A Promise (An Attack on Titan Fanfic: Erwin Smith)

Wishes of a Soldier

The following weeks passed by like a blur as the Survey Corps was busy with preparing the necessities and training their new recruits for their 57th expedition beyond the walls, which was just going to be a run-through to see if they could get Eren to Shiganshina district without any issues.

Isanna rode through the grassy turf, swirls of dust trailing behind Fish's hooves while the rush of the wind slapped her face and blew her tied-up hair behind her; she was heading to the castle ruins where the recruits and squad Levi had been occupying for the past weeks because she had been tasked to discuss with Levi about the position of his squad in the formation, as well as them acting as bait.

When she could see the outline of the castle ruins getting larger into her view, she pulled her reigns to a slow trot while her ride released a brief snort at the action. She scanned the area and saw the familiar faces of squad Levi cleaning the grass yard of the place, including Eren, and based on the accumulation of sweat and the sheer sign of exhaustion in their faces, Isanna made a guess that they had been cleaning the place for a while now; she felt bad since it was a particularly sunny day.

Her arrival caused the soldiers to snap their heads to her direction as Isanna directed her horse closer towards them. They promptly stopped whatever they were doing and thumped their fists against their chests after turning to her.

"Hey, hey, hey, squad Levi," Isanna greeted with a smile and a curt nod, "guess the gremlin's not going easy on you?"

The soldiers weren't sure how to react to that (Levi would have their asses if he heard them laugh at Isanna's nickname for him), so they all just nervously chuckled.

Isanna finally unmounted off her saddles and gestured for Petra to tie it up in the stables for her. "You guys are too stiff. Loosen up a li'l," she said with a chuckle before giving her attention to Eren, "is Levi treating you bad, Eren?"

The teenage boy flinched at the call of his name and vigorously shook his head. "Not at all, Sergeant. The Captain's been treating me well.."

"How much did he pay you to say that?"

Eren didn't want for Isanna to take it the wrong way; because aside from being monotonous, impassive, the occasional offensive language he would mutter, and his insane cleaning standards, Levi was actually a decent squad captain. "H—he didn't pay me, Sergeant."

Isanna pretended she wasn't convinced and brought her face closer to Eren's, who was startled at the close proximity and hesitantly leaned away. First, the Commander, now, the Sergeant Major? What was with these two and invading his personal space?

Grinning, Isanna threw her head back with a laugh. "Chill, Eren. No need to be so formal around me." She then playfully slapped his back. She thought it was playful, but for Eren, it wasn't; he had to refrain from hacking up coughs because of her strength.

"Well, if Levi ever treats you badly, you know where to find me," she stated with a wink at him before she turned to the rest of the squad and placed her hands on her hips, "speaking of Levi, where is he? I came here to see him."

Eld gestured over to one of the castle towers. "He's in his quarters in the third floor, Sergeant. I can take you there."

With a wave of her hand, Isanna shook her head and stalked away from the small group. "I can manage. Continue on with your yard cleaning." She heard a chorus of 'yes ma'am' in reply as she headed to the entrance of the towers.

As far as Isanna knew, the place had been home to dust, spiderwebs, and moss after years of not being in use, but Levi really went all-out in cleaning up the place because it was now comparable to their headquarters. She internally facepalmed for not asking Eld what room Levi was in since she had to knock and open all the doors she could find in the third floor. Getting tired of knocking, she soon decided to just swing the doors open instead to save her the time, and just her luck, she finally reached her destination.