Dark intentions

The effect

They packed up and left later that morning. Levi wasn't well enough to help so instead sat on the edge of a trailer, staring at his feet. It had rained last night and half of the supply's were soaked. None of the food had been effected but protecting that was half of the fresh clothing. This was a minor problem but it was soon got over.

For the next few weeks, the soldiers traveled among places and everything was rather mellow. There did happen to be an ambush by a couple of titans at one point though thankfully Hanji was on patrol at that exact moment, so she easily took down the rough titan with no trouble. Traveling has become a problem as Levi could no longer walk, let alone ride a horse. Instead he was forced to stay on the back of a trailer. His condition had continued decreasing while everybody else had to watch helplessly as no one there was a qualified doctor and Hanji had none of her lab equipment with her.

The end of the trip couldn't come quick enough for the cadets. Eren had never despised camping more than now and he was desperate to get home. Everyone was. On the journey back Mikasa rode up beside Eren. "What's the matter Eren?" She asked. Eren sighed. "Everywhere I go, something bad happens."
"Why would you think that?"
"For the love of god, you know it's true Mikasa."
"N-no it's n-"
"You don't think anything bad of me do you, honestly."
"But your not bad Eren, you care about humanity and do whatever you can to protect them, it's not your fault the Captain got sick."
"But your talented and are better at protecting people."
"Are those people humanity?" Mikasa raised one eyebrow. "Nope, from what I've seen, you don't care, just Armin and me."
"Eren!"
"Joking...jeez,"
"Well whatever you think, your still amazing to me," she said, going slightly pink in the cheeks. "Thanks..." Eren smiled to encourage Mikasa's compliment but didn't see her blushing. They both turned away embarrassed and the rest of the trip was quiet.

Making their way to the wall wasn't the problem or even the gawking villagers, but the fact that they had to explain this mess to Commander Erwin and the other soldiers. The first thing to be noticed was the sling round Levi's arm. "Can anyone to explain to me what happened hear?" Erwin asked. No one spoke up and stood awkwardly. "Nobody? Hanji, care to explain?"
"Uh... maybe in another place," she said rubbing the back of her neck. "Very well," he replied. Hanji managed to explain what happened in maybe too much detail as the conversation lasted well over an hour. Eren was sat nervously inside at the table alone,Levi in the room above. Everyone else was outside. Hanji and Erwin walked in. "Eren, can we talk?"
"Y-yes sir!" said Eren, saluting to Erwin. "There's no need to be like that, just sit down and relax a little, don't look so tense,"
"Yes sir,"
"Do you know when all of this started happening?"
"On the second day of the expedition I think,"
"Thank you,"
"Is that all?" Questioned Eren. "Well..." Hanji interrupted. "We're going to need you to help out with Levi until he's capable enough to cope."
"Oh of course..." said Eren, avoiding eye contact. Both of them left the room and left Eren alone again, though later, a few people came in. All his friends tried to make conversation but with in 10 seconds of them talking, Eren dropped his head onto the table with a thunk. They took the hint after that, apart from Armin.

The two of them sat quietly in the room for a long time and before they knew it, it was dark out. "Eren, we should probably get to bed," Armin's voice was quiet. "Mh," was what Eren could bother to muster. "Oh please stop acting so depressed I don't like it!"
"...no, I don't want to," Eren sounded like a toddler. "*sigh* fine then but I'm not allowing you to stay down hear, your going to sleep, alright?"
"Ugh, fine," and the pair walked out to find everyone else.

Where the cadets slept wasn't more impressive than the tents, and the room was musty and cold. Despite protesting, Eren hadn't realised how tired he was and fell asleep almost instantly when he tucked himself into a corner. The building was silent. Mikasa got up and went to try and talk to Eren but Armin put his hand in-front of her. "Leave him be tonight Mikasa, he's just tired. Maybe in the morning?" Armin whispered. Mikasa folded her arms and walked to her own room with the girls, scowling. The entirety of Head Quarters was once again plunged into silence.