Underground - Chapter 32: Chapter 32

It wasn't long before I realized that Levi was here, beside me, so where was Jaeger?
I glanced over at Levi, who was still staring down at the smoking skeleton at our feet. "Ackerman, where's Jaeger?"
He flicked his dark eyes up to my face, and before he could completely mask it, I saw exhaustion cross his features. He pushed his black hair off of his forehead, his face streaked with various shades of drying blood, and said, "Right after you left, Hange showed up with her squad to help out if we needed. She was tending to Jaeger when I came after you."
As if they had heard us talking about them, Hange appeared beside us after Levi's words, Jaeger's arms around her shoulders for support as he limped along beside her. She flashed me a grin, her hair disheveled, her uniform coated in gore, and called out cheerfully, "(F/N)! I'm glad to see you made it."
I realized as she spoke that my hand was still in Levi's. Not wanting to embarrass him, I dropped my fingers from his and took a small step away from him, putting distance back between us again. He glanced over at me after the movement, one eyebrow raised, but said nothing.
Hange continued on, oblivious to what had just happened. "I was worried when Levi said he needed to go after you. I thought maybe you had gotten yourself into trouble."
I cleared my throat and glanced over at Jaeger as the pair came to a stop in front of us. He looked worse for the wear. His shoulder, which had taken the brunt of the beast titan's attacks, was still bleeding heavily, the skin torn and the muscle peeking through the ripped sleeve of his uniform. His chest was covered with long scratches and gashes as well, the blood congealing in long rivers down the front of his shirt. Sweat beads had gathered on his forehead from the effort of walking, and his normally clear, green eyes were opaque with pain and fatigue.
However, as we all stared at him, even now, his wounds were smoking and slowly healing over as he regenerated his injured body.
He met my gaze and gave me a weak smile, still leaning heavily on Hange as he said in a slightly shaky voice, "How did I do, Corporal? Kept our promise?"
Without thinking, I stepped forward and pulled him to me in a tight hug, saying quietly, so only he could hear, "Yes, Jaeger, you idiot. You did more than enough. More than anyone ever expected of you."
I pulled back from him, but kept an arm around his shoulders to keep him steady, cautious of his wound, as I turned to look at Hange again. I flashed her a smile. "I take it your squad was successful then."
She grinned at me, her eyes flashing behind her glasses. "Very much so. We cleared out the right flank quickly. And then we came to see if you and Rivaille and Jaeger needed help." She winked at me. "But you three had everything under control." She flicked her eyes over to Levi, who stood watching all of us, his arms crossed over his chest. "However, I don't know if Erwin will be entirely thrilled with the damage you caused the wall, Rivaille."
Levi scoffed. "Tch. If that idiot can't see that I did what I had to, then he's not fit to be commanding the scouts."
Just then, the rest of Hange's squad appeared behind her, one of her scouts leading her mount beside them. Tossing her the reins, the cadet saluted her stiffly and said, "Squad Commander, we've returned with all the horses. No more titans in sight along the right flank."
Hange nodded at the girl and then mounted her horse, swinging up into the saddle as she looked down at the three of us. She motioned another pair of scouts forward, and I noticed that they were leading Jaeger and I's horses beside them. Hange must have sent her squad to collect our horses as well. "Do you think you can ride, Jaeger?"
The cadet tossed me the reins to my mare and I glanced over at Jaeger, who was still pale, but seemed to be recovering quickly. He gave Hange a determined nod. "Yes, Squad Commander. I can handle it."
I swung up onto the back of my horse, which pranced nervously beneath me for a moment. I watched as Jaeger steeled himself and then pulled himself up onto the back of his horse as well, wincing slightly as he moved his injured shoulder. When we were all mounted comfortably, Levi stepped up in front of the group, whipping out his blades again as he did so. He motioned back toward the battlefield. "I'll go on ahead with the 3DM gear. We don't know how things are fairing down there. Follow behind me on the horses."
Without another word he whipped off on the lines toward the battlefield.
