Little Comforts

A Shingeki no Kyojin drabble

by mew-tsubaki

Note: The Shingeki no Kyojin characters belong to Isayama Hajime-sensei, not to me. Urgh, I love Levi, and I swear, that scene where the Survey Corps is trying to return to Karanese and the corpses…I nearly cried. ;_; Read, review, and enjoy!

- ^-^3

Mr. Ral's words kept coming at him like flies to an animal carcass, but Levi swatted them away with each silent step that took him further into Karanese.

Something about letters, he said. Something about Petra's excitement to join the Levi Squad. Something about marriage and romance and Petra being young and being his beloved daughter.

Bits and pieces made their way into Levi's ears, and a few sank into his brain. After all, Mr. Ral was right. Petra was young. Petra…had been young.

Levi tightened his grip on the reins of his horse.

Mr. Ral was insistent and kept going. It was as if he were too scared to go and find Petra in the crowd of soldiers. But he knew. He knew the drill. He knew that he could find Petra later in a new letter, because that was how they'd done it before. Petra always sent him a letter after each event in the Levi Squad.

But Levi knew there'd be no letter this time.

Had anyone been studying his face (ah, Petra used to), they would've noticed (Petra probably would have) the slight panic in his features… But, to everyone else (not Petra), his face was a blank slate.

Inside, his mind was churning. He wished for Mr. Ral to stop talking. He wished he had at least Petra's body to give her father. He wished he had some comforting words or item of Petra's—

Ah! Her badge!

…and then Levi went cold.

He didn't have her badge. Of course not. He'd given it to Dieter, told him it was Ivan's, and had saved some useless lives (because Dieter and his comrades weren't worth even a fraction of Petra).

Mr. Ral finally quieted down. He seemed ready to acknowledge that'd he'd just have to wait for that letter instead of bothering Levi. He slipped back into the crowd of civilians.

It was then that Levi opened his mouth, ready to speak. He wanted to tell Mr. Ral every great thing he'd learned about Petra. He wanted to say that Petra had been something special. He wanted to say that—that—

…no, he had nothing to offer but little comforts.

(And yet he would still find the time later that evening to find Mr. Ral and tell him in person of the reality which not even Levi had yet come to accept.)

- ^-^3

*asdfghjkl* Someone finished the anime… T-T I love it too much. We need a new season. Aaaand I need to read the manga. GAH. I also need to draw everyone more… *too many feels* Also, Levi's a jerk, but you just know he's a softie deep down. Seeing him affected by losing Petra's body… *sniffles*

Anyway, thanks for reading, and please review!

-mew-tsubaki ;_;