𝐆𝐫𝐞𝐲 | 𝐋𝐞𝐯𝐢 𝐀𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐱 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫

✥𝚆𝙸𝚃𝙷 𝙱𝙰𝚂𝙴𝙼𝙴𝙽𝚃𝚂 𝙲𝙾𝙼𝙴 𝙳𝙰𝚁𝙺 𝚃𝚁𝚄𝚃𝙷𝚂✥

⋘ ──── ∗ ⋅◈⋅ ∗ ──── ⋙

Violet Grey sat alone.
They got back to the wall and she had to take a sit before her legs gave up on her. She didn't know what exactly was going on with her, but she did not feel good. Her body felt numb, empty, and did not feel that same fire to keep pushing forward like before.
Not after she said her final goodbye to Julian.His funeral had been simple, just like he would've liked it. It was only Petru, Thomas and herself, the only people left that cared for him. Her sobs were all the sound while they sat down next to him, while they enjoyed these final moments with him, and the soft sing of the wind.
She never thought she would be the one burying him, that she would live till this day. Violet had always thought she'd be the one gone first ---- had selfishly wished it was her first, rather him, so that she wouldn't have to face such pain, that she didn't have to live through such tragedy. But here she was.
Life never worked the way she wanted. And she was here while he was gone.

She made her legs work and struggled to get up. They wobbled soo much, felt so unreliable, that not even by placing her hands on the floor to push her body up helped her much.
But when she managed to balance her body in her own two feet, she walked up to where a circle of people had formed and slid beside Levi.
Hanji discussed something with the 104th, could tell by how their lips moved along with their hand. But she didn't listen to what was being said. Only pretended to be there in the conversation, when her mind was somewhere else.
Her eyes caught Levi's and she couldn't smile at him, could not reassure him she was fine. Because she was not. It felt like nothing would be fine ever again. And maybe he understood what she tried to tell him with her eyes, read the message passing between them, as he placed his calloused hand on her lower back; a sign of affection and reassurance coming from his heart.
"Anyways, Erwin entrusted Levi with the decision to use it. And Levi ended up choosing you. There's nothing more to say." Hanji said sternly.
Violet then understood what was going on, but she couldn't really figure a thought about it. Couldn't even form a proper thought, what to feel. It was as if all her emotions truly vanished.
She looked down to Armin, who wore a haunted look on his face, and nodded, almost mechanically. Maybe to reassure herself that this was real.
Levi noticed her movement and his finger rubbed her back in soft circles, noticing how her face showed that she was still not here; that her feet had not yet landed back on the ground.
"Erwin's life and a titan's power rest on your shoulders," Hanji added.

And for some reason, those words triggered Violet who had to turn around and walk away, her arms hugging herself tightly to stop herself from crying.
Deep breaths left her mouth and she inhaled sharply through her nose. She had to calm down, had to gather herself. It was not the time to break down, to lose herself.
But it was hard. So, so awfully hard. And she was tired.
Nothing felt right, nothing was right. And having to pretend that she was fine, to move on forward, was something she did not feel like doing. Not when she had done it almost all her life and when she finally thought she wouldn't have to do it again ever. Yet, here she was, her world crashing down again; and maybe this time, it was for good. Maybe there was no way to pick up the pieces that had been stuck together with glue time and time again, as they would not hold together anymore. Would not hold a steady foundation to make her whole again.
"Violet." Levi's hand on her shoulder brought her back to this world, and she turned around to face him. He wore a soft look on his face, one that had her heart breaking because it confirmed that all she thought, all that happened, was true. That she was frail, that she had lost. Because Levi Ackerman would probably have never seen her with such sympathy, with such softness as if she would break if what had happened just a few moments ago wasn't true.
He blinked at her thrice. Are you okay?
And she blinked twice. No.
He sighed, his shoulders heaving, and he squeezed her shoulder. "I'm sorry, Violet. I'm sorry. But we have to go. We have to find Jaeger's home."

✥

This basement was old as fuck.
The candlelight barely brighten up the room, much less the shelves filled with books that she pretended to read. She really wasn't looking for something, hardly knew what she was looking at, she just looked around to make everyone believe that she was.
Getting to Jaeger's house had been a pain, and it was even more getting into the basement. But once they went down all those stairs and stumbled upon the 'secret lab' everyone had gone crazy for--- what they had found was rather disappointing for the ruckus it caused.
It looked just like any other lab for a doctor. Looked fairly innocent and non-suspicious at all, which is probably what Dr Jaeger would've wanted if what they claim went down here was true. Very smart from him, indeed.
"It almost feels like a laboratory down here." Hanji mused.
Violet stopped pretending and turned around to face them. You have to concentrate, she told herself, get it together, Grey.
Gods, she was trying, truly.
"My dad was a doctor, so...he was always cooped up down here mixing medicine."
This made Hanji hum. "That makes sense." They held a jar of medicine in their hand, twisting it around. "In fact, if this medicine is all labelled correctly, it's stuff that's widely available. And since all the books here relate to medicine, at first glance, it's just a doctor's study." They shook their head. "It's like that's what he wants people to think."
Levi closed the book in his hand, creating a sharp sound in the quietness of the room. "Yeah...If you're hiding stuff from the Interior Police, you wouldn't want it out in the open." He placed the book down and turned to Mikasa and Eren, scowling. "Oi, brats. Quit standing around."

That made them move once more, searching for something that would confirm everything they feared. But Violet's feet stayed in the same ground, unable to move. She couldn't focus well, hadn't been able to get her mind to work well for her, so she just stood there, looking down at the floor.
She was being so gods damn useless. So gods damn pathetic, but she couldn't help it. Could not even bring herself to feel sorry about it.
She did wish, however, that she could help out more. But in her current condition, she'd probably end up creating up more chaos than good by attempting to do something that her heart and mind did not feel like doing.
 She didn't hear when they found the desk and pull it open. Only when Levi called out her name with his raspy voice did she turn around and noticed what had happened. She walked up to them hurriedly and looked down to the drawers, where a few books were laid, hidden.
Hanji took one book into their hands and placed it on the desk, opening it to the first page. "This is...a portrait?" Eren asked, holding a tiny piece of paper with a little family in it in his fingers. But it wasn't a portrait, at least not like any Violet had ever seen before.
"No...It's far too detailed for this to be drawn by a person." Hanji's brows were furrowed, looking at the paper intently. And they were right, it was far too detailed to be something made by human hands. Far too good to be just a mere portrait.
So nobody spoke and just stared at the piece of paper in Eren's hand a little bit more.

As the mystery they just uncovered was too great for this room. 

⋘ ──── ∗ ⋅◈⋅ ∗ ──── ⋙

im sorry besties for not updating. 
exam season is a real decease

also don't mind this being absolute ass