Enchanting
By Holly-Batali
Author's Note: GUYS. We're up to 91 reviews! I'm so excited! Also, if you're looking for some mood music for this chapter, I recommend "Alone" by Eyeshine, "Fearless (250 and Dark Stars" by Falling Up, and then "Best of Me" by Sum 41.
Disclaimer: I own nothing. Shingeki no Kyojin/Attack on Titan belongs to Hajime Isayama. Enchanted lyrics are property of Owl City.
Chapter 13
"This night is flawless, don't you let it go. I'm wonderstruck, dancing around all alone."
When Hanji went to visit Petra the next morning (the fifth day of Petra's hospital stay), she expected to find Levi at her bedside like he always was. What she found instead was Levi's motorcycle helmet, his leather jacket, and a copy of Crime and Punishment, a bookmark stuck haphazardly in the pages about halfway through the text.
"…Huh." She set down the vase of flowers she'd brought (snapdragons and wild lilies, some of Petra's favorites) and sat down next to Petra to excitedly tell her all about her day, stroking her hair all the while. When she'd talked her fill, she went about tidying up the room (though there wasn't much to do). It felt odd being there by herself; Levi was a constant in the small room, his presence as reliable as Petra's. His things were there, but he had yet to return, and Hanji wondered where he'd wandered off to; it couldn't have been too far if his helmet was still there. "I'm gonna go and grab some coffee, m'kay?" she told Petra, planting a kiss on her forehead. "I'll be back in a bit."
Hanji made her way down to the cafeteria, cheerfully greeting the staff that she passed on her way there. She ordered her customary triple espresso, made casual conversation with the barista as her drink was prepared, and then started making her way back to Petra's room when out of the corner of her eye, she saw Levi at one of the tables near the window wall on the far side of the cafeteria, far away from visitors. He was speaking emphatically into his phone, sandwich forgotten on the table in front of him. As Hanji made her way over to him, he finished his conversation and hung up the phone, slumping in his seat and rubbing at his temples. The closer she got, Hanji was able to make out a notepad and pen on the table before him, names and numbers scribbled down in Levi's neat slanted script.
"Hey there," she greeted, sitting down opposite Levi, who looked up from his hands and frowned at her.
"What are you doing here?" he asked.
"Visiting Petra, obviously," Hanji replied with a pout. "What kind of heartless roommate do you take me for?"
"I meant here, in the cafeteria, at my table."
"I came for coffee and I saw you sitting here, so I decided to come over and say hello to my friend. Silly Levi, try to keep up."
He scowled, the effect somewhat ruined by his mussed hair and the dark circles under his eyes. Hanji winced in sympathy; "you look like you lost quite a bit of sleep last night," she guessed, taking a gulp of scalding hot coffee.
Levi scoffed. "I was busy. I'll sleep when I'm dead."
"By the way you're handling your lack of sleep after one day, that might not be too far off," Hanji speculated with raised eyebrows.
"Some of us have busy lives, Shitty Glasses," Levi snarled half-heartedly, taking a vicious bite out of his sandwich, pocketing the notepad and pen.
"What were you so busy with?" Hanji asked, still snickering over Levi's nickname for her.
"Nothing that you need to know about," he retorted. "It's none of your business."
"Aren't you an angry prickly pear this morning…"
"How about I take those glasses and shove them—"
"A really angry prickly pear!"
"Oh shut up!"
Hanji laughed as Levi huffed and went back to his food, muttering under his breath.
"So how's Petra doing today?" Hanji asked, setting her coffee down on the table. "Any improvement?"
"The neurologist was by this morning," Levi informed her tiredly. "He said that her brainwaves were indicative of someone sleeping rather than in a coma, so here's hoping that's a good sign."
"It is!" Hanji enthused, grinning widely. "That's great news, Levi!"
Levi seemed to lose some of the tension in his face and body, his eyes softening fractionally. "It damn well better be. Five days is long enough to make us wait."
"No kidding. Petra's probably going to be extremely tired and confused when she wakes up, so be patient with her," Hanji lectured sternly, wagging a finger at Levi, who just rolled his eyes. "When she wakes up, she'll probably go back to sleep right after, and probably won't even remember anything that happens while she's awake the first few times. She might, but don't be surprised if she doesn't."
"Yes, doctor," Levi snarked. "I'll be sure to play nice."
