For the next few days, all Aura knew was training and transforming. Sherridan helped her in getting more information out of Peony, the War Hammer Titan. Although the pretty name did not suit her external appearance, her persona was sweet. Maybe it reflected Aura's personality. Dr. Davos had also been extending the gifts of her medical career to look after the soldiers, and take even more special care of Aura.
Hange had her plate full with training both Aura and Eren. On top of that, she had been working with engineers to develop thunder spears designed specifically to deal with Reiner's Armored Titan.
Captain Levi, with the help of the other Section Commanders, had been busy with training the cadets. Aura's ODM gear handling had definitely improved under his guidance, but he would rather not have her off the ground for too long. The Commander had agreed with it, and hence Aura's training was limited.
Eren Jaeger proved to be a worthy companion during training. He used combat techniques he had picked up when he fought against the Armored and Female Titans, and made the War Hammer Titan more competent in practice.
By the end of the training period, Aura had almost mastered fighting techniques both in and out of the Titan. The only area where she still lacked some confidence was in building structures out of her fingers. When she was under the nape of the Titan, it was pretty easy to think of an image of what she wanted to make, and eventually conjure it up in the palms of her hands.
But, when she kept her distance, a lax seemed to creep in between the moment she thought of the weapon and the moment Peony could project that thought into existence. More often than not, this endeavor would have Aura break down on the grass. The voices in her head would grow louder every time she failed at something, the sounds of her ancestors menacing and sending chills down her spine.
Other than these times, the voices came sometimes in the morning. Either to tell her how she would never be able to protect those she loved, or to try to persuade her to turn her back to the Survey Corps in the Battle of Shiganshina. "Reveal your true nature and family name to the Warriors, and they would take you in," she had heard one of the men saying one morning.
The voices would drain at the advent of a different person. On most mornings, it would be Erwin walking into the room, and putting his arm around her that would drive the voices away. The Commander had been there by her side during the weeks of training, but he kept a modest distance. He was not completely over the occurrences of the past weeks, yet he knew he needed to support his wife. While on the field, his voice held excited encouragement, back in their quarters, he could not find a single word to say to her. It broke Aura's heart over and over again, every day. But, she kept in mind Levi's advice and gave Erwin the space he needed.
***
"We leave tomorrow," Erwin said as they had dinner in silence. It was the night before the night they were to leave for Shiganshina. The soundless room was excruciating to bear for the both of them, but Aura uttered no words at all. When Erwin broke the silence, she replied with a low, shy 'hmm'.
Finishing the food in her mouth, she wiped her lips and was about to get up. But Erwin stopped her. Glancing from her to the leftover bread and vegetables on her plate, he said, "finish your food, Aura." She made a disgruntled face as she stood up, and shook her head.
He chuckled a little under his breath and continued, "you are not just eating for yourself, right? You're a doctor, you know all that." That was the most he had spoken to her in almost a week.
She looked up at him as a sweet smile played on his lips. Taking in a deep breath, she pushed the plate towards him. "You want me to feed you?" he asked, his smile widening into a grin. "Come here," he motioned with his hand, as he produced his legs from underneath the table. Although it shocked her a little bit, Aura happily went around the table and took a place on his thighs.
The food on the table sat untouched for a long time, as Erwin pulled their bodies together and rested his head on top of her shoulder. Aura sat stiff, unaware of how much intimacy she was allowed right now.
"You aren't mad at me anymore?" she asked, thin lines of water glistening on her lower eyelids.
Erwin didn't answer, only sighed. His own tears were not far away, for he had missed this proximity so much for so many days. He needed time, it was true. He was happy to see that she was willing to give him it, without a single complaint and it broke his heart to see her heart breaking every morning when he just upped and left once her daily session with the voices in her head was over.
He pushed his head into the crook of her neck and breathed in her musk. Her hair smelled of a floral concoction, probably from the hairwash, and her cheek was soft and endearing. Erwin was unwilling to let go, unwilling to let this moment pass - he was so peaceful.
"I was just a little sad, baby," he whispered under a choking breath. He kissed her cheek slightly, making her blush. The reaction made him chuckle, and he kissed her again. And again. And again. Punctuating the kisses with his carefree laughter, it seemed as though he had no worries at all, as if they weren't going to war the next day, as if they were just a normal family, having regular life problems, dealing with them with regular everyday solutions.
Aura turned to him, her eyes brimming with tears, and took his face in her hands. "You're so beautiful," she whispered, "and, so strong. I can't ever put into words how glad I am that you didn't leave me after what I did. I'd have never been able to forgive myself. I.. I.."
