Snow.
Snow was falling.
White as a heron's feather.
It was falling, ever so gracefully.
As if, the snowflakes, we're going by a sympathy of sinful angels.
A fog of breath evaporated into the cold weather. Along with the soft sounds of clanks of a captain's maneuver gear into the negative space. The negative space of the Survey Corps Headquarters territory.
Levi, who stood in this blistering cold, looked up at the white sky with his forest-green hood over his black-haired head.
He thought aloud to his lonesome self, "... It's been two-days." He looked down now, at the grass spades that poked from the thick, white snow. "... Erwin should be here by now."
Suddenly, a crackling scream of excitement broke the captain's train of thought. Leaving a stain of irritation on his patience.
"Whaaaaaaa!~" Cooed a brunette in awe of the falling ice, giggling as they melted against her tongue. "Ah!~ So cold, so wonderful!" As she spun around, a wrapped up object fell into the snow.
The loud crunch of thick snow caught Captain Levi's ear, making him glance over.
"Shoot!" The woman panicked, digging through the snow in utter desperation.
Finally, with red and blistering finger tips from the cold ice, the girl smiled widely and began to drool at the sight of her object.
"Oh, oh thank god! I thought I lost you!"
"... What the Hell...?" Levi uttered, squinting his eyes at the scene.
With a thrill, this girl started to unravel the cloth that hid the object's image.
"No way..." Levi blinked, about to snap. "A-A-..."
"POTATO!!" Of course, it's no other than Sasha Braus; she bragged in complete bliss, drooling over the piping hot vegetable.
Ackerman clenched the blades by his sides.
Then, one-by-one, more and more characters appeared in the winter's air.
Of course, against Levi's orders.
But, then again, Eren is pretty easy to read nowadays. So, for them to find out so quickly isn't a shock.
Krista beamingly glimpse at the beautiful snowflakes, hugging onto Ymir's slender arm. Ymir looked up, simply smiling as her "good friend" basked in the glory of snow.
"ACHOO!" A loud sneeze erupted from the doorway. "T-too, cold...!" Stuttered a blonde boy who's hair bowled over his head.
Armin Arlert.
"Armin, tissue." A soft yet cold voice stated, holding a rough piece of paper between pale and polished finger tips and nails.
Mikasa Ackerman.
"A-Ah, thank you, Mikasa!" Armin exclaimed, blowing his button nose into the cloth.
More voices of rambunctious characters appeared.
"Damn it, Sasha! We told you to wait up!" Connie Springer boasted, running up to his female companion with red streaks across his face from the cold.
Sasha waved her hand in a "shoo", only wanting to feast on a rather large potato.
A vein popped on the side of Levi's temple.
"Anybody else have the guts to fucking break my commands?!" Levi exclaimed, making everybody jump in startle.
As he sighed in relief, having everybody under control. "Finally, so--"
"YOU DAMN HORSE FACE!"
"FUCKING MONSTER SHIT!"
Jean and Eren are suddenly found tumbling out into the snow.
Some scouts hid their laughs and giggles, but Levi stood there, watching like the short hawk he was.
"FOR THE LAST TIME," Shouted Jean Kirstein, clenching Eren's shirt, "I DIDN'T STEAL YOUR DAMN UNDERPANTS!"
"DAMN LIAR," Eren hissed back, glaring deep within Jean's eyes with a raging green.
Before the two troublemakers knew it, they found themselves having both of their forehead being bashed into one another and falling against the floor.
Culprit: Levi.
"Now listen here brat, horse-face; I'm in no damn mood for your fighting." Levi's eyes glowed in a piercing glare. For a 34 year-old man with a height of 160 cm, he was quite the horror. Because of this, Eren and Jean weren't only shaking because of the cold.
"Get the Hell up, we got a new recruit."
Immediately after the order was given, Jean and Eren hopped to their feet with beads of sweat on their frozen red cheeks.
"Sir!" The two men held back their glares of hatred and followed orders of their captain.
Levi gradually turned around, facing the forest that was overwhelmingly thickened with snow.
"Now, where is he?" Levi whispered a fog into the air, awaiting a returned visit from his commander... And a new addition to his own Titan-shifter collection.
~
"TROOPS! YOU BETTER FIND THAT LITTLE RUNT!" Erwin hollered to his crew upon a bullet-fast horse.
"Shit, this is bad! Bad! First we lose a horse, then we lose a damn hybrid?!" He clenched at his jaw, his thick and full brown eyebrows furrowing down in rage and frustration.
"I might as well--?!" He stopped immediately, seeing a figure emerge from the dark oak that created this forest.
Female, rather tall, and had shaggy dark-brown hair.
".... Leo." Erwin called out to the young twenty-year-old, having a calm, stern tone to her. "Come back. We promise, we won't hurt you or anybody else close to you."
Leo Croft, a newly identified Titan-shifter shuffled her bare feet in the snow, turning to face Smith.
"Erwin,"
Erwin's eyes lit up.
Leo continued, "take your eyebrows and shove it up your gaping ass hole." Leo's body was turned away from him, of course, and her hand raised in an offensive gesture. "My middle finger salutes you."
Erwin was utterly taken back by this, even his horse whistled and neighed at the insult.
Smith glared towards the female's direction. She was just looking up at the sky, having her hair scattered across her face.
Of course, Erwin only assumed so, since her back was turned to him.
Yet, she looked like she belonged in the winter; cold attitude, and a harsh punch.
Trust me, he knows.
"Croft, now!" Erwin demanded, now louder, making an echo throughout the forest.
Leo took a moment, turned to fully face Erwin, whom was about a few yards away, and looked straight into his round blue eyes.
Dessert gold; her eyes were as bright and fiery as the desserts drawn into aged maps of the world. The dark hair that surrounded her eyes even made them brighter and even more fierce then they already were.
She had thick eyelashes, fair skin, thick and luxurious hair, Erwin almost felt sorry for the young woman. For a woman her age, shouldn't be going through all this military and scary stuff. Some, even unholy. But, they're at a time where things aren't quite normal. Where woman her age would be happily married, are actually getting eaten by a giant cannibal out out of nowhere.
Yet, she was standing bare-foot in the snow with no knowledge on what she did in her Titan form.
Even her background was brutal. It left a hole of pity inside Smith's heart.
"Fine, fine, you old man! I'll go back. I can't feel my feet anyways." She grumbled in a disgusted matter, hissing almost, to her upper-ranked commander.
Erwin felt oddly proud of his accomplishment on recovering this strange girl and getting her to actually follow an order.
In her case, she's going to have to.
"... I'm sorry." Smith said, feeling Leo aboard his horse behind him.
"... For what?" She hesitated in asking, looking down upon her blistering red feet that were scarred by the harsh winter snow.
It stung unbearably, cry worthy, even.
"I'm sorry for you; for your life." Erwin struck the reigns to his steed and they took off in a fast gallop.
Leo sighed, looked back up at the big-ass trees, and scratched at the shackles around her blistering wrists. She let her legs dangle childishly from the back of the horse as it galloped.
"Awe, aren't you sweet." She replied in an honest tone, seeing a crack in her ankle break and bleed.
Drip. Drop. Drip.
With a sigh through his nostrils, Erwin cracked a smile.
"Damn, aren't you going to be a favorite." He almost chuckled as they neared the old home-fashioned building of the Survey Corps.