Hanji barked out a laugh. "I'll believe that when I see it. Now—Petra's getting lonely up there all by herself, so let's relocate, shall we?" Hanji hopped up and grabbed her drink, Levi following a beat later, picking up the wrapper from his sandwich and throwing it away on the way out of the cafeteria, fingering the cell phone in his pocket.
When they got back to the room, Hanji pranced over to Petra's bed and started chatting to her again. "Hey Petra baby! Guess who I ran into downstairs? Levi was being a stupid-head and left you all alone up here! What an asshole!" She laughed with a smile.
Levi scoffed. "Don't listen to her," he countered. "She's crazy and we all know it." He didn't feel weird about talking to Petra's comatose form now that the doctors said she was closer to waking up. He had gone through a period where he doubted if she would (to be honest, he still had his doubts), but he felt more confident now that there was actual medical reasoning backing up that feeble hope.
At that point, he was mostly just impatient for Petra to wake the f**k up already. She'd been out of it for five days at that point, and Levi was sure that as soon as she woke up he'd give her the vocal bitch slap of her life for putting him through hell. As soon as she wakes up, I swear to God…
Levi sat down in his customary chair as Hanji continued to babble to Petra about anything and everything under the ever-loving sun. She would occasionally drag Levi into the conversation ("hey Levi, who do you think would win?" and "Levi, don't you think that would be so cute?"); he grunted and hummed in agreement, not really paying attention to the nonsense streaming from Hanji's mouth. He took out his book and starting reading where he'd left off, idly fingering his makeshift bookmark (a receipt from the cafeteria downstairs). He was tired, but his body had begun to adjust to the lack of caffeine in his diet. He felt it was somewhat of a waste for his body to adjust, since as soon as Petra was back on her feet, he'd be drinking coffee again. He wondered why everyone else was still drinking coffee, especially Hanji, when there was no coffee palatable after drinking what Petra made. Maybe I'm just a snob, he wondered idly.
"—vi. Hellooo, anyone home?"
Levi glanced up from his book. "What do you want, Hanji?"
The other woman snickered at his irritated expression. "I asked who you were talking to on the phone earlier, down in the cafeteria."
"Tch," Levi scoffed. "None of your business, Shitty Glasses."
Hanji laughed again. "He came up with a new nickname for me," she explained to Petra, snickering. "He thinks he's so funny."
"Shut up!" Levi snarled half-heartedly, throwing a box of tissues at Hanji's head, which she smacked out of the air with ease. "If you're just here to torment me, get out, I don't have time for this."
"Oh?" Hanji asked, curious. "What's so important that you don't have time to spend with the lovely me?"
Levi's scowl deepened, if it was at all possible. "Really important shit that DOESN'T CONCERN YOU," he clarified.
Hanji blinked. "Wow. You really miss Petra's coffee. You need sleep."
Levi stared at her a moment later, then got out of his chair and walked out of the room.
"Wait! L-Levi?! Where are you going?!" Hanji called after him, scrambling over to the door.
"Away from you," Levi called over his shoulder. "Keep an eye on Petra." He disappeared around the corner and Hanji stood awkwardly in the doorway before moving back to Petra's bedside. She twiddled her thumbs, adjusted the flowers and opened and closed her mouth several times before speaking.
"…Well. That was a thing."
Levi ended up having lunch at a small diner on the street corner by the hospital, not wanting to be too far away if something happened with Petra. He sighed as he sat down in a small booth in the corner, rolling his shoulders stiffly; he had been spending too much time sitting in that stupid hospital chair, and it had started to affect him.
He had needed to get away from Hanji for an hour or two; she was his friend (it still felt like such a foreign word), but she was difficult to deal with, especially in stressful times. Levi knew she was just as worried and stressed as the rest of them—she just had a different way of expressing it. Levi holed up in Petra's room and read, snapping at people and coiling tighter and tighter until he snapped. Hanji became more excited, trying to occupy her mind with all sorts of new theories and ideas, anything to keep her mind off of the problem at hand (Petra's coma). Erd had been spending more and more time studying, constantly sighing and spacing off. Gunter went running, hoping the endorphins would calm his frayed nerves and give him something else to focus on.
Levi occasionally wondered about Auruo; he was the most affected, having been the one to find Petra after the accident. He had gotten a little more withdrawn and hunched over, looking almost defeated most of the time. Levi knew he felt guilty about what had happened—he suggested the zip line, he went down before Petra that last time, he waiting to find her; there were a million and one 'what ifs' that Auruo was very obviously filling his mind with, and Levi was almost… concerned about how he was coping.