He shushed her and pulled her even closer. "Where would I go without you? Who would take this old, wrinkly man with all his flaws?"
"You're not wrinkly," Aura admonished him, smoothing her fingers over the wrinkles that actually had appeared around his eyes.
"I love you," he declared to her in a whisper, for the first time in almost three weeks, "I can't.. I can't lose you, okay? Not now. Promise me you'll be careful in Shiganshina. Promise me that you would not take drastic steps or put yourself in danger. Promise me, my love."
She nodded. "Do you promise the same? No suicide charges? Please. If I see you going into one, I would transform and stand between you and the enemy. Is that clear?"
Erwin looked solemnly at her for a few seconds, before nodding. "I'll keep that in mind," he said and smiled.
Sherridan laid in bed, curled up in a fetal position, weeping. Levi was probably still out, in the training yard with cadets, training his muscles until they ached. She had brought their dinner sets into his room, set it on the table and thrown herself on the bed. In a frenzied haze, she brought his pillows and bedsheet and covers up to her nose to inhale his scent.
Many moments passed before she could bring herself to stop crying. Just when she decided to sit up, the door opened and her eyes met Levi's.
"Sorry, I had no concept of time," he murmured as he entered the room, "were you waiting for too long?"
"No," she replied, bringing her knees up to her chin, "I just came."
The quiver in her voice and the sniff in her nose didn't go unnoticed by her lover. He dropped his belts at the end of the bed and cozied up beside her. Putting an arm around her shoulder, he asked, "what happened?" His voice was low and soft, and there was no irritation or anger in his words - his fellow soldiers would have had a hard time believing he was the same man they trained with.
"Nothing," Sherridan shook her head, refusing to voice her concerns about his upcoming trip to Shiganshina.
"Tsk! Seriously? Your hair is all messed up, you have taken out my nicely tucked covers and bedsheets and done something to them, I don't know what! Your nose is running and your eyes are red, and apparently nothing has happened? Am I not the person you want to talk to right now? Should Aura come?"
The tears pooled and overflowed from over her eyelids, and she threw her arms around his neck. Her entire persona was shaking when she finally started to speak.
"You are," words came out in between her sobs, "you are the right person. You are!"
Levi cradled her head in his hands and let her cry. It shattered him to know he would be going away the next day, without any promise of coming back. He didn't even want to make a promise he may not be able to keep. He admitted he knew nothing about how that made Sherry feel, so he decided to not even pretend.
A few minutes passed before Sherridan finally calmed down. Her tears had turned into hiccups, and streaks of all sorts of transparent fluids ran down from her eyes and nostrils. Levi took a handkerchief out of his pocket, and delicately rubbed them off.
"You think you can promise me that you'll come back?" She asked, once her hiccups subsided.
Levi looked straight into her eyes, but did not answer. She nodded at his honesty, but struggled to keep another wave of tears at bay.
"Will you.. promise to be.. at least, careful?" Her nostrils flared with each tear that escaped through her lashes. She looked so earnest, her eyes frank and full of love and expectations, Levi made a decision he knew he would not regret. "I'll be careful, Sherry," he spoke softly, clutching her hands to his chest, "I would do anything to see you again, and again. Anything! I promise. I love you."
"I love you too, Levi."
****
Aura woke up in cold sweat the next morning; the hair on the back of her neck refused to get back down. The morning ritualistic bashing from her ancestors had become habitual. But this morning, it was a woman. A woman's voice had woken her up, it seemed urgent. Like she was in a hurry while she had a heck ton of things to say.
"Aura, Aura," her voice was stern, like that of a leader, "Aura, wake up. You need to know this. It's important, Aura. Come on! There you go, listen!" The voice was starting to speak but she still needed a few minutes to compose herself.
"Aura, this is Reiko! Reiko Braun!"
Her eyes that still had some sleep in them a second ago, flew open. "I don't have much time," the voice said, "if your forefathers find out I'm speaking to you, I'm done for. I digress. What I wanted to tell you is.. honey, you're strong. You're strong as hell. Don't let those monsters get the better of you, okay? Don't listen to them. I know I had the War Hammer for a very short period of time, but I've been through exactly what you're going through. And I'm telling you, if you start to treat these voices like they don't matter to you, eventually they'll get tired and leave you alone.
"And, about the upcoming war. Honey, do what you think is the right thing to do. If you think going away with the other titans is the best option for you, do that. You'll probably be taken to Marley, across the sea. That's where your forefathers fled from. You'll meet new people there. Ah, yes! I'm sure they haven't told you that, there are people outside the walls. Tell your husband he was right all along. But, honey, they're dangerous people. You don't want to mess with them.
