[AN] I'll be editing the previous chapters once we reach chapter 20, as I have no concept of proof-reading and I'm too fucking lazy to go over what I've just written to check for errors! to anyone who has endured the awful couple of first chapters, I applaud you. you are made of some serious mettle, to cope with such bullshit.

some of the dialogue in this chapter is the butchered dialogue of a scanlation of the manga. anywho, here's a few responses to several reviewers:

KiraKiraBluemoon: thanks to my favorite follower of this story for your frequent reviews! I always like seeing notifications that you reviewed the latest chapter. I hope you're doing well, and enjoying the story!

Maikamika: Levi is a difficult person to get to know and come to love, so unfortunately the romance and fluff will be excruciatingly slow paced for now. while the conversation at the end of this chapter may not be the fluff you're looking for, it'll provide more depth to the relationship between the characters on at least one end of said relationship. don't worry though, this dry spell won't last forever!

coralvortex: I'm glad you think so! my style of writing places emphasis on human emotion and the images it creates. living in a world as gruesome and cruel as Shingeki no Kyojin, our beloved characters deserve at least a silver lining to rule the pages of the stories we create with their visages in mind.

mun3litKnight: Petra's my favorite. so kind, so pure. too good for this world.

Nevvy: thanks for the review! The best stories are the ones that tug on the heartstrings, but trust me I haven't been as ruthless as I plan on being in the oncoming chapters.

Note: I am so fucking exhausted staying up writing this omg. also the lines from this song remind me of Levi for some reason oh well my eyes are gonna fall outta my fukin skull

"I'll leave this all behind for you when I'm gone
You grew from a seed
Forever strong as a pine tree
Always an evergreen."

– "Evergreen," Knuckle Puck

Chapter 16: Zinnia

'I am a soldier. I shall not falter.' Over and over again, Nephele chanted those mantras in her head. They resonated in her mind like a heartbeat, or perhaps that was just the sound of her blood flowing through her body.

There was something unsettling about the unknown. In the face of most enemies, Nephele would swallow her fears until she choked on them, but the silence was stifling and the anticipation crushing. There was nothing to fight except the darkness, which often played cruel tricks on her, making her think that the trees were titans, and the gnarled branches their ungainly arms reaching out to snatch her.

The only solace Nephele found was in her horse's mild temperament, and the snores of a sleeping forest. If there was something to be afraid of, her horse would be the first to know. It rode on, cavalier and calm as it plunged deeper into the darkness. The moon was veiled by a thick cloak of clouds, making the forest especially dark. Without a torch to guide her, Nephele's eyes were well-adjusted, but they played tricks on her regardless. Crickets, owls, and rodents scurried and spoke in hushed whispers, and immediately ceased as Nephele galloped past. She wondered how Zacharius was faring behind her, or if he'd gotten himself killed by that hairy monstrosity of a titan. Knowing that the beast was somewhere behind her, she drove her horse forward as if a horde of titans were already on their heels.

The Wall rose before her like a stone curtain, barely visible through the thick foliage. Soon after first seeing it, Nephele found herself riding across a sparsely vegetated plain. A dilapidated castle that looked like it was one brick away from sudden collapse loomed ahead, and it appeared to be the only standing structure for miles. Though its occupants tried their hardest to blend in with the crumbling walls and avoid detection by boarding up the windows with whatever materials they could find, slivers of light snuck through the cracks in their makeshift curtains, composed of wooden planks and bits of furniture. Sometimes, a shadow would pass over the light and block its path, only to pass by quickly. There were definitely people inside. Unfortunately, it was impossible for Nephele to discern whether they were friend or foe. Titans were not the only enemies. This kind of ramshackle castle was the ideal nest for avaricious bandits.

Hopeful for the first time since waking up beneath the branches of that old oak, Nephele managed to crack a crooked grin. She dug her heels into her horse's sides just a bit harder, urging it towards the only semblance of light beneath their tiny stretch of night sky.

'They are members of the Survey Corps. Otherwise, they wouldn't have tried so hard to board up the windows. Right? Bandits might also go to such lengths to prevent anyone riding by night from seeing the light coming from the windows, but it'd be obvious that someone was living there if someone were to pass the castle by during the day and see the windows all boarded up. Those are boards, right? I cannot tell.'

