His Wounded Heart Beats For One (Levi x Reader Fanfiction)

27: Making Amends

Dismal clouds shroud the midday sun, cloaking Scout headquarters in a dreary grey light. As you pass under the stone archway and enter the main courtyard, you feel an inexplicable churning in your stomach. Levi walks calmly, albeit proudly, perhaps reveling in his human war trophy by his side. Other Scouts roam the ground, either failing to catch notice of the resurrected nurse or simply stopping in shock upon the sight of her. 

"I'm nervous," you admit, shuffling closer to your partner.

"Why?" He flicks glances at passing soldiers, daring each one to say something. "You beat the odds and came back from the dead. Few Scouts are as remarkable as you." 

You lower your volume when you enter a cavernous hallway, your voice easily bouncing off the walls. "I don't know. I feel like I'm in trouble or something." 

"You'll be fine. I'm the only one at risk of insubordination." The sound of his gear swinging beside his hips is more prominent than his voice. "They can do whatever they want to me once they're done reeling from the shock of seeing you. I really don't give a shit." 

You smile, finding comfort in his indifferent provocation. "You seem like you're looking forward to it."

"Obviously. These doubting fuckers are going to shit themselves." 

"Gross," you laugh. "I don't really want to spur that reaction in anyone."

Levi finds an enormous door and heaves it open, helping you into the mess hall where Eld had offered the nurses expensive meat several days prior. You can't believe it's only been a matter of days since you were last in these walls; the time outside had felt like an eternity.

The hall is teeming with soldiers finishing up lunch, the air warm with laughter and conversation. If there's grieving soldiers, they're not motivated enough to come eat. 

Levi scans the room in an instant, then mumbles some curse to himself before slamming a mighty fist into the wooden door. The wood splinters from his impact, a slight dent left as a result. "Oi!" he hollers.

The hall drops into silence almost instantly, all heads turning to the signature voice of Levi. They notice him, and they subsequently notice the living nurse beside him. The room seems to swell with newfound energy as shock and disbelief swirl among the soldiers. 

Levi's content with the sight. Several dozen faces slapped with the truth of his victory is a pleasant picture for the soldier. "Where's Keith?"

Nobody speaks up, not for a while. You stand shyly beneath the gaze of this hive, unfamiliar with such attention. 

"He's in his office." Miche's voice is quiet, but it seems to swallow the otherwise silent room. The section commander rises from his seat and weaves through the rows to approach the arrivals. "Signing death certificates, I believe."

"He'd better fucking hold off on that, then." Levi whips around, satisfied with that answer.

"Just a moment," Miche requests as Levi forces the door open. 

You stay where you are, meeting Miche's lofty eyes with the same resolution Levi manifests. 

The section commander stands tall, but he doesn't intimidate. He looks over the revenant, impressed with how well she maintained herself. "Welcome back," he rumbles. "You're a formidable Scout, to survive on your own like that."

"Just hid in the windmill." You don't think to salute or address him with any formality. You're separate from the other Scouts, a unique survivor that's endured something nobody else in the regiment can attest to. "Until Levi came back for me."