The Bloom Titan (1/2)

CH.56: Tranquillity

I kick a piece of rock against the wall as the next round of boulders come flying for us. Commander Erwin never answered Levi's question and I don't think he's planning to.

The wall shudders again and something is laying on top of it. Eren.

"Hey... Is that Eren?" Levi stammers. I gape up at my half-brothers Titan that was sprawled out on the wall. "He got himself flung on top of the wall? By him..."

Bertholdt had thrown him up there?! He's not moving an inch. Is he dead? Does that mean the others are alive?

The houses are almost flattened behind us, and it's only a matter of time until we all die.

"The Beast Titan has a good idea on where we are. This place will look like honeycomb soon. Erwin. If you're saying we've got no chance to counterattack, let's get ready to flee. We'll wake Eren sprawled out up there and ask Ezlyn to transform. Ride them and flee with a many people as possible. At least we'll have some survivors." Levi says to Erwin.

"Hey, the horse got away! That was your job!" Marlo shouts at Floch.

"Shut up! Like it matters!" Floch retorts, tears streaming down his face.

"Excuse me?!" Marlo scoffs tugging at his arm.

"Those Corpsmen were insanely strong and they died in an instant! You know as well as I do! What good is protecting horses... when there's nobody left to ride them home?!" Marlos eyes widened and he lets go of Floch. "It all made sense at one point... If humanity just hid behind the walls, we'd someday get slaughtered by Titans out of nowhere. Somebody has to bite the bullet and risk taking action. In order for others to not become victims, we needed people to become the victims themselves. Who will be that brave soldier? When I was asked that, I actually believed I could be that someone!"

"But, I never thought... that being sent to my death... would turn out to be so utterly meaningless in the end! Now that I think about it, I bet almost everyone ends up saying the same thing as me. Why did I ever think that I'd... somehow be different?" Floch finishes. I feel little sympathy for him and turn to Levi and Erwin.

"What if whoever's left of the recruits and Hanji's group scatter on horses... and try make it home? By using them as a decoy, you guys could escape on Eren." Levi says, looking at Erwin intently.

"Levi, Ezlyn, what would you do?" He asks.

"We'll be facing the Beast Titan, of course. Levi could escape on me when we finish him. We'll draw him away-"

"Impossible." Erwin cuts me off. "You won't even get close."

"Probably not. But if you and Eren return home alive, there's still hope as you'll have one Titanshifter. Isn't that the best we can ask for at this point? What a huge defeat..." Levi looks over his shoulder and turns round fifteen degrees. "To be perfectl honest, I doubt a single one of us is making it back alive."

"Yes, assuming we had no way to counterattack." Erwin reply's. I feel my eyes light up.

"Is there a way?" I ask quickly, looking up at the commander with hope.

"Yes." He answers. I suddenly feel relieved.

"Why didn't you say that sooner? Why'd you keep your shitty mouth shut?" Levi growls, turning to face him again.

"if this plan goes well, you two may be able to take down the Beast Titan. But it will take the recruits... and myself to give our lives." Once again, my heart drops. My new squads lives will have to be taken away?

Anoher round of boulders come flying over head and most of the recruits scream and cry for help.

"It's like you said. Either way, most of us will die at the hands of the Beast Titan. No, it's almost guaranteed we'll all be wiped out." Erwin starts walking away and sits down on a crate near a house that hasn't been torn down by boulders yet.

"In which case, we can stake our heroic deaths on a slim chance of victory. For this to work... To ask these young ones to die, it would take an expert con man and a whole slew of lies. If I do not lead the vanguard, none of them will follow. And I will die before anyone else. Without ever learning what's in the basement..."

"Huh?" Levi stutters. I look into his eyes and see disbelief and pain in them. Erwin sighs and looks down at the ground. He looks sad.

"I... I want to go to the basement. 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 always, the dream I shared with my father would flash through my mind. And now, I'm close enough to the answers to reach out and grab them. They're right there..."

"But, you two... can you see them? Our comrades are looking at us. They want to know what became of the hearts they gave." Erwin sighs. I could feel the presence of my fallen comrades around me. Petra, Olou, Eld, Gunther, Marco... I could feel them.

"Or is it all in my head? A childish delusion." Erwin stares at the ground. Levi takes a deep beath and gets on one knee in front of him. Bowing his head.

"You've fought well. It's all thanks to you that we've come this far. I'm making the choice." Levi looks up at the commander. "Give up on your dreams and die. Lead the recruits straight into hell. We will take down the Beast Titan." I gawk at his choice of words but it lights something in the commander.

He looks shocked at first but he then seems to think about it. And a gentle smile is displayed on his face. A grateful smile.