Shorter Than Me

26 Levi

For the next week, everyone practices rigorously. Hanji is the only one who insists on calling her titan-capturing machines the "Genius Machine for Aid in Capturing Titans." No one else calls it that, just "Hanji's contraptions" or "Hanji's machine things." There's a lot of uncertainty as to whether they will work.

Everyone knows this expedition is more dangerous than any we've gone on in a long time. Many people will die. Good people. Unnecessary people. Young people. Old people.

I don't know how many of the newest recruits will die. Probably most of them. Maybe even Guiin will die. I don't think so, but there's always that chance. The girl she trained, Elles, might die. She was in the top ten trainees and was also trained by Guiin, so she might have more of a chance than the other new recruits. But maybe fate hates her. Maybe fate hates every human.

There are three parts to the expedition. Number one is actually getting a titan into custody. There's a lot of reliance on Jaeger for at least one of the titans. Once we've captured three titans, or any at all, we would have to make it to a specific place at the Wall. Then they're going to haul them over it. Hanji designed her machines to be able to go over the Wall. So she says. Then we all have to either follow them up the wall or go back through the gate, depending on the circumstances.

I read in the manga that they have some kind of elevator device thing so they can get horses and stuff over the Wall. That's what they'd use if they end up going over the Wall.

The Scouting Legion has a depressed blanket covering it every time we're about to go on an expedition. I can feel it now. Meals are quieter, laughs are less frequent, expressions are downcast. The mood is making people more depressed, which is dampening the mood even more. Only a few of us are excited to go on the expedition, like Hanji. Some others aren't as nervous, but they know good people will die. One of the newest recruits almost broke down yesterday while training. Her cable lost its grip on a tree because she didn't aim it right, and her squad leader yelled at her, telling her that her aim could mean life or death. She'd better learn to aim before the expedition.

All the Scouts are also very tense. There have been more than a few fights. This is why the time in between expeditions is the best. Nothing is happening. Anger and fear right before, people dying during, sadness for the dead after, then nothing. Then it starts again. With new people who aren't nearly as afraid as they should be. Then they die.

Some Scouts live long enough to see the cycle. They learn how not to get attached to the younger ones because they know they'll either die or become one of us. There's a divide between the veterans and the newbies. But Commander Erwin talks to the younger Scouts. He gets to know them, and I think he makes it so he takes it personally when they die. If they die. That's what makes him a good leader; he unites everyone. That's why I wouldn't want to be Commander. I could try to be a good Commander, but I'd fail, becoming literally and figuratively in Commander Edwin's shadow.

I found out why Levi never has anything for me to write about unless it's a memory. He doesn't talk to anyone. That took me too many chapters to figure out. Anyway, here is the beginning of the next chapter. I hope you like it.

~Syre Fayne