Blue and White - Levi Fanfiction

Ch. 78 - The Song We Sing, Together

Year 852:

Winter that year was long and cold and rough, but eventually, the last of the big snowstorms blew over. The heat from the sun and the slowly rising temperatures melted the snow away, and the first natural buds of the season poked through the thinning layer of powder on the ground.

Spring was here.

The thick winter clothes were packed away for the year, the thinner clothes taken out and washed. The last bits of frost faded away as the birds returned, and the animals woke up from their seasonal slumber. Workers from the inner districts came to do maintenance on the roads and help ready the barriers of sandbags for the inevitable flooding of the rivers once the winter runoff came down from the mountains.

After a few long, hard few months, the Ackerman family could finally slip outside for some fresh air. Emi would watch us as she played in the yard while Levi and I prepared the garden for fresh growth and exercised the horses. A farmer up the road from us needed an extra pair of workhorses for a few days, and so our two charges went. They were returned only a few days later, the farmer more than grateful for the help.

The early weeks of spring maintained the cool winds from winter, but the warmth of the sun ensured that we wouldn't be too cold working outside. The promise of warmer weather meant that the fresh wave of cadets would graduate soon, meaning that we might also get some more youths to add to our ranks.

There were still some weeks before they graduated, so Levi and I were invited to scout out the promising fledgling soldiers and talk to those we saw potential in, in place of Hange who was still working hard on the coast. Where in years past Erwin needed hardy, tough soldiers, ones that were fiercely dedicated to what they were doing with an unparalleled level of adventurous spirit about them, Levi and I also needed to keep in mind that the nature of our regiment was changing.

Our soldiers still needed all that Erwin had looked for in the eyes of those young hopefuls, but they also needed to be adaptable, flexible, and unafraid to fight not just titans like they'd been trained to, but people, too. Because when Marley and the world came to fight, the scouts would be our homeland's first line of defense. Marleyan forces still had Titans of their own, so it wasn't as though the skill and strategy of fighting the beats was unnecessary.

But people were crafty, and with the Beast, Armored, and that (presumably, for I hadn't seen it myself) ugly ass four-legged Titan presumably back in Marley, it was for certain that they'd relay how our gear worked. Our soldiers needed to be ready to combat not just the Titans, but people that might in some capacity train to fight us, just as the Interior Squad had been.

Recently, I'd sent a letter to Hange, expressing these concerns. I got a reply only a few days later, assuring me that she already had upgrades in the works. She wanted to make the gear we used lighter and more efficient and increase speed and blade capacity.

All of which, I felt, were long overdue, but in the past, we simply could not afford taking the time to tinker. Now, though, with Hange at the helm, I had full faith that the engineers could whip up some new gear for us.

While walking alongside Shadis as we scouted, flanked by Nile, Pixis, and a few of their own representatives, Levi and I kept a keen eye out for those that not only excelled in gear work, but hand-to-hand combat as well. The two of us weaved through the lines of cadets as they sparred with partners. It was at this point that all of us military heads split up, clipboards and pencils in hand, taking notes.

I could hear the whispers trailing after me as I walked past, the cadets slowing in their movements once they noticed who was walking by. I felt a little smug but didn't really appreciate being ogled by a bunch of kids. I hadn't really realized it before, but Levi and I, along with Hange and Eren, had become something akin to celebrities here on our island, especially among the soldiers.