At Your Service || 𝕝𝕖𝕧𝕚 𝕩 𝕡𝕝𝕦𝕤 𝕤𝕚𝕫𝕖 𝕙𝕚𝕤𝕡𝕒𝕟𝕚𝕔 𝕠𝕔

Chapter Twenty Nine

The birds chirped outside my window, the afternoon sun beaming in and warming my room from the chilly morning. The happy sounds of each bird rang in my ears as I lifted my face from my pillow.

I grabbed my pocket watch from my bedside table to see it was 1:30 pm. I caught up with my sleep that I'd lost over these past months yet I still felt tired.

I found solitude in being alone in the headquarters: I could eat what I wanted, I could shower at any time I wanted, I could walk back to my room naked, but more importantly, I could sleep later.

Yet these stupid birds outside and their little song made the last part of my perfect list almost impossible to achieve.

"Shut up!" I yelled out the open window, like they would actually listen

I stuffed my face into my pillow once again but found that I was already too awake to go back to sleep. So, unwillingly, I got up and started my day.

After face washing, teeth powdering, and staring off into the distance and trying my best to wake up, I finally got dressed and looked at myself in the mirror. Although I still felt tired, I slept well. A little too well, according to my hair. I tried my best to tame my bedheaded waves and curls but I failed, so I just tied my wild hair in purple ribbon.

I went to the kitchen and soft boiled myself two eggs with toast grilled perfectly on each side. I went ahead and made breakfast, even though it was already past lunch.

I opted for water instead of that hot grass juice they called tea. I missed the coffee milk my father would make me and my brother. It was the best part of the day besides going and fishing with Emilio later in the evenings.

Since the battle at Shiganshina, the amount of new recruits hadn't increased by much, so I found myself doing a lot more reading than usual. This time, I decided to through Erwin's old collection, bringing back some memories of reading to him while he recovered from his amputation.

Apparently, the book that I picked up today was from when he was a cadet. Each chapter taught about the mechanics of ODM gear and other details I cared not to learn. All I cared about was that the book passed the time.

I flipped through it, trying to see how much longer I had until the end when I noticed a folded letter tucked into the back page.

Curiosity struck and I removed the letter from the book, opening it see Erwin's handwriting. I read the letter, his poetic words of romance making my heart flutter, remembering all the same words he used for me. I could only assume that this note was for me but he didn't send it before his death.

But I assumed wrong.

Towards the end, I noticed the same words repeated just like in his final letter to me:

"Oh, Marie, the sound of your name is like a symphony that I could listen to for all my life. Your voice is a song I could never tire of."

"Marie?" I whispered to myself, looking ahead, my heart pounding as I tired not to believe what was written on these pages

I kept reading, just to make sure I wasn't dreaming when I saw a haphazard stetch of a woman: dark hair, wavy and long. I could only assume this was Erwin's attempt at a sketch of Marie. Then again, I do have wavy and long dark hair too.

Maybe Erwin shortened my name to Marie? Levi calls me "Mari". Then again, my name sounds no where near "Marie". That's pronounced Muh-ree while mine is Mar-e-ah-nah.

I clutched on tight to the page, the letter crumpling in my grip, my arms shaking with the sadness and anger that was building up inside of me.

I let out a deep breath, trying to calm myself. There is one person who would know how Erwin's mind worked. Maybe Erwin wasn't that creative and reused his same lines: I could only hope. One person could answer that question: Levi. I would just wait for his return.