Just for Yeager

Two Sides

How did it come to this?

The front door pushed my weight back as I leaned into it—exhausted, demoralized. I could barely shuffle my feet into the foyer, and the door slamming heavily behind me rung in my ears a violent echo. I caught my breath, my back resting beneath the threshold. I swept the tacky sweat off my forehead, my cheeks falling numb from the sudden rise in temperature. A sigh of defeat; I must have lost my touch, or maybe it was her deviance that's gotten an edge on me. Whatever the reason, I wouldn't ponder on possible excuses to allow myself relief. Mikasa got away. But next time I won't be so winded; next time there won't be a chase...

"Levi!" I looked up to Hange, the more than concerned wife of mine charging at me with an embrace. I took her into my arms, a feeling much desired. Her warm breath swam across my neck, her silk brown hair laced between my cold fingers. I sunk my head into her shoulder, and I could feel her chest trembling.

"I am fine, Hange. There's no need to cry."

"You had me worried sick, do you know that?" She sniffled. "It's way past dinner and you come home, disheveled, reeking of sweat, and the last I heard of you was in Saviion with Armin and a corpse!"

"It wasn't us."

"Where were you?!"

"Did you hear me?" I withdrew from her, cradling my forehead in my palm, pacing back in forth. "I think Mikasa killed that man and framed Armin."

Hange crossed her arms and fixed herself in a belligerent stance, "Oh, and let me guess, you were out playing cat and mouse? Why would she even do such a thing?"

"Would letting her walk away, having Armin take the fault have been best?" I took a breath. "Maybe Armin got too close, caught onto what she was doing. Or what she did. Maybe he got a sniff of her tail and now she wants him snuffed out."

"You're riding on assumptions, Levi. Don't get yourself muddled in this mess." She sighed in relief. "I'm just glad you're home. Wash up, have dinner, and forget about all of this."

"How are you so indifferent to this kid's impending wrongful prosecution?"

"You have this tendency to put everyone's problems on your shoulders. It's going to get you grey one day. You're stressed Levi. There's a lot going on in your mind and you really don't need more on your plate right now."

"A man died a causeless death, in which whom the suspect is one of our own, and you want me to do nothing?"

She grabbed my shoulders, looking me dead in my eyes. "I'm asking you to let someone else handle it."

I brushed her arm off, replying dismissively, "Where's Elga?"

"Levi?" Her eyes tented.

"Where is she?" I asked more firmly.

"In her quarters."

Out the way I came in, Hange's call upon me went through one ear and out the other. Her attitude towards the situation wasn't of my concern; it seemed she didn't believe Armin's case, or didn't care for it at all. Either way, I couldn't turn a blind eye between all of it. I left Elga at the square, among over dozens of other possible witnesses. Perhaps she saw something I missed.

Upon arriving at her small chamber adjacent to west wing, I noticed the door slightly ajar. Yet, I found it necessary to knock on her door. I called out her name, the air remaining as still and cold with every thump. With no answer, my beckoning became more and more demanding. She ignored me earlier, and perhaps she wanted to continue keeping me at bay. Though it wasn't like Elga to keep her entry unlocked, being the paranoid grandam she was.

Finally I decided to force my way in. I was polite long enough. But what I saw there after rendered me stoned...

"Evening, Levi..."