I came, I saw, and I wept. Part 2 of Levi's past was a critical hit to my feels. No feeling was left unfelt. I had to press pause and it was by happy accident that it was on a shot of Isabel and when I was examining her eyes I was like '...Holy mother of God...I have seen the Gates to Headcannon Angst.'
It had been a long time since he'd seen eyes like those and even longer still for him to place just where he'd seen them. Big and green, full of life and with an attitude that was part reckless and all heart. The first time he'd seen eyes like that, they had been full of determination and no small amount of defiance. From that day on those eyes had been right behind or beside him, always within easy reach. The nickname 'bro' following close behind. And then Isabel died, along with Farlan, and those eyes stopped following him.
The second time he'd seen them was very much like the first but also very different. They had been determined yet full of a deep menacing hatred, completely wild, and Levi couldn't help but notice. He noticed because they were the same eyes yet used in different ways. Where Isabel would have never been able to show such deep resentment, Eren could. Likewise where Eren's childhood joy in simply being able to see the sky on a cloudy overcast day, Isabel could. When the MP's wanted Eren for themselves Levi couldn't let them take him—those eyes—from him, now that he'd seen them again.
Over the years Levi had slowly begun to forget what Farlan and Isabel looked like, sounded like, but he never forgot that they had once existed. Eren's eyes brought back a little piece of Isabel and Levi just couldn't let it go. They weren't hers, though, they were his but still they helped dull the ache a little. But instead of 'bro' it was the word 'captain' that trailed behind him now.
Levi wasn't going to lose those wide green eyes that reminded him of why he still carried on, not if he had anything to say about it. Besides, the kid's smile wasn't all that bad either.