Chapter 79: Social Death and Awakening
Shiganshina District.
The remaining soldiers of the Survey Corps, dragging their exhausted bodies, escorted their prisoner. Step by step, they advanced toward the basement that held the truth of their world. The sun slanted through the broken buildings, casting dappled shadows on the ground.
Within the ranks, two splashes of color were particularly eye-catching, drawing the restrained yet curious gazes of those nearby.
A dark brown dress.
A dark blue tactical skirt.
Worn by Eren Jaeger and Levi Ackerman.
The sight was so bizarre that the very air was thick with an awkward tension.
Connie, walking a little further back in the formation, finally couldn't hold it in any longer. He lightly elbowed Jean in the ribs, his voice low, but his shoulders were shaking from suppressed laughter.
"Hey—Jean, look—Eren's outfit, pfft—it really looks like— and Captain Levi's—"
Though his voice was quiet, in the near-silent procession, it was still clearly audible.
Jean's face instantly went pale. He instinctively jabbed Connie hard in the side, hissing in a terrified whisper, "Shut up! Do you have a death wish?! Captain Levi is right up ahead!!!" He shot a nervous glance at the grim figure in front of them, a chill running down his spine. Captain Levi hadn't said a word, but the low-pressure aura emanating from him was practically freezing the air.
"But… it really… is a skirt—" Connie was still muttering recklessly, his face contorting as he tried to stifle his laughter.
Almost the instant Connie's first syllable escaped his lips, Levi, walking at the very front, faltered for a fraction of a second. He didn't turn around, but the invisible pressure he exuded intensified dramatically, his icy gaze seemingly piercing through the back of his head to lock onto the source of the sound.
"Tch…" A very soft click of the tongue, clearly annoyed, came from the front.
Eren, walking a few steps behind and to the side of Levi, had of course heard Connie and Jean's suicidal whispers loud and clear. His face flushed a deep red, the heat spreading to the tips of his ears.
A skirt… a skirt…
He instinctively looked down at the dark brown dress that was so completely against his aesthetic. He hadn't had time to think about it while saving Armin, or when Hange was pestering him, but now, with Connie's comment, the shame he had been suppressing came flooding back.
The grief of losing his comrades, the exhaustion of survival, the confusion about this new power, and the anxiety for the future—all these complex emotions swirled together, making him want to rush over and sew Connie's mouth shut. He didn't even dare to look at Captain Levi's expression. All he could do was stiffly turn his head, his eyes darting around frantically, pretending to observe their surroundings.
Levi, perhaps sensing the suffocatingly awkward atmosphere behind him, or perhaps having reached his own limit of tolerance for being stared at like a monkey in a zoo, abruptly stopped. The entire procession came to a halt. Everyone instinctively held their breath.
As Magical Girls, the two of them needed no words to communicate. A faint light shimmered around their bodies. Levi's dark blue tactical skirt and Eren's dark brown dress quickly faded, becoming transparent before vanishing completely. In their place were their original Survey Corps uniforms—stained with blood and dirt, and torn in several places.
They had changed back.
Connie and Jean's whispering stopped instantly. We're done for. The Captain heard us. Connie's face turned beet red, and a cold sweat broke out on his forehead. He froze completely. Jean, on the other hand, quickly turned his head, stared straight ahead, and straightened his back, adopting the posture of someone who had heard nothing and was completely focused on the march.
The air was still for a few seconds.
Then, Levi started walking again, his voice as cold and emotionless as ice. "Keep moving."
The group slowly began to move again, but the atmosphere was even more oppressive and heavy than before.
…
The stretchers swayed gently and rhythmically. Fearing some unforeseen side effect, the group had decided not to wake the two men immediately. After all, what they had just witnessed was so miraculous that they didn't dare act rashly. And even if they didn't wake up, they still had the syringe and the Colossal Titan.
It was amidst this constant rocking that Commander Erwin's consciousness gradually escaped the grip of darkness.
First, he heard footsteps, disorganized and heavy. Then, suppressed breathing and the occasional low whisper. His eyelids were incredibly heavy. With great effort, he slowly opened his eyes. His blurry vision took in the shattered sky and the outlines of broken buildings.
I'm… still alive?
The thought left him feeling a little dazed. He remembered it clearly. The final, suicidal charge. He had used the last of his strength to shout "Tatakae." Then, the sharp pain of being pierced by shrapnel, and the swift, encroaching darkness… He should have been dead.
He tried to move his fingers, to push himself up, but his limbs were still weak. But—the fatal wound that had torn through his abdomen was gone. He subconsciously touched his stomach. It was flat. Unharmed. Only his torn clothes served as a reminder of the grievous injury he had sustained.
What in the world is going on?
"Commander! You're awake!" a surprised voice said beside him. It was Floch, the new recruit who had once feared a meaningless death but had ultimately chosen to charge forward.
Then, Levi's expressionless face appeared above him. "How do you feel? If you're okay, get up and walk on your own." Levi's words were, as always, brief.
"I—" Erwin's voice was still hoarse. "I'm alive?"
"Yeah, you're alive," Hange answered, her voice brimming with excitement. "Thanks to Levi and Eren! And that amazing… uh, magic!"
Magic? What's that? Erwin's brow furrowed slightly. He looked at Levi.
Levi explained in a few clipped sentences. About the appearance of the white creature. About the contract to "grant a wish." About how Eren had saved Armin, and how he himself had chosen to save Erwin.
Erwin listened in silence. The amount of information was overwhelming, completely beyond his scope of understanding. But he didn't question it. He was alive, and the syringe was still there. That was the best proof.
"So I was saved…" The place he had dedicated his life to reaching, the basement that held the world's secrets, was just ahead. And yet, he had survived in a way he had never imagined, "passively."
…
On the other stretcher, the rocking also woke Armin from his unconscious state. Unlike Erwin, his last memory was of the intense pain of being burned, the feeling of suffocation as the flames consumed him. He thought he would die in that hellish steam.
But now, there was no pain. Not at all. He tried to breathe. It was smooth and steady. He slowly opened his eyes. The first thing he saw was Eren's face, filled with worry and overwhelming relief, his eyes still a little red and swollen.
"Armin! You're awake!"