That was when she heard their groans. It wasn't the wind playing strange music with the trees and mountains as its instruments this time, but rather the beasts in the shadows that she'd been running from. Looking over her shoulder, she saw their dark, misshapen figures emerge from the forest behind her where she had just been moments before. They loped towards her and the castle, their arms swaying listlessly by their sides as they walked. More kept coming, and Nephele didn't have time to count them all.

'Impossible! It's the middle of the fucking night!'

She turned her head from the looming threat and stuffed her hand into one of the horse's saddlebags, rummaging around for a flare or something she could use as a projectile to hurl at the castle and get the attention of those inside. Her fingers wrapped around the flare's barrel, and she retrieved it from the bag with a sigh of relief. Taking it into both hands, she aimed it at the window. Firm grip, no loose wrists. She closed one eye and looked down the barrel with the other. Unfortunately, flare guns weren't designed with accuracy in mind, and it wasn't equipped with a sight. She pulled the trigger. The first red flare bounced uselessly off of the castle's wall. She pulled the trigger again. The second one was as black as the night, and Nephele could only identify it by a wisp of smoke and the sudden hole it punched through in one of the window's barriers. She heard shouts and saw a vaguely familiar face peek out from the fist-sized hole she'd made.

"Titans!" Nephele shouted at the top of her lungs as she rode through what once was the castle's main gate. This entire length of wall was now just a pile of bricks and rotted wooden supports. She veered her horse towards the stables, dismounting while it was still in a brisk trot. She brought her hand down on the creature's flank as it passed to coax it into the stables, but didn't bother confining it to its own stall or tying its reins to something. There wasn't enough time, and it'd probably be best if the creature had the chance to escape.

Nephele thought of that kind old lady, and the animal shelter she ran with her husband. She wondered if he was safe. She wondered if they had a funeral for her, or if he'd refurbished the shelter in her memory. She thought of all the dogs they'd rescued and had taken care of only to get crushed beneath the rubble of the building as it collapsed beneath the foot or fist of some ravenous titan, and felt the overwhelming urge to free the horses from their stalls to save them from the same fate.

Instead, Nephele ran towards the castle's highest tower, up a flight of steps to reach the top of what remained of the wall. When she reached the tower, its door swung open to allow her passage. She went inside and was greeted by three Scouts adorned in 3DMG with rather sullen, apprehensive expressions.

"State your name and purpose, soldier," ordered a light haired young man as soon as she entered. This was Gelgar, she observed. Surely he knew what her name was as well. Surely every officer that was stationed at that base knew every name of every soldier under their thumb. Saluting, Nephele stood strong, tall, and subservient to her cause.

"Nephele Ambrosia. I am sent here by Zacharius to warn anyone I can of the impending threat of a beast-like titan, thought to be another Titan Shifter. On my way here, I saw a group of titans heading this way. They came out of the northern forest several minutes after myself."

"Titans, you said? How is that even possible? They lose energy in the dark," came a familiar voice from across the room. Nephele saw Connie rise from his seat on a wooden crate, a deck of cards slipping from his hands and scattering on the dusty floor. Bertolt was sitting across from him, while Reiner and Ymir were coming down the rounded staircase. Krista stood off to the side, her arms wrapped around herself as she looked to her superior officers, obediently awaiting orders.

"Forget everything you know about them for now," Nephele advised, kicking the door shut behind her with the toe of her shoe. She was still wearing a pair of loafers. She might as well be wearing ice skates for all the good they'd do for her in combat. No grip, no support, and they could slip off at the slightest misstep. Rolling her shoulders to get her blood flowing, she kicked them off, and nudged her socks off as well. As she was standing barefooted before them and awaiting further instructions, Reiner spoke up.

"Yup, those are titans alright. The moon's still blocked by the clouds, but I can see shapes coming closer," he muttered forlornly as he stared outside through the cracks in the boarded up windows.

"Shit," Connie muttered with a shake of his shaved head.

"Wait, where did you get that gear, Ambrosia?" asked Lynne with a cynical expression, her brows drawn and arms crossed over her chest. It was Gelgar who diverted the topic.

"We have more important matters to attend to. I expect a full report when all of this is over, Ambrosia. I'm sure you're no stranger to them. For now, you're with me," he said calmly, before his demeanor suddenly and drastically changed. Turning to the rest of the group, he pointed towards the staircase and shouted their orders.

