The Wounded Warrior Project

Conditions

Erwin had fallen back asleep and Levi had gone to fetch Nick who cane back with three steaming bowls of soup.

"I thought you may want to eat now that he's awake." Nick explained, handing one of the precariously balanced bowls to Levi.

"Thank you." He said, carefully eating it.

"I brought the Commander some as well, but it is just broth. Hange said he wouldn't be able to eat anything solid yet." Levi nodded as he drained his soup. Nick chuckled and sat beside him. "It appears you were hungry."

"I haven't eaten in a week." Levi sighed as he set his bowl to the side. "And my appetite has returned." Nick nodded and began eating.

"So. What happened after you told him?" Levi glanced at Nick and sighed. He had learned that Nick wouldn't give up asking him.

"Well, it was a long three months. He never spoke to me unless it was specific commands that he had to deliver in person. I hardly ate anything and I spent my nights wracked with sorrow and it was my own fault. Do you know how it feels? Well..." Levi glanced sideways at the man. "Of course you can guess. After all, this really is your fault because you didn't relay your intel to us." Nick glanced sideways.

"I am sorry but it is not within my authority to-"

"I know. I know..." Levi waved his sentence away. "However, every time I saw Erwin he was always faring much worse. Despite my... Violent assaults against myself, he always looked so much worse."

"Violent assaults?" Levi sighed and rolled up the sleeve covering his right arm to reveal small scars running across it. "Oh..." Levi gave a short barking laugh and covered his arm again.

"It hardly matters now. I would cut my arms, beat my stomach with my fists, and slam my head against anything solid I could find. All of my torment was my own doing, as it had always been... Until now." Levi shook his head and stood, walking over to an untouched bottle of wine, a gift from Hange to "get his appetite back...?" Levi rolled his eyes and poured himself a glass before walking back over and sitting down.

"But he called me into his office one day and did something I never expected..."

***

Levi trembled as he walked down the hallway. Would he even be able to see the man he loved so much without breaking down? And what would Erwin say? He didn't hope for forgiveness; he didn't deserve that from Erwin. However, he could hope Erwin would not cast him away forever. Levi had every intention of it happening and he would have to take it, though as stoic as he felt he could be, deep down he knew he would crumble. His resolve would crack and he couldn't imagine what he would be capable of doing to himself.

Levi paused at the door no more than a fraction of a second; any longer and he would not have opened the door. He knocked. There was a pause. Perhaps Erwin changed his mind?

"Come in." The all too familiar voice made Levi's heart drop and his stomach flip. This was it... He pushed through the door and strode in until he stood a few feet away from the desk, on top of the wear marks in the carpet from so many feet before him.

The man who was before him was hardly recognizable. His eyes and cheeks were sunken in, making his brow bone and cheek bones even more predominate. He hadn't shaved in a while and his face was covered in an unruly mess of hair. His usually slicked back cut was tousled on his head and hung in his eyes and his shirt was wrinkled and only half buttoned. A nearly empty bottle of booze sat on the desk with a half-drained cup beside it. Paperwork was haphazardly covering the desk and his bolo tie lay half-hidden under a paper.

"Come closer." Levi took a few steps forward, but Erwin beckoned him closer until he stood with his hips a fraction of an inch from the dark wooden desk. Levi averted his eyes to the forgotten bolo and clenched his fists.

"What you have done is unforgivable." Erwin said in a too-soft voice to belong to the commander of the Survey Corps. Levi closed his eyes against the panic he felt flood him and clenched his fists tighter. "You have destroyed every ounce of trust I had in you as a comrade, friend, and lover." Levi's nails bit into the palms of his hands until he could feel blood bead around them. "Every ounce of respect I had for you is gone and any love I had for you is now tainted." That's when the trembling began. Levi stood there in silence, trembling, waiting for Erwin's next words, the words that would ruin his life forever.

"However," Levi's eyes opened and his head shot up, but his eyes quickly retreated from Erwin's gaze. "Anything can be mended with time." Levi swallowed hard. What was he saying...? "I refuse to give up on what we had Levi. Because this unbearable pain means that it was real." Levi almost choked on a sob. Was he giving him a second chance? He knew one thing; he didn't deserve whatever Erwin was suggesting. "You will have to start again but I am willing to let you earn back my trust and eventually my love." This time Levi did choke on the sob that he couldn't contain. His knees were weak and the room was spinning... "But you have to do three things." Levi gripped the desk with one hand and covered his mouth with the other.

"Anything." He choked. "I swear anything."

"First, you will tell me what happened. I believe you have a right and duty to both me and yourself explain what happened." Levi nodded, tears running down his cheeks and over his hand, dripping onto the desk he was leaning on.

"Second, you will apologize to Eren Yeager." Levi's throat hitched in slight shock but the tears kept pouring down his face. "The turmoil you have caused him and the pain he must be feeling are unimaginable. You used him and treated him as less than human." Levi's sobs were audible now, wracking his entire body.

"And third, you are going to have an open dialogue with Hange. Though she can be a bit over zealous at times, she is a good friend who will hold you accountable." Erwin paused and rubbed a hand across his face. Do you understand?" Levi nodded and bowed his head. "Perhaps then you will be able to mend what you broke." Levi's arm couldn't support his weight any longer and he collapsed on the ground like a man who had been stabbed, and sobbed.

"Levi..." His sobbing slowed when he felt arms around him pulling him into an embrace. "Promise me-" Erwin's voice cracked with his own sobs. "Promise me that you will fix my heart." Levi pulled away and held the larger man at arms' length.

"I swear to you upon pain of eternal suffering that I will make this right." And then Erwin embraced Levi once again and the men cried together.