2: Petra to Eren

The door of his cell was pushed open and Eren looked up. Of course they had him locked up again, how could they not? But at least they had forgone chaining him to his bed this time. Sure, the chains remained and they probably had the keys at hand but for now he was allowed to move freely inside the small chamber. For now.
Now and then a guard would pass in the hallway outside, but other than that he was left alone with his thoughts – even though he was pretty sure they would never leave completely and as soon as he would do anything conspicuous like screaming loudly they would be there to reprimand him at once.
He sat on his bed, legs drawn to his chest, arms wrapped around his knees and staring into the distance. That was why he had not noted someone entering his cell. As he lifted his head, Levi was already standing directly in front of him, eyeing him silently for a brief moment.
"Eren."
Did he look that absent-minded? Eren sighed. "Yes, Captain?"
Levi hesitated slightly, eyed him again as if trying to predict a following reaction. Eren squirmed a little under his glance; it was unpleasant, investigating, calculating. Then Levi lifted a hand and Eren twitched a little. He did not know why as it would have been completely meaningless to slap him, but somehow he was prepared for anything.
Anything but Levi offering him a letter. A brown envelop with his name in clear handwriting on top. "They just gave me this." For a moment silence filled the room as Eren eyed the letter in disbelieve. Since he was hesitant to take it, Levi added a little softer: "It's from Petra."
Eren blinked unintentionally, his eyes growing wide. He had not expected her to write him. No, he had not expected anyone to write him.
"Did you read it?" He asked and hoping to get a confirmation, since he was afraid this letter could be made of accusations or even worse. But Levi just snored as Eren finally took the piece of paper. It felt heavy in his hand.
"Of course not. If you were able to read, it should come to your attention that this is your name written upon it, not mine."
With these words he looked at Eren one last time in a way the later could not decipher, turned and was gone even faster than Eren's door was locked again.
Eren stared at the letter in his hand and he felt tears filling his eyes just so shortly after they had stopped. "Petra ..." He whispered softly, before gulping heavily and ripping the surprisingly undamaged seal of the envelope.

Dear Eren,

should you be holding this letter in your hands the expedition probably did not go as planned. I really hope you are alright and I'm the only one who did not make it back.
Whatever happened, please, Eren, don't blame yourself, I'm sure it was not your fault.
I know this is anything but easy for you and I don't even dare to imagine what they might do to you should the expedition really have failed.
Don't give up, stay with the others, they will help you. Trust in Captain Levi and Commander Erwin. They will for sure do everything in their power to keep the damage at a minimum.
You're a good boy, Eren, that's why I am convinced that it's not your fault, that you would never turn willingly against us or anyone in the legion. I'm deeply sorry for doubting you in the beginning.
Maybe a lot of people felt like that as we got the news of you being able to turn into a titan. It was a dubious, bizarre and frightening concept. But it offers no excuse.
As I was told about you, I was unsure what to think about you and when I came to know you I thought it all to be a lie. I did not want to believe these things to be true and was even more shocked when it happened. I should have known better, we all should have.
The way we reacted in this very moment was inexcusable. You were nervous yourself and did not understand what was happening – today I know that much. It should have been our job to stay calm, to get an overview of the situation, but instead we only made it worse in jumping to the wrong conclusions much too fast and thinking you wanted to harm us. If Captain Levi had not stopped us we might have made a fatal mistake. I'm still reproaching myself for that. I should have known, I knew you well enough to realise you are not the kind to do something like that.
Eren, I'm really and truly sorry and I can only hope for you to not remember us too badly for what we did back then.
I don't think I hold the right to give you advices or famous last words at this point. I just hope that it was really just me and everything else went well. Should you ever have had that impression, please believe me that none of us hated you. On the contrary, despite all that mystery about you or the titans, I'm very glad I was able to meet you.
I wish for everyone to learn and see the human you are and not some kind of machine, weapon or monster. Don't let anyone talk you into believing it, you are none of these and I'm sure one day all of you will reconquer the world outside the walls.

Take good care of yourself and keep your head up. And forget about me as fast as you can, I don't want to make things any harder for you than they already are.

Petra

A few wet drops fell on the paper and made the ink blur a little, before Eren slowly pressed the paper to his chest and shut his eyes.
"As if I could ever hate you ..." He murmured quietly and sadly. Blinking back a few tears he held the letter up again, reading it a second time.
He was not even aware of someone stepping close to the bars of his cell, watching him silently for a few seconds then turning again with a slight shake of the head and leaving him alone once more.