Gelgar led Nephele, Lynne, and two other officers by the names of Nanaba and and Henning, to the top of the tower. A fire had been lit, which Nephele noted would only serve in blinding them to the shadows and the night. Overhead, it was as dark as it was below. If she squinted her eyes enough, she could see titans loping towards the castle. They were only a few yards away from the broken walls, and there were more than she cared to count. Even more were emerging from the forest like the steady trickle of water from a leaky pipe.

The moon, once shy and demure, started to reveal itself. Perhaps it was a stupid, pretty thought, but Nephele couldn't help but think that the true nature of clouds was to eclipse the sun and sky.

Further on, they saw the Beast Titan – massive, monstrous, menacing – as it strode towards the Wall. It seemed oblivious to their presence, but the soldiers knew that it was responsible for the strange sequence of current events. If the Beast Titan was nearby, Zacharius shouldn't be far behind. Hopefully.

"Fucking hell! I never even got to finish that wine," Gelgar practically growled at the titans below as some entered the bailey, their clumsy hands clawing at the tower. One nudged the tower with its shoulder in what seemed to be an attempt to knock it over, causing the building to shake beneath their feet. Stumbling, Nephele grabbed onto the parapet to steady herself and looked down below at the faces that wished to consume her. She saw two smaller titans trying to bust down the door with their brute strength, and turned to Gelgar to ensure that he saw it, too.

"Don't fuck with me!" he roared, drawing his swords and preparing for battle.

"You newbies better stand back," advised Nanaba to the soldiers of the 104th squad. Her turquoise eyes narrowed in on Nephele when she moved to join her comrades. "Except for you, Ambrosia. I saw you fight in the Forest of Giant Trees. You have gear, you can fight with us."

Laughing sullenly, Nephele shook her head in disbelief. "Damn. Guess I'm down on my luck tonight," she muttered forlornly to herself.

"Us four are the lucky ones. Who knew we'd have backup?" Lynne added.

"You got a full tank?" Henning inquired as he drew his own swords. Nodding, Nephele tapped one of the canisters for good luck.

"Yes. Let's get this over with," she muttered. The sound of steel being drawn was music to her ears.

Nephele saw one titan devouring the other when she made the jump. Leaping from the castle tower, they descended upon the giant cannibals like fleas, in arms reach of the eleven meter class groping the air for them. Gelgar sliced off the titan's fingers as its hand came dangerously close, while Nanaba sliced out a chunk of its nape. It collapsed on top of several smaller titans, effectively crushing them. Hopefully, they'd be unable to regenerate. Sure, the five could easily handle such small fry, but that'd be a waste of good steel.

Unfortunately, one titan was only trapped halfway beneath the larger one's evaporating body. It stared up at them hungrily, before Lynne lowered herself from the tower and swung low to the ground, landing on its back to put an end to its life.

Gelgar and Nanaba joined her on the ground while Nephele hung from the tower's wall, observing the area. She looked to Wall Rose and saw the beast titan kneeling at the top, watching them intently from afar. Her eyes narrowed, and for a moment she thought that it was staring directly at her.

"Fuck!" she heard Gelgar shout for the third time that evening, and probably not the last. She looked down to see him and Lynne racing for the top of the tower.

"The door's been busted," Henning informed her after he'd lowered himself down to her level. Groaning, Nephele tilted her head back.

"This is gonna be a pain in the ass," she muttered, taking a few moments to calm her nerves. She was probably going to die. They were all probably going to die. Closing her eyes, she focused on her breathing. In through the nose, out through the mouth. Her hands were swords, her feet wings. "I didn't have a very high teamwork score in training," she admitted. "So I'm going to do what I do best."

When her eyes snapped open, the moon seemed brighter, and it casted faded blue light onto the land. Her blades looked sharper. Pushing off the wall, she used its circular construction to her advantage, swinging around it and giving her cables a bit of slack for more range. Her first kill was a ten meter class, and she released her cables before it could snatch them, using her momentum to fly without the use of her cables. Hands off the gas, letting physics work for her. She sliced through its nape in passing, and while the cut wasn't as deep as she would have preferred from her relying only on inertia, it was good enough. The beast fell to its knees, and Nephele didn't linger long to catch her breath. She moved onto her next target, and then the next, weaving between the smaller titans as she picked them off one by one like they were ripened fruit.

