make it back to me (Levi Ackerman)

quatre vingt deux

Norie looks at Erwin as the rocks flew beside them hitting the wall making the scouts scream in fear.

"We're all doomed!"

She blocks out their yells and Levi spoke out "Erwin, do you have some sort of plan?"

She looks back at Erwin as he stood their.

"Anything? Just say so and I will step in Erwin"Norie says.

They heard a loud rumble on top of them and they look up and Norie's breath hitched.

"Is that Eren?"

"Eren!"Norie yelled

"He got himself flung on top of the wall?"Levi says.

"Shouldn't he be getting up by now?"Norie asks.

"He'll get up"Erwin says.

The pieces of boulder hit the houses behind them making them look behind and Erwin says "the Beast Titan has a good guess where we're at"

"Or it's just luck"norie says.

"This place will look like a honeycomb soon"

"Erwin, If you're saying we've got no chance to counterattack, let's get ready to flee. Wake sprawled Eren up there, ride on him and flee with as many people as possible"Levi explained.

"At least we'll have some survivors"

"Hey! The horse got away! You had one job!"

They turned to see two scouts fighting but the one on the floor seemed unfazed as he said "shut up, like it matters!"

"Excuse me?!"

"Those Scouts were insanely strong and they died in an instant! You know as well as I do! What good is it protecting these horses...when their is nobody left to ride then home?!"

Everyone stared at him as he gripped his head and said "it all made sense at one point...if humanity just hid behind the walls, we'd someday get slaughtered by Titans out of nowhere"

"When I was asked that, I actually believed I could be that someone! But I never thought by being sent to my death...would turn out to be so utterly meaningless in the end!"

"Now that I think about it, I bet almost everyone ends up saying the same thing as me. Why did I ever think that I'd... somehow be different"

He felt someone grab his collar and faced him towards the one who grabbed him, he froze when he saw Norie's face.

"What's your name?"

"F-floch... captain"

"You do realize that everyone around you is freaking out as much as you are, that's no excuse to abandoned your ground and the mission, I understand where you are coming from."She says.

"Right now, at a moment like this, it makes you think about nothing than renouncing. Floch, crying will not make those bastards surrender, they don't care. So stand up and stop freaking out the others more."

"You can help these people. This expedition is going to change a lot of things, When we come back, this world will be better and safer for everyone than before."

Floch hiccups his sobs as norie sighs and shook her head.

"That's why I don't like people whining, especially myself. I won't be sure if you're listening to a single word I say since you're to focus on your tears. So stop your whining and start working, we have our first priority right now. Now I don't want to hear anymore of it."

Floch cries as he nods and stutters out "yes Captain Norie"

She looks up at the others and they say "Yes Captain"

Norie hums and walks back to Erwin and Levi.

"What if whoever's left of the recruits and Hange's group scatter on horses and try to make it home?"Levi says

"By using them as a decoy, you guys could escape on Eren."

She looks at Erwin as he looks at her and then at both.

"Norie, Levi. What would you do?"he asks.

"We're facing the Beast Titan. I'll draw him away-Impossible"Erwin cuts him off.

"You won't even get close"

"Probably not"Levi says

"Not without me"Norie says looking up at the sky.

"Yeah...also if you and Eren return home alive, there's still hope. Isn't that the best we can ask for at this point? What a huge defeat...."Levi says

"To be perfectly honest, I doubt a single one of us is making it back alive."

Norie turns to her husband with a shocked face, but softened it since it was true. Who knows the survival rate at this point.

"Yes, assuming we had no way to counterattack"Erwin says.

The couple looked at each other with realization and then looked at Erwin.

"Is their a way?"Norie asks.

"Yes"

Levi furrowed his eyebrows and said "why did you say that sooner?"

"Why did you keep your shitty mouth closed?"

"Levi"Norie said sternly making him quiet down

"If the plan goes well, you both will be able to take down the Beast Titan. But it will take the recruits and myself to give our lives"Erwin says.

The rocks hit the wall making the scouts jump and cover themselves as Erwin says "It's like you said, either way, most of us will die. No, it's almost guaranteed we'll all be wiped out"

"In which case, we can stake our heroic deaths on a slim chance of victory. For these to work...to ask these young ones to die, it would take an expert con man and a whole slew of lies."

Levi and Norie follow him as he walked towards a crate.

"If I do not lead the vanguard, none of them will follow. And I will die before anyone else, Without ever learning what's in the basement..."Erwin says as he sits down on the crate

"Huh?"the couple say.

Erwin sighs and says "I...I want to go to the basement, everything I've done till now...was because I thought this day would come."

Norie stares at him as he continues "that someday I could check if I was right, So many times... I thought death would be so much easier."

"But always, the dream I shared with my father flashed through my mind. And now, I'm close enough to the answers to reach out and grab them."

"They're right there...but Levi, Norie...can you see them? Our comrades? Our comrades are looking at us...They want to know what became of the hearts they gave."

"Because the fighting isn't over yet"

The rocks hit the houses as norie stared at Erwin sadly, she sighed as she walked towards him.

Erwin felt a cool hand on top of his head, he looks up and sees the familiar Amber eyes.

He looks into them and says "is it all in my head?"

Norie frowned as he says "nothing more than a childish delusion?"

"I can't answer that, and you know that Erwin. All I can say are words that will make you feel better but..."norie trailed off.

"It won't last... Though I can say that after all these years of knowing you, I've seen nothing but a hardworking man..."

Levi steps next to her and says "you've fought well, It's all thanks to you that we've come this far."

"I'm making the choice, give up on your dreams and die"

Norie's eyes widened and she says "Levi" through her teeth.

"Lead the recruits straight into hell, me and Norie will take down the Beast Titan"

She sighed and then looks at Erwin with a smile, she puts her finger under his chin and lifts his head up to her.

"You got us, we got you"she says.

Erwin looks at her and smiles.