A Promise (An Attack on Titan Fanfic: Erwin Smith)

Love

She wondered how he could still look so beautiful even when he was asleep.

Isanna was settled on a timber chair, right beside the commander's bed in one of the hospital rooms. The place was as quaint as the room she'd been staying in, with nothing but a simple bed, a bedside table, and a couch. Near the corner was a door that led to the bathroom, and on one wall of the room was an open window where the extensive cluster of twinkling stars decorated the darkened sky, and the cold airy temperature of the night was blowing inside.

It was quiet. Peaceful. A clear contrast of the hell they'd went through just eight days ago.

Sometimes Isanna would find herself shaking in sudden bursts of adrenaline whenever her brain relapsed into haunting scenes; memories of Erwin being ripped off right in front of her, and morbid imaginations of Mike's downfall.

Now that she was settled in tranquility, right beside her commander, safe and sound, it soothed her.

She'd spent the previous two days after she'd woken up coping with Mike's death and helping Levi and Hanji with military duties, despite their insistence that she should just keep an eye on Erwin considering her physical injures and mental stress.

She didn't want to be useless. Not now, especially when their commander was still in a coma.

Isanna allowed her dull, tired gaze to study over Erwin's features, the way his chest rhythmically heaved in slow beats signaling that he was still alive, his long eyelashes that, strands of his blond hair messily splayed on the cushions of the snowy-white pillow under him, and tracing along his jawline was his steadily growing stubble.

He looked peaceful.

She pulled her chair nearer to the bed, before easing back into her seat.

Slowly reaching out, she gingerly took his left hand in hers, caressing it. She sighed. "You're seriously.. taking your goddamn time making me worry."

Isanna shakily breathed and closed her eyes when she felt yet another stinging prick in them, ducking her head low. "You idiot.."

Eight days had already passed, and he was still unconscious. Even though the doctors said his was body was stabilized already, it was all up to him to wake up, and with each passing hour, Isanna felt like the rope around her heart was getting tighter and suffocating her in anxiety.

"Wake up, already."

Her throat felt scratchy, another grainy cry itching to escape, but she held it back. She'd been crying nonstop for the past two days, and she didn't want to feel any more helpless than she already was.

"Mike's already gone," she whispered, eyes glued on his hand while she gently massaged it. According to what Levi had told her, Erwin already knew about Mike's death way before her. She made a guess he didn't tell her because he didn't want her to become any more stressed—but he was an idiot, she thought. He only prolonged her inevitable agony.

I need you to wake up, she thought, desperately. I need you.

•

It was already around the wee hours of dawn when Erwin woke up.

Eyes brushing open, it took him a few seconds to register where he was, including the memory of how and why he had somehow ended up in a room that smelled distinctly of a hospital.

He groggily tilted his head, mind still in a light haze, and it was then did he notice the warmth hugging his hand. Erwin turned to his side to see the person he most expected to see right by the side of the bed, fast asleep with her head resting over her arm on the mattress, and her free hand intwined with his.