah slammed right into the first guy she laid eyes on, pinning him to the ground with a boot to his chest as she elbowed the face of someone approaching her from behind.
"Kiyomi, run!" Mikasa roared between attacks. Anti-personel gear whizzed in the room and with a furious scream, Floch darted out a window and into the air outside.
Leah roundhoused another soldier, leaving him incapacitated on the carpeted floor. It was tempting to go after Floch herself. Mikasa was capable of clearing this place out and protecting Lady Azumabito on her own, and putting a stop to Floch would solve a lot of their problems. Without their ring-leader, the Jeagerists would be clueless.
"I'm going after him!" Leah bellowed decisively before diving out through the recently smashed glass.
"---they've betrayed Eldia! Kill them!" Floch's guttural cries sounded from above her, as Leah applied her gas to send her higher into the air towards him. The auburn male's gaze shifted to her and he dived at her. Their bodies collided in midair as the rest of the Jeagerists stepped into action, taking off into the sky like flocks of birds.
Floch moved his pistol towards Leah's skull, straining against her opposing grip on his wrists. They windmilled in the air, locked together by Leah's resolute grasp, each of them applying their gas in different directions to keep them airborne and subsequently sending them flying this way and that.
With one particularly sudden puff of gas from Floch, Leah's body was forced against the roof of a nearby building. Floch pinned her down, his knee pressed into the soft of her chest. The female grunted, flipping them over and securing her hands on his collar before swinging him off the roof. His body plummeted momentarily before he righted himself.
There were footsteps on the tiles behind her, boots pounding the ceramic with purpose and urgency. Before Leah could react, someone was leaping over her head and into free fall, surrendering themselves to gravity.
Reiner hung aloft just long enough to bite into his hand and in the blink of an eye, Leah's vision was blinded by the flash of titan shifter lightning. A second ball of light shone a few yards away, where Annie also began to transform.
The ground quivered and steam rose into the air as Reiner and Annie steadied themselves in titan form, crouched and poised for battle.
From the safety of the clifftop, Levi perched on a rock, his arms and legs as heavy as lead and his chest constricted with worry. His dull, grey eye was fixed on the distant blob that was Leah's body, hesitating on the cerulean tiles. He felt so helpless, so weak, as he watched the conflict unfold before him, powerless to do anything to protect the woman he loved more than anything.
The world around him was bathed in the heavenly glow emitted by the titan shifters and Yelena spoke up to the gathered group, "Violence will always be a part of human existence. Won't it, Captain?"
The titan trump card definitely threw off the Jeagerists. While they had the thunderspears and necessary gear to take down titans, most of their time thus far was spent in combat with humans. The irony was, the ex-scouts weren't prepared to fight the looming monsters.
Having seen Reiner and Annie in action as the enemy before, Leah was now glad to be on the same side as them.
Explosions, collisions, limp bodies flying around. A titan roar. Gun shots. Leah quickly went into autopilot, firing at and attacking any black-clad soldiers she caught a glimpse of all the while dodging enemy bullets. The enemy was definitely thinning, but so was Leah's burst of energy. The faster they took out the Jeagerists, the longer she'd have to recover before the next conflict.
Four years of titan-free peace hadn't be beneficial to Leah's stamina and battle fatigue clung to her muscles like a leech, sucking all energy from her. By the time Hange shouted at Leah to abandon the attack and board the ship, the ginger had lost count of how many lives she'd taken in the scuffle.
So many promising lives snuffed out like a candle with one press of a trigger. It was so easy it scared Leah. A mantra reeled in her head as she took out a few remaining stragglers.
It's them, or my friends. It's them, or my friends. Them. Or my friends.
The new plan was to sail to the mainland, and from there they could get the flyingboat working without the interference of Jeagerist backup. All they had to do was get the Azumabito engineers safely aboard that ship. However, the Jeagerists figured out this too.
As soon as the engineers stepped onto the open docks, fire rained down on them. With the help of the two titans and the cover of allied fire, the Azumabitos reached the ship in one piece, allowing Leah to shift her attention to stopping the Jeagerists sabotaging the boat.
