Erwin
Erwin had just finished drawing the curtains shut against prying eyes when Hange burst into his room, closely trailed by Moblit.
"Erwin! Big trouble! The situation got worse!" she exclaimed. "There're two things! The first is that Eren and Historia were abducted, and three on my team were killed. After this, I'm meeting up with Anya and Levi again to see if we can find where Eren and Historia have been taken."
"And?" he asked. "The other thing?"
"Eren remembered a conversation between Ymir and Bertholdt, but..."
She pulled out a folded piece of parchment and glanced over it, raising a hand to her forehead.
"Shit, if this is true... My head's gonna explode!"
"Calm down!" Moblit urged.
Erwin poured some water and offered it to Hange. She snatched the cup from him and drained its contents.
"What's the problem?" he asked, arm still outstretched.
"If we don't rescue him quick, Eren will get eaten!" she cried, water dribbling down her chin.
He frowned, and Hange quickly explained her theory.
"You must go to Anya and Levi straight away, then," he said once she'd finished. "Hange. The logical next step is to find two members of the First Interior Squad and interrogate them for Eren and Historia's location, and...when you do that...you need to watch Anastasya."
"Huh?"
"Just...don't let her lose herself."
Hange paused for a moment, then a flicker of what he hoped was understanding crossed her face.
"Speaking of Anya, she wrote this for you, although I'm sure it says much of what I just told you," she said, pulling out another document. "She was going to have it sent to you had she not seen me."
He took it, but dared not read it in their company.
"Go now, then. We can't let anything happen to Eren," he said.
Hange nodded and saluted along with Moblit, before leaving and shutting Erwin in his room again. He opened the letter and read each word written in Anastasya's sharp, erratic handwriting as though it held a thousand meanings. She'd used their childhood cypher, but he remembered it without problem.
"Anastasya," he murmured as he read the last part of the message. "The day I stop worrying about you will be the day I die."
He held the letter to his chest and wracked his brain for how he could help his friends.
***
Anastasya
A few hours after regrouping at the warehouse, Squad Anvi trailed a covered wagon through the dark like wild dogs stalking their prey. Dimo Reeves had agreed to cooperate and, along with his son Flegel, he drove Djel Sannes and another member of the Military Police to the outpost Levi had specified. Reeves had told the two men that it was where Squad Anvi was hiding, and they'd leapt at the chance to go and arrest them without any consideration that it might be a trap, much to Anya's amusement. She rode next to Levi, hoping her expression was indifferent and glacial, betraying none of the uncertainty and tension she felt roiling inside. Ever since the chase through Trost, the recruits had been looking at her as though they didn't quite know what to do or say in her presence. She understood that they were shocked and appalled that she and Levi had killed so many men and women earlier, but things were about to get a lot more brutal and she wasn't sure they were ready for it. As they reached the outpost, Reeves pulled the horses to a halt. A moment later, Sannes poked his ugly head out of the covering. Jean rushed forward and knocked him out with the butt of his rifle as Mikasa leapt smoothly inside and did the same to the other soldier. Levi nodded and the recruits carried them into the outpost building and down to the prison cells, placing one man in each room. Under Anya's direction, they bound them to chairs and left them there to come round. Anya didn't think it would take long, and she suppressed a shudder at the prospect of talking to Sannes. Simply seeing him ignited a rage and hatred so strong that her hands quaked. She gestured to the recruits to follow her. Down the corridor from the cells was a table with two wooden benches on either side, and they sat down to wait.
"Good work," she told them. "Now, unless any of you want to learn about torture, I recommend you stay here."
"T-torture?" Jean asked.
"One of those bastards is Sannes. He's not going to talk without putting up a fight; believe me."
"That reminds me; I'd better look for something we can use," said Levi, getting up and walking off.
"Whatever you hear, remember that they are responsible for taking Eren and Historia. That they have killed without mercy," Anya continued.
They stared at her with wide eyes and she sighed, just as one of the soldiers shouted out from his cell. She stood up when Levi returned wearing a large brown apron and thick, heavy-duty gloves. He carried the same for her, along with a few general-use tools he'd discovered.
"That'll do," she said. "One of them is awake."
"Already?" he asked.
"Mm. Come on; no time to lose."
She strolled towards the cells without another word to the recruits, though Levi stopped her for a moment.
"Hey."
"What is it?" she asked.
"I haven't done this kind of thing before. You know what you're doing?"
"Yeah. Just...follow my lead."
YOU ARE READING
The Path Back to You | Levi x OC
Fanfiction"Reveal yourself," Erwin ordered, though Mikasa detected uncertainty in the commander's voice. It was almost as though he were afraid of who lay beneath the cloak. The entire regiment held its breath as the rider reached up with pale hands and lowe...