As Nephele was hacking away at the nape of one titan, she was oblivious to the foe behind her. Swinging from the bridge connecting the larger tower to its smaller counterpart, she inspected her blades for any nicks when a shower of hot, bubbling blood rained upon her. She turned her head and watched as the titan about to devour her collapsed in defeat, and her savior rose above it, moonlight glinting off their swords. When they approached her, Nephele recognized them as Mike Zacharius. Her heart seemed to float as it was filled with relief.

Nephele landed on the bridge and Mike followed behind her. Her bad leg ached upon landing, sending a dull throb throughout her entire body.

"I thought you were…" Nephele's voice trailed off, searching aimlessly for another word less permanent than 'death.' With a small smirk of satisfaction, Mike tilted his chin up and looked down at her.

"I'm not that easy to kill," he replied. Of course. It was said that Mike was second in power only to Levi Ackerman, though she couldn't help but wonder how wide the margin between their abilities was.

Sighing in relief, Nephele returned his smile with a nod. "That is fortunate. We could really use an extra pair of swords right now," she admitted. "What happened?"

Mike placed a foot on the bridge's parapet, readying himself for a leap into the air.

"You're in no position to be asking such questions, Ambrosia. And we are in no position to entertain irrelevant discussions. Your task is to annihilate any titan you come across as swiftly, efficiently, and logically as possible. Stay focused and return to your duties. I'm going to report my findings to Gelgar." Sniffing the air, Mike gave her a parting glance and continued with a solemn, "Good luck, soldier," before throwing himself from the bridge and flying towards the crumbling tower. She sent him off with a salute.

His dismissal of her question was to be expected. He was as disciplined and steadfast as his superior, it seemed. With more hope than she had bargained for, Nephele allowed herself a few moments to catch her breath before returning to the fray.

After several grueling hours of fighting, three dulled swords, and with most of the titans felled, Nephele buried her grapples high above the reach of any hungry mouths and took a brief respite with her feet against the wall and her head tilted back towards the sky. The stars were beautiful. A river whose drops were made of stardust flowed through the darkness, shimmering and incandescent. She wondered if the river had a name.

'Levi.' Did astronomers name the stars after those they loved, too?

Henning came to check her status while she was resting.

"I'm fine," she assured, running her hand through her hair. He opened his mouth to reply when they heard a thunderous crash. Turning her head, Nephele saw dust rising from the destroyed stables where the horses were fettered. A large boulder was amidst the wreckage, and Nephele couldn't help but remember the dogs and their caretakers back in Trost. Before she could react, she heard another crash, one that shook her to the bone and came from above. When she looked up, she saw that another boulder had collided with the top of the tower.

"Lynne!" Henning shouted as he flew to the scene. Nephele was close behind, but out of the corner of her eye she saw Lynne's broken body descending with the rest of the rubble. Releasing one grapple, she shot it back into the woman's leg and reeled in, slowly but fast enough to avoid the falling bricks in case she was still alive. When she was dangling a few meters below her, Nephele shouted up at the others.

"I got her! Somebody help me pull her up!"

By the time they managed to hoist Lynne to the safety of the tower's roof, Nephele deduced that she had already died. Henning banged his fists against the stone, struggling to stifle his sobs, while Nanaba and Gelgar assessed the body.

"The boulder came from the direction of the wall," noted Gelgar grimly, trying to contain his inner turmoil with a pained grimace.

"The wall?" Ymir reiterated, trying to make sense of everything.

It was Connie who said what was all on their minds. "It was that beast titan!" he exclaimed, just before his large eyes widened even more. "Woah! A bunch of titans are coming. More than twice there were before!" He pointed in the direction they were approaching, which was the forest from which they emerged last time.

"They chose now to suddenly show up? That can't be a coincidence," Nanaba murmured to Lynne's body. When she looked up, her face was etched with the lines of somber hopelessness. "It's almost like we're being toyed with. Like we have been right from the start."

All their gazes came to rest on the slouched figure on the top of Wall Rose. Suddenly, it raised its fists and howled at the moon with the unsettling voice of a vindictive beast, a sinister concoction somewhere between man and animal.

Gelgar was dead. Nanaba lost a leg when she ran out of gas before being rescued by Nephele and Zacharius, and was slowly bleeding out as she lied motionless on the top of the tower. Soon, their safe haven would be a pile of rubble. The infrastructure was about to collapse, and the titans weren't helping that situation. Whether their destruction of the tower was intentional or not was unclear. Their hands would claw at the bricks in a feeble attempt to climb the tower, loosening and tearing them apart. It distinctly reminded Nephele of a game she used to play as a child, with wooden blocks stacked on top of one another that players removed piece by piece. In the game, whoever knocked the tower over lost. This game had different rules, as the collapse of the building would mean a great feast for the opposing side.