The titans were taking a beating, with repeared thunderspear strikes decimating them eventually. Not wanting to get caught in the shrapnel, Leah retreated to higher ground, crouching on a rooftop beside Hange and aiming her pistol with a shaky hand and squinted eye. She picked off easy shots, trying to control her breathing and re-energise her body.
A distant train carrying Jeagerists exploded, reassuring Leah this was the last of the enemy soldiers. Now all they had to do was wipe them out, squash them like bugs under their boot, because that's what Leah had to pretend they were to keep pushing on; nothing more than insects. No worse than squishing an ant.
"We're almost there, come on!" Leah barked, throwing herself off the rooftop, dropping her pistol, and unseathing her blades. The appearance of the cart titan in the battle made Levi's face flash briefly in Leah's mind. Where was he? Was he safe? Was he on the boat?
Her blade carved through flesh like it was butter.
When a third flash of golden lightning buzzed around them, Leah realised Falco had taken titan form. With the backing of four titans and the dwindling forces of the enemy, Leah knew they were going to make it off this island and for the first time that day the suffocating dread lifted slightly as hope for the future peeked through carpets of smoky clouds.
The Captain paused briefly, hanging from the side of one of the buildings just long enough to spot Floch suspended midair, his arm drawn back in preperation to fire a thunderspear at the boat. Leah's breath hitched in her throat as her hand dropped to her empty holster. Panic pulsed through her body like electricity, washing a wave of cold over her.
He was going to wreck the ship. They'd be stranded. They-
A bullet collided with Floch's shoulder, throwing him off track, and putting a spin on his fired thunderspear. The explosive flew through the air like a missile, rotating and weaving in a complex pattern before embedding itself into the sea. A tidal wave of briney water rained down on the boat and harbour as the explosive went off, most of the impact absorbed by the insulating ocean.
Floch's body sunk into the dark, unsettled waters. Shouts from his scared, confused and now leaderless soldiers met Leah's ears and plunged her back into the moment.
There were still people left, but the boat was ready to sail. Smog rose from the chimneys of the ship and the horn sounded in warning. Leah swung up, only to be forced down to the stone port. Her body met stone, emptying all the breath from her lungs and causing her gaze to spot with black.
The taste of blood filled her mouth, and her body was momentarily numb. Rubble fell around her and through the clouds of dust and disturbed ground, Leah could make out the figure of an unfamiliar titan. Falco.
The animalistic titan reared onto his hind legs, roaring in an unruly manner. It's over, Leah thought, after all this, I'm going to die at the hands of a titan.
Just before the talon-like claws of Falco's jaw titan could impale Leah, a shadow engulfed her. "Falco, the enemy's retreating. Come out!" Pieck's titan voice tried to communicate to the young boy, with Leah shielded beneath her.
The two titans pushed against each other, both trying to pin the other down. But Falco was winning, and any second Leah was going to be crushed beneath them both. Her limbs wouldn't cooperate, she scrambled weakly in the debris, trying to drag herself away. Two arms scooped her up just in time before the cart titan collapsed under the jaw's weight.
"Are you okay, Leah?" Jean panted, gently setting the woman down and crouching next to her. Leah nodded, blinking once or twice to refocus her vision.
"No harm done." She slurred, lifted a finger to her cheek where she felt warmth trickling down. Her fingertips came away bloody. The boy hooked her arm over his shoulder and hauled her up again. "Good, let's go then." Jean led her towards the ship, and onto the deck, leaving Magath and Pieck to deal with Falco.
On the way there, the effort of walking made Leah's vision spot again. Every breath of oxygen she sucked in was insufficient, like trying to breath on the top of a very high mountain. Jean felt her weight shift and tightened his arm around her, just in time for Leah to fade from consciousness. Her head lolled forward and Jean glimpsed a hint of red running down the back of her neck, originating from within her shock of ginger hair.
(3301 words)