Chapter 20.

Gabriel slowly opened his eyes as he came to. The last thing he remembered was rushing towards the gate. His body was very sore, it hurt just to move his arms.

"Well I've certainly never seen someone sleep for over 24 hours before." Gabriel turned to see Commander Erwin sitting at the desk in the room.

"C-commander?" Gabriel asked.

"Here." Erwin said bringing a steaming plate of beef over to him. "This is my gift to you, I'm sure your hungry."

"F-for me?" Gabriel asked.

"Yes." Erwin said. Gabriel looked back at the meat and sniffed the aroma. It certainly did smell good! He was also very hungry! He then took some of the beef and held it out to Erwin.

"Oh no, this is yours, trust me when I say you above all else have earned it." Erwin said chuckling at the boys kind behavior. Gabriel then proceeded to inhale the food to quell the aching emptiness in his stomach. Erwin allowed him to eat uninterrupted. Once Gabriel was finished he pat his full stomach and let out a content sigh. "Now that you've eaten I have a few things to say."

"Hmm?" Gabriel asked.

"I-" Erwin paused. "I'm actually at a loss for words, Gabriel, do you have any idea what you did?" Gabriel then remembered all that happened, seeing all the dead bodies.

"I-IM SORRY!" Gabriel cried out. "I-I t-tried t-to s-save S-Superman's s-squad I-I-I r-really d-did-" Erwins eyes raised at the outburst.

"No no no!" Erwin said trying to reassure him.

"M-MISS P-PETRA! I-IS S-S-SHE A-ALRIGHT!?" Gabriel yelled.

"I'll be honest with you Gabriel, she's in rough shape. Both her legs were amputated below the knee and she lost a lot of blood. She got numerous infections and right now she's asleep trying to fight it off." Erwin said sadly. Gabriel brought his hands to his head in grief. "But I can assure you, had you not saved her, we would have lost her for sure."

"H-huh?" He innocently asked.

"Gabriel, you went and searched and saved thirteen scouts when you could have just left them to come back here" Erwin said. "The amount of bravery and devotion that took was immeasurable."

"W-why d-did y-you l-leave m-me?" Gabriel asked sadly. Erwin sighed.

"We looked everywhere for you, dozens of scouts did, we searched for over an hour but no one could find you. Titans were closing in and we couldn't risk any more casualties. I hope you understand." Erwin confessed. His job called for him to be very cold hearted but this time, he felt genuine guilt for having to leave Gabriel. "Gabriel, understand yesterday was one of the most embarrassing and terrible defeats ever for the Scout Regiment, we lost over a third of our force including skilled veterans. The people were not pleased to say the least, morale was the lowest I had ever seen. But when you came over the horizon, risking your own life and suffering through pain to save those wounded, it was the light in the darkness we needed. For many, it reminded us that there was still good in this awful world. While we can't bring back the dead, you saved thirteen families from horrific grief. You are the one soldier in ten thousand, your strength and loyalty puts you well above the rest."

"R-really?" Gabriel asked.

"Yes, above even your strength, you bring joy wherever you go, your presence has a significant effect on those around you. You've shown us what it means to be human, something many have forgotten. So many people have fallen into despair, valuing their riches over human life, killing for money, drinking and gambling their life away, not once paying any mind to those around them. You aren't like that, you bring peace and joy to those around you, I hope you realize this." Erwin said wholeheartedly. Gabriel let an embarrassed smile crawl over his face from the praise. "I have to go now, I'm sure your friends will be thrilled to see you."

"A-are t-they h-here?" Gabriel asked. He couldn't wait to hug them all again!

"Not now I'm afraid, they have duties they needed to attend to." Erwin said. He didn't want to ruin Gabriel's mood by telling him Eren was going to be handed over to the MP for the scouts failure. "Rest up soldier, you've earned it."

Xxxx

Levi sat next to Petra, applying cold rags as her body tried to fight off the infection within her. She groaned in pain from the amputation surgery as well. Levi worried about her, being a soldier was something she took so much pride in, with these injuries she would never be able to use ODM gear again. Levi couldn't believe she was still alive, he swore when he went past her she was dead. He felt horrible about the fate of his squad but, at least Petra had come back.

"Excuse me Captain." Levi turned to see a doctor enter. "I understand you want to be here but we have to do more stitches and treatments."

