The Path Back to You | Levi x OC

Chapter 7 - Fragile

Anastasya

"Oh, you look great!" said Hange, as Anya turned and revealed her freshly cut and styled hair.
She regarded herself in the mirror, trying to get used to seeing her own reflection again.
"Where should we go next?" she asked.
"Um, well, I suppose you need more clothes."
Anya paid the hairdresser, who seemed awestruck, and then she and Hange re-emerged onto the streets of Trost.
"Shopping it is, then, but let's make it as quick and painless as possible."
"Not even the best part of a year without shopping could make you love it?"
"Nope," she replied, much to Hange's dismay.
"Well, let me pick out a few outfits for you, if you're going to cut the fun short."
"Fine, but nothing weird."
"Hey, Levi said the same thing when I went to get you some clothes to borrow!"
Whilst they shopped, Anya made sure to speak to everyone she could, subtly promoting the Scout Regiment and softening the blow of yesterday's failure. By the time she and Hange sat down in a tavern for lunch, the city was abuzz with the news that she was back and that the Scouts were a truly wonderful asset to humanity. Hange chuckled next to her, and she raised an eyebrow.
"What?"
"You haven't even been back twenty-four hours and yet you've managed to get the whole city behind us."
"Maybe not the whole city," she replied, taking a swig from her beer. "So did I miss much whilst I was gone?"
"Hmm, not really, other than the Colossal Titan appearing outside Trost, the fact that Eren can change into a Titan, and what happened yesterday, of course."
"And you don't think that's missing much?" She shook her head. "So Trost's inner gate is no longer accessible?"
"Nope. Eren had no choice but to seal it up with a massive boulder."
"That's unfortunate. Hey, Hange... Now that we're alone, how were Levi and Erwin after they thought I was gone?"
She watched as Hange deliberately played for time by taking a bite of her food and chewing agonisingly slowly, looking uncharacteristically serious.
"Not good, Anya," she admitted. "Everyone was devastated. Levi was... I've never seen him like that before. We had to drag him away. At first, he was so desperately angry that I thought he was going to attack someone. I think it was directed at himself, but at Erwin, too. He blamed himself for not stopping you from venturing onto the ledge, and he resented Erwin for calling off the search, not that he had much choice. Levi realised that, eventually, but it took a while."
"Then what happened?" she dared ask.
"Then came the sorrow and despair. He was heartbroken, and he barely spoke to anyone for a month. Neither did Erwin, who felt guilty for ordering the retreat and for not at least being able to retrieve your body. Levi realised how much he was suffering on his own and after a while, he forgave him and recognised that it wasn't really his fault. They'd only really started to come to terms with losing you a few weeks ago."
Anya felt overcome with emotion. She silently chided herself, for she had secretly begun to wonder at how quickly and easily everyone seemed to have returned to normal. However, she now knew that that wasn't the case, and that they had been hiding much of their pain from her. She sighed deeply and slumped back against her chair.
"I can't believe they fell out because of me. They should have been there for one another, rather than fighting about it all."
"Well, you know what they're like. They're both stubborn as mules and stoic as bricks."
"Fortunately I do," she said, a wry smile twisting her lips.
"Was it awful?" Hange suddenly asked.
"Yes," she said, confessing to her what she hadn't yet been able to tell Levi or Erwin. "I believed that I was going to die so many times, Hange, but I'd almost made my peace with that fate. The thing worse than that was the thought that I'd never get home again. That I'd just be lost out in Titan country trying to get back and no-one would ever know that I'd survived, that I'd fought to reach everyone again and that instead, I'd just be forgotten, and no-one would ever find out what had really happened to me."
"I don't think anyone could forget you," Hange said softly, placing a hand over hers. "How do you feel now that you're back?"
"I don't know... Happy, of course, but everything feels a little different now, and it's as though the walls are closing in on me. I feel on edge all of the time, just like I was out there, jumping at the smallest of sounds and glancing things out of the corner of my eye that aren't actually there," she said, battling to continue past the painful lump forming in her throat.
"The stupidest thing of all is that a small part of me worries that I'll miss the freedom. Now there are shitty politics and idiots and traitors to deal with, whereas before it was just me, Nightmare, and the Titans. They're creepy as hell, but at least you can more or less predict what they're going to do to you."
"You'll get used to being back. It's just going to take time."
"Levi's said the same thing. I really hope you're right."
"Did you ever find the mountain people?" Hange asked, after a while.
"No," she replied. "There was nobody... I think."
She briefly told her about waking up in the cave. There was a flash of disappointment across Hange's face, but behind it lay curiosity. She wouldn't let it go yet, though she changed the topic to something lighter, and they spent the next few hours catching up. They returned to the castle for late afternoon, knowing that Erwin would soon want to go over the new tactic for capturing the Female Titan.