"So, if you want to fight for this side of humanity and protect your people and start the family that you've always dreamt of, do that. Save yourself and save the Commander and run for your lives and your child. I'm sure the war is going to be tough but you're tough too, okay? All the best."
Aura looked around when the voice disappeared. Unlike other days, the sun wasn't streaming into the room through the windows. Yet. Erwin was still beside her and not outside in his working chamber, although not asleep anymore. "So early today?" he asked, sitting up and putting his arm around her. "I'm sorry I wasn't there to.." he started to say but his wife beat him to forming a complete sentence.
"You were right," she said, her eyes shot wide, "you were always right. You and your father. Mr. Smith was right, Erwin. There are people outside the walls. In a place called Marley."
Erwin's eyes flew open too. "They.. they.." he stuttered to form words, "they told you?" Aura shook her head. "It was a woman today," she answered, "she said she's Reiko Braun. I think the one the Titan told us about. She.. I think she wanted to motivate me and eventually she gave away this information." He was shocked, left speechless by what he had just heard. When she looked up to meet eyes with him, he tried to compose himself. Working up a small smile, he said, "well, we don't have to go to Shiganshina anymore then, now that we know the truth."
Aura looked down, away from Erwin's face, lost in thought. True, their primary purpose for the Shiganshina expedition was to get to Eren's basement and know Greisha's secrets. Looked like that purpose was already fulfilled. The soldiers would be happy if the expedition got cancelled. But, there was this other purpose that knowing about the people outside did not have any connection with.
Like a psychic, Erwin snatched the words from Aura's lips.
"We still have to block the holes in the walls, I guess," he said and got to thinking. A moment later, he dropped himself on the bed again, pulling Aura down with him. "Sleep some more," he said, "we can have a meeting with Levi and Hange later to discuss this." "How are you so calm about this?"
He only shrugged, pulling her closer with his arm. "Sleep, my love," he urged again.
****
Before they knew, it was evening. Sherridan stood in front of the window in her quarters, looking out at the hustle of the Scouts. 101 horses were lined up in the yard, ready to go - how many would return, she did not know. When Levi came back to her after an urgent meeting, his expression was unreadable and she realized it better to not ask. When he asked if she wanted to make love, she agreed heartily for who knew if it would be their last time.
"Sherry!" She heard Aura's voice at the door and turned to face her. Her face was wet with tears again, so her friend rushed to her aid.
"Are you okay?" Aura asked, smoothing her hair. Sherridan shook her head. "I'm not," she embraced Aura and smoothed her face on her shoulder, "I'm scared. So scared. Aura!"
Sherry held her friend by her arms and looked into her eyes. "Aura! You.. you'll protect them, right? Your Titan would protect them, right? You'll bring back as many of our soldiers as possible, right?"
Aura cupped her face in her hands and thumbed her tears away. "Love, he doesn't need my protection. He's.. humanity's strongest, right?"
****
"You don't have to walk," Levi brought his friend her mare and patted her head. "I'll walk her, you sit on it." "It's okay, dumdum," Aura smiled, pinching the bridge of his nose, "I can walk."
"Tsk! We're gonna walk the whole night. You also want to walk the whole night?"
"It's okay, Levi," Erwin appeared beside his wife, putting a protective arm around her shoulders, "the horse ride may make her nauseous actually, Sherridan said. It's for the better if she walks with us. Love, if you get tired, we can always rest for a few minutes before resuming. We're leaving early, it shouldn't be a problem." Aura nodded with a smile, she had missed her over-protective husband for a while, but having him back made her heart swell.
Bidding Sherry and her medical staff a quick goodbye, the Scouts and Aura finally set off for Shiganshina. Taking Peony's advice, Hange and her team had gone back to the Reiss family's underground cavern and collected the ore that glowed at night to aid in their operation.
Nothing spectacular happened during the travel, except a random dormant Titan appearing out of nowhere in their vicinity. In conclusion, it was the best decision to choose the night of the new moon for their journey. By the time the Sun started to show above the horizon, the soldiers realized they were at the foothills of a mountain in Shiganshina.
Quietly, they mounted their horses. Levi helped Aura up, before moving on to his own pet. "Stay close to me, okay?" Erwin produced his hand and touched her fingers that rested on the reins of her mare.
She looked back and in the feeble light of the rising sun, the Commander saw his wife smile. "Always," she returned.
100 soldiers and 1 doctor adjusted the hoods of their uniform, and pulled the reins of their horses, breaking into a run. "Be on guard for Titans lurking in the shadows," Aura heard her husband scream from the front of the formation, she was sure the soldiers at the back heard him well enough.
