Ch. 103 - Restless, Though Not Dreamless

                                    

                                          
"Who the hell would bother killing the damn things?" Levi muttered as he adjusted his jacket. I was just putting mine on, and I shrugged in response as he continued. "Seems like a hell of a lot of trouble for nothing to me."
"I don't like them either," I mused. "Titans, that is. But even I wouldn't do something like that. The things we could have learned..." I glanced over at him as I fixed the sleeve of my jacket. "And we're sure it wasn't one of Hange's soldiers?"
"I doubt it," Levi said. "They know better than to defy her. She'd have their head if they killed them."
I hummed lowly in response. He was right. Still, what a strange thing to do. To kill Hange's test subjects... why? Hopefully, we could find the culprit today. I knew it wasn't anyone residing here at the castle for the time being; Hange had been with Eren all night, and everyone else was sound asleep. Our squad mates knew better than to lie to me too, and especially to Levi.
"Come on, brat," Levi called, already standing by the door. "We have to get going."
"Right," I replied, hurrying to finalize getting ready.
Our gear had already all been stowed on a wagon, for us to take to get checked today. All we needed to do was get everyone together and head out. It didn't take long to find everyone; they were all waiting for the two of us and Eren to arrive. The horses had been prepared, the wagon readied, and Levi had gone and released Eren from the dungeon to join us.
And then, we mounted up, and were off. Light conversation accompanied the ride, but for the most part, everyone seemed to enjoy the quiet spring morning. It was shaping up to be a pretty day, at least. Morning dew still clung to the grass as we left and had only just dried up by the time that we made it to the military base where every soldier this side of the Wall practically had gathered.
When we got there, we set our gear out on the tables assigned for us and stood quietly as it got checked. Levi and I were released quickly, considering we were commanding officers, and while Levi was content to sit in the mess hall with a cup of tea, I volunteered to help check the gear. I was given a checklist, a section of soldiers to go through, and was released to do so.
Though it was a serious affair, some of the soldiers had called out to me, saying hello. Most of them were Scouts I knew, and I'd responded to them with smiles and kind words before returning my attention to the work. I was meticulous in my checks, looking into each soldier and recruit's eyes to look for a tell that they were nervous or lying in any capacity when I asked them questions.
From my upbringing and previous line of work, this was something I was quite good at: snuffing out a liar. I didn't find any in my section, nor the next two I picked up. Well, by the time that was done, it was lunchtime, the cooks dishing out simple, quick meals to serve the overload of soldiers on the grounds.
I grabbed food and ate with my squad, then went around after I was done to speak with some of the Scouts that I didn't have the chance to see earlier. I wanted to at least say hello to everyone before we mounted back up and returned to the castle, which Levi had told me we were set to do as soon as everyone was done eating their lunch.
Being in that big castle with only a few other inhabitants was lonely, in a way. I loved my squad, and Eren was quickly growing on me, and of course I loved Levi, but goodness, I missed being able to see everyone else.
From what I could tell, despite the beautiful weather, the tone of the conversations remained serious. People were theorizing about what had happened, and why, and who they thought might have done it. But of course, it was all pure speculation.