Humanity's Lovers.

Humanity's Lovers; A Final Message 《Chapter Seven》

The formerly blue sky had been almost completely erased, a dull grey sky with thin clouds spread across it replaced it. The grass was dry and uncomfortable, almost prickly to touch and the dirt underneath it became more and more noticable as it thinned. 

Levi walked back towards where Eren had previously sat. He trudged through the brittle light green bushes, leaving Commander Hange's body where it had previously laid.
He placed himself next to Eren, who still hadn't stopped releasing hard sobs coming directly from his stomach.

"Eren, you need to compose yourself." Levi said coldly, looking at Eren's rose painted face as he gasped for breath.

"I'm sorry, C-Captain-" He blubbered, wiping the tears that poured down his rosy cheeks and looked up towards him.

"We need to talk about what Hange had said to you. Did she tell you who was here?"

"All she said was that they were here for me, and that I needed to leave." Eren said, his heart rate slowly climbing down from what it was.

The Cadets that had been inspecting the bodies just moments before crowded around the two of them. None of them knew exactly what was going on between them, but they had a general idea. Some of them had lost respect for Levi being with a subordinate, others lacking it because of who said subordinate was.

"Captain!" Sasha interjected, "We've Identified the other two bodies in there, and we're confirmed multiple bloody footprints in the area to not just belong to Commander Hange."

Levi pondered for a moment, considering his options.

"Jeager, are you well put enough together to lead a group?" Levi questioned, looking towards his lover. He didn't express his concerns, but he was more than worried for Eren.

"Yes, Sir." Eren said dutifully, looking him the eyes.

"That settles it. I want four groups following the different foot prints. Eren, Sasha, and Mike will lead three of them; I'll take the last group. I want the horses tied up far from the previous campground, and someone to stay with them." Levi sat up, walking away from Eren and towards the Cadets.

The Cadets assigned themselves to groups, and took off as a few people stayed behind to guard the horses.
Eren's group took the foot prints that lead to the left, as Sasha and Mike's group decided to investigate around the cottage. Levi took his Cadets to the right, following the foot prints that lead near a river. The steps had a much different shape; The sole of the foot was much thicker than the ones presumed to be Hange's, as well as slightly longer.

They followed down the stream of the river, enjoying the cool breeze that had headed towards them. Small pink petaled flowers lined the river, along side dark green moss overhanging small grey and brown stones.

"Captain!" Jean called out, pointing near a large rock with a strange shadow behind it, "I think that's a person over there!"

The Cadets cautiously walked towards the shadowed figure, approaching it slowly. Sat underneath the shadow of a dusted brown rock was Conny Springer, bleeding from multiple holes from all over his body but still hesitantly breathing.

"Captain.." Jean muttered, looking at Levi with terror.

Levi rushed to assist Conny, inspecting his wounds before deeming that he wasn't at risk of death yet. He looked over the small holes poked throughout his body, seemingly obvious that it was some sort of disgusting torture method.

"Conny, you need to tell us what happened." Levi said with urgency, dismay painted on his face as his eyes sunk with exhaustion. He hadn't slept for days, which wasn't unusual for him but this time around it was pushing him to the brink.

"They raided us, Captain.." Conny said, gasping for air as he choked out green foreign puss like substances.

"Who was it, Conny?" Jean sat down beside him and Levi, reaching out to comfort and hold his battered hands.

"All I saw was Annie and some strange other men. Everyone else should be dea-" His sentence interrupted by a spasms of coughs, then dry heaving dark yellow stomach acid onto the grayish brown pebbles. Both Jean and Levi extended their hand to place on his back, a small sign of comfort for him.

"Where did the rest of the Cadets go?"

"They took Mikasa and a couple others somewhere," Conny let out a short giggle, quickly cutting it off with a gag. "Funny thing is, they had to constrain her; Ended up killin' a couple of the bastards. I don't think all of them were the same as Annie."

"Do you know where the rest of them are?" Levi questioned.

"Either dead, or constrained. The ones that were in that damn cottage with me are more than dead." His sentence interrupted by a thought, "That reminds me, is Armin still here? If anyone could explain its him."

Silence weighed down on the Cadets shoulders, quickly answering his question. Nobody wanted to accept that he was truly gone, the optimistic young man had held a torch under the less than hopeful Cadets. Without him, most of them wouldn't be alive.

"There's something you should know, Captain." Conny said, pretending he hadn't heard that Armin was gone; "Before Hange escaped, she told me to give you this."

He took a small leather brown book from the right breast pocket on his jacket, and handed it to Levi.
He opened it, greeted with different notes from Hange. Levi breezed through the handwritten words, noticing nothing out of ordinary until he saw the last page.

It had only fragments of sentences on it, written it what could only be assumed as blood traced onto it with her fingers. Tears littered the paper, smudging certain letters that she didn't have the time to rewrite. Levi read the few sentences she left with dread painted across his face, his pupils dilated as the Cadets crowded him.

We came to find land that had been specifically used by titans so we could eradicate them. Annie, Reiner, more- Here for Him.

Levi read the words alongside the rest of the Cadets, horrified. It was obvious that it was her last message to the world, warning them of the days to come.

Levi closed the book and sat up, facing the Cadets as he prepared his new orders. His eyebags had sunk even farther into his face, illuminating them as the main point.

"We're heading back to the cottage. The footprints were obviously Conny's, nothing more to investigate.  Jean, you'll be carrying Conny. The rest of you head back normally." Levi commanded, greeted with a unified "Yes, Sir!"

Levi turned around headed down the stream they had formerly walked against. He had always had an admiration for flowers, the thought of Eren popped into his head every time he saw one. He reached into a small pocket on the right side of his chest, pulling out a slightly dried purple petaled flower that Eren insisted he kept. A slight smile formed in the corners of his mouth, quickly brushed off with thoughts of Hange and the mission at hand.

They approached the cottage as dark neared, setting down a small area for the few Cadet's that had been placed in Levi's group to rest. The cottage doors had been tightly shut, the smells of rotting flesh and melting skin became too much for their stomachs to handle.

As the Cadet's neared a light sleep, Levi sat up beneath a tall shaded tree.
Next to him was the bush Eren had previously been sobbing next to, a small yet off-putting reminder of his lover. He sat there wondering what would come of the next few days, worried if Reiner, Annie, and whoever else had come already got to Eren. His main priority retreated back to what it originally was; Protect Eren.