No, he wasn't her husband anymore. For today, he was her Commander.
"Our mission begins now. All troops, switch to ODM gear!"
Taking his word as the word of Maria, Rose and Shina, all soldiers gathered their spines, hopped on to a standing position on their horses and started flying on their gears. Aura looked back to where her best friend was, and he had disappeared too. She inhaled a long breath and stopped her horse to a standstill beside Erwin's; she watched as he dismounted, sent the grapples of his gear upward and as it hooked somewhere on the wall, it hurled him atop, she followed.
There was no time to waste. Who knew where the Titans were, who knew if they'd be able to seal the holes in the walls before Reiner and Bertholdt show up. Levi squad ran with Eren to secure the outer wall, flying from one part of the wall to the other and before long, green flames emerged that marked one half of a success.
On the inner wall, things were tensing up. Armin had found the evidence of not two, but at least three people who seemed to have sat around a fire, drinking what seemed like coffee. From his information of a pot and three cups being completely cool, the Commander came to a conclusion.
"We charged here at full speed using horses and ODM gear," he said, his forefinger wedged between his chin and lower lip, "they'd have had known we were coming for a long enough time for the utensils to be abandoned to cool. Meaning, they'd have had long enough to prepare for our arrival."
Arlert, on being instructed by the taller blonde, led some of his fellow troops to find out if there were any enemies hiding near the inner gate. Aura stood with Erwin, and Section Leader Dirk, watching them as they discussed the genius of the young boy.
Only moments later, an acoustic flare went up and Armin and the soldiers under him gathered again atop the wall. "Inside the wall," he sort of screamed when the elders reached the party. To the others, this hunch made less sense but to Erwin, it was enough. He retracted a flare gun from under his cloak and fired a red one. "Follow the chain of command," was all that he had to say before Armin sent everyone back to searching the walls, this time with more intention.
"If he sheds the shyness, he can overtake me any time, don't you think?" The Commander glanced sideways to his wife and asked. She shook her head. "It takes a lot more to be you," she stated.
He smirked. "You spoil me," he said and grew serious the next second, "stay close."
The couple watched as the soldiers tapped on the walls on both sides of it to find a cavity. One Scout signalled that he had found a cavity, but the Wall quickly opened to reveal Reiner Braun, who skewered the soldier with a blade. Reiner emerged from the opening only for Levi to dive down at him, slicing into his neck.
With his other blade, Levi stabbed into Reiner's torso as the two of them hurtled towards the ground. Surprised, Levi saw that Reiner was still alive. He pulled out the blade in Reiner's chest and let Reiner hit the ground alone. Levi wondered if it was another Titan power keeping Reiner alive.
Though grievously wounded, Reiner's body contorted and he transformed into the Armored Titan. Erwin called out for the soldiers to look for Reiner's allies when the flash of a Titan transformation thundered behind him. He, alongwith Aura, turned around to see that the Beast Titan had made an appearance, along with a small army of Pure Titans.
"Boulder incoming," Erwin screamed, "brace yourselves." Truly, a boulder was hurled at them by the hairy Titan in a perfect arc. The soldiers on top of the wall crouched to brace themselves, covering their heads with their hands in fear. Their Commander, in no fear of his own life, turned his back to the oncoming danger and braced his wife.
Luckily - or, unluckily - the boulder dropped right at the mouth of the gaping hole in the wall, plugging it. The soldiers stood up and saw the beginning of a massacre. Erwin explained his enemy's intention so well in his next few sentences, Aura wondered if he was reading somebody's mind.
"Humanity or Titans? Which side will live? Which side will perish?" He enquired the air around them, "we're both looking at the same goal, this ends here. In the town where it all started."
In the meantime, the Armored Titan had recovered from Levi's blow and by the looks of it, was on it's mission to climb the wall. Erwin commanded, "all troops, do not engage with the Armored Titan." Among the Beast's army was a quadraped, a new enemy the Scouts had never seen before, with luggage on its back - it couldn't have transformed alongwith the rest, the Commander concluded.
No sooner, the smaller mindless Titans from the Beast's army started running towards the wall, towards the Scouts and their horses. Sandwiched between this and Reiner, the soldiers all looked up to their Commander for orders, but he was lost deep in thought.
Protecting the horses was their primary motive now, he decided. "Are you finally ready to say something?" Levi mocked, even though he was one of those who knew better than to interfere his thought process, "I could have made breakfast in this time." Dispersing the other squads to their discretion, Erwin stopped Armin and Levi.
"You're the only one I can entrust to take him down when the time comes," he told Levi, pointing his blade towards the Beast. Levi took his leave, promising his ally the Beast's head. Armin was commanded to assist Hange squad in taking the Armored down.
