Searching for happiness (Attack on titan X Fairy Tail Crossover)

Chapter XXVI - You stay with me

It was not long until we actually left for Shiganshina. My stomach turned only by the name of this place, but it did not help, we had to go there if we wanted to rescue Erwin's people.

Shiganshina was a long way from Erwin's headquarters, so it took some time to get there. The last short distance to Shiganshina we walked to attract as little attention as possible. Although we were not many persons anyway, this was the best way to do it. Apart from my comrades and the people of Erwin, who had been in the basement of his estate, he had taken a few more of his staff with him. Among them, I also recognized Eren, the young manager who looked very determined and quite angry. Also the little Petra Ral, who had greeted us on our first arrival at Erwin, and three other men who had introduced themselves with the names Eld, Gunther and Oluo. At first look, they did not seem all that capable of fighting, but Erwin seemed to have his reasons for choosing them for this operation.

The closer we got to Shiganshina, the louder my heart pounded in my chest. Once upon a time I had lost my two best friends, my comrades there, but I vowed I would not let it get this far this time. I would not allow this time, that only one of my comrades would die!

"Is everything alright, Levi?", Wendy's soft voice next to me pulled me out of my thoughts and I glanced over at her for a moment.

"Sure.", I grunted only in response and was just not really in a good mood.

"I just mean ... if you want to talk about anything, then ...", she started, but with an annoyed snort I cut her off.

"I don't want to.", I growled, looking forward stubbornly again. Even though I felt a little bit guilty about rejecting her that way, even though she just wanted to be friendly with me, I really had no nerves to talk now. Too many bad feelings and thoughts whizzed through my head. Wendy seemed to understand and then fell silent immediately.

Secretly, my eyes wandered back to her and I briefly watched her as she walked next to me. Although I did not really want to admit it, meanwhile she meant something to me. And it would probably be the hardest for me if anything happened to her today. Therefore, I decided not to leave her to protect her today. I would not forgive myself if she died just because I would not be there to protect my comrades.

Erwin guided us unerringly to a secluded spot in a depression in the middle of a forest. There was a large, already run-down warehouse, but otherwise there was no soul to be discovered. Carefully, we approached the building and immediately I felt uncomfortable. It was too quiet here. This Marley should have actually concluded that we come, so why was not a single person to see here or any signs of other people?

After carefully searching the area around the building for a while, we entered the warehouse with the utmost caution, but that, too, proved a failure. There were neither the employees of Erwin, nor any other people. Only boxes and other stored goods. We turned almost the entire warehouse upside down, but just did not find anything. At the outside Erwin called us back and I could see his frustration.

"Obviously, Marley is smarter than I thought.", he began, gritting his teeth, "Nobody seems to be here.".

"But where are they?", Erza asked immediately, and Erwin scowled his thick eyebrows.

"That's a good question.", he said after a brief pause and then looked at each of us in turn, "I want you to split up and scout the area. He has to keep the hostages trapped somewhere here. If you discover anything, give a sign. Ignite the flares I gave you.".

All nodded in agreement and I already saw how small groups of two and three formed. Without much thinking about it, I grabbed Wendy's wrist and pulled her perhaps a little too rough with me.

"Huh?", she exclaimed in surprise, "What ...?".

"You stay with me.", I ordered and did not pay attention to the others of the group, who were sure to stare after us rather stunned. But I could not let Wendy go with anyone else. I had to have her with me so I could protect her and not make the same mistake again.

"Okay, but do you have to drag me that way?", she asked a little defiantly and carefully I released her wrist and looked at her. Maybe I had really reacted a little too harshly. For a moment she rubbed her wrist, then smiled weakly at me. It was really amazing that she immediately smiled at me even in this situation. Charle came up behind her and my expression darkened instantly. I had not thought of this annoying cat! But unfortunately it was just the way that you encountered the two almost exclusively as a double, but as long as I could take care of Wendy, I had to deal with it.

"Come on!", I just said and marched off. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw that the others were also pouring out in different directions. Carefully, we also started the path between the trees and walked slowly and deliberately. We had to make as few noises as possible, otherwise we would have been discovered immediately. For a moment I also thought of my other comrades and hoped that nothing would happen to them.

Was it selfish of me that I wanted only Wendy with me so that I could protect her? After all, I did not feel that urge when I thought of the others. I told myself it was because I knew they could defend themselves well. But a small part of me also said that Wendy could do that too, and yet I did not want to leave her alone. We walked through the forest with great concentration for a while until Wendy stopped abruptly next to me. Immediately, I froze and looked at her attentively.

"There's somebody.", she said softly, "I can smell it very clearly.". Immediately, I silently summoned two narrow swords in my hands and made myself ready to fight. In this remote area, another person could only be someone who belonged to Marley.

"But ...", she added, frowning, "Somehow ... I know that smell.". With a raised eyebrow, I looked at her. If she knew the smell, it could just be someone of our comrades, but why would she smell just a single person?

But I paused and waited until she remembered who this person she smelled could be. She stared hard at the floor, thinking as I kept an eye on our surroundings. Although she said there was another person here, I could not hear or see anyone. Then at some point she raised her head and looked at me with wide eyes.

"Now I know it!", she said and I didn't like the alarmed undertone of her voice, "That's the smell of Kenny, no doubt!".

Published on 05-30-2019

If you liked this chapter, please consider giving it a vote.