The survivors encircled the outer limits of the tower, watching helplessly as the titans hungry jaws snapped at them from below. Nephele managed to make it to the top before her gas supply went empty, and Zacharius was running on fumes. He'd retrieved a few flares from the saddlebags of the deceased horses before returning to the tower, and shot holes in the night sky every fifteen minutes to signal their presence to whoever may be near. He had been fully prepared to sacrifice his life to eliminate as many titans as he could before his supply depleted entirely, but Nephele had convinced him otherwise.

"Morale is low, and your sacrifice would mean nothing, Zacharius. You are the only veteran here capable of guidance with Nanaba incapacitated. For the sake of those under your command, do not toss away your life with reckless abandon," she'd insisted rather impertinently.

"You don't have a sense of respect, do you? My orders are final. My decisions are my own. You are in no position to question me," he had said.

"With so few minds left to formulate plans that may turn the tides of war, the Survey Corps no longer has the luxury to deafen themselves to the suggestions of others," Nephele persisted. She tapped her heels together and stood before him, her head high, a strong fist over her even stronger heart. "I implore you, sir. Do not abandon us when our lives are at risk."

Bowing his head, Mike ran his hand over his shadowy stubble. He was a stubborn man who didn't falter in the face of adversity, so Nephele fully expected him to agree with her. "You really are quite the persistent and convincing one."

"You say that as if someone has already given you that description," she surmised.

"Cunning, too. I'll do as you suggested, but the moment this tower starts to fall apart, I will not hesitate to take down as many titans as I can with me. I'll protect you all with my last breath."

Unable to improve their current situation, the Scouts huddled around the low burning fire as they awaited their fate. Nephele had plenty of time to prepare herself for Death's cold grip. With Mike sitting beside her trying to sharpen his swords with a piece of stone, she debated on whether she should question him about Levi. It occurred that really she didn't know him at all. She didn't know what kept him up at night, or what kept him going during the day. She didn't know what his parents were like, or if he was passionate about anything other than cleaning and killing titans. She didn't know the names of everyone he'd ever lost, of everyone who'd ever been important to him. She didn't know what made him happy – if anything could.

She didn't know the reason why he fights.

That would be her question for Mike. A person's will to fight is the driving force of humanity's resistance. If she knew why he joined, perhaps she would know Levi just a little more. In her last moments, she'd be able to say that she knew him better than she did yesterday.

With her knees drawn up to her chest and her back to the stone parapet, Nephele looked over at Mike from beneath her lashes. Perhaps that uncanny sense of smell could detect her stare, for he tilted his head in her direction. Without allowing herself time to reconsider her question, Nephele jumped headfirst into the conversation.

"Could you tell me why Levi joined the Scouts?"

Mike realized how futile his attempts were and stopped trying to sharpen his blades. Iron bamboo was the hardest substance known to man, and no rock could ever hope to so much as sully it with a scratch. Looking down at Nephele's barefeet, he considered her question for a moment.

"Why are you asking?" he inquired with suspicion.

Apprehensive of what Mike's response to her explanation would be, Nephele treaded carefully this time, while still remaining faithful to the truth. There was no turning back now. "I just want to know what kind of person he is. I thought that knowing why he decided to join a faction that many would consider a lost cause would give me insight on who he truly is."

Exhaling at her response, Mike said, "Alright. Just don't run off and tell him I told you all this unless he asks. It's not like he'd particularly care whether or not you knew the truth, but it's something he wouldn't be comfortable with talking about openly."

Nephele managed a small smile at Mike's assured stance on their predicament. She aspired to be as sanguine as Mike and many of the other senior officers of the Survey Corps. After witnessing and overcoming so many horrifying tribulations, many of them must have learned that pessimism only hindered their abilities, and thus their chances of survival.

"I understand. If – When we live, I hope he'll tell me himself one day," she murmured softly. If there was anything to be hopeful for, it was getting to know him.