Hange flicked her fingers at the squad behind us. "Move out!" She kicked her horse in the sides and took off at a gallop after Levi, all of us following closely behind her.
When we reached the main battlefield and the carnage came into view, I was relieved to see that the battle seemed to be winding down. The remaining titans seemed to be unfocused now that the intelligence and the direction from the beast titan had disappeared, and they ambled aimlessly about, stepping on corpses of their allies that littered the ground, as the scouts took them down easily, one by one.
I pulled my horse up beside Levi, who was standing on the ground now, his blades sheathed, talking to the rest of the special forces squad. I was relieved to see that the entire group appeared to be here and basically unharmed.
Miller glanced up at me as I stopped beside them, and a smile lit her face as she said excitedly, "Corporal! I'm so glad you're alright."
"Yeah, well, it's all due to Cadet Jaeger." I said as Jaeger appeared beside me on his horse, his teeth gritted as he held onto his injured shoulder to keep it from the jostling of the ride as much as possible. I glanced over at Arlert and Ackerman, who seemed more than happy to see Jaeger looking alright, even if he was injured. "Your fellow cadet saved all of us. All you idiots owe him your lives."
I glanced up as Erwin landed on the ground beside Levi, wiping his red blades on the his pants as he quickly surveyed all of us before stating, "That's it then. We're done for today. We may not have solved all of our problems with this attack, but we've solved the main one. We're heading back to the wall."
I noticed that tired lines appeared on his forehead as he talked, and realized that, now that the adrenaline had worn off, I was exhausted. And my arms hurt from wielding my blades all day. I knew everyone else must be feeling the exact same way.
Levi motioned to the cadets. "You heard him, brats. Let's go get the horses and get the hell out of here."
They all took off into the forest, headed to the area where they had left their horses, and soon enough, we were all gathered back together again as one large group, headed back toward the safety of the city behind the wall.
I scanned the cadets around me as we rode at a quick pace in silence, the wall on our right rushing by in the shadows of the approaching twilight. We seemed to have fared pretty well. We had lost no one from the special forces, Hange's squad had suffered the loss of one cadet, and Lewis's squad had lost three members. But other than that, most of us were alive. Which was more than I had bargained for when we set out on this mission.
As the large gate came looming into view in the distance, we slowed our pace slightly, and by the time we arrived at the gate, it had creaked upward and was ready for us to enter into the city beyond.
We entered the city in silence, the only sound echoing around us the sound of the horses' hooves clopping on the cobblestones of the road beneath us as we made our way through the dark, silent city.
When we reached the stables, Erwin pulled up in front of us and addressed the group loudly, so everyone could hear. "Get your mounts put up for the night. And then I want everyone to retire to their quarters. It's been a long day. Clean up, eat something, whatever you feel you need. But make sure you get some rest." He raised a thick eyebrow at us and a slight smile flicked across his lips as he said, "And also, you'll be happy to hear, that I've given you all the day off tomorrow."
A weak cheer went through the group at his announcement. I let out a tired sigh of relief. We could all use a day to recuperate from this mission. I glanced over at Jaeger, who was barely hanging onto his horse due to exhaustion. Especially Jaeger.
"Tch." I heard Levi scoff beside me and flicked my eyes over to his face, annoyance dancing on his features as he said under his breath, "He should be giving us more than that for all we've done for him today."
I couldn't help it. I laughed. Whether it was because I was delirious from exhaustion, or was at my breaking point and I needed to release some kind of emotion before I exploded, a laugh escaped through my lips at his sour statement.
Levi glanced over at me, surprise in his dark eyes at my amused response, and I waved a hand at him, tears gathering in the corners of my eyes as I tried to stifle my laughter. "It's fine. I'm fine."
After I had gotten myself back under control, I looked around us and realized that the other cadets had started to separate and go their different ways. I slid down from off of my mare and giving her a fond pat on the neck, handed my reins to Miller, who had been waiting in front of me after stabling her own animal. I gave her a tired smile as she began to lead the horse into the building. "Thank you, Miller."