***

Erwin

Erwin looked up from his desk as Anastasya walked into the room. She already appeared to be a little better than she had seemed yesterday, though he'd noticed her tire quickly at breakfast.
"Your hair looks nice," he said, realising she'd had it cut.
"Thanks. Have you seen Levi?"
"He left about ten minutes ago. We've been going over a potential strategy."
"Ah. I was thinking..."
She sat down on one of the two sofas, and he left his desk to take a seat on the one opposite.
"Go on."
"You say our traitor is most likely a young recruit in the Military Police?"
"Yes."
"Remind me... Based on what?"
"Armin Arlelt's intuition."
She raised a frosty eyebrow.
"Explain."
He relayed all of the information he had, including how Leonhart had presented her dead comrade's ODM gear for inspection instead of her own during the investigation into who had murdered the two Titans they'd captured after the latest breach.
"So it's a hunch," she said, "but a pretty big one."
"Yes."
"What's your plan?"
"We've been summoned to the capital to explain yesterday's Expedition, and to hand Eren over. We'll use Jean as a decoy, and instead we'll have Eren, Mikasa and Armin lure Leonhart underground in Stohess District, where she won't be able to transform, and then we'll capture her."
"From what you've just told me, she sounds smart. There's absolutely no guarantee that she won't figure out what we're trying to do, transform before reaching the tunnels, go after Eren again, and trash the city in the process, killing potentially hundreds of innocent people."
"We'll have plans in place to limit the damage as much as possible," he said.
"Or," she said, leaning forward, "I could sort it out tonight."
"No."
Levi had appeared in the doorway, and he now made his way into the room and joined Anastasya, thoroughly unimpressed. She ignored him and kept her fierce, violet-blue gaze on Erwin.
"I can slip into the Military Police barracks tonight while she's asleep and grab her," she said. "She won't have time to react."
"Anya, no," said Levi, his voice sharp. "Don't be stupid. You need to give yourself time to recover."
"I can do it!"
"Are you forgetting that she killed my entire squad yesterday? There were four of them, and they were fit and healthy. There's only one of you, and you're not exactly in the best shape right now. Do you really think you'd stand a chance if she transformed?"
"I'd incapacitate her before she could do that," she replied. "Erwin, I-"
"Levi's right," he said. As tempting as her offer was, he would not allow her to put herself in such a dangerous situation when it could be avoided. They'd only just got her back, and he did not want to go through the pain of losing her again.
"What?"
"It's too risky. We'll stick with the original plan."
"And that's less risky?" she scoffed.
"If it goes wrong, we have several back-up options, as I told you before. Those back-up options won't work for what you're suggesting, so if your plan fails, what then?"
Before she could reply, Levi interrupted.
"You die," he said bluntly. "It's that simple."
Frustration flashed across her face and she glared down at her lap.
"Fine; I'm useless now. I understand."
Levi reached out and tilted  her chin up so that she had no choice but to look at him.
"What you are right now," he said, "is tired and hurt. So take the time you need to recover and stop whining."
Erwin frowned, wondering if he'd have to intervene in a second based on whether Anastasya was going to punch Levi or agree with him. She visibly relaxed and released a deep sigh.
"Yeah. I'm being an idiot," she said. She got to her feet and scrubbed at her face with her hands. "I'm sorry. I'll see you both later."
Levi looked as though he wanted to stop her, but both of them let her leave. He suspected that Levi was just as taken aback as he was.
"That's not like her," he said.
Levi turned to look at him, certain that the concern on his friend's face was mirrored upon his own.
"No, it's not."
"It will take time, as you said earlier."
"Yeah. My worry," said Levi, "is that we might not have that time."
Erwin regarded him for a moment and had the terrible sensation that he might just be right.