Chapter Text
“I will bet you everything I own that you can’t stay a night in that castle!” Jean taunted Eren for what felt like the millionth time that day.
“Jean, are you serious.” Eren looked at him dumbfounded. “We face man-eating monsters, I can turn into a titan, and you really think I would be scared of a supposed rumor? Ha! Jean, you're pretty stupid, but that was pretty funny.”
“Eren! You would cry your eyes out to the point that Mikasa would have to rescue you!” Jean shouted.
“No, I wouldn’t.” Eren laughed again. “I don’t care how many cadets claim that place is haunted. Ghosts aren’t real. Plus, if they were, there aren’t many things scarier than titans. And we are beating all of them.”
Jean, getting mad now, glanced aggressively at Eren. “It's gotta be haunted!”
“Jean ghosts aren’t real.” Armin looked up from his book. “The idea that the old castle is haunted is just a rumor.”
“But so many MPs have been scared shitless there!!” Jean said. “It's got to be haunted!”
Armin gazed at Jean with bleary-eyed; he let his shoulders drop with a long sigh. “If you're just trying to freak Eren out, just say it.”
“I'm not!”
It had been six months since the Battle of Shiganshina had taken place, and things, for once, we're actually going good for the Scouts. They had reclaimed the wall with few casualties, they were seeing fewer titans each day, and they hadn’t had a scout death in nearly four months. Things were actually going smoothly for Eren and his friends, so now they had more time to relax on days such as this. Where Jean, Armin, and Eren found themselves taking refuge from the late spring heat in the shade provided by a large tree.
“Hey, guys!” Connie, Mikasa, and Sasha walked up to them.
Sasha, with her mouth stuffed with food, asked the group a question. “What are you all talking about?”
“Jean wants us to spend a night in the old Castle North from here. Apparently, a bunch of MPs says it's haunted.” Eren sighed. “Whatever that means!”
“What no! Not the Ginsberg Castle!” Sasha cried.
“Wait, you’ve heard of it?” Jean asked.
Sasha, with exaggeration, bobbed her head up and down. “Back in my village, a bunch of kids went on a weekend trip to go explore it, But then they never came back!”
“They probably got lost on their way up there.” Eren rolled his eyes.
“No! My father and a group of the men went looking for them and never found any trace of them except for footsteps and scratch marks on nearby trees! The worst part was when my father and the men came back. They said that they felt like someone was watching them the entire time. They were all alone up there! ”
The group gazed at each other. Sasha’s story filled the air with a sense of unease.
“I say let's go.” Connie bluntly broke the tension.
“Really! After what I just told you, you want to go now!” Sasha cried.
“Yes,” Connie said bluntly.
“That's stupid,” Eren said.
“You’re stupid,” Jean remarked.
“Shut up, Jean!”
“Wait, guys, hear me out; it might be fun!” Connie said. “I've also heard a lot of rumors about that place like a witch lives there. In my village, a group of people also went camping up there and said they heard devilish screams all night! I've been curious since I was a kid, and come on; we’ve faced titans, what could be scarier than that!”
“Nah, Eren would never do it; he's too scared to go!” Jean sneered.
“Am not!” Eren defended himself.
“Yeah, you are!”
“I bet you’re too scared to go!”
Connie scratching his chin, came up with an idea. “Hey, guys!” He got the attention of the group. “Let's settle this debate you two are having, we all go up there, and then both Jean and Eren each spend a whole hour alone in the castle in the dark. And then whoever gives up first has to…” Connie thought for a moment. “Has to do all the other person chores for a week.”
Eren and Jean looked at each other. “That's not enough!” Eren whined.
“Well then, how about whoever loses has to call the Captain short, to his face,” Mikasa suggested.
“Woah, Woah,” Jean put his hands up. “Neither of us are trying to die. I think that's a little too extreme.”
“What, afraid you're going to lose Jean, boy!” Eren mocked.
“No, no, I am not, but unlike you, I don’t have Titan powers to heal myself when the Captain cuts my arms off!” Jean chanted.
“That's only if you lose, though.” Connie reminded.
Jean glanced at Connie, then at Eren, who had a wide devilish smirk spread across his white face. “You know what.” Jean puffed out his chest and straightened his posture. “You’re on!”
“Same to you, horse face!” Eren grinned.
“Okay, so loser has to do winners chores and call the Captain short.” Connie proposed.
“To his face!” Mikasa added.
“To his face!” Connie lifted a finger. “Does that sound fair?”
“Deal!” Jean nodded.
“Deal!” Eren nodded.
The two shook on it.
“Well, if you three are going to the Castle, I am going too,” Mikasa stated.
“Great!” Connie shouted, then turned to Sasha.
