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“Erwin,” Levi calls out from his horse. The wind was sharp against his face, the saddle too hard against his buttocks as he pushed his way up Mount Nedlay.
“We have been at this for hours. My butt can’t possibly take it anymore”, he tells Erwin who was riding his white horse to his left with the same effort but seems unperturbed nevertheless.
“Just a little longer,” Erwin shouts back, “It is supposed to be around here.”
“What was?” Levi asks already fed up, but just like before Erwin looks at him with nothing but a confident smile that says,
“You’ll see.”
Levi growls loudly to himself as Erwin takes the lead and darts in front of him. It was definitely unfair to his butt and his heart he had to completely trust this man and his handsome smiles. But ever since Levi has decided to follow Erwin, Levi was yet to be disappointed with his judgment.
Erwin, when presented with the information and resources, was able to come up with plans that have minimized the mortality rate within the Corps and had pushed the regiment farther than anyone else’s. He was Commander for only a year but things were moving fast. Even when the sacrifices of everyone else weighed on him.
As his Captain and close friend, Levi had no reason to doubt Erwin`s drive, but at times like this when he looked at Erwin, whose hair had been unraveled by the strong winds, eyebrows were set with determination and eyes were sparkling with excitement, he truly looked like a mad man.
Close friend is what they came to after all these years for they haven’t put a name to it yet. With Erwin`s promotion things have been more hetict than before, Levi itself have been busy with his own special squad, but they never were able to deny the attraction between them and with this much pressure it was inevitable they were to become closer.
Levi can’t remember the exact moment it has started but he remembers wanted to be in on Erwin’s plans, unknown to himself he began to pick up Erwin’s pen when he dropped it, completing Erwin’s reports when he was unfit to do it, bringing him tea on a long night, providing company, debating ideas, sharing ideals, making fun of his ridiculously well kept hair and meticulously ironed white shirt - Who even has time for that? - his crooked nose and eyes which were too beautiful, too wise, too tired after a long day of paperwork, too relaxed once he was lying on Levi’s bed and Levi has sucked the last bit of strength out of him.
Levi observes Erwin closer and thinks to himself, He normally wouldn’t be so inconsequent. There is certainly a strong reason behind this.
“There’s a place just far out Krolva on Mount Nedlay,” he recalls Erwin saying, “that may provide valuable information for our main pursuit. We cannot risk the whole regiment and we don’t have enough supplies to take everyone there and back but a one man operation should be able to make it”.
Levi sighs, “Guess, there is no helping it. We gotta see this through.”
As they continue the ride up the mountain the first rays of sunlight clear up their path and they speed up. The journey so far has been uneventful for the two of them, the few Titans they have encountered during the night were sleeping and were mostly on plain grounds.
Not many up the mountain, it must be too unstable for them.
Their original mission was to retrieve a few military chests and other unique items from a base northwest of the Krolva district just on the skirts of Wall Maria. The base has been abandoned after the Wall has been breached but before it was a strategic point of storage from the goods coming from the Quinta district on the West territory.
The Wall Maria grounds were still crawling with Titans but the Survey Corps managed to reach the base on the 5th day out with minimum casualties and everything according to plan. They have subsequently taken refuge inside the Krolva district where the Walls were still intact but which was mostly desert because the population, fearing another attack from the titans just outside Krolva’s Walls, have moved inside Wall Rose despite the officers' advice not to.
They needed a few days to restock and prepare for the travel back to the Survey Corps headquarters nearby Trost so meanwhile Erwin decided to adventure on a little journey of his own, seeing as the opportunity had presented itself when he had agreed to go on this expedition. The trip to Mount Nedlay would be short, 3 hours maximum (1 hour to reach, 2 hours to climb) and he could make it during the night. Since this was unofficial business and could be as well all a bluff, he could not risk involving too many people yet.
He had confided in Mike and Hanji to take care of business during his absence under the public pretense he was feeling a little under the weather and needed to take the day to sleep it off and made all the arrangements to leave during the dawn of their first day in Krolva, after everyone was either getting a much deserved rest or passed out drunk.
