~ The Forest of Big Trees
“Levi! To your left!” shrieked Petra, and the Captain just managed to swing and dodge the reaching grasp of an abnormal. Petra flew past him in a blur of green and orange, her blades flashing, and titan steam soon filled the air as she dispatched of the titan that had been following them for half an hour. “That was close! He almost got me there!” She shouted to him.
“Well done!” Levi shouted back, swerving round a particularly thick tree, glancing back at Eren. The younger man was pale but determine, although fear shone clearly through his eyes. He’d already had one assisted titan kill on this mission. Levi had three, and Petra had two. The rest of the squad had amassed a number of kills as well, but they flew behind the trio, occasionally shouting warnings and tactics. After about another hour soaring through the trees Levi signalled to everyone that they should have a quick break. He landed gracefully on the rough branch of a tree roughly 70 metres up in the air, well out of reach of any abnormals. The wind whistled and the branches sighed, calming the squad. As soon as Eren clumsily joined them Levi walked over and quickly pulled him into a tight embrace.
“It kills me to know you could die at any moment…” he whispered into Eren’s collarbone, “I wish we didn’t have to go through so much danger...” the sadness and tension in his voice was almost palpable and Eren rested his hair on the Captain’s head, ignoring the questioning looks from the rest of the squad and Oluo’s disapproving shake of the head.
“Don’t worry, I’ll be fine.” He comforted Levi, softly stroking his hair. “C’mon, we’ve got to get to the next checkpoint by nightfall or they’ll think we’re dead.”
“Maybe we will be…” muttered Levi darkly, untangling himself from Eren and turning to face the other people, “Okay. We will apply the avoidance tactics. No engaging titans if you don’t absolutely have to, check how much gas you have and only use the amount of gas necessary. We don’t have spares, as you very well know, so get into a rhythm and use your grappling hooks to swing from tree to tree. Let’s go.”
And with that he jumped off the wide branch, letting himself fall for a bit before shooting out a grappling hook and swinging off into the depths of the forest. Everyone else followed, spreading out but always staying within sight. Under the trees it was very dark and visibility was bad, but as the gloom deepened the Squad exchanged worried looks. They needed to get to the secret base before night, and already the sun appeared to be setting. However, the continued swinging from tree to tree, occasionally having to avoid a titan. Suddenly Petra cried out as she glimpsed a light through the thick shadows of tree trunks. Eren let out an audible sigh of relief; his gas cylinder was almost empty and his every muscle ached. Levi let out a quiet giggle of relief.
“Levi!” Petra and Eren chorused, “You giggled!” they both squealed. Levi blushed. Eren and Petra fangirled again. “SO CUTE!”
but before they had the chance to shriek a bit more, a ramshackle old castle appeared in a clearing ahead of them, and the echo of relieved cheers filled the air.
“They made it!”