Almost Want To Love You {Attack on Titan Fanfiction}

Chapter Three

    "You say you can't find them anywhere?" Erwin asked the messenger.

    The scout shook his head. "No, I'm afraid not, Commander. We've questioned all the scouts that went on the mission: no one has seen them."

    "Did you find the others that were with them?"

    "Yes, Commander. They said the last time they saw Captain Levi and Commander Hanji was right before the two of them went to fight a thirteen- and a ten-meter."

    Erwin's scowl deepened. It didn't make sense. Two of the Scouting Legion's most skilled commanders killed by a thirteen-meter and a ten-meter titan? Something else must have happened. There was no way that the two of them would have gone down that easily.

    The blond man set his jaw. Even if Levi and Hanji hadn't been killed by those titans, there was no way that they would survive out there alone. Even if they were alive, they wouldn't survive the whole night. The moon would be full, leaving more than enough light for the titans to see them.

    Waving his hand to dismiss the matter, Erwin allowed the scout to leave. A tall man behind the commander sighed heavily. "Of all the people to go down, it was two of our best."

    "It doesn't matter which people die, if people die at all. It's still the lives of innocents, Mike, whether or not they're commanding officers."

    "Ah, I guess you're right." The two were silent a moment before Mike added, "What I mean to say is I'm sorry they're dead."

    Erwin nodded grimly. "As am I. But there's nothing we can do now." Once again, the two didn't speak. The bleakness of the whole ordeal seemed to have rubbed off on the whole Scouting Legion.

    In a moment of reminiscence, Erwin recalled when he'd first met Hanji—the crazy girl who had sneaked outside the wall on one of the missions and killed a titan on her own. Then Levi—the thieving boy from underground given the task of killing Erwin.

    Somehow, the commander found a smile tugging at his lips. Yes, they'd had their share of good and bad times. But he wouldn't let their recent deaths be in vain.

    "To think," Mike blurted, "you had such high hopes for them." He leaned his back against the windowsill. Then, snickering, he added, "Remember the day you brought in Ackerman and his crew and we all thought it was a dumb idea?" He laughed. "Quite the mistake that was! I don't want to know where we'd be if he hadn't been accepted."

    "I had other hopes for him, too." Erwin admitted. He rose from his chair at his desk. "Hopes for him and Hanji."

   "Like what?"

    "Oh, lots of things." The blond walked around the front of the desk, leaning against it. It wasn't exactly the optimal time to be remembering such trivial matters, but it was one way to keep from grieving. Erwin brought about a grin. "One major one being the two admitting their feelings for each other."

    Mike's eyes widened. With a smirk, he crossed his arms. "Ackerman and Zoë having feelings for each other? Now that's something I wasn't expecting. How long has this been going on without my knowing?"

    Erwin chuckled. Staring at the wall near the door as if he could see memories of the two painted on it, he replied, "It never officially happened but I'd always hoped it would. Ha! You should have seen the look on Hanji's face when Levi first introduced himself. She couldn't stop staring at him. I honestly couldn't tell whether she'd fallen instantly in love with him or if she'd planned to dissect him for experiments."

    The captain behind Erwin chuckled in a good-natured manner. "That sounds like Hanji, all right," Mike teased. "So you hoped because of that they'd get together?"

    Erwin waved it off. "It was a rather worthless hope, really. I didn't think he'd ever see anything in her, but I never completely shut the idea down. Occasionally I'd even try to promote it."

    "So you, uh...what's that word that kids are using these days... Riding? No, I think it's sailing. You 'sailed' them?"

    "Something like that."

    Erwin's smile fell. The Scouting Legion had lost two brave leaders that day. He only hoped their deaths would mean something.

(Note: The reason that I didn't specifically say that the titans would be able to move on their own in the dark because of the sun reflecting off the moon is because, at this point in time, Hanji hadn't discovered the connection between titans and the sun. So for right now, Erwin is thinking that the titans would be able to see them easily in the dark because of the moonlight.)