I turned, ready to head to the officer's quarters. I needed a bath, desperately, and then I was going to fall into my bed and sleep for a day straight. I didn't even care about eating at this point. I just wanted to sink into my mattress and close my eyes, giving into my exhaustion.
"Ackerman. (L/N)."
I stopped in my tracks as Erwin called out to us, cursing under my breath. Damn. There went my plan to sleep for a day. I turned to face the commander as he strode toward us, flicking my fingers across my forehead in a half hearted salute as I said, "Yes sir?"
"Oi, Smith." Levi growled from beside me, crossing his arms over his chest, anger flicking in his dark gaze. "This had better be good. I'm filthy and you know how that makes me. You're all that's standing between me and a hot bath right now."
Erwin chuckled at his remark, not taking his dangerous tone seriously in the slightest, and then glanced between the two of us before saying, "I just wanted to let you know. The king is expecting all of us for a banquet tomorrow night. That was one of the reasons I gave everyone the day off." He gave us a tired grin, his white teeth flashing in the darkness. "We can't very well have the scouting legion trying to lead themselves while we're away."
I raised an eyebrow at him. "Why are we going to a banquet with the king?"
Levi let out an annoyed sigh. "Tch. The king. More like an arrogant ass who pretends to know what his people are going through up there in his comfy castle, safe behind Wall Sina."
I felt laughter tickle the back of my throat again, but remained serious. Now was not the time. And seriously, I needed some rest. Since when did I find Levi funny?"
Erwin remained calm, despite Levi's goading remarks and said firmly, "You two will be there. You're my best Corporals. It's not a choice. I just wanted you to be aware so you could prepare accordingly."
"But you still didn't tell us why the banquet, Commander." I spoke up again, really just wanting this conversation to be over as quickly as possible. My arms were starting to feel like lead at my sides.
He gave me a small smile. "The banquet was planned if the mission was a success. Which it was. So it's a banquet in honor of the leadership of the scouting legion that took down the abnormal titan that's been threatening us for so long."
I couldn't help it, I scoffed slightly. "Planning a celebration banquet before the mission was even launched? Isn't that a little cocky?"
Erwin lifted his shoulder in a slight shrug as he turned to walk away from us. "It's just the way they do things in the inner city." He waved to us over his shoulder as he left. "See you tomorrow, Corporals."
After he had gone, I glanced over at Levi, who was glaring at his retreating form and said in a low voice, "A banquet? With the king? Honestly?"
"Tch." He kicked at the dirt with one of his bloodstained boots in an irritated motion. "I hate the inner city. They're all pigs who don't know what really happens outside their little Wall Sina."
I studied him for a moment, his agitated movements, and realized that he really couldn't stand the thought of others being safe and above those who couldn't help themselves. Warmth spread into the pit of my stomach at the thought. He'd always stood up for those who couldn't protect themselves, like me.
I took a step toward him and put my boot down on his, stopping his aggravated kicking. "Oi, Ackerman." I used his traditional greeting and he glanced up at me, his dark gaze meeting mine. I gave him a small smile. "Look, we don't have to enjoy ourselves. Let's just go and eat their food. We get a free meal, while secretly cursing them under our breath, and they think they've got us where they want us, but we know we're really just their to spite them." I raised an eyebrow at him. "What do you say? It'll be just like old times."
"Why like old times?" He questioned flatly. "Because we'll be being rebellious together again?"
I nodded at him. "There you go. You're not as much of an idiot as I thought. Just think of it as another one of our 'missions.'" I grinned at him. "You can even bring the dagger secretly if you want. I know how much you love that thing." I elbowed him playfully.
"Tch." He stepped back from me, shooting me a glare, though I could tell, he wasn't as truly angry as he had been several minutes ago. He was silent for a moment and then he said emotionlessly, "Fine. I'll go. But only if you're there as well. I don't want to suffer alone."
I shot him another grin. "Deal. It'll be Ackerman and (L/N) back together again. Although this time," I raised an eyebrow at him mischeviously. "We'll be getting a lot more out of this deal than some moldy bread and tepid water."