Yesterday's Enemy [AoT]

SEVENTY-SIX

'Love is the catalyst of all emotion.'

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

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SEVENTY-SIX

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

Rain had begun to patter down outside. Thick droplets ran down the window panes as the fire crackled.

After Thersa left, Lorelai had taken over finishing the last of the stitching. Her wound was red and angry where the suture pulled the skin together. She let out a soft wince of pain, tying it off with her teeth; Levi's gaze stayed on her from across the room.

Neither had said anything about the attack, the boy who lay dead, or the situation they would soon face.

Her expression was solemn, face downturned. In the firelight, Lorelai's brown eyes flickered like wood set alight, hidden beneath pale eyelashes. She was oddly beautiful, in a tragic sort of way.

She looked up, offering him her hand. "Come here, you."

Levi moved as if in a daze. He delivered her his blood-speckled hand and saw no qualms in her face. Lorelai pulled him down onto the stool next to her and set a warm, soaked rag to the nick against his forehead.

He'd forgotten about it entirely. "...You don't need to do that." She only hummed, wiping away the dried blood in gentle, kind strokes. Levi should have been the one nursing her, but he'd hesitated before, wondering if she would fear his touch now that she'd seen it kill.

He swallowed thickly, looking down. "I went too far tonight... all I've done is put you in more danger."

He'd seen the fear in the men's eyes when they had dragged him from that bloody corridor. They all knew he had struck the first blow tonight. By killing that boy, Levi had invited Briggs' fury and the coming war. She knew it too. He waited for Lorelai to tremble, to weep, to curse his idiocy.

"I'll make a statement in the morning. This was my fault."

But there was no fear in Lorelai. Not for him. Or for Briggs.

Lorelai took his cheek in hand firmly. "You'll do nothing of the sort. Do you hear me?"

"Lorelai..."

She leant back, discarding the bloodied rag into the washtub. "And you'll make no apologies either. Erwin may seek to run damage control, but that's his business." He watched, rapt, as she stood up, buttoning her blouse over her wound. "I made a mistake tonight, Levi."

"...I don't understand."

She revealed a small handgun, tucked into her trousers. With a click, Lorelai unloaded it, placing five bullets on the table before him. None fired. She looked at it ashamedly. "Under our tree, I swore to you I would fight. But, when it really came down to it... I looked at that boy and the hate in his eyes and did nothing."

"...It's not your fault. Killing a person up close like that is-"

"It's what I chose," she asserted. "No, the boy was scared, but he had made his decision. It was him or me; I knew that, and I still looked for a way out." She sighed dismissively. "I thought, let's stave off violence a little while longer. Let this boy choke me so as not to provoke the north."

He watched her and the metamorphosis that was happening in front of him. The change that had been occurring silently all this time.

"I was a fool and a coward, and I swear, I will never put you in that position again," Lorelai avowed. He only looked at her, unable to be comforted. She smiled awkwardly, sitting down and taking his hand. "I bet you're tired of my promises, aren't you?"