How stupid is that, being concerned about someone else when I'm falling to f***ing pieces over this stupid shit, Levi griped internally. He wasn't taking this well—he knew he wasn't—but he didn't know what to do. He'd never cared enough about anyone to worry like this, not even Erwin.
The waitress skated over to him, brown ponytail bouncing and amber eyes sparkling. "Welcome to the 104th Street Café! I'm Sasha, and I'll be your server today!" She handed him a laminated menu, smiling widely. "Can I get you started with something to drink? Coffee?"
"Um… tea would be great," Levi muttered, brain fumbling to make the right words come out. He'd been having a serious moment, damn it.
"What kind would you like? We have green, jasmine, earl gray, and peppermint!" Sasha chirped, pulling out a notepad and pen.
"Uh, earl gray."
"Cream or sugar?"
"Just plain."
"You got it! I'll have that out shortly!" Sasha wrote down his order and scampered back to the kitchens, yelling something along the lines of 'Jean, you drop that potato right now, or so help me!'
Levi scoffed lightly and looked over his menu, absently searching for something that sounded edible. Titan Burger, Maria Melt, the Colossal Shake… what is with these names? He settled on a Corporal's Sandwich (even though he'd already had a sandwich that day) with a side of fries and waited for Sasha to return with his tea. As he waited, he contemplated the conversation he'd had on the phone before Hanji appeared that morning. He'd called in a favor from Gerger, a taciturn contact from Levi's gang days, who'd given him the contact information for another source, whom Levi was preparing to call in order to cash in a few favors.
After Levi's visit with Erwin the previous day, Levi had decided to finally move from his static position in the universe, moving forward to something else. He decided to wait on telling Erwin about it, until the whole thing panned out.
Sasha reappeared in front of him. "Here's your tea, sir!" she gently set down a china cup and saucer in front of him on the table. "Have you decided on your order?"
Levi cleared his throat. "Yeah. I'll take the Corporal's Sandwich," seriously, who in the hell named these menu items? "and a side of fries."
"Got it." Sasha quickly jotted down Levi's order. "Is that all for you today, sir?"
"Yeah, that's it." He handed his menu over to the girl and pulled his tea closer.
"We'll have that out for you shortly!"
Before Levi could say a word, Sasha had sped over to the front of the diner and vaulted over the counter straight into the kitchen. There was a yelp and a startled, 'Sasha, stop doing that!' and a returning 'try and stop me, Jean! Connie, back me up!'
Levi snorted softly in amusement. Kids like this usually annoyed the holy hell out of him, but these kids (even though he'd only seen one of them directly) just amused him. He made a vague mental note to bring Petra here at some point. He took a sip of his tea, blinking in surprise at how good it was. He'd turned to tea when coffee was no longer an option (in his mind, at least), and found that it was generally weak and watery, but the tea here had a nice robust flavor to it, and Levi found himself thinking that he might drink the tea here more often, even after he got Petra and her coffee back.
As he waited for his sandwich, Levi mentally plotted out all the favors he'd have to call in that day. There had been Gerger, and then there would be Rene, and then Henning. And that's just today… damn. He'd be busy, that was for sure. There would be a lot of brushing up from Erwin's textbooks at home (the old ones from his college student days). He hoped that Petra would wake up soon, if only to keep him sane throughout this process.
Eventually, Sasha came back out with his sandwich and fries, setting the plate down in front of him with a wide smile. "Here you go! Let me know if you need anything else! I'll be out with the check in a few minutes, but feel free to stay as long as you like!"
Sasha retreated the kitchens and Levi took a tentative bite of his sandwich, pulling out the toothpick (was that a sword or a box cutter? Honestly). His eyes widened by a fraction; it was good. He took a bite of the fries; also good. He dug into his meal with a renewed vigor, savoring the taste of the spiced turkey meat and dressings. He resolved to come here more often, with or without Petra.
Levi got back to the hospital an hour later; he had taken Sasha up on the offer to stay as long as he liked, taking advantage of the quiet atmosphere to call Rene; she'd been surprised to hear from him, but honored her word and cashed in the favor she owed to him from an incident several years back. Levi would have to talk to Henning later that day, and that's where the trouble would be. Hanji was gone when he got there, but she'd left a note on the bedside table next to the vase of fresh flowers she'd brought that morning.