Nothing escapes Levi’s eyes though, specially bullshit excuses, and as soon as Erwin steered his horse from the stables towards the gates he heard the Captain’s voice, “Going somewhere, blondie?”
It was futile to fight against Levi who insisted to accompany him for it was too dangerous out there and he as the Commander of the Survey Corps could not expect to make such travel by his own. He needed, in Levi’s words “Someone there to look after you when you are taking a shit.”
Levi may seem enthusiastic at the time if only to prove his point, however, they barely got any rest and were out again for a 3 hours horse ride. Levi’s mood began to flop.
Exhaustion was taking over. The further up the mountain they went the path started to look the same, the dense trees and vegetation barely giving out anything of the landscape. The road was becoming more rocky, more curvaceous and monotonous to make things worse. The horses moved at a slower pace and Levi couldn’t really tell if they were closer or not.
Just when he began to wonder if there was any point to all of that or if Erwin had finally lost it, they saw a small clearing up the path, to which Erwin cheers, “There it is!”.
Levi looks out confused. Left and right, it all looked the same. There was literally nothing there, only less trees.
The horses slow even more as they approach the spot and Erwin jumps down too quickly upon spotting a sign which was covered by vines. Levi watches bewildered as Erwin lifts up the vines and reads out loud “Mount Nedlay Point of View”, followed by “That’s it!”
Levi was still pretty much unclear about what all the commotion was, he looked around again, trying to spot anything odd, something he missed, but there was nothing to view, no one they could get information from.
He watches as Erwin leads his horse a few steps closer to the clearing and stops, his face completely in shock. When Levi reaches him a few moments later he understands why.
There before them, there was a view he had never seen before.
Smaller mountains gathered on the valley before Mount Nedlay and stretched far out almost to the horizon but before it could reach it, there was Wall Maria, the last Wall before the land ended and a huge body of water began. One so big you couldn’t see the end of it, not even from that high up.
“That’s some big ass lake”, Levi lets out, still in shock.
Besides him Erwin seems to have recovered first and chuckles, he ties his horse to a tree and mentions to Levi to do the same. Once Levi is done, still a bit befuddled by what exactly they were looking at, Erwin says, “I believe that’s what the forbidden books called, ‘the sea’,” he then offers his hand to Levi, “Come on. Let’s see it together”
Levi takes his hand and tries to process that information as they approach the edge of the clearing.
The view from the edge is even more panoramic and Levi is even more taken back by how far out “the sea” stretched, further into the horizon, it almost blended with the sky. In fact it was so far out you could barely make out anything with human eyes.
He snorts, “That name hardly sounds appropriate. You can’t actually ‘se-e’ any shit”.
Erwin chuckles some more and goes on to explain a little bit more about the “se-a”.
When Levi glances upon him, he realizes the mad look has been gone, instead it was replaced by another glowing exciting look, one he has only witnessed a few other times, often in Erwin’s quarters after dark, on the rare occasion after they have basked in each other’s bodies and were just relaxing by the bed with no urgent duties to attend to, when Erwin had shed all his layers and all was left was the essence of that boy who was too curious for his own good and who has grown into a man who was too afraid to dream but whose curiosity has never left him - a man who would talk freely about his own theories about this World, of all its possibilities.
The sun was shining on Erwin’s hair, on his eyes and he never looked so radiant.
“...The books used to say the sea stretched as far as the horizon, was as deep as the sky is tall, and was home to underwater civilizations and even mountains!” Erwin exclaims.
“Ok, now you’re just making that shit up.” Levi says, matter of factly, and turns back to the view, wonders how deep that sea could actually be to hide a mountain.
“Levi, I swear I’m not-” Erwin begins but stops as soon as he realizes Levi is pointing at something.
“Alright, Mr. Knows It All, if you’re so clever then what’s the name of that tall house over there with the light.”
Erwin looks over and squints a little until he finally sees it, “Oh, that’s an easy one! It’s a lighthouse!” He says too eager and Levi looks at him sort of unsure if he came up with the name on the spot or not, for Levi had basically handed it to him.
