CHAPTER - 22 { Expedition End }

"I can't accept it, Commander Erwin!"

"Hey, you…"

Suddenly, a soldier shouted at Erwin while the other soldiers tried to make him stay quiet.

"We should recover them! Ivan's body was right in front of us!"

The reason was that Erwin decided to leave behind the corpses which couldn't be retrieved without risk.

Those bodies were mostly near titans and it was also difficult to recover them unless one attracts the titans away.

"If they attack, we could just defeat them!"

"Ivan's an old friend. We're from the same town. I know his parents. If nothing else, I'd like to bring his body back!"

These two soldiers were not giving the others to communicate as they spoke loudly.

Erwin glanced at them while another senior soldier asked these two to not talk about it and let it be.

"Squabbling kids?"

"Captain Levi…"

Levi walked towards them. His presence was heavy as the two didn't talk much loud.

"If you've confirmed he's dead, that's enough. Whether you have his body, dead is dead. Nothing will change."

Levi said with an expressionless face to the two soldiers.

"No…"

The soldiers were unable to speak back for Levi as what they heard was really true.

Dead, is ultimately dead.

"We will say Ivan and the others went missing. That's my final decision. Give it up."

Erwin said as he turned and walked away from the two soldiers with Levi and the senior soldiers.

"Don't the two of you… have any human feelings!"

One of the two soldiers, named Dieter, shouted as he pointed at Erwin and Levi.

A soldier tried to stopped him from speaking any further as it might cause serious problems but Dieter slapped his hand away.

Erwin and Levi continued to walk away with solemn expressions without turning back even though they heard Dieter's words.

And so, all the soldiers rode their horses and on carriages heading back.

* * *

The horses stormed the path as soldiers sped them up to reach the destination as fast as they could.

Vlad held the reins of the two horses which pulled the carriage carrying multiple dead bodies.

On his sides, Rose and Mike rode their horses and matched the carriage's speed.

"We should reach the Walls in about three hours if nothing comes in between our path."

Said Rose as she looked down at Vlad from the horse's back. Vlad nodded his head at her.

But unfortunately for them, their luck wasn't with them for the entire day.

"Titans!"

The first person to notice shouted and alerted all the soldiers.

Everyone turned to look behind as they saw two abnormal titans rushing towards them.

In front of these two titans, two soldiers speed up their horses to outrun them.

"That's… Dieter!"

The one to recognize those two soldiers who led the titans towards them was a senior soldier.

Dieter carried Ivan's body on his back while speeding his horse.

"That fool!"

The senior soldier gritted his teeth and pulled out the flare gun. He then shot a red flare in the sky.

"Onwards at full speed!"

Erwin narrowed his eyes then faced forward and ordered. Levi beside him looked around the surroundings.

"I don't see any tall trees or buildings. Fighting out here will be difficult."

Levi said with a serious face. Erwin nodded his head in agreement.

The only result of the fight with those two abnormal titans would be in injuries or even more deaths.

Also, more titans could be unintentionally attracted by their fight.

Meanwhile on Dieter's side, he barely managed to dodge a slap from one of the two abnormal titans.

But due to his movement, Ivan's body fell on the ground and got crushed between the titan's feet.

"Ahh! Save me!"

His other friend got caught by the other abnormal titans as he screamed and begged.

Dieter stopped and leaped from his horse to save his friend while the other titan headed towards the carriages.

"Bastards! They really led two abnormal titans to us."

Rose stared at the incoming titans with anger in her eyes. They already suffered a lot, anymore and the Survey Corps would be doomed.

"Captain, what do we do?"

Asked Mike, his lazy self was already gone as he looked towards Vlad awaiting his orders.

"Don't, fighting is a waste of time and also problematic here in plain ground. We might attract even more titans that way."

Vlad said calmly. Rose knew it from the start as she was more smarter than Vlad in studies and other mind related activities.

"Wait for Commander Erwin's words. He will decide what we have to do."

Vlad sighed and shook his head. He glanced at the abnormal titans.

They were just behind him, the killers of his family and friends. But Vlad couldn't do anything.

After all, he was just one person. At most he could kill a couple of hundreds of these titans but not completely wipe them.

"There's more!"

The soldiers might have handled those two abnormal titans somehow but more came in their sight.

The abnormal titan which caught Dieter's friend eat him instantly while Dieter shouted as he slashed his blades.

But he was caught as well. The titan tightened its grip on its hand which held Dieter to crush him.

Mikasa, as she saw it, swung behind the abnormal titan and killed it before Dieter was crushed to death.

"T-They are throwing the bodies."

Mike looked at the carriages in the rear which were throwing off the dead bodies to decrease the weight.

"Now, throw the bodies."

Levi rode his horse and came to the carriage which was handled by Vlad.

"Mike, we don't have a choice now."

Rose looked at Mike with a pained face. She also didn't want to throw away the dead bodies.

As one of them belonged to their late comrade, Vector. Mike gritted his head and gave up on his thought to keep Vector.

He and Rose got on the carriage from the horses and started throwing down the bodies.

"... Sorry!"

Mike closed his eyes and lifted up Vector's body with Rose and threw it off the carriage at last.

Bam.

Mike sat on the carriage heavily. He breathed with difficulty while Rose tried to talk to him.

"We must survive. For ourselves, and for Vector."

She placed her hand on his shoulder and spoke with a hardened voice.

The entire time, Vlad didn't look at them as he didn't need to.

He understood everything that these two felt. But he couldn't get the same feeling anymore.

"Mike…"

Vlad called him and extended his left hand towards the back where Mike sat.

"This!"

Rose and Mike knew what this ring in Vlad's palm was. This ring belonged to Vector.

"I hand this over to you, Mike. Keep it safe for both me and Vector."

Vlad's voice rang in Mike's ears but he was facing the front controlling the horses to speed on the path.

Mike took the ring from Vald's palm and held it in his hand. He could feel it, the weight that this small ring carried.

"I, I won't disappoint you captain! And I won't disappoint Vector! From now on, I will only give my 100% in everything!"

Mike's voice had become hoarse. Rose smiled at him and got back to her horse.

After the soldiers threw the dead bodies, they were able to outrun the titans and safely arrive in the town.

Yet, not one person had a smile on their faces.