I wince at the small sprinkle of water that falls on me, making me shiver. I slightly open my eyes to see the purple - pink sky with the beautiful sparkling stars, and the rays of the rising sun on the horizing. I shiver again as I see the small cloud above me drop a few more drops, and wrap my arms around myself, hoping to warm myself up. Suddenly, a cover is dropped on top of me. I grab on to it tightly, enveloping myself in it's warmness, and I look at Armin. "You're awake..." He says with a small smile. I smile back, closing my eyes again.
"Mhmmm...." I open my eyes with more sprinkles of water falling on to my face, and making me blink them away. "How long was I out?" His face stays normal, as if there was no problem with his answer.
"All day and night." At this, my eyes widen and I sit up straight, my vision going black and white and my head turning. I moan. "Sara, calm down, you still need to rest." He is about to grab my arm but I stand up, which turns out to be a major mistake because, one, my legs are sore, two, they are too weak, and three, the cart is still moving. I start wobbling as I try to reach the edge of the cart so I can jump off. "Sara! Sit down!" Armin says, grabbing my hand, making me look at him, but I don't sit down.
"Stand down Cadet." His voice is calm, cold, yet demanding. Armin looks up as I turn around to see him.
"C-corporal?" I'm about to ignore his demand, th
en the cart must have gone over a rock, because it jumps, making me fall and, while I don't land on top of Armin, I land right in front of him, ending with me rubbing my back and him holding his elbow.
After exchanging our okays, we both look back up to the Corporal, who just keeps looking ahead. "You damn brat. Do you know how much trouble you've been causing us all since yesterday?" I shake my head, and feel disappointed that once again I have managed to cause others problems. "So, you're not moving from there."
"B-but-" He shoots me a glance that immediately makes me close my mouth, but not before I look at him mad. I criss my arms, pouting and murmuring. "F-fine..." The Corporal then looks at Armin, telling him something with his expression which I can't quite make out, however Armin nods, knowing exactly what is going on. The Corporal then moves ahead. Then, Armin grabs the blanket and wraps it around my arms. I grab it and maintain myself in it's warmth, still mad at both the Corporal and Armin.
"So, Armin, what happened yesterday?" Armin looks at me surprised.
"You don't remember?" I shake my head, still thinking, and then I look back up.
"Oh wait, yeah! I remember something." He breathes in sharply, and his face starts turning a bit pink. "I remember reaching Iliana, then talking about...." This time, I turn pink, but push it all down. No need for him to know what we talked about. "... something, and then, I can't remember anything else, I think I fell asleep after that." He sighs in apparent relief.
"O-oh, okay." He smiles now, his face returning to his normal color. "Nothing much happened, we just got there and looked around. The... man you said you saw, the scientist, was no where in sight, and there was... nothing in the room." What!? No one in the room, no man!? "When we got there, Jean carried you in his back to the cart..." I imagine that last part, and out of no where, I start giggling. Armin looks at me confused. "Sara?"
"E - Eren is right..." I say between breaths and laughter. "H-horse... face...." I laugh a bit harder this time, holding my stomach, which now hurts with all this laughing, and Armin chuckles. I can't keep my balance any longer, and I rest my weight on Armin, who wraps an arm around me, as we continue to laugh.
"Oi! Who are you calling horse-face?" We look up to find Jean staring at me, annoyed, and I can't help but start laughing again.
"J-jean! I was just finished laughing.... and you come along!" I tell him, at this, Eren comes up next to Jean, both looking quite tall on their horses.
"She's right, Jean." Eren says, amused. Jean shoots a death glare towards Eren.
"I'm going to kill you, Jaeger, it's your fault she now thinks that." We all laugh. But this time, Jean smirks. "But it's not as bad as what Sara did yesterday when we got to the lodge."
"J-jean, don't." Armin says, but Eren asks for an explanation, as do I, after hearing what Eren said.
"Yeah, what happened yesterday, all I saw was Sara getting knocked out by the Corporal." I look at them all expectantly. Jean just chuckles.
"So, after having a very tired Sara keep telling me to run while giving her a ride, I let go of her by the cart, but she wouldn't go in." He is mainly speaking to Eren, but I can see he is making fun of me along the way, especially as I am hiding my face behind my hands in embarrassment. And by the way Jean was acting, this was only the beginning. "So then, she just stood there, until the Corporal came up to us. Sara ran up to him, hugged his neck very tightly, as I could see, and said in a very enthusiastic voice, 'Armin!'" I blush like never before, and I'm thankful for the covers, I hide myself under them to conceal my red face. I h-h-hugged the C-corporal!?
"Then Armin came along, and she let go of the Corporal and and ran to Armin, doing the same. And then, as you came along, Eren, she started running towards you to do the same, the Corporal grabbed her arm and knocked her out. How? I don't know. But it was quite the sight." I am now hiding behind the covers, with Armin's arm still around me, and three boys laughing at me.
~~
I ended up falling asleep on Armin's lap, and I woke up when we were about to enter the wall. Jean and Eren are no where in sight, only Armin is still next to me, he kind of had to be since I did fall asleep on his lap.
We enter the wall, and everyone starts gathering around us, just leaving a trail for us to go ahead. And once again, the people start murmuring, but not about the usual they do with us, they seem surprised. "They're all back..." "No one died..." "They all seem fine..." They all start to beam with proudness, as if they finally did something right with the Survey Corps, when in reality, they have done nothing.
"My daughter's back!" I hear a male voice say, and I turn to look excitedly.
"D-daddy!?" I mumble, but find a man running to a young lady to the far end of the entire caravan. I feel my heart churn, and I just hold my chest. It hurts. I'll never see him again.
Armin pushes a strand of my hair out of my face, and I lean on him as he wraps his arm around me again, sadness suddenly hitting me.
"Sara!" I hear my name called out, and I sit up, looking around for the owner of the small voice.
"Armin, do you have my glasses?" He hands them to me" and we both look back towards the front of the entire group, and find the Corporal had stopped to talk to someone. I look closer, and then the Corporal looks back, along with the head of a small boy on a barrel peeking out from behind his silhouette. "Junior!" I cry out as I jump off the cart and run to him. My legs still feel weak, but I manage to reach him, immediately embracing him in a hug. The people around start to awe, but I disregard them.
"Armin!" He yells out, and I turn to find Armin walking up to us. "You all made it back!" We both smile at him, as he hugs me again. "Sara! Come over today! Come over!" He yells, and I look up at Corporal Levi for permission.
"No." I sigh and look back at my brother, who is pouting and trying to make his mad face at him.
"Levi! Please!" I cover his mouth as soon as the name escapes his mouth. It's Corporal... Corporal! Corporal Levi just glares at my brother, which doesn't seem to intimidate the boy.
"You may come with us." The Corporal looks at Jr, and we all look at him surprised. "I'll allow it this once." I can't help but do a light squeal in joy. We all bow in respect to the Corporal.
"I'll go get the horses." Says Armin as he leaves to fetch them. When he comes back, he's on his horse, as I get onto mine.
"Come on Jr." I say, but he shakes his head.
"Nope, I want to ride with Levi!" The Corporal just looks at him, and without saying a word, starts moving ahead. I sigh as I grab Jr.
"He doesn't do that stuff." I hit the back of his head lightly. "And I told you to refer to him as Corporal, not simply Levi!" Armin chuckles as I grab him in a hug while he's on my lap. Jr just laughs and hugs me back.
"Sara. You're back..." He says. Yup... I'm back...
