Not Much Longer (AOT)

Military Man

"I will be gone for the next day or so" Erwin said as he was pacing around his office, collecting things for his trip. The sky was only just beginning to turn pink with the rising sun. Hanji stood across the room from him with her arms folded.

"You don't know when you're going to be back?" She was immensely confused as to what was going on. "Where are you even going anyway? This is the second time you've left without giving me any explanation. Are you hiding something from me?"

"No-" he spoke without looking to her . "-I don't think I could hide anything from you even if I tried to."

"You're definitely hiding something."

Erwin ignored her comment and went to walk out of his office door. Before he could get to it, she shut the door and blocked his way.

His patience was running thin. "Hanji..."

"I don't know what you and Levi have been keeping from me, but I can tell it's important."

She was pointing at him as she continued. Her other hand still held the door closed.

"If it wasn't so important, you two wouldn't keep it from me." Hanji lowered her voice to almost a whisper. "Why is it that now, after all these years, you've decided to keep me out of important matters?"

Erwin could sense a hint of anger in her voice.

"If it were my choice, Levi wouldn't know ether," Erwin said in a threatening tone.

Hanji just became more confused, but stepped away and let him out of the room.

Before he turned to leave, he looked back to Hanji.

"This is something bigger than just you, me or Levi. This is much bigger. There will come a time when you will know. But, it's too early to get our hopes up."

With that, Erwin faced away from Hanji and set out on his journey to Soldat.

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The journey was not a pleasant one, or one that Erwin particularly enjoyed.

Although the town was ideal for what was transpiring, he could not help but envy every moment of his travel.

After a few hours, Erwin could hear the rustling of the Saturday Market. He knew that he was very close.

As he entered the town, the people began to crowd around to watch as he and his horse trotted past.

"I've got to remember to come at night..." he mumbled under his breath. In an attempt to draw attention away from himself, he pulled his hood over his head.

He passed by the woman with the apple booth. This time the apples were green. Erwin decided to stop and buy one from the old woman. Not for the sake of thanking her, but for the sake of his tired horse.

"How much?" He questioned as he hopped down.

"Same as before, and the same it will always be. Five." She smiled.

Erwin handed over the cash and was handed a bright green apple in return. The old woman watched as he began feeding it to his horse.

"Why do you to keep coming up here? Usually capitol folks like you get bored the first time 'round."

"I'm not a part of the capitol" Erwin replied, keeping his attention to the horse.

"Oh, military man?" she said leaning back into her booth.

"In a way," he shrugged.

"Trying to court that young lady your friend asked about?" she laughed.

Erwin shot her a glare. He was too tired and on edge to deal with snarky comments from an old woman selling apples. 

"I'm just saying!" The woman cried out while laughing. She could tell he was not in the mood for jokes. "If you're going after that Athena girl, you're wasting your time. Poor thing never lets anyone in."

Erwin mounted his horse and turned back to face her. "Thank you for your time."

With that, Erwin went on his way. And needless to say, he was annoyed.

Arriving at Athena's a short while later, Erwin was searching through the saddle bags for all the books he had for her. He went to great lengths to find the books for her. An ancient dead language was rare to come by, but these books were probably the only ones left in existence.

Athena stepped outside and ran up to Erwin at the sight of the them. He did not hear her come off of the porch. The moment she saw the books emerging from his saddle bag, it sparked her curiosity and excitement. 

"Where did you get all of those-"

She was cut off by a swift elbow to the nose, and fell onto the ground with a loud thud.

Erwin swung around and looked down at Athena grabbing her nose.

"Shit..." he said hurrying to help her out of the dirt.

Erwin was beginning to let his stress get the best of him.

"Don't sneak up on me." The slightest tinge of anger in his voice came out.

He found Athena to be clumsy and annoying on the surface. To him, she was too naive. As soon as he helped Athena to her feet she took her hands away from her face to reveal the nose bleed he had caused.

Erwin's face turned to shock, then guilt. Blood was never a great sight for him...

Athena looked at her hands and immediately closed her eyes and turned her head away.

"I'll just... meet you inside" she said running toward the house.

Erwin called out "I'm sorry" to her but, he was cut off by the sound of the door slamming behind her.

He was left to deal with the silence of the secluded house had to offer. He shifted his stance and looked back to his horse. It only responded with a harsh stamp of its hoof into the ground. 

Erwin continued to unpack the books.

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Inside, Athena ran upstairs into the bathroom and started frantically washing the blood from her face.

The white sink started to stain a bright red color as it slipped down the drain.

She held her face over the sink and looked up into the mirror. The blood was beginning to slow, but the sight of her very own face in the mirror...