Yesterday's Enemy [AoT]

TWENTY-EIGHT

'Love is a petty and two-faced thing. Almost like a parasite, it feeds off of one's insecurities and shortcomings. But yet almost like medicine, it builds and expands one's potential like nothing known to man.'

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

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TWENTY-EIGHT

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

The morning had risen once again. This time, it wasn't the sun that woke Captain Levi; it was the sound of a carriage pulling up in the courtyard outside.

     It took a few seconds for him to understand what he was hearing, but when he realised who had just arrived, Levi was awake instantly.

     He shot up in bed, forgetting his nightly bad dreams in the blink of an eye. The manor was still silent by the time he was dressed and striding towards the main entrance.

     Levi opened the big old wooden door and stepped into the breaking dawnlight. Ignoring the morning chill, he glanced left and right; he spotted the carriage but... where was she?

     Then Lorelai came around the carriage, juggling her excessive luggage.

      Their eyes locked, and she broke out in a smile. "Levi."

     He cleared his throat, trying and failing to disguise just how happy he was to see her. "I was just-"

     "It's so good to see you." In typical Havasian custom, she planted a big kiss on his cheek in greeting; before she could kiss the other, Lorelai caught herself. "Oh, sorry. Habit."

     "...It's fine."

     Lorelai put her bags down. For a few seconds, they just looked at each other in comfortable silence. Levi couldn't tell how long it had been, ten seconds? Ten minutes?

     "I missed you," she told him simply.

     I missed you too, his thoughts echoed.

     "Have you been getting enough sleep?" Lorelai scolded, putting a warm hand under his chin and tilting his head up.

     He swatted her hand away. "Have you? You look like shit."

     Levi wasn't kidding. Lorelai, despite her upbeat nature, showed many signs that these past two weeks had been highly stressful for her. Her eyes were red, her skin pale. She looked tired.

     It only made Levi wonder more about what on earth she had been doing.

     "I'll admit, these past few weeks have been... taxing on me. But they were necessary. Everyone is home safe, and the Briggs problem at the very least has been delayed."

     Levi nodded. "How do you feel?"

     "Good," she smiled. "I feel good."

     A weight had been lifted from Lorelai's shoulders. And, while she was happy to have won some much-needed success, she was also more convinced that she couldn't continue to do this on her own.

     This victory had been a fluke. She'd happened to have the right angle at the right time, and that was all.

     She needed an ally— someone she could trust to have her back when it counted. And Lorelai had just decided she was looking right at him.