Alone with him atop the wall now, Aura looked up at her husband and softly tugged at his empty sleeve. "You're here," he said, nodding, "I know. You can take either of them down whenever I ask you to. But for now, you stay close to me. That's the only order I have for you, my love."
Together, or separated, their spines were too straight to be deterred by the threats of any Titan. Erwin and Aura held hands, waiting for Reiner's Titan to reach them and when he did, they simply stood their ground and faced him.
On the outer side, Eren transformed and made a run for the outer wall. Whatever Reiner would conclude from this act, it would mean a victory for the Scouts. If he ran after him, the horses would survive. And if he didn't, Eren could climb the wall and run back to the inner circle from outside to finally annihilate the Beast Titan and his Titan minions. Probably not wanting to waste time, Reiner slid down the wall he had just climbed in order to keep the Attack Titan from fleeing. And Aura heaved a sigh of relief.
Erwin tightened his grip on her hand and turned the other way, towards the direction he had sent Levi. "Don't worry," he said, softly, "I'm here with you."
He sighed too. Aura looked up to see his face, his beautiful face, all etched with woe and concern for his troops, for her, for the success of the mission. "The Scouts aren't nearly as strong as they once were," he said, "however, without all those sacrifices, we never would have made it this far.
"When I was a cadet, I told everyone about my father's theory which I also believed. And that once I was a Scout, I'd prove it. But after I joined the Scouts, I stopped talking about it for some reason. No, that's wrong. It wasn't some reason. I had realized something. That only I was fighting for myself. That only I had a dream I wanted to see.
"Then you came about, and I was attached to this life even more. Before I knew it, I was giving people orders and inspiring my comrades. Saying they should give their hearts to humanity. This way, I fooled my comrades, I fooled you, I fooled myself. And upon a mountain of my comrades' corpses, I now stand. With you, with our child. The image of the basement, the desire for a family.. they keep lingering in the back of my mind. And why not? If I give them up, I'll be doing you injustice. You fought so hard for me, endured so much to get me to realize my dream. We already know the truth, you've given me that but I have to see it. If not for me, then for -"
"Hush, my love," Aura stopped him, "you'll be doing this for yourself. And whatever i do, I'll do for myself. We're all selfish here. Now let's see what this Beast has planned next, okay?"
Hange squad was dealing with the Armored with the thunder spears while the others remained on the inner side, struggling with the mindless Titans that had been lulled in their direction. Just when they thought Reiner had been dealt with, the Titan raised his head, let out a bellowing scream that rendered the ones nearby close to deaf, before falling to the ground.
It was a signal, there was no doubt about it. Especially when the Beast Titan hurled what seemed like a barrel in that direction - it crossed the wall and landed somewhere near the Armored. "Is it the other guy?" Aura asked, to which Erwin only nodded. But why didn't he transform yet, he wondered. "Hange would take care of it, I'm sure," he said, biting his lip, "I only hope nobody gets caught up in his blast."
It was a deadly blast, when it happened. The gust of it blew past the newlyweds, Erwin grabbed Aura's shoulder to keep her from harm, and held her close. "Fuck," he murmured under his breath, "this doesn't look good."
"Let me go, Erwin. I'll take care of one of them," Aura shouted, the blast had deafened her. "Not yet, Aura," he said, closing his eyes in a prayer - for it to never be time for her Titan to show up.
The Colossal towered over the wall, just like he had on the days of the attacks on walls Maria and Rose. This was the sight that finally made Aura tremble with fear, she feared for her own life, that of Erwin and those of their comrades. The Titan was wrecking a havoc in Shiganshina, destroying houses, burning them into crisps, and scattering them all around. From his actions, it seemed as if he had no idea where the Scouts were and was only moving in vain hopes of doing them in with the massacre.
The Beast, on the other hand, sat cowardly at a distance. Having sent his minions to deal with the Scouts on the inner circle, he seemed to have lost any will to act. The leaders and the Captain Levi spoke in between dealing blows to the smaller mindlesses, in order to come up with a plan to take the brains behind the attack down.
However, what they thought was a cowardly retirement, was actually only preparation for a perfect game. The Beast Titan, it seemed, had sent the two to three metres Titans towards the Survey Corps only to gather them up in one place and mark them for his planned onslaught. With his aim set by his enemies themselves, he hurled crushed boulders at them from where he stood.
