There was no point in trying to sleep that night. I tossed and turned restlessly in my bed, begging for my mind to fade away from the storm of thoughts that bombarded me. It was no use though. No matter how hard I tried, I lay dully awake, awaiting the morning light to pour through my window and signal the beginning of a new day.

It wasn't even the fact that Petra was dating someone that bothered me. In fact, when she told me she had good news to tell me, I half expected it. She was a gorgeous, young woman after all; not that I ever thought of her more than an extremely close friend, of course. It was just that it was him whom she was dating. Why couldn't it have been someone else? Anyone else! Was there really something special about him of all people that drew her in? If so, what the fuck was it, cause I sure as hell didn't see anything special in that bastard.

Of all people in the world, why did she have to have been dating him? It confused me to no end, because I knew if she had chosen to give him her affection, then there must be something good about him. Or else she would have never cared for him. Right? You love a person for a reason, don't you? I had never believed in that love at first sight bullshit. It just never made sense to me. I mean, how can you love someone you don't know. Someone who doesn't have something special about them that you want to protect. Wasn't love the emotion that came from a desire to protect someone. I had always thought it was. So what was it that Petra wanted to protect in Levi? I couldn't see anything. Every time I had ever seen the guy he had on the same cold and uncaring expression as always. Even when he attended her funeral, not once did I see him show sorrow or pain. Did he even really love her back? Did he really want to protect her? Wouldn't someone who cared for another person at least show some sadness over their passing?

The thought of all the possibilities kept running painfully through my head, swirling around and around. Perhaps Petra wasn't as sweet and innocent as I had been lead to believe she was. Maybe she was sleeping with Levi to get somewhere. Is that how WOFCORP really operated? Was that the life I had to look forward to? Giving sexual favors to get my way? I immediately shook my head at the idea. No. Petra would never do such I thing. I suddenly grew mad at myself for even thinking of such a possibility. But maybe I wasn't entirely wrong. Maybe Levi had been using Petra! The thought of this just made my anger towards the man grow even more as I lay there restlessly in my bed.

When the sunrise finally crept through my window, I was up and out of bed immediately. Even with all of the extra time I had, I got ready in a rush. I had too much pent up rage in me to sit still or take my time doing things. Pacing around alone in the dimly lit living room, I decided I could not wait any longer for Mikasa and Armin to wake up and get dressed. I had to leave immediately.

Grabbing my bag I hastily wrote a note to the two, lying that I had to get to the office early upon that bastard's request, and left the apartment in a rush. I didn't even care about the fact that I had to take another dreaded trip on the bus. Being so damned early, the thing was pretty much empty anyway. Not that it even mattered. I didn't care. I just had to get away. Away from everything. Away from that stupid email. Away from anyone who would ask why I was so upset. Even away from myself if it was possible. It didn't matter where and I wasn't even sure why. All I knew was that for some reason I was back in that stupid courtyard… and so was he.

My first instinct was to go up to the guy and punch him hard in the face for being such a heartless bastard. Beat the living shit out of him. Then proceed to yell at him till my throat bleed on how he could act so calmly when a person he must have cared some little portion for had just died. But I didn't. Right as I was about to walk up to him, I noticed that there was something different about his demeanor. His head was hung down and it appeared as if he hadn't realized that he wasn't alone. My anger quickly fizzled down to confusion as I stared curiously at him.

When I finally walked up to him, I cleared my throat softly, as if signaling my presence. He didn't move for a moment. Then, slowly, he lifted his head up and looked at me. The expression in his eyes was painful and almost pleading. Upon looking more closely at his face in that quick moment, I saw the dark circles that surrounded his eyes. Almost as soon as our eyes met, Levi looked away. Letting out a blast of air that could not really be considered a laugh but wasn't really a sigh either he lifted his hand and gripped my forearm. Holding onto me gently, he looked up once more, allowing me to see the immense pain in his expression. "I'm pretty pathetic aren't I? Having a brat like you see me like this..."