A Cruel, Yet Beautiful World (Eren x Mikasa) AoT AU

Chapter 3

Danorum Castle, headquarters for the Survey Corps, was almost completely silent as the sun began to rise in the sky. With the exception of a few sentries watching the perimeter, most scouts lie asleep in their beds. One of these sentries was sipping black tea and watching the sun break into the night sky. This is Sergeant Levi, second in command of the Special Operation's Squad and one of humanity's greatest fighter. The young Scout was a legend through out the military, though he could cared less about what they thought of him.

The man was deep in thought as his sea grey eyes watched above. Levi kept asking himself exactly what he was doing in the Survey Corps. He had been with the military branch for two years now and had seen enough of his comrades being consumed by titans to leave anyone traumatized. The man could still hear their desperate cries and pleas for help every time he closed his eyes. Levi did not join this regiment for any noble reasons like they did. He did not come here to, "reconquer the world in the name of humanity", "avenge all the people killed by titans" or "to bring honor to his family." He joined the Scouts because he was basically given the choice of either this or a deaths sentence in Military Police Custody by Erwin Smith. It seems that the man saw some sort of usefulness in Levi he could use in his regiment.

The blonde haired man not only convinced him to join the Survey Corps but, also personally requested Levi join his unit. Erwin had also nominated the young scout to be one of the headquarters sentry for nights. He had even promoted Levi to second in command of the Special Operations Squad. However, the grey eyed soldier did not know exactly why he did all of this.

Nor did Levi understand what was even keeping himself in the Survey Corps. He missed the freedom and power he used to have back when he practically ran The Underground. If he really wanted to, he could easily leave the military regiment right now. It is not like there was anyone here to stop him from deserting. Barely anyone was awake right now so it would be a perfect time to run away. Even if someone was here, they would stand no chance at capturing him, not again. However, what was strange was that Erwin knew how easy it was for him to leave and still nominated him nonetheless.

Levi's deep thought was suddenly broken when he ran out of black tea in his cup. The young Scout groaned as left watching the sky and turned around to walk towards the Regiment Commanders office. As the grey eyed man entered the room, he saw three people already inside. There was middle aged man with thinning brown hair and a young man with bushy honey blonde hair covering his eyes both asleep in chairs. As well as a man with a blonde comb over standing over a desk looking over a map. Levi closed the door behind him before walking towards the tea kettle to pour himself another cup.

Levi then sighed before saying, "Erwin, no matter how much you look at that map; nothing is going to change on it. We have eleven days before the scouting expedition outside the walls and plenty of time to prepare. It is best that you get some sleep now to save your wits for then, god knows we'll need it."

"No..." the sleep deprived Squad leader groggily replied without looking up, "every mistake and error that we make here will kill ten people out there. This plan has to be absolutely flawless to minimize casualties."

"Very well." Levi said as he poured a second cup and handed it to his superior. The grey eyed scout then sat in an empty seat and took a sip from his tea before saying, "so... tell me your plan."

Erwin drank from his cup before pointing to the map, "Our recent observations show that Titans struggle to swim in flowing water; so I was thinking that we follow this river to only keep the titans on one side of us. Of course this reduces our maneuverability so I need a bait squad positioned away from the river to draw out the titans attention and keep them away from the wagons. I want to use the Special Operation Squad so I thought you and I-"