"Understood." Levi said as he got up. He took one last look at Petra as the doctor closed the door.

"Please stay alive." Levi prayed as he limped out. His ankle was sprained and would fracture if he put too much pressure on it. The doctor said he'd be out for some time. Levi silently cursed Mikasa, he was extremely angry at her. First she insulted his dead squad saying they should have done their jobs when Eren was captured and then she disobeyed a direct order to not attack the female titan which resulted in this injury in the first place.

"I knew I made the right choice not choosing her, speaking of which-" Levi thought. He had not seen Gabriel yet. The last he heard, Gabriel was still asleep from his miraculous endeavor. Levi still couldn't believe it, that boy, no, that man saved all those wounded and brought them back. He heard tales of old myths where the ancient gods of legends would grant people with super abilities to accomplish an impossible task, perhaps that's what happened here? Levi scoffed at the idea as he made his way to the mess hall, he was overdue for a cup of tea. Levi made his way over there and opened the tea drawer to find it empty.

"Fuck does it ever fail?" He thought.. He did not want to risk going to a shop with his injury so he just sat there and pondered. He was alone in the dark mess hall and enjoyed the silence after the battle the day before. He heard the door creak open and in walked a familiar face.

"S-Superman?" Levi didn't need to turn his head to know who it was.

"Shouldn't you be resting?" Levi asked nonchalantly as he tapped his fingers on the table.

"U-um…" Gabriel said twiddling his thumbs. "I-I d-don't w-want y-y-you t-to b-be a-alone.." Levi felt touched by the comment. Gabriel was one of the few presences he could tolerate.

"I appreciate it but you really should get some rest-" Levi said.

"I-I h-have t-t-tea." Gabriel said holding up a cylinder of black tea.

"Well please take a seat then." Levi said as Gabriel walked over and sat across from him. "What kind is it?"

"E-e-eerl g-gay?" Gabriel said trying to figure out what the cylinder said in the dark.

"Earl Grey?" Levi said now interested. That was his favorite tea in the whole world. Not to mention one of the most expensive. To acquire some required a handsome amount of money and a trip to Wall Sina. "Where did you get that?"

"I-I-it's f-for y-you." Gabriel said. This caused Levi's eyes to raise.

"What do you mean 'for me?'" Levi asked. Enlisted shouldn't be giving officers gifts like that, it was against regulation.

"M-miss P-Petra s-said a-awhile a-ago t-that t-today w-was y-your b-birthday." Gabriel said. Levi was in awe, he had not received a birthday gift in a long time, he was even more in shock that people actually knew it. "Y-you p-played w-with m-me o-on m-mine s-so I w-wanted t-to g-get y-you s-s-something."

"Gabriel I-" Levi said. He would never admit but this actually made him happy that someone not only remembered his birthday but got him a gift! Let alone at a time as awful as this. The hard walls of his cold heart began to crack. He allowed a smile to take over his face. He had grown fond of Gabriel but was slowly growing attached to him. "Thank you, I needed this." He then noticed Gabriel crying.

"Hey? What the hell are you crying for?" Levi asked.

"I-I'm s-sorry I c-couldn't s-save E-Eld, G-g-Gunther, and O-O-Oluo!" Gabriel said sadly. Levi watched as Gabriel let out genuine guilt.

"Don't." Levi said as Gabriel looked up. "Against the female titan, even I wouldn't have been able to get them out of there. You brought Petra back, that alone is truly something I'm grateful for. Most people would have just left her there to save their own skin."

"A-are t-they I-in h-heaven?" Gabriel asked. "A-auntie u-used t-to s-say g-good p-people w-went t-to a b-beautiful p-place c-called H-heaven w-when t-they d-die." Levi took a deep breath, part of him wished to believe there was something waiting after this wretched existence. A place he could see his mother, Isabel, and Farlan again. He found it hard to believe in a paradise when life on Earth was hell from day one. Levi decided not to ruin Gabriel's innocence.

"Yes." Levi said. "Now let's get some tea made." He said getting up to go boil water. He wasn't sure of a Heaven existing but one thing he was sure of was that if there was a heaven then Gabriel deserved more than anyone to go there.

Xxx

Ugh Gabriel's too sweet!

Let me know what you all think so far!