One after another, the rocks fell onto the vulnerable soldiers, and their horses, doing them in mercilessly. Erwin and Aura stood atop the wall, gasping in fury and fear. The Commander was lost in thought again, his mouth agape, and his wife hoped against hope that he'd finally agree to put her, or at least her Titan out in the field. She could do something, anything, she knew it. She also knew the troops were expecting her, their Commander not risking her life would only come off as reluctance to save theirs and that would definitely not be a good look.
Quietly, as she watched her husband planning and plotting, she came up with a plan of her own. She agreed in her mind that she did not know how to deal with the Colossal Titan, but a bunch of hurtling rocks, she knew she could deal with that. She let go of Erwin's hand and rested it on her ODM, attempting to release the gas and descend from the wall. "Don't even think about it," came a sharp order from her left, and a quick secure of her arm lest she disobeyed it. Aura only sighed.
"Stay here," he continued, "I'll go, try to motivate the troops a little."
"I'll come with," she disagreed straightaway, "you said, stay close. Now don't leave me here."
"Follow the chain of command, Mrs. Smith," he spat curtly, "you'll be wise not to disregard my order," before using his own ODM gear to jump off the wall, leaving her in the only safe site alone. Aura pursed her lips.
No, she decided, she would not follow the chain of command. But she decided to wait. She trusted him, she believed he'd make the right call.
But he could be rash at times, she knew him well enough. She reminded herself of the conversation they had the previous night. She finally concluded that she'd stay put as long as he did. If she saw him and the troops mounting their horses, she'd go in too. She didn't care what the fight would bring, she'd stand between the Beast and her allies and protect them. Killing him would be in the hands of the one most qualified to do it - Captain Levi.
So she stood her ground and watched, trying to listen to what was going on at the foot of the wall. But the height was too much, there were too many sounds around, and the words escaped her easily.
Informing the remaining troops on what he had seen from above, Erwin declared that the squads of leaders Dirk, Marlene and Klaus were wiped out by the bombardment while engaging with the smaller Titans.
"In conclusion," he said, "the only remaining troops on this side of the wall are the new recruits, Captain Levi and myself."
"Sir, what about the War Hammer Titan?" a young recruit asked, fear bleeding on their face, only their eyes showed a slice of hope that their newest ally would save them now.
"She's waiting for the right time," the captain answered for his senior.
"Is.. is this not the right time?" A redhead asked, and the two pillars of authority had no answer for them. They only looked at each other now, as the rocks kept coming, and in a flash of deep-rooted solidarity, they understood each other's fears and concerns without having to say them out loud.
"Erwin," the noirette finally asked, "do you have any sort of plan?"
"I know you don't intend to bring her out, and I respect you for it. It's totally understandable to me. So if you're saying we've got no chance to counterattack, let's get ready to flee. Let's do one thing. We don't have to involve her in a fight, but ask her to transform. We can ride on her and Eren's shoulders and flee from here. At least we'll have some survivers."
The troops were all agitated, some unable to even stand up and guide their horses to a safe place. The sight was unbearable to the Commander. A red haired boy was on the grass, his head in his hands, sobbing.
"What good will safekeeping the horses do, if nobody is left to ride them home?" He screamed in agony, "giving up my heart for the cause of humanity never seemed so meaningless until-"
A loud thud stopped him from speaking any further - it was not the boulders, it was Eren this time. The troops and their surviving superiors looked up at the wall to the point where the sound emerged from. They saw Eren flung across the width of the wall, exactly where Erwin had left Aura a few minutes ago.
"Aura!" Erwin let out a hapless gasp, but soon saw her. She had witnessed the flinging of the Attack Titan towards herself, and had immediately bolted from there. There was no time to follow the chain of command anymore. She flew with her ODM and landed near the foot, stumbled a little but regained her stability only to look up at the massacre now. It seemed even more real now, now that she was looking at it at eye level. Her lips shook from the horror of it all, her eyelids filled with tears at the sight of the demotivated and crying soldiers.
When her husband and best friend approached her, she paid them no heed. For her eyes were fixed on the blood and gore of it all. The moment Erwin's hand laid on her shoulder, she convulsed. Aura fell to her knees and pulled from her stomach the crackers she had had earlier in the morning. Clutching at her chest, she emptied it all on the rubble before her while Levi rubbed her back and head. He gave her his pouch of water and she washed her face and mouth with it. "Put some on your neck," he said, and she obliged.
She looked up at her husband now, and pleaded with her watery eyes to let her transform and fight the enemy. Erwin simply averted his gaze and shook his head.
Levi laid out a plan of his own. "Erwin, you, with Hange's squad and the recruits flee on Eren. At least some of us should go home."
"What would you do, Levi?" The Commander asked.
