Yesterday's Enemy [AoT]

ONE-HUNDRED-AND-TWENTY-ONE

'Dreams are a luxury too few can ever hope to afford.'

-An extract from the book 'Evolutions' written by philosopher Adette Briggs.

<><><>

ONE-HUNDRED-AND-TWENTY-ONE

Wall Maria, North-West Region, Falkirk, Falkirk Military Hospital

Lorelai was still where she lay, too still.

Levi leant forward to clutch her hands; she was barely warm under his fingertips. His eyes grew glossy for what might have been the third time that hour.

"I promise to wear the expensive clothes you always buy me," Levi said softly, looking to her face for a reaction. But Lorelai didn't stir.

He looked down again. "I promise to cook lamb with red wine sauce at least once a week." Levi kept his eyes on their rings, resting on their interlocked hands.

"I promise not to nag you about having too much jewellery," he smiled slightly, then forced his eyes closed as the grief came back in waves. She looked so still as she slept. He might have believed she was at peace, but Levi knew better. Lorelai was sleeping the sleep of death— he'd seen it before so many times.

"I promise we can attend as many balls as you like." His voice was a teary croak, foreign to his ears and hers.

"I promise that we'll dance until we collapse— no running out at halftime," he murmured, squeezing her hands desperately.

Levi could take it no longer; tears were spilling gently down his cheeks. His voice was low, shaky as he whispered, "I-I promise I will protect you... to my dying day." He let out a quiet sob as he felt his throat closing up. "If you will please, please... wake up."

Lorelai did not stir. The heart monitor beside her beeped consistently, but there was no response to him in her dormant body.

He looked down at their hands, letting the grief dull to a low, constant hum.

It had been about a week since they'd arrived back in Falkirk. The past few days had been a whirlwind of Lorelai's countless operations, but Levi found he missed the panic.

The quiet the worst. When she was so still that he was unsure she was alive, when all he could do was sit next to her as she slept, Levi held each moment as if it were the very last he would spend with her. He hated the suspense. He begged for relief. But it would not come.

Lorelai had sustained some terrible injuries.

Her left leg had been severed just above the knee, gone, swallowed down a titan's gullet. She had three broken ribs, shattered bones in her surviving leg, and a mild concussion.

The blood loss was the worst part. She had been out in Titan Country far too long. In fact, most of the nurses he had seen had been amazed Lorelai had survived long enough to make it to the hospital.

Levi found he owed the last surviving scraps of her life to Warren, wherever he may be now.

The hospital was loud and busy around him. Lorelai wasn't the only Scout who had received such terrible injuries; in fact, most of the building was full of the mission's casualties.

It was a bit of a nightmare out there, really. Many soldiers had just collapsed in the hallway as there were no more beds available. The smell of blood and death hung thick over the hospital.