"Courage is not the absence of fear,
but rather the judgment that something else
is more important than fear."
~Ambrose Redmoon
-Levi's POV-
After Emmryn ran off to Eyebrow's room, I dismissed the soldier who had been sent to notify us and headed there myself. Despite my concern, I didn't push myself too much. This wasn't life or death and there would probably be a time soon where it would, and I needed to give my foot as much time as possible to heal.
When I reached the room, Emmryn had a firm grasp on Erwin's remaining hand looking like she had been through a tornado on her way there. Her eyes stared unseeing at the bandages where Erwin's right arm had been. The overall effect was rather haunting, but I suppose I'd let it go. Sighing in frustration at my absolute powerlessness to help her or protect the people that either of us cared dearly for, I settled for gently smoothing her mussed short hair, causing her left eye to focus on me. Her black and white blinded right eye as well as the long scar that marred her porcelain skin.
"He's going to make it," she said softly, her words holding a vulnerable conviction that I hadn't quite witnessed from her. I nodded in agreement, placing a light kiss on the crown of her head.
"Of course he is," I said with a click of my tongue, "He's Erwin Smith. That man doesn't have a complacent bone in his goddamned body." That earned a weak laugh from my copper haired wife.
"Thank you, Levi," she whispered as she gripped his remaining hand in both of hers tighter. It was then that I saw the tears start to fall onto her brother's large and calloused hand. There were very few times I had witnessed Emmryn cry. She was not the type to let tears out so easily. All the loss lately had finally gotten to her. Not being able to say anything that would fix any of the events that had this stubborn and strong woman, I simply pulled a chair up beside her and placed my hand on her leg in silent support.
"Hm...?" Erwin's tired groan caught my attention as I quickly darted my steel gray eyes in his direction. He had been in and out for a couple of days, but when he had been conscious, he had been delirious from the pain and the no doubt concussion he had from falling from the titans mouth after severing his own arm to save his life.
This time was not like the others though, he blinked a couple of times, his eyes clear and alert as he noticed Emmryn's death grip on his remaining hand as she snored softly. She had barely slept since Erwin had returned. It took Hanji and I both pulling rank to get her to do simple things like eat and take fucking baths. As Erwin looked down at Emmryn, an uncharacteristically soft and serene smile fell across his features. I clicked my tongue at this. It still annoyed me that she was so quick to forgive him after he almost got her killed.
"I'm sorry that I used her as bait, Levi," Erwin stated, his gaze much more stoic as he looked at me. I met his gaze with a glare and a roll of my eyes.
"Wrong person to apologize to, Eyebrows," I responded bluntly, my eyes darting back to Emmryn who was starting to stir. Erwin hummed in response as he removed his hand from the small woman's grasp and gently stroked her hair. This startled Emmryn awake, causing her to jump and smile in relief when she saw Erwin's clear gaze.
"Emmryn, I'm sorry-" SLAP! At that, I had to hold back a chuckle. Emmryn is one of the only people I know that would slap the commander of an entire branch of the military only minutes after he was conscious enough to be sure she did it. However, the small smile that his face morphed into when she then tackled him into a hug with relieved sobs as he hugged her with his arm let me know that he didn't see it that way at all.
"I told you to be careful, you absolute jerk!" she sobbed quietly, "When I said alive, I meant in one piece, Erry, you stupid shit head!" Her smaller hands balled into fists as she punched his chests softly a couple of times, earning a chuckle from Erwin.
"I'm sorry, Em. Though I gotta say, it might have been worth it to hear you call me that nickname again. It's been nearly 15 years since I've heard that one," he teased, his voice steady but I saw it. A couple of tears escaped the eyes of the commander as well. Though I had a much different opinion on the nickname. It was honestly something I was going to repeat to Shitty Glasses just so I could see her make fun of Erwin for it.
"Alright, well Erry, you've missed out on a lot of information!" speak of the she-devil herself. I had been so focused on the two siblings that I hadn't even noticed the door open revealing Hanji and a short, bald kid from the 104th I believe was named Connie or something.
At their entrance, the Smiths ceased their embrace, but Emmryn remained close to him though she did move to where she was almost within arms reach of me. I'm glad because after everything that's happened, I prefer to keep her a bit closer to me when I'm able to. Protecting her forever or even for much longer is not a guaranteed option, so for now, I simply would when I was able to. The information that was spilled at that point in that recovery room wrecked me to my core.
"You mean we've been killing humans this whole time?" I demanded to know. My eyes darted to Emmryn who looked a bit shell-shocked. To be honest, I wasn't sure how much more Emmryn's mind could take, but she didn't have a choice. We had to keep moving forward. That's what soldiers do.
"It's very likely," Hanji admitted, for once not sounding ecstatic about a discovery about titans. What disturbed me the most was the expression I saw on Erwin's face. Noticing the oddly unhinged smile on his now scruffy face, my body moved on instinct, wrapping my arm protectively around Emmryn's waist and pulling her closer to me, an action that seemed to snap her out of stupor as she immediately gripped the fabric of my shirt to ground herself, letting herself lean into me slightly before standing up straight, a determined but perturbed expression on her face. All of this happened in an instant, and at the end of this instant, I felt myself glaring at Erwin for what felt like the 100th time since Emmryn returned from training as the next words came from my mouth, ringing out through the wide room like a gong.
"Why the hell do you look so fucking happy, Erwin?"
Song: Man or Monster by Sam Tinnesz & Zayde Wolf
A/N: So I didn't write out the scene with Connie and Hanji explaining what happened in Ragako. Call me lazy but rewriting the exact events from the anime/manga is exhausting and honestly just no fun to do. This is an AOT fanfiction so I'm assuming that those reading are aware of most of the major events from the show. The important parts were the reactions of Emmryn, Erwin, and Levi which I obviously included. If the skip bothers you, I apologize that it bothers you, but I won't promise that it won't happen again. I'm still trying to motivate myself to even write this story because I know there are a good number of amazing readers that have been patiently waiting for updates on it. 3 Anyways, I love yall and thank you so much for reading! :D
