COMRADES • Eren Jaeger

CHAPTER 25: Homecoming

YOU COULD FEEL the heat of the sun beating down on your back. The leather reins rubbed soon-to-be blisters between your fingers — you knew you should have worn a pair of gloves. At the very least, the wind was pleasantly cool as it whipped through your hair, preventing any sweat that threatened to drip from your temples from appearing.

The chestnut mare underneath you on was still active, whinnying and exhaling as if eager to continue riding. You weren't surprised. The horses of the Survey Corps were specially bred for top speed in order to go in and out the Walls.

You shifted your weight to your outside hip and dug your heel into the mare's right side, and she picked up the lead in perfect rhythm, tucking her head in and bounding along the land with the rest of the Scouting formation as you sped in the direction towards the Walls.

Fastened around your shoulders was a green cloak, the blue-and-white wings of freedom proudly flapping behind your back. Had you accepted to don their special vertical maneuvering gear, you would have looked exactly like the rest of those around you — proud soldiers of Paradis, ready to devote your hearts on everything you could.

Only, the cloak you wore was not the one you brought from Marley.

Riding beside you was Eren. On your left, Mikasa and Armin. In front of you, Commander Hange and Captain Levi. A few yards behind were Sasha, Jean, and Connie. Around the squad, a few other soldiers were shouting orders at one another. All of whom were riding back to the Walls with resolution painted on their faces, either eager to go home or cautious to leave the rest of the world behind. And there you were, in the middle of it all.

You turned your head to look at Eren, who had kicked his horse into a steady gallop so that you and him were riding together at the same speed. It was a small act, but you were grateful. You were certain that if by some unfortunate event you were caught slipping off your horse, Eren's strong arms would catch you in an instant.

These people aren't that bad, you guessed.

You thought back to what happened before you left the camp.

You had been double-checking your belongings before leaving the tent. It was time for a few members of the Survey Corps — Squad Levi, most especially — to return to the Walls and report their recent findings to the government and to the people. You were a little bit nervous. It would be your first reappearance back in the Walls in over a year, and you didn't know what to do expect.

While a few of the others were standing outside your tent, waiting for the final preparations to be made, you briefly heard them chit-chatting as you packed your belongings. There wasn't much you owned. A few clothes, a pair of worn-out flats, a medical kit you snagged from the hospital. On accident, you turned the suitcase upside down and the sketchbook Zeke had given you fell out.

The book fell open to a page with the face of a girl with hooded eyes and a hooked nose and you shut it immediately because the guilt of bringing Annie Leonhart's face to life in a page a few flips away from that of Petra Rall's was gnawing at you. You didn't know why you still bothered thinking about Annie when she was obviously affiliated with the Warrior Unit.

"The wagons are full of supplies, Captain," you heard one cadet say to another soldier, most probably to Levi.

If he was waiting outside your tent, the rest of his squad were surely going to follow. It made sense, because Hange had ordered for them specifically to be responsible for you the same way you had been responsible for them the past few weeks.

"Yes, sir, they're all full of the technology we took from the Survey ship," a second cadet added. "I'm afraid there's no space left for anyone to ride it unless they want to sit on top of the machines."