“Hmmm, I still don’t like it, but if everyone is going, I guess I'll go.” Sasha cried. “Just can we please bring snacks?”
“But all of you are forgetting something.” Armin stood up from his spot on the grass, “The Ginsberg Castle isn’t exactly a walk to the park. It's a half day's trip up into the inferno mountains by Mitras, so we are going to need horses to get there.”
“Well, do you have any ideas on how we get there?” Eren asked.
“I do actually, we will be gone for at least two days, and the only way we could be gone that long without anyone raising suspensions is if we go on a mental health retreat.”
“Don’t those need to get approved by the Commander, though?” Mikasa asked.
Armin nodded. “As well as approval from our direct superior, and we also need a veteran supervisor.”
“Ahhh!” The group moaned.
“There is no way we could convince Captain Levi to come with us!” Jean smacked his hand against his head.
“I know! Like what do we say ‘Hey Captain wanna come with us to watch Jean and I make fools out of ourselves in an old castle, for fun!’” Eren said.
Connie looked at Eren, “You know, it might work.”
Eren gave Connie a look that said Shut up!
“No,” Armin said. “Not Captain Levi, but if we play our cards right and you guys let me do the talking, I might know just the person we could convince.”
“You want me to go with all of you on a mental health retreat into the upper inferno mountains!” Hange pushed their glasses onto the bridge of their nose to get a better look at the six teenagers in their office.
“Yes,” Armin stated while the rest nodded their heads. “We are really curious as to the diverse plant life up there and heard a rumor that titan blood fertilized the trees. We wanted to go so we could learn about the tree's biology for ourselves, but we need a veteran supervisor, and we thought what better person to come with us than the great titan scientist themself!”
Hange looked at all of them carefully for a few moments. They gazed at each teenager that stood in front of them, each with a wide smile plastered on their face, except Sasha, who had a potato in her mouth, even Mikasa had a small smile on her lips. After these moments, Hanges lips spread wide over their face, and they nearly jumped out from their desk.
“YAHA!” Hange screamed from excitement, making everyone in their office jerk back. “I am so happy you asked! Not a lot of people know this, but in the early days of my youth, I had an obsession with plants!” Hange walked over to their cabinets and began pulling out posters and pens. “And if you believe that these trees might have titan blood in them, well then, we must go discover this for ourselves, don’t we!”
“So you’ll supervise us?” Eren asked.
“Of course!” Hange smiled. “Although I do ask for one, two requests, one that we make it a three-day trip. Secondly, is it okay that I bring my assistant Moblit?”
The group looked at each other. Three days was much better than two. Many of them thought. Plus, it would be nice to spend some time away from the barracks. The Castle was haunted, but as far as they knew, the forest or the mountains weren’t.
“Yeah, that's fine.” Armin smiled.
“Great! I'll tell Moblit, and then we will go make our case to Erwin! Meet me back at the Commander's office in 30 minutes!” Hange shouted and then ran out of their office.
Once Hange was out of earshot, Jean spoke up. “Titan blood fertilizer?”
“Well, I had to convince them somehow.” Armin defended himself.
“Okay, well, at least we will be gone for three days now, so that will give us plenty of time to sneak off and go to the Castle for the bet,” Connie said.
Sasha shuddered and looked down nervously. Connie's comment made her uneasy. She remembered the day the kids left to go to the Castle. They were all older than her, as she was just eight at the time, but she still shuddered at the thought.
“Mama, why can’t I go!” Sasha had whined to her mother.
“Because sweetie, they are much older than you, and they want to go on an adventure by themselves.” Her mother pushed loose strands of her out of Sashas eyes.
“Fine!” Little Sasha whined.
“I have some meat frying on the pan.” Her mother commented.
“MEAT!” Little Sasha jumped up and down with Joy.
Later Sasha watched from the Window as the four teenagers left to go on their adventure. She wasn’t very close with them all, but one girl in the group named Sammy would always bring her bunny meat. Sasha watched as they rode off on their horses; Sammie’s maroon cape with embroidered flowers flowed in the wind.
Thirty minutes later, the group found themselves outside of Commander Erwin's office, waiting for Hange and Moblit.
“Alright, are we all here!” Hange ran down the hall with Moblit behind them, carrying rolls of paper.
“Hange, do you think we can convince the Commander to let us go?” Connie asked.
“Convincing the Commander will be easy, convincing your Captain that's another story,” Hange stated.
The group's smile disappeared. They forgot they also had to convince Captain Levi.
“Where is the Captain?” Eren asked.
“Probably with the Commander,” Mikasa muttered under her breath.
“Don’t worry, I have brought my notes, and I have a plan!” Hange winked before they knocked on the door.
“Come in,” came Erwin's low voice from beyond the door.
