Just a Formality
"Hange."
"What?"
"You're really drunk right now."
"No, I'm not, you're just blurry."
"That's because of you nearly drowning in that bottle of alcohol over there."
"Maybe it's my glasses."
"You still have your glasses on, you idiot."
"Maybe they're not the right prescription anymore."
"Just like that, in a few hours?"
"Could be."
Damn shitty glasses.
"You really need to go to sleep, your brain has stopped functioning. Well, more than normal."
Hange made some sort of soft snorting sound.
With a sigh, Levi stood up and dragged Hange to her wobbly feet. He had to grip her arm tightly to steady her.
"Fuck. You really reek of alcohol." He swallowed. "Just don't throw up on me, okay?" And Hange nodded, her hair tickling his cheek.
Levi steered her toward the bed, and let her sit down. The springs squeaked under her weight.
She didn't know how long she sat there, gazing at her dirty floor that seemed to sway a bit in and out of focus until something appeared next to her. She looked up, squinting against the candlelight.
"Here, you need to drink enough water. It'll help against the headache."
After staring at the glass for a few moments, Hange finally extended a hand and took it with sluggish movements.
Levi stared down at her, arms crossed and brow knitted, while she sipped from the cold water, eying her wrinkled clothes and flushed cheeks. Noticing the rounded shoulders.
"Hange..."
She sniffed, wiping a hand across her mouth, clutching the glass tightly in one hand. "I just wanted not to feel for a little while, you know." After a moment of silence, she added quietly, "it hurts."
Levi closed his eyes for a moment. "I know, Hange. Just go to sleep, okay?"
"Mmh."
"Lay down."
She nodded tightly, and after giving back the now empty glass, she lay down, curling up on the bed and staring into nothingness.
She felt hot and cold at the same time, and her head was pounding painfully in time with her hammering heartbeat.
Drinking so much, not the best idea she ever had had. More like a really shitty idea like Levi would probably say. At least she, for now, could concentrate on her pounding head instead of the painful weight on her chest. Yeah... at least.
Hange closed her dry and tired eyes.
Suddenly, something soft was pulled over her; it was a blanket, she realized drowsy a moment later, sleep already pulling her under.
"Go to sleep," a voice came somewhere left of her, and a hand squeezed her shoulder for a moment before quiet footsteps lead away.
The door closed with a soft noise.
000
As soon as the door clicked shut behind him, Levi leaned his back against it, and let out a breath, closing his eyes for a moment.
Damnit.
He felt tired. However, there was still more paperwork to do. More documents to sign. Name after name after name, they were piling up; filling one of the blank spaces on the papers.
But who gave a fuck. It meant nothing. It was solely a formality.
Because in the end, they couldn't fill up the voids in the hearts of the ones left behind.
"You're really drunk right now."
"No, I'm not, you're just blurry."
I took these lines from a writing prompt and wrote a story based on it.
Well, I started this with the intention of writing something happy, but... it immediately took a turn right into sadness and angst...
All the mistakes are mine.