Mike gave her a reassuring pat on the back, his hand lingering on her shoulder for a few moments before returning to his lap. "At the rate you're heading, I'm sure he will." Though Nephele was curious as to what he meant by that, she didn't want to divert the topic to something else. This was more important. She had all the time in the world to figure out the rest. "Anyway, Levi didn't exactly join the Scouts of his own volition. He was a criminal of the underground, and when Commander Erwin detained him, he gave him two options: join the Survey Corps, or be handed over to the Military Police. I was part of the team that apprehended Levi and his accomplices. Their names were Isabel Magnolia and Farlan Church."

'Were.' The way Mike referred to them in past-tense contotated that Levi's old friends were dead. 'Their names are Isabel and Farlan. They still have names,' she thought to herself, her own musings whispers in her conscience. She wondered what kind of people they were, and how they came to know Levi, and what the memories they shared. She wondered so many things, and it was torture to know that she'd never have all the answers. Hanging on to every word that Mike said, Nephele said nothing. Her eyes stayed on his face, watching, looking for the emotions attributed to a narrative weaved by himself but whose characters were his own comrades. The pause he gave after uttering their names spoke for itself. If there was one thing Nephele was certain of, it was that this story wouldn't have a happy ending. Like all fruit grown in the blood-soaked soil of this world, it would be bittersweet.

Trying to picture Levi going about everyday life in the Underground proved difficult. While she had never visited the slums of the Capital, she knew that it was a notoriously revolting and destitute oasis for crime. That must be where he got his obsession with cleanliness. Being surrounded by filth your entire life would either give a person either an aversion or a penchant for it. 'Rather than accept his current situation and fester in it, Levi scours it clean until nothing is left. Even now, I am starting to understand him a little better,' reflected Nephele.

"Commander Erwin – who, at the time, was just a squad leader – had recently proposed the long distance scouting formation. It's the one we currently use today, to minimize casualties by avoiding titans instead of confronting every one we find. A few months before Levi, Isabel, and Farlan joined, the Survey Corps was in danger of being defunded due to our high casualty and low success rates. A man by the name of Nicholas Lobov appealed to the Parliament to defund our expeditions, with the intention of giving those funds to the Military Police. Commander Erwin found a way to convince Lobov to reconsider, and after achieving this political success, he needed to strengthen it with success on the field now that he planned on implementing his new strategy. To ensure this, he required strength. Rumors were circulating about a trio of thieves living Underground who somehow managed to get their hands on 3DMG, and were able to use it with extreme efficiency. Erwin had his sights on them, and after watching their feats he made his move. It was one of the most exciting missions of my career," he admitted with a small smirk of nostalgia. Looking at Nephele, he didn't seem to mind that she let him continue speaking without interruption. In fact, his expression suggested that he appreciated it.

"When they were inducted into our ranks, many of our members disagreed with Commander Shadis's decision in recruiting them. Their doubts weren't completely unfounded, though. Levi and his comrades were notorious criminals, after all, without previous military experience in comparison to the grueling training that the rest of us endured. If I hadn't seen their skills first-hand underground, I might have been a bit apprehensive about their recruitment. Even then, without any experience on the field, Levi's abilities were above some of our most distinguished veterans. His talent is unprecedented.

"The new formation was implemented during Levi's first expedition beyond the Walls. I wasn't around for Levi's first kill, but from what I've heard from Flagon, he managed to fell a ten meter deviant with the assistance of his friends. Their teamwork was flawless, which is really something considering how much of a poor sport Levi is. The expedition spanned two days and one night. The beginning of the second day was when we implemented the formation and for the first few hours we suffered no casualties, which was something almost completely unheard of before then." Nephele watched Mike's jaw as it clenched in anger, saw his nostrils flare and eyebrows knit together. "Then it started raining. It was a downpour unlike any I've ever seen. Visibility drastically reduced to what was right in front of us, rendering our smoke flares useless. We couldn't even hear what the person next to us was saying above the sound of falling rain. Before long, the formation broke."

Mike stopped to check his watch, looking at his wrist to decipher the inscriptions on the small dial, the translations of time in a measure easily comprehensible by humans. He reached into the saddlebag beside him and retrieved another flare gun. Finger on the trigger, he covered one ear with his free hand and pressed his other into the arm he was raising towards the sky. Nephele covered both of her own ears to brace herself for the deafening 'BANG!' that it shouted, watching as a ribbon of black wavered in front of a slowly-fading violet backdrop. "Damn, that was the last one."

"The Scouts excel at long distance travel. Your horses are trained to run for extended periods of time, and day is almost upon us. Reinforcements are on their way," promised Nephele. Yes, they were on their way. It was only a matter of if they were heading in the right direction.