Moblit opened the door and let in the entire group inside.
When they walked inside, Erwin looked up from his paperwork at his desk, and Levi peered from the large chair he was sitting in. “Tsh, what to do brats want?”
Mikasa smirked. She was right.
“Levi’s Squad, Hange, Moblit. To what do I owe the pleasure.” Erwin's demeanor was completely the opposite of Levi's.
“Commander Erwin, Captain Levi, we have a proposition for the two of you,” Hange excitedly stated, then motioned to Armin to speak.
“Commander, Captain, we would, with your approval, like to go on a three-day mental health retreat into the inferno mountains.” Armin got directly to the point.
“The inferno mountains, what's so special there?” Levi asked, getting up from his chair and slowly strutted towards Armin; he couldn’t help but notice the unease that fell across the group, beads of sweat dripping down Jean and Eren's face.
“I am glad you asked!” Hange shouted in Levi's ear as they shoved past him and pulled out one of the posters Hange had Moblit bring.
“Errr.” Moblit cried as Hange’s aggressive poster pulling made him lose his balance.
Hange rolled open the paper to relieve a diagram of the trees that were in the inferno mountains. “You see, gentlemen, the inferno mountains are home to some of the most unique and diverse species of trees that we know of. Their odd biology has made it a mystery for generations as to why? Why can these trees survive in the odd, diverse climates that the inferno mountains provide!” “You see, the mountains are made purely of granite and obsidian, which is old volcanic material, but as far as we know, there are no known volcanoes anywhere near there, and still the ground makes these trees reach unusually high latitudes making them attuned to such intense weather patterns.”
“Just say they’re tall-ass trees, four-eyes!” Levi muttered, leaning against Erwin's desk with his arms crossed.
“Yes, yes, but why are they so tall!” Hange asked as they grabbed the second poster and put it over the first one.
This time Moblit was ready as he had it out for them, but as they turned around, the posters far end hit him in the face.
“Ow!” Moblit cried, making Sasha and Connie giggle.
As Hange rolled the paper out, she began her next argument. “Thanks to these six fine young individuals here, they have brought up an interesting hypothesis as to why these trees could be so tall. TITAN BLOOD!”
“Oh god,” Levi muttered, letting his head drop.
“They think, as well as I do, that the remains of titan corpses possibly fertilized the trees a long time ago and that the intense climates somehow preserved the titan's blood from evaporating!” Hange grabbed the last poster making Moblit completely fall over. Armin, who was infront of Moblit, leaned over to help him up.
Placing down the last poster, Hange began their final point. “So I propose that I and my assistant along with your squad, Levi, go to these mountains, starting tomorrow, which is in the late spring when the climate is not that harsh, so we can study these trees, test out hypotheses, and allow your squad a mental health break from their duties. And I Hange Zoe will supervise them the entire time. Thank you!”
Levi and Erwin glanced at each other and then back at the group in front of them.
“Well, that sounds like a wonderful idea.” Erwin agreed with a smile.
“Tsh, is that what you brats actually want?” Levi questioned them and once again approached his squad, who all seemed to be nervously shaking.
“Yes, Captain Levi, we do,” Connie spoke up, trying to hide his nerves.
“I don’t know. All of you left a big mess in your quarters last week. I'm not sure how much a mini-vacation would benefit you.” Levi challenged them.
“Captain Levi.” Erwin interrupted. “All we have on the agenda for the next three days is the MP banquet, then you, like myself, would have much free time, I'm not sure what you would like to do with that, but I know personally that free time away from one's squad can have many… benefits.”
Levi turned to Erwin, and his eyes widened, “Okay, all of you can go.”
“Yes!” They all cheered with excitement.
“But make sure your quarters are spotless before you leave and listen to Hange!” Levi shouted.
“I'll sign off on the papers tonight,” Erwin said. “You may leave with your horses and camping supplies tomorrow at first light, make sure to take your gear with you in case you run into trouble, but other than that, wear civilian clothes.”
“Will do, Commander!” Eren smiled happily.
The group began to thank the two of them and then slowly filed out of Commander Erwin's office.
Once the door closed, Levi sighed. “You know they aren’t actually going there for trees, right?”
“Yes, but do you really want to know?” Erwin asked, getting up.
Levi shook his head. “No, I don’t. I just don’t want to have to go bail them out of trouble.”
“I'm sure they will be fine; there's not much trouble they can run into while they are camping.”
“I'm sure they will find a way to screw things up.” Levi reckoned.
Erwin laughed and then walked closer to Levi and used his one good arm to wrap around Levi’s waist to bring him closer. “I'm sure they will be fine, plus it will be nice to spend some time with just the two of us.”
Levi actually smiled for a moment. “Yes, it will.”