The Wings of Truth

6.

It was several hours after he had taken off from the corps for him to finally reach Wall Maria, and he was down several blades from defending his horse and supplies. Titans laid strewn and dying in his wake as he trotted around the outskirts of Maria, trying to find the gate so he could orient himself and reach the map to find the breach Hanji had marked. His hands shook with exhaustion and emotion as he made his way, desperate to get out of the land he knew and into land that he remembered. The walls and rubble of houses felt claustrophobic and he grew more uneasy the longer he was in the ruins of a civilization. "Atta girl," he cooed to his horse and she gave an unbothered whinny in reply as he ran his finger through her mane. She must have been washed that morning because her coat and mane were soft and clean as he ran his pale fingers across the fur that concealed strong muscle that had carried him so far from safety. "Whoa there," he called quietly as he noticed a small gap in the wall up ahead. He pulled a blade from his sheath and directed her slowly with one hand holding her mane. He had to be ready for an attack at any moment by the titans as any breach meant more were swarming into the walls. He peered around cautiously and found the breach to be void of titans. He could see some heading towards it from the distance but they were meters away and none were abnormals. He sighed in relief and sheathed his swords and charged his horse through the gap, the mare running forwards fearlessly even while her rider grew closer and closer to breaking down and caving in.

He weaved through the familiar landscape and avoided titans when possible, having to resort to cutting six of them down and dropping a single broke blade in his path, as he made his way by memory along the route their first expedition had taken. "Wow! Look at that Levi-bro! The sky is so pretty! There's so many birds." The words replayed in his head and they rang so clear and so fresh that he almost turned to look at her, but he knew that she was not riding on his left nor Farlan on his right. "Izzy should be called 'Little Bird,' don'tcha think?" Levi remembered that conversation well as he saw a bird fly over him and screech at him.

"Hm?" Farlan smiled and looked back over the couch he was seated on to watch Isabel excitedly play with the little bird that had brought her to them.

"Look at her, she's like a bird. I think so anyways," Farlan lamented and Levi mulled over it. "Little Bird." It had a nice ring to it. No. There were two that suited her better, but even he had to admit that "Robin" was too generic for her, even if her hair looked like a robin's puffed out red chest. Levi got up and walked over to her sitting at the table as Farlan turned around to watch interestedly. He was hoping Levi would do as he suggested and call her Little Bird, but what he did shocked them both.

"Feed the bird and get some rest, Shrike," he stated before heading off towards the kitchen to grab a drink as the pair gaped at him like a fish out of water before Isabel scrunched her face up and made an annoying sound of frustration that all women make and men hardly utter.

"Levi-bro is so mean! What'd he call me, Farlan? Huh? Is Shrike some kind of slang you told him to call me?" Levi sighed as he filled a cup of glass with water. He forgot that the two had no idea that the bird was called a Shrike. They hadn't gone with him to camp out in the abandoned library when he left Kenny. He was thankful he could read, and it often left him knowing more than others and while at times it was good, at others it caused conflict. Like now, for instance.

"I didn't tell him to call you a Shrike! I said you should be called Little Bird as a nickname!" Levi tuned out their bickering until he heard them call his name in unison and stare him down intently. Their eyes were beseeching him to forfeit his knowledge and a smirk threatened to quirk up on his face.

"Shrike," he repeated and they looked unsure of how to react to the word. Their questioning didn't seem to stop... Was it good? Was it bad? Was it slang? Or was it in a dictionary? What was a Shrike? "The bird's a Shrike. Farlan said I should call you a little bird, so I called you the little bird that brought you to us." It sounded sappy, and it took a moment to register before Levi was smiling at the good natured laughter from Farlan and the blush spreading on Isabel's cheeks. The teasing started up and Levi rolled his eyes, cleaned his glass, and headed to his bed on the first floor while Isabel and Farlan called each other pet names and laughed at how good of a brother Levi was to them, even though their blood was not the same.