In the Past (Levi Ackerman x OC)

Chapter 19

Song: "The Haunting" by Anberlin

"We were going to kill Erwin."

His words reverberated in my head, my eyes growing wide as what he had said finally caught up with me.

"What?"

Levi didn't respond, and as he continued scrubbing the shelves I watched him in disbelief.

"What do you mean you were going to kill Erwin... aren't you his right hand man?"

Levi glanced back at me from behind his left shoulder, the light in the room hitting him at a flattering angle. His eyes were particularly light, and the circles around his eyes didn't seem as dark as I knew they were.

For just a fraction of a second I found him attractive, and in that second my heart skipped a beat.

"We had a goal to get ourselves out of the Underground, and within that vicinity of time we received a job offer that could get us exactly where we wanted."

As soon as that attraction had come, it was gone without a single trace.

Levi turned back around, shielding his face from my view.

"The job just so happened to be to kill Erwin Smith."

"What?" I asked, memories slowly coming to my mind, it was like the spark of a match, as hard as I kept running it across the rough board, it just wasn't lighting, and nothing of value came to mind. The only thing I could remember was sitting at a crowded table with Kain, Melanie, Michelle, and Shane, along with a mysterious man with an envelope. A man who hid underneath a dark hood.

"Why would anyone want to kill the Commander?"

Levi sighed and stood up, stretching out his short legs. Shaking out the rags excess bleach over a bucket.

"He was moving up in ranks, I suppose... someone felt threatened."

Levi hesitated for just a second as he spoke, the muscles in his back flexing as he started scrubbing the dust off of another shelf.

"So...?" I urged, signaling for him to finish the story.

Levi sighed, "So, when Isa- when we were caught by Erwin, we were placed under his guidance in the Recon Corps, then we devised up a plan to kill him during an expedition when it'd be the easiest to access the center of the formation."

I pursed my lips, and crossed my arms, "And then?"

"And then nothing." He replied, clear annoyance lining his tone.

"What do you mean "and then nothing"?" I interrogated him, "You can't just stop there, what happened once you were brought here?"

Levi glared back at me, the steely blue of his eyes glinting against the lighting in the room.

"Everything after that is in those files, you know how the story ends, what's the point of wasting time on details?" He scoffed, dismissing me with ease as he turned back around and wiped stray dust away from the metal file holders.

I frowned as an image of Kain and the others flashed through my mind.

"Sometimes the details are the most important parts..."

Levi huffed at this, his annoyance growing by the minute.

"Not to me." He bluntly stated.

I bit down on my lip and glanced back at him, shaking my head in the process.

Levi had moved on from dusting and was now holding a broom in his hand, and with ease he swept the floor. The amount of dust and debris that made its way into a pile shocked me, and disgusted me. How could it have gotten so filthy?

However, his change in cleaning utensil hadn't diverted my attention from the fact that his shoulders were remarkably stiff and the look of agitation and sadness lingered in his eyes whenever I caught a glimpse of them.

"Look, don't be an ass." I sighed, "I just wanted to know more about you, you're like this puzzle that I just can't quite figure out."

From the side view that I had of his face I noticed the faintest twitch of his lips. The smallest of smiles had graced his features before disappearing.

"It's honestly really annoying." I tell him, trying to lighten the mood.

Levi glanced back at me, eyes a sparkling steely gray. The amusement was clear, but his face remained stoic.

"Whatever, get back to work, Brat."

I rolled my eyes, but smiled slightly at his attitude change. Slowly, I grabbed a new file from the box and made my way down the row of filing cabinets again their smooth metal surfaces keeping me upright as I moved around the room.

The room was silent excluding the sounds of ruffling papers, and the light airy sound of bristles against the hard floor.

The silence was eerily comfortable. Unlike all those other times when I'd been with Levi and the silence had made me severely uncomfortable, to the point of screaming from frustration and distress, this was nice. It was something that I didn't want broken. At least I didn't want it broken by someone outside of this moment. For the first time since I'd gotten here I felt like Levi and I were on similar terms.

After what seemed like forever, the silence was broken.

"When we got here, Isabel, Farlan and I started planning. We decided that it would be easiest to kill Erwin during an expedition so we could sneak into the center of the formation so we could take him out. However, when we spotted fallen soldiers we realized the formation had been breached and I left. Before I even... before I even got to where I was heading I realized I'd made the wrong call and I went back."

My back straightened as I listened to him, the hair on my arms stood up on edge.

"When I got there... I was too late..."

I glanced back to look at Levi, only for me to realize that he was already facing me. His eyes stared into my own and I swallowed down the emotions that were welling up inside me.

"I'm sorry for your loss, I truly am."

Levi nodded and pursed his lips and turned back to his work.

The rest of the time was spent in a comfortable silence.