"Let me take Aura," he said, "together, we'll draw the Beast away and finish him." "Impossible," the blonde deduced, "you wouldn't even get close. You're saying, without Aura, you have no way of reaching him. And if she transforms in the way, all attention would go on her and he'd direct all his attacks on her then."
"So be it," Aura cried, "I'll shield my way through. While his attention is on me, you guys can escape. And.. Levi and I will find a way. We'll bring you his head, I promise."
"You're not hearing yourself, Aura. I'm not using you as decoy. End of conversation."
She tsked. His reluctance was getting on her nerves now. "What do you suggest then? Another suicide charge, I'm assuming? You'll be wise to remember our conversation from last night, Mr. Smith."
"Erwin," Levi addressed him with a stern gaze, "remember they're here for Eren. The fact that we have another Titan on our side is unknown to them. This is our chance to both protect the one they want to take away and surprise them with our own secret. If you and Eren can flee, we still have some hope left. Without employing Aura's Titan, I doubt a single one of us has any chance against that hairy bastard."
"Yes, assuming we had no way to counterattack," the commander countered.
"So there's a way?" The Captain stood up, "so you have a plan? Why didn't you tell it sooner? Why did you keep your shitty mouth shut?"
"Levi, don't listen to him," Aura joined them, "I'm sure he intends to just charge at him with the troops. Don't listen to him, Shorty."
The men ignored her for the time being. "If the plan goes well, you may be able to take down the Beast Titan without the help of Aura. But it will take the recruits and myself to sacrifice our lives."
"Erwin, no!" Aura screamed at him over the sounds of more boulders landing near them and the shrieks of the Scouts. Erwin attempted to take her hand but she swatted it away in anger. "It's like you said, Levi," he continued, "either way, a lot of us, if not all of us, are going to get wiped out. This is the only way we can ensure Eren's safety, protect Aura's identity and make way for you to take the Beast Titan out. This could be our slim chance at victory."
He continued, walking a little further from the bellowing recruits, and the two followed him. "I'd have to ask the young ones to die again. It would take an expert con man and a whole slew of lies to convince them. If I don't lead the vanguard, none of them will follow. And I will die before anyone else. Without ever proving my father right, without.." he looked at Aura's tear-strewn face and averted from saying the next few words.
He placed himself on a stray wooden box and went on. "Everything I've done till now was because I thought this day would come. That someday, I could check if I was right. So many times, I thought death would be so much easier. But the dreams I shared with my father and the love of my life always flashed through my mind. And now, I'm close enough to the answers to reach out and grab them. I'm close enough to one of my dreams, she's right here. And.. I think I'll have to give it all away."
Aura fell to her knees again, closing the gap between her and her husband. "Erwin, please let me help," she sobbed, clutching the top of his knee-high boots. He looked down and smiled at her, pitifully. "You're helping, love, you're doing what you do best," he said, grabbing her shoulder and pulling her to sit on his thigh. She obliged wordlessly, threw her arms around him and soundlessly cried into his neck. "Can you see them, Levi?"
Erwin held her to himself and looked up at his decade long comrade. "Our comrades?" He asked, "they're looking at us. They want to know what became of the hearts they gave. Because the fighting isn't over yet. Is it all just inside my head? Nothing more than a childish delusion?" For a few seconds, he didn't take his eyes off of him. With a quiet gesture, he gave him what he assumed was his penultimate order.
Levi fell to his knees in front of the man he had vowed to follow all his life. "You've fought well," he encouraged, pulling stray ropes from beside the box Erwin and Aura sat on. He continued, both with real appreciation and the attempt to guise his other motive for kneeling, "it's all thanks to you that we've come this far. So, I'm making the choice for you. Give up on your dreams and die. Leave your family to their own discretion. Lead the recruits straight to hell. I will take the Beast Titan down myself."
At this, Aura turned in fear. Her only ally had also turned his back to her now. Her face was lined with running streaks from her eyes and nostrils, she looked like a scolded child. "What are you saying, Levi?"
He was still down on his knees, and looked up at her. "This is the only way," he whispered to her, before producing one of the ropes he had collected and started to tie them around her ankles. "Levi, what are you doing?" She thumped her feet, and tried to escape from Erwin's single-handed grasp but both of them were just too strong. As soon as he was done with her feet, the captain focused on her arms and held them to her back to secure them there.
Once fastened, Erwin left the box and placed her there. Crouching in front of her, he touched her face with his huge hand. "Please forgive me, my love," he said, his eyes red rimmed with agony, "take care of yourself, okay? And of our child. And please look for love after I'm gone, don't let yourself drown in sorrow for your remaining days. I'd be nowhere near peace if that happens."
