Levi x OC | Humanity's Greatest

6 - Expedition Part 1

All of a sudden, we were moving. The sound of horseshoes clicking on the cobbled ground echoed through the air and the civilians waved us goodbye as we rode away from the safety of Wall Maria.

Levi was to my right, a look of determination on his face that I'd never seen before. And our senior squad members, Peter and Emile, rode to my left. We were a strong team.

Our aim was simple, we were exploring beyond the walls to find out more about the titans, and hopefully bring one back alive. I'm sure Hanji was extremely pleased with that.

As we passed through the gate, I took in my surroundings. It was my second time on an expedition but the beauty beyond wall maria was something I didn't think I'd ever get over. Trees dotted the landscape randomly, but they were nothing like the barren, barely living trees inside the wall. These trees were overgrown and luscious, untouched for hundreds of years. Long green grass stretched as far as the eye could see, and although it was breathtaking, it was also an impossible environment for the use of 3DMG. If a swarm of titans was to somehow appear, we'd definitely be dead before we could even figure out what was going on.

"Hey!" Levi yelled over to me over the sound of galloping horses. "You alright?!"

I looked over at the boy and shot him a smirk. "Worry about yourself, sunshine! I'm fine..."

I heard Emile laugh at my nickname for Levi and I smiled too. Although death was staring us in the face, it was nice to be fighting alongside such a formidable team.

Soon enough, we split off into Erwin's genius formation. Our squad was right on the edge of the formation, to the rear. A pretty dangerous spot, but the commander wouldn't have placed us there if he didn't think we could handle it.

We rode for hours. A few titans were sighted but we took care of them without any major problems, and although I kept my guard up, I was starting to think I might actually live to see another day.

Suddenly, I heard a bang from somewhere close and I looked up to see smoke billowing from what looked like the ruins of an old settlement. It was the emergency smoke signal. My stomach lurched. Someone was in trouble.

"Hey! You three!" A male voice to my left called out. I glanced over to Peter. "That's the emergency smoke signal! Do you see it?"

"I can see it!" Emile replied, looking slightly worried. "We're the closest squad to their location! We need to check it out!"

"And break the formation?" I asked my seniors.

"If they're in trouble, we need to help them" Peter replied.

"Don't worry rookie!" Emile grinned. "Nothings gonna happen to you on our watch!"

I returned Emile's smile anxiously. Levi was eerily quiet.

The four of us broke our formation to check out where the emergency smoke signal had come from.

The smoke was billowing from an old settlement, if you could call it that. It was made up of a few overgrown trees and some broken houses that were missing their windows and doors. Although the emergency signal definitely came from that spot, there was nothing to be seen.

"I'll go check around the back" Emile said. I nodded at her and she rode off.

The rest of us were checking the inside of the house when we heard a blood curdling scream.

"Shit" Peter cursed. "We shouldn't have let her go alone! Come on!"

The three of us bolted round to the back of the house where we found Emile, who was uninjured. But the same couldn't be said for the squad that was here before us. The once green grass was now stained with thick blood and various body parts and organs littered the ground around us. It was a truly horrific sight.

The piercing scream had come from a woman who was now dying on the grass, or at least, half of her was dying on the grass. Her hips downward appeared to have been devoured by the 15 meter titan that was now looming over us.

Levi's dark eyes flashed with anger. "I'll take care of it" he mumbled.

"Levi no!" I shouted after him. But he was already in the air.

He aimed his 3DMG at the titans weak spot and had slashed it's nape before it even had time to react. He made it look effortless. The beast fell to the ground and Levi landed on the grass soon after. He brushed himself off.

"Don't do that" I scolded him.

"Do what?" he looked at me as if I was stupid. I really hated it when he did that.

"Go off on your own! You'll get yourself killed!"

"Tch" Levi scowled. "Please"

Emile, Peter, Levi and myself knelt down next to the woman on the ground. She was the only member of the entire squad that wasn't completely devoured.

"She's dead" Emile closed her eyes respectfully.

"We need to get back into the formation before they ride off without us" Levi warned.

"He's right" Peter agreed. "We should-"

And then the ground shook.

Each of us looked around, panicked, but we were unable to see anything, or anyone approaching.

The ground shook again. This time with more ferocity.

"Be on your guard" Peter said under his breath.

It was as if something was coming towards us, chasing us, hunting us.

"Wait! Look!" I stood up straight and pointed to the horizon. I could see a group of humanoid figures running towards us at an alarming rate.
Titans. Lots of them.

"Shit. We must have attracted their attention" Levi cursed. "We need to go!"

"No!" Emile exclaimed. "If we run away they'll reach the formation and hundreds of soldiers will die before they even know what hit them!"

Peter fired off a red smoke signal. "Emile's right" he grunted.

Before we arrived here, I prayed that this expedition would go off without any problems...lots of information recovered...minimal casualties...but deep down I think I knew that was never how it was going to go.

As I watched the group of titans get closer, I mentally prepared myself for the inevitable bloodbath. I was putting all of my faith in Emile's judgement, to stay and fight, but she was strong. If anyone was coming out of this alive, it was her.

And then they were on us.

I didn't have time to pray to God, or thank my parents, or say goodbye to Emile or Peter or Levi.

I readied my blades and took of into the air, the wind slapping me in the face, as if it was telling me to suck it up and fight like a soldier.

"Lets go!" Peter roared as he sprung into the open space, closely followed by Emile and the astonishingly fast Levi Ackerman.

There were at least ten of them, all different sizes, all ugly as hell.

Emile slashed at a titan's ankles, and it fell to the ground, spraying huge amounts of dust and dirt into the air. She doubled back on herself and went for the nape, slicing it effortlessly.

At this point, Levi had already taken two out. I had no idea how. I didn't even see him do it. He was too fast for his own good.

I aimed my 3DMG at a 10 meter class with a huge, disgusting grin on it's face. When I reached it's head, I released my gear and did a handspring off it's crown to gather some momentum before hacking off the flesh on the back of it's neck. The beast fell into the dirt and titan steam filled the air around it. I felt a small sense of accomplishment. My first titan kill.

4 down, 6 to go.

All of a sudden, things looked like they were going to be alright.

All of a sudden, there was a glimmer of hope.

And then, screaming.