Despondent Beauty [Ereri/Riren Fanfic] [COMPLETED]

Chapter XXII

AN: POV switch to Levi.

The next day came by almost in slow motion, but I didn't mind it seeing as I had Eren cuddling up next to me. I laid a kiss on his forehead before carefully getting out of the bed and putting on my clothes. I had left the room and began walking around the castle-like building, searching for Erwin and the others. I doubted they'd be inside so I found my way outside and began scanning the area around me, trying to look as inconspicuous as possible if any Taos came walking by. I was lucky enough not to run into any guards when I finally found Erwin and his group, so I jogged up to them and flagged them down.

" Good morning Levi." Erwin started. "Hold on, why aren't you wearing a mask? You could get poisoned!"

" You seemed to have forgotten that Kenny experimented on me. The end result; wings, talons, and the ability to breath the air here. Anyway, that's not important. Eren thought about it and he's prepared to go through with it."

" Okay slow down. You're saying he's ready to go to war?"

" Yes. So first things first he needs to announce this to his people and prepare an army before Kenny strikes. Any ideas when that might be?"

" Kenny told us if we didn't come back to him at 0900 hours he'd launch his attack; that's less than two hours from now."

" Right then, I'll head back and get Eren and then we'll set up a plan."

" I'm already here." I turned around to see that Eren was behind me wearing a small smile.

I nodded and then offered my arm to him, in which he took a hold of and so we joined up with Erwin and walked with him and the others to find a place out of the way from any Taos keeping watch. We eventually found a place to set up the plan and so I grabbed a few sticks, cleared a patch of dirt, and began laying out my ideas. After I did so and explained Erwin and Eren discussed a few things to look out for and laid out places where things could possibly go wrong. We listened to everyone's ideas and concerns until we finally came up with a plan.

" Just to recap; we focus our main forces as far away from the palace as possible so the Taos last refuge isn't destroyed. Second, we lure the commander towards the decoy we'll set up. He's after both Eren and this tree that Eren had mentioned, so instead Hanji will pretend to be him and will be holding fake seeds. Next, once he takes the bait it'll be too late for him to back out as we'll have the rest of our forces surrounding him. Finally, Eren shows up and strikes the final blow in the war." Erwin re-elaborated.

I nodded along to the plan before we listened to Eren speak up.

" What if he realizes what we're planning before falling for it? Do we have a backup plan?"

" There's a good chance he won't fall for it, so that's why you and I will go up to him ourselves." I gripped Eren's shoulder with confidence that everything would turn out okay in the end.

" Alright. We stick to the plan and if anything goes wrong you guys will take leadership over your own squadrons." Eren announced.

" Won't your people kill us on sight?" Hanji asked.

" Not unless I tell them you're trustworthy." The brunette replied with a smirk.

I couldn't help but smile and let out a small chuckle before standing up and dusting away our drawn plans using my tail. The six of us then walked towards the palace, as Erwin called it, when we were stopped by a guard. I watched as Eren turned around to face him but this time he stood with the same confidence and determination he had the first time we met.