"Hopefully they get here in time," Zacharius prayed to himself. With a sigh, he continued his narrative.

"Perhaps I should have explained this sooner, but Levi, Farlan, and Isabel were under orders by Nicholas Lobov to recover a document from Erwin Smith. Taking advantage of the poor conditions, Levi went ahead of his squad and sought out Erwin in the center column, where I was also stationed. After coming across the second column, third row, he was met with a gruesome scene. The entire squadron had been obliterated by a group of titans. Levi turned back towards his teammates, but by the time he arrived it was too late." Mike tossed the empty flare gun behind him, surrendering it to the darkness and the titans below. He didn't provide any further details on what exactly transpired beneath those clouds. Somewhere, under that same sky – during that very moment – Nephele might have been tending her garden, or fixing her hair, or wandering through the forest. While such carnage and torture was being inflicted upon the loved ones of someone she cared deeply about, Nephele was ignorantly going about her daily routine without a single worthwhile care. Pinching the bridge of her nose between thumb and forefinger, she tried to suppress the sudden throbbing that made her thoughts even more painful to conjure.

"Erwin, myself, and the rest of our team saw steam rising from a significant number of fallen titans. All of our assumptions were that it was Levi's doing. When we arrived, we saw him amidst the carnage. Isabel's head was –" Grinding his teeth, Mike shook his own head as if to remind himself that it was still on his shoulders. He forced himself to continue. Mike Zacharius didn't strike Nephele as the kind of person to be particularly open about such sensitive topics, especially ones that were unrelated to himself. Yet here he sat, telling her things that she probably shouldn't know, weaving words that were soft compared to the ones he must be thinking in his head. If those were Isabel Magnolia's final moments of her fleeting existence, then she deserved an unadulterated explanation of what truly happened. "He was kneeling next to her head. When he saw Erwin, he attacked him immediately, tackling him off his horse. I rushed to his aid, but…"

'He must be scary when he's so distraught, to frighten Mike to the point of not even wanting to admit it,' Nephele thought to herself.

"Levi revealed his true intentions, and Erwin revealed his own. Erwin knew that the three were planning to steal the documents regarding Lobov's embezzlement of the funds that were supposed to be used for all the expeditions he had a hand in suspending, and used their connection to Lobov to throw him off Erwin's trail as he gathered evidence against him. Erwin explained that the documents incriminating Lobov were already in the hands of Commander Zacklay. Levi was furious, believing that his friends died in vain. He swung his sword to lop off Erwin's head, and I ran forward to stop him, but Erwin grabbed the blade with his hand as if it were a stick. He told him who the real enemies were. It was the titans who killed Levi's friends. It's always them."

"It stopped raining," he continued, providing that small detail for some inexplicable reason. It was an important detail, yet so frivolous as well. Nephele's nails clawed at the stone beneath her, shredding themselves. Once the Heavens had subjugated those who only wished for a glimpse of the lands beneath them, they didn't even bother to wash away the blood. It was an egregious insult to humankind, yet it was nothing at all. It was just bad weather.

A forced smile found its way on Mike's thin lips. "I remember the words Erwin said to him, word for word. 'If you begin to regret, you'll dull your future decisions, and let others make your decisions for you,' and 'Each decision you make holds meaning only by affecting your next decision.' Those are words I still live by today."

Nephele couldn't help but think of the conversation she had with Erwin when she first joined. Her hand rose to the necklace tucked safely behind her shirt, the metallic pendant a constant reminder of everyone who has ever died for the sake of the human race.

"Captain Ackerman isn't like me at all."

"No, but he has made certain decisions in his past that have shaped the man he is today."

Were these the decisions Commander Erwin had in mind when he told her that?

"Thank you, Captain," she murmured, finally looking to the sky. Together, with the rest of her comrades, they watched the sun peek out from between two colossal mountains, larger than any titan, natural structures of stone that would continue to stand long after this war finally concludes. Its infectious light intermingled with the land and sky, an inexorable force yet one that was a welcome sight. Violet faded to lavender, and lavender to livid, and everything the sun's rays touched was golden. The clouds above were fluffy and pink, the kind that reminded Nephele of strawberry sheep.

"Don't. It's a new day, let's start it off on a clean slate," he muttered, becoming the callous superior once again.

'I understand. I won't regret my choices.'