Erwin must have caught his train of thoughts because he blushes a little, tries to hide his excitement and compose himself by coughing and shoving a strand of hair back into place, “A lighthouse,” he begins on a more serious note, “is a building often by the sea and sometimes inland on lakes, for example, which it’s designed with a couple of lanterns to serve as beacon of light and provide navigation aid to those traveling by water.”
Levi nods, tries to hide a little smile at how adorable Erwin was by looking back at the tiny structure on top of a hill nearby the port. There were no boats in sight but the lighthouse was still in operation since a small flame could be seen.
“But still,” Levi asks, “why hasn’t anyone been informed about this place before?”
“There have been previous sights. A ‘lake’ this big would be impossible to miss-”, Erwin smiles as Levi gives him some side look at the mention of the incorrect term used before but says nothing else, “but Wall Maria provides enough cover for its sight and the civilization this far out is pretty scarce - too many Titans, too little resources. Furthermore, all sightings have been carefully wiped out from the books and reports by the Government in favor of maintaining the order.”
“I believe only a few close members of the Garisson know about this place. They have been carrying out illegal trading for the King and his friends.”
Levi snorts once again as if to say “figures” but stays quiet.
“But why don't they want anyone else to know? What’s so precious out there?”, he says after a moment.
“Gold, probably.” Erwin answers without a blink then adds, “But also the knowledge that Paradis is not the only nation in the World.”
Levi looks out and swallows, his throat suddenly constrained.
There was no doubting the immensity of that World and he wasn’t so ignorant as to think Paradis was the only nation out there, even inside Paradis itself there were many different districts, many places they haven’t even began to map out yet, but that’s the thing, they have been so busy with their feet on the ground that he hasn't even considered there were other nations out there.
And there was no telling if whoever was on the other side of that sea was a friend or foe. If they were an ally, wouldn’t they’ve come to their rescue already? Levi frowns.
They stay quiet for a while, lost in thoughts and in the view.
The situation was almost absurd, it was almost as if there was a storm upon them, an unknown danger, something hidden in the water, just waiting to show it’s neck out, mouth full of teeth, but it was also so peaceful. Erwin’s hand was still in his, it was warm, and he was glad to have that one keeping him steady.
“I have intercepted secret messages from the soldiers before,” Erwin says again breaking their silence, “they were talking about some precious cargo which has been lost in the sea. But I haven’t yet got a close grap on the nobles which this message was intended to. Seems like all communication halted after Wall Maria was breached or they have changed the way it was delivered.”
Levi nods and adds after a while, “Do you think there are Titans out there too?”
“The way this information has been kept off with top secret, I’m guessing there are worse monsters out there.”
Levi swallows again, he could feel the tenseness in his gut, “Our fight will never be over, will it?”
It was almost ironic but he didn’t feel like laughing.
Erwin doesn’t answer right away, he just squeezes Levi’s hand gently, “There is an end and a new beginning for everything.”
Levi just stares at him and his non-answer.
Erwin was right and life was afterall uncertain, but at that moment there was one thing he was certain of. One thing he could rely on besides his own strength.
Erwin was still staring at him with very tender eyes and he had lost count of how long they had been standing in there, just the two of them, at the top of the World, their fight and everything else briefly forgotten.
“I’m glad I got to see this with you,” Erwin says with a more cheerful smile and turns to the sea. “I didn’t think we were ever going to see it in our lifetime. Afterall, our fight has just begun and it is mostly unfair.”
The wind is cold and is making Erwin’s nose red, the water in his eyes is deep and turbulent, but his eyebrows are decisive, and he looks just as handsome as he’s ever been.
Levi realizes he must have started for too long because Erwin looks back at him so he looks away, “You are awfully affectionate for someone who just discovered their fight is far from over”, he says as he squeezes Erwin’s hand back.
The sky was as blue as Erwin's eyes, the sun as bright as his hair. A couple of seagulls flew in the distance and it reminds Levi of that day, of Isabel and Farlan, of when he decided to follow Erwin Smith. A man who has brought him hope in a gloomier time, a man who just like that lighthouse, provided him guidance.
“Erwin,” Levi starts, “I don’t care how many walls or seas we will need to cross.”
He breathes in, holding Erwin's hand tight - the World has changed yet again but there was one truth that still remained the same, “We will do it together.”