Blue and White - Levi Fanfiction

Ch. 23 - A Changing State of Affairs

The year 845 was a hard one.

While I may argue that most years were difficult in one way or another, and that for so much of my life the forward march of time was one that I tended not to pay attention to for it all blended together to form one blurred experience underground of pain, sickness, misery, and longing, I would argue more that the year 845 was harder than most.

I suppose I should state the specifics after such a bold claim, yes? Well, here goes: aside from being the year of the expedition that wiped the Survey Corps all but completely, leaving only twenty soldiers, it was also the year that disaster befell all of humanity.

For as shaken up as the scouts were, what we lost was nearly nothing compared to the fall of Wall Maria.

Yes, that's right. Wall Maria fell. It was lost, claimed completely by Titans. At first, the news sounded to me like a story made up to scare kids. It had happened just after we had returned from that expedition, the very same that had left us with so few soldiers, not even enough to represent ourselves properly in any of the military proceedings, events, or courts; the one that prompted Shadis to step down as commander and to put Erwin in his place; the last one Levi and I spent as regular soldiers.

And by "it happened just after we had returned", I meant it, for on that day, I'd been so ready to head to bed after I'd gotten some food as Erwin has suggested, but we had all been called back into the mess hall for a debriefing as soon as the news reached us. The news was grave, of course, but none of us had believed it at first. How could we?

Incredulous comments, hurried questions, questioning glances... All those and more were shared between us scouts, just as uncertainty and fear spread through us like a virus. What were we to do? Even though we just got back from an expedition, were we expected to fight? How many Titans had infiltrated the walls? How far had they gotten? Were the gates broken, or had they been left open by mistake and the soldiers manning it got overwhelmed, pushed back, and thereby let Titans in?

I mean, honestly - the walls couldn't just... fall. The Titans were not smart enough to break through the gates, and they couldn't climb over them. And there was no way under them, either, if the stories were to be believed.

The express messenger, a young soldier from the Garrison, told us quite simply that a Titan over 50-meters tall had kicked through the outer gate of Shiganshina District. The whole thing sounded to me like a scary story a bratty kid might say to another just to scare him and give him nightmares.

But this nightmare... it was real.

As soon as the messenger relayed the message, Erwin stood up, demanding more detail. The messenger had given all that he had, at least for now, though he lamented to admit as such. At that point, there had been nothing for us to do; by the time we tacked our horses and made to ride out, another messenger had arrived, telling us that a second Titan, Abnormal but more so than usual, had appeared and charged through Shiganshina's inner gate, letting the Titans swarm into Wall Maria and all its villages, forests, and territories.

Humanity was left with only one choice.

It retreated to Wall Rose. There was nothing to be done, except for the higher-ups to report to the military brass to discuss what was to happen next.

That was when Shadis retired, and Erwin represented the scouts in the preceding discussions with the brass and it was decided that all movement beyond the walls were to be halted. Instead, all Survey Corps efforts were to be focused on purging Wall Maria and its districts of Titans.

Following those meetings, Erwin restructured the scouts, and among other things, Levi and I were promoted to Captains. And now, weeks later, it was safe to say that all the soldiers were overworked, the people underfed, and the Titans overrunning Wall Maria and its territories completely.