Titans Rule, Levi Ackerman UNDER EDITING

(36) Loss.

~Amelia's POV~

Once we exited the forest, dawn was upon us. The ghost town unfolding in front of us was bathed in a grey, dingy light as the sun rose solemnly. The leftover chill from the night bit into my skin, signalling my arms to wrap themselves around me. My horse protested languidly behind me with a loud huff. Unfortunately, I knew there would be no rest for either of us.

With the Wall on the horizon ominously leering down at us, it would only get worse from here. Our enemies appeared to always be one step ahead of us and way more powerful with their knowledge of a world much larger than this tiny island. We were on the cusp of the one-hundred-year-old secret being uncovered, and that alone was intimidating.

The other nerve-wracking truth wasn't that we were likely to face Reiner and Berthodlt again. It was the uncertainty of whether they would be alone or not. The newly named Beast Titan that I had yet to meet could easily make an appearance. His movements were unpredictable as we'd only faced him once before and that meant that any plan that we had come up with could go haywire depending on how he acted. 

There was also the chance that another Titan shifter or even something else we'd never encountered could show up. I had a decent understanding of the technology that Marlay possessed. However, these were snippets from the past, so who knew how quickly they had advanced since Grisha's and Annie's memories. 

Shaking away those thoughts, I attempted to calm my mind. I couldn't spiral right now. I needed to stay vigilant to survive. A Titan could literally pop out of nowhere as we'd experienced last night. I also needed to have more confidence in myself. I was more skilled than I was in past but still lacked the experience. The people who surrounded me were well-versed in the art of survival and Titan killing. Something I wasn't sure I could bring myself to do. Yet my survival outweighed my morals and I had to do just that, kill a Titan, whose thoughts I could hear before I murdered them.

Suddenly, I was very aware of the blades at my side and the weight of responsibility that they carried.

"Everyone, mount your horses and head to the Wall!" Erwin bellowed. 

I breathed out a sigh of relief as my brain cleared and could only focus on the task at hand. I turned to my horse, giving her a quick scratch on the nose before clambering onto her. Soon enough, we departed swiftly.

Wind aggressively attacked my cheeks, a sensation I still wasn't used to. Levi's back used to protect me from it, but that was no longer the case. It took everything within me to not glance at him and risk breaking my concentration away from scanning out for Titans ahead of me. However, my eyes decided to not listen to me and they found Levi's back instantly and rested there. I zoned out for a while, letting my horse do all of the work until Erwin called out to us again.

"Be on guard for any Titans in the shadows! Our operation commences from here on out! Everyone, switch to 3DMG!" Erwin aimed his hooks for the wall in front of us and everyone else soon followed. I blinked in surprise, but my body automatically reached for my gear and I was in the air. My 3DMG had become like an extension of my body as I'd tried to master it over the past couple of months. I no longer needed to spare a thought to control it.

Before long, I was atop the Wall, peering down at the abandoned city from under my hood. The plan was to keep our hoods up, remaining anonymous to give Eren enough time to get to the other side of the Wall. Then, he could block it off before Reiner, Bertholdt or whoever was after us realised who he was and tried to stop him.

"Don't stop!" I heard Levi shout, jumping at the sudden raising of his voice. I realised he was speaking to Eren who was idly staring down at the place he once called home. I entered his mind, finding images of his childhood playing in his head. They vanished abruptly at the sound of Levi's voice. Then, he readied himself and engaged his 3DMG, plunging off the Wall.