Yesterday's Enemy [AoT]

TWENTY-SEVEN

'Attachment is a peculiar thing. It lives and flourishes where you least expect. It bites you when you don't see it coming. It seems to attack one's pride most of all. And in the midst of all that hardship, it is the foundation of this world's greatest kindness.'

-An extract from the book 'Evolutions' written by philosopher Adette Briggs

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TWENTY-SEVEN

Wall Maria, South Region, Port Noaks, Noaks Survey Corps Base of Operations

The sun peered brightly through the window, waking Captain Levi from his troubled sleep.

The moment his eyes opened, he shot up in bed, his breathing ragged— nightmares, ceaseless, merciless nightmares. Levi took a few moments to collect himself. Bad dreams were nothing he hadn't dealt with many times before.

In the moment, they always felt so real, the screams, the blood, the bodies. Every day he'd pull his mind from those horrors only to return every night, which was why Levi didn't make a habit of sleeping regularly.

He rubbed his eyes as if trying to wipe the dreams from his memory. It didn't work.

The sun, bouncing harshly off of the snow outside, told him he better start getting ready. If Lorelai had been here, she'd have been in his office hours earlier, causing a ruckus. Of course, she hadn't done so in a while.

His gift still sat on the dresser across the room. Levi hadn't touched it, and he had no plans to. It wasn't a thank you gift; it was a placation, something to ease Lorelai's conscience as she discarded him when he outlived his usefulness.

Despite his anger at the damned thing, Levi couldn't bring himself to throw it away. That'd be a waste of fine tea.

He tried to put the thought out of his mind as he dressed. Levi tied his cravat masterfully, running a comb through his hair and staring at his deadpan eyes in the mirror tiredly.

Another day, he sighed.

Life in the Scouts between missions was often rather dull. Theirs was a small regiment that didn't receive much funding, so real expeditions were few and far between. Most of Levi's day was full of paperwork, disciplining Cadets, and attending meetings that just repeated what little they knew about both the titans and the Havasians.

He didn't talk to anyone all day. The rowdy mess hall only succeeded in annoying him. He gave one girl twenty laps for speaking out of line; she even dared to ask 'if something was bothering him' afterwards, which irritated him to no end.

Levi didn't know why, but since he returned from Trost, Scout life seemed slow, bothersome, and repetitive— more than usual anyway. It seemed an age before noon arrived, and he could escape the damned Cadets.

"Levi!" Hange exclaimed, hastening towards him from across the courtyard.

"What is it, Hange?"

Currently, Hange was the last person Levi wanted to speak to. According to the chatter going around, she was running some strange experiments with Havasian weaponry. Yesterday, she even managed to set her office on fire.

"I'm running an experiment. Would you care to-"

"No." He continued towards the forest.

Unfortunately, she just jogged after him, seemingly undeterred by his refusal. "The experiment involves-" Hange continued to chatter as she followed him. Levi did his best to tune her out. "Isn't that fascinating?"