The R.O.S.E. | Levi fic

Ch. 1 ~ The R.O.S.E

Dodge left. Dodge right. Duck your head, then twist forward.

Leaping up, the woman swiftly tucked in on herself and easily flew through the tangle of rough tree branches attempting to block her path. All was near silent in the gloomy forrest, causing every movement she made to bounce and echo off every nearby tree and every hill. If she dared to stop to catch her breath, she would hear nothing more than the buzz of insects inhabiting the forrest floor below and the gentle blow of the breeze sifting through the leaves of every tree around her for miles.

As it were now, rushing along high above the forrest floor, all she could truly hear was the mechanical whirls of her gear as she shot anchor after anchor into thick stems of bark, and the containers strapped to her back puffing out air to propel her forward with more momentum than she could produce from gravity alone.

It was liberating, in a way; flying so quickly through the open air as thought weightlessly, seeing the world below as though through the gaze of a young hawk above compared to the world seen seen through the eyes of a man on foot.

Had the constant reminder of the job at hand not plauged her every thought, she would have enjoyed these triweekly missions beyond the walls. But as she looked down far below her dangling feet and met the lifeless eyes of Survey Corps soldiers laying in bloody and mangled heaps, any semblance of joy faded from her eyes in an instant.

"Circle back; gather the wagons and take Bax with you." Aveline's order carried over her shoulder with the breeze, quiet so as to keep all emotion from her raspier tone.

Her comrade stiffly nodded, his widened gaze stuck on the corpses below in silent repulsion.

"Yes ma'am, Captain Aveline," the young boy replied with an attempt at a grin, crooked as it was; trying desperately to lighten the mood as he so often attempted on missions such as these.

Aveline glanced over her shoulder to toss him a sympathetic smile, knowing all too well the tell-tale signs from her cadet that told her he was particularly nervous.

"Thanks, Dione." She nodded, returning her gaze to the front.

Normally, she would be down there with the others; her squad. But ever since the incident two months back, she's resigned to patrolling their borders to keep her companions and herself safe from threats.

Briefly, Aveline came to a stop high up in the nearest pine to watch her young cadet zip away into the darkness, only the light of the moon illuminating the metal gears strapped with leather around his limbs to show her where he was. Had it not been for the subtle glow of the full moon above, she never would have known which way Dione had disappeared. Once he was out of her sight, Aveline turned her attention back to her surroundings.

On her way to this perch, she'd seen nearly thirty soldiers lying stone cold upon the unforgiving ground, remnants of the Survey Corp's latest expedition. Whispering a silent apology towards where they all lay, the Garrison Captain shot her wires into the tree behind her and began her decent to the forrest floor.

The moment her feet touched the ground, she fell into a crouch and retracted her cables. No threats occupied her nearby surroundings, making her relax only slightly.

As the distant sound of wooden wheels thumbing against rough terrain echoes louder against the hills, Aveline allowed her self a breath of relief.

So far, so good.

As her team rounded the corner and came into her vision, Aveline sheathed her blades and stood to the side of the worn path at her feet. Immediately she caught sight of young Dione Richthofen, followed closely by her second in command, Baxten Brooks. The torch the brawny man held above the heads of his comrades illuminated the face of Lyra Malik, only a few paces behind him. She was Aveline's youngest Cadet of the bunch, younger even than Dion.