He grumbled as he picked it up, disgruntled that she'd left Petra on her own. On the other hand, he'd stormed out without a second glance and without telling Hanji when he'd be back. Hey grump-a-saurus! I had to leave to get to a lecture at the university, and since SOMEONE didn't tell me when he'd be back, I had to leave Petra-baby all by herself (poor thing!) Stop being grumpy and give Petra some love; she's almost awake, I can FEEL it! –Hanji
Levi rolled his eyes at Hanji's antics; the woman was insane, and everyone knew it. He sunk back into his chair and forewent picking up his book in favor of running a hand through Petra's hair. He had never felt the urge to do so when she was awake, but ever since she was admitted to the hospital, he'd started doing it. It was more therapeutic than he had anticipated, and once he started, he didn't really want to stop.
He settled his gaze on her face; the bruises had faded to a sickly yellow, and the cut in her lip had mostly sealed up. The nurses had been keeping her clean, which included washing her hair (which Levi was immensely grateful for), and she looked healthier than she probably was. With a soft sigh, Levi withdrew his hand and grabbed his book, losing himself in the pages.
He couldn't focus for long (damn those stupid machines and their stupid beeping), and after an hour or so of reading, he set down his book and started pacing the small room, stretching his legs. Visiting hours were nearly over, with only an hour and a half left. The nurses were kind to him and knew him (or at least his name and face) by now, but that didn't mean they were lenient about the hours. He knew full well that they would throw him out on his ass if he refused to leave (that may or may not have been partially based on experience).
He growled in irritation as the machines continued to beep; he could usually drown out the sound, he didn't know why now was any different—
He froze—the rhythm. It was different.
Levi leaned over the bed, eyes scanning the monitors hooked up to her chest and arms. He'd memorized the numbers displayed on them (or at least the average parameters), and these numbers were different. Her blood pressure was slightly higher, her pulse had sped up minutely (which was the beeping that had distracted him), and her blood-ox looked different as well. His eyes snapped to Petra's face—for five days, her expression had remained unchanged; at peace and unconcerned with the trouble she had been causing him. When he scrutinized her expression, he could make out a furrow in her brows that hadn't been there before, a slight twitching under her eyelids. He hardly dared to breathe as he took a tentative hold of her hand, which had remained limp for the entirety of her stay. He squeezed. Come on. One squeeze. Something. Anything.
She squeezed back.
It was barely there—if Levi hadn't been concentrating intensely on their clasped hands, he might not have noticed it. But he did, and he slammed a fist on the nurse call button, setting off an alarm down the hall at the nurses' station.
There was a scuffle and the nurse on duty came bustling down the hallway to Petra's room, opening the door. "Is there something—"
"She's waking up," Levi interrupted her, not daring to look away from Petra's face.
"Oh my!" The nurse exclaimed. "I'll fetch Dr. Jaeger!"
Levi hardly dared to breathe as the nurse ran back to the station, her heels clacking alarmingly on the linoleum flooring.
He licked his lips, mouth suddenly dry. "Petra?" he asked quietly, letting just a touch of hope into his voice. "Petra, can you hear me? I need you to open your eyes, okay?" One miracle, just this once.
Petra's eyes scrunched, and the beeping increased its pace. After what seemed like an eternity, her eyes opened. Just a sliver at first, then they closed again; then opened just a bit wider. When they were finally open, Levi let out a massive huff of air, feeling like he'd just been hit in the chest. Petra's amber eyes slowly found her way over to Levi's ice blue ones. Please still be there, Levi prayed. Please be in there still, Petra.
"Petra?" he asked, his voice barely above a whisper. In the back of his mind, he registered Dr. Jaeger entering the room with the nurse; they both froze in the entryway, waiting for Petra to respond to Levi's queries.
Petra blinked slowly, her eyes still on Levi's; his grasp on her hand tightened.
"…Levi."
It was barely a whisper, her voice rough with disuse; to Levi, it was the world.
He huffed out a laugh, his throat closing up as his eyes burned. He brought her hand to his forehead, clasped in both of his shaking hands. "Hey," he laughed, blinking back tears. "Welcome back."
She smiled. "Didn't know… I was gone…"
"Yeah." He swallowed thickly. "You're back now though." He had to pause, pursing his lips and blinking rapidly. "That's what matters."
Petra smiled at him again, and Levi could feel the pieces of home sliding smoothly into place again.