[18+] Levi Ackerman

Pride [Part Two]

          ''Captain,'' Erwin Smith's voice hangs heavy in the air. Levi awakens from a trance and looks around. Everyone is looking at him. He had zoned out half way through the meeting. Erwin's piercing blue eyes are still locked on Levi. ''The meeting's over,'' Erwin says to nobody in particular, but Levi stays seated, staring at the middle of the table as everybody leaves. Erwin leans on his elbows to get closer to Levi, to examine him, Levi had always hated people in his space, even the people he trusted.

     ''What happened in Mitras? You haven't been the same since you returned,'' Erwin's tone is not judgmental, he sounds concerned. He gives Levi a chance to answer, he always does. The only person in Levi's life that he feels he can trust without a doubt is Erwin Smith and for that reason Levi's loyalty is unbreakable.

     ''The past has returned to taunt me,'' Levi drops his gaze. Erwin was right, Levi was too distracted with his thoughts. And now that it affected his work he could not keep going like this. Between day dreaming about what it would be like to have you by his side and spending sleepless nights wondering why you could walk away from that cell without looking back, Levi had little focus left for work. He needed to know that you're alright.

     ''The girl we saw with Nile, wasn't she a part of your squad Underground?''Erwin asks cautiously. Erwin's assertiveness doesn't surprise Levi.

     ''I tried to get her to leave Underground. It's not safe there, you heard what the Nile had to say, MP have now turned their eyes on the Underground District,'' Levi's voice dies down to complete silence. He finally looks up at Erwin who seems to be deep in thought. ''I thought she would have forgiven me by now, Erwin.''

      ''Go back to Mitras, Levi. Take as much time as you need,'' Levi clenches his jaw. Erwin is the only man that has seen his vulnerability. He always felt like he owed Erwin something, even if he never made Levi feel like it.

          And so Levi set out on his journey. He headed straight for the stables and didn't look back. He wondered what had happened in those two years that made him doubt himself when it came to you. You had been made for him. Then he thinks. What if you were only his for those few years that he had you? What if you are going to change someone else's life like you had changed his? Just like he was once fighting for the people of the Underground District and he is now fighting for the humanity, what if your next mission in life is to save some other poor bastard from Underground and make him better? It's not going to happen, Levi's determined that nobody gets to you before he does, you're his salvation.

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          The darkness of Underground is weighing you down and you begin to realize that you are about done fighting. You have been hostile towards the world, defensive to an idea of changing your ways, but your pride is what has kept you away from your friends. Levi's kiss is still fresh on your lips even a week after you left him behind. You can't get Levi out of your head, excitement, regret and melancholia going in waves over your heart.

          You sit at the top of the stairs, half of your body is Underground and half is Above, the sun pleasantly caresses your bare shoulders and you look down the long, cold stairway, reminiscing. It occurs to you that recently you had been making more trips outside, away from the darkness. The sunlight had lured you out and even though the vastness of the world was intimidating, you always felt small and unnoticed. Apart from Levi, who seemed to have found you in a crowd of hundreds of people. And now he had come back into your life and unlocked feelings that you had locked up a long time ago, but he also made you burn under his gaze, like he had done when you first met him.