"What are you saying?" She screamed at him, stamping the ground at her feet, and with it his pants, "what are you saying? Levi! Levi, let me go. Let me go. Erwin, please. I can help. I can help all of us live. Erwin, please." Levi had truly turned his back to her.
"This is the only way for you to help us, my love," he repeated Levi's words, "trust me, you're helping us this way. Who knows what awaits us after this? This surely can't be the end of it all. If Hange is alive, she'll need your help. Levi would need your help. So will Sherry. Your experti-"
"Shut up!" She spewed her fury at him, "shut up! Shut up! You're not making sense. Fuck the future. I don't want a future if you're not there in it. Erwin! Please live. I will die too in a little more than a decade. If you die here, our child would be orphaned. Don't you get it? Erwin, listen to me. Let me help. I can do this, Erwin. Please trust me. Please. I've trained enough. Ask Levi. He knows. I've done enough squats and push-ups and I've trained with Peony too. I'll get us out of here. I promise, Erwin. Please. Please. Please don't go. Erwin, please."
"I know," her husband whispered, sticking his forehead to hers, "I know you've worked hard enough. Save it for the future, okay?" He chuckled. "I never thought I'd say this to you, but.. let me kiss you one last time."
"Not unless you free me and let me deal with the Beast Titan," Aura tried to bargain. Erwin only sighed, a wry smile plastered on his face, and stood up to leave.
"Erwin," she called his name, her breath coming in heaves of sadness, and closed her eyes, "kiss me." He knelt again and pulled her face to him. He buried his long, shapely nose in the cushion of her cheek and took her lips in his mouth. If this was going to be their last kiss, he wanted to pour all his remaining love in it and ask her to hold it all in.
"I love you," he said, pulling away from her kiss for the last time in his life, "I love you, and I love them," he softly patted her belly, "that would never be untrue, okay? Please forgive me if you can." And he promptly left her side, and joined Levi's, unwilling to look back one more time. For he knew he'd be tempted to live if he looked at her again.
"Levi," he said, sniffing, "shall we go?"
"I'll give her my regards before we leave," the shorter man explained before heading back to the box. He knelt before her too when she refused to look up at him. "I'm sorry," he said, checking to see if his boss was looking, "but it was the only way."
"You can't be ser-," she started, but stopped promptly when something cold and metallic slid into one of her palms. "I trust you, Aura," the captain said, before rousing to kiss her forehead and then, he too left her to her own discretion.
A pocket knife, she realized, and thanked her best friend. After a long time, she breathed relief.
From a distance of a few feet, she heard Erwin give his final orders to the new recruits. No, she reckoned, those wouldn't be his final orders, she'd make sure of it. With that goal in mind, she maneuvered the sharp edge of the knife in her grasp and started to cut at the ropes. These should be very old ropes, she said to herself, it shouldn't take long.
When the recruits asked about the War Hammer Titan, their Commander lied again. "She'll be there, I've given her my orders," a half-truth, "and while we're on our way, Captain Levi will make his way to the Beast Titan and finish him."
"If we die, we die trusting the living who follow to find meaning in our lives," were his last words before he mounted his horse. Riding at the vanguard, he led his soldiers straight to their deaths, "my souldiers, rage! My soldiers, scream! My soldiers, fight!" Or so he thought.
Just when she saw the green smokes emerge from the raging dust of the battlefield, Aura knew where to rush to. She picked up her ODM gear that she had set aside, and flew to them. Adrenaline peaking through every vessel in her body, the last surge she pulled from her gear sent her over the horses and troops. Nobody from down below noticed her, their eyes and focus were fixated on the enemy that stood ahead.
The moment she crossed the vanguard, and Erwin himself, she let go of the ODM and plunged the pocket knife into her palm. A blazing thunder appeared before the rushing soldiers, bringing them to an abrupt halt. "No, fuck," Erwin screamed, this scream was louder than any of his previous ones.
The Beast Titan stood awestruck as the War Hammer emerged between himself and his enemies. Her hair blew in the gust of the flying boulders, but they thudded against the shield she had produced with her arms and fell on both her sides. The troops that remained, roared in regained fervor, behind the safety of Peony's shield, and cheered for her.
A few feet away, Captain Levi was on his own, fulfilling his mission too. Keeping up with the troops, he had scaled the walls and then latched on to the taller Titans that the Beast had kept by his side. One by one, he slashed each of their necks until he reached the heinous "hairy bastard". He slashed through his arm, then aimed for his eyes, went for his heels, and finally his nape. He put all his rage into that last attack, pulling the blonde enemy out by the blade of his sword.
So this was him.