His Wounded Heart Beats For One (Levi x Reader Fanfiction)

1: Charon's Ferry

The luxury of a home to yourself within Wall Rose keeps you from complaining about the smaller details of living without a sunrise, and the years you had spent in the community have allowed you to grow accustomed to the lack of warm light you experienced in your childhood. The villages of Wall Maria were much farther from the Walls, basking in the full range of sunlight throughout the day. Occasionally, you did miss the freedom of the open, verdant fields, their swaying blades of grass glistening in the sun. It was a delightful haven for a child, though the world of adults couldn't be so fatuously pleasant. You knew this when you came to Trost, and settled into the mundaneness of a new world without complaint.

The sunlight pours onto your skin as you near the footbridge over the river, finally beating the edge of the Walls in their fight to shroud the rays. You ascend the tight spiral staircase inside one of the stone towers making up the bridge, then pass through the covered hallway hovering over the water several meters below. Only a few other passersby busy the bridge, the town still waking up to begin their day. The serenity is a good start to the day, giving you peace to clear your mind and prepare for the journey ahead. That, and one final check-in with your mentor will give you the assurance you'll need.

Your place of work, and the home of your mentor, is just one of the clustered buildings directly across from your house on the other side of the waterway. As if it is deliberately trying to be tucked away, the entrance to your mentor's business is hidden in the crook of an L-shaped multi-business complex. Though also stationed on the riverside, you have to take a rather roundabout way to reach it by means of the footbridge farther north.

You immediately try the handle, finding it locked. It's still early in the morning, after all. There was no reason he would have opened his clinic already. He must certainly be awake, though.

You knock powerfully enough to sound through the three stories of the building. "It's me!" you call.

A smile plays across your lips as you hear flustered bumbling from within, the elderly occupant likely startled awake by your bellow. The lock rattles shortly after, eventually undone to allow the door to swing open unsteadily.

Any lingering somberness vanishes as your mentor appears on the other side, the somewhat maladroit grandfather of a man always a warming presence. "Ah, I thought I left it unlocked. So sorry." His wrinkled lips curl up into a small, genuine grin, his beady eyes almost disappearing behind raised eyelids.

"That's okay. I hope I didn't shock you." You head in as he allows you, gripping the handle of your case with both hands.

"Only a little, only a little," he murmurs as he shuts the door.

You step through his clinic: a cozy, privately-owned medical facility for the citizens of Trost. It's empty for now, but soon patients of all ages will arrive seeking his care. You would be here to help, doing anything from evaluating patients to providing healthcare, but today is the day of your embarkation. He'll have to run the clinic on his own for a week.

"Are you sure you'll be alright without me?" You settle into one of the stiff chairs lining the wall. "This place could get hectic with only one provider, especially if you keep encouraging walk-ins."

Your mentor shuffles across the tiled floor, meandering to a lonesome cabinet. "I'll be quite alright, no need to worry. This old geezer can handle a day or two without some help."

"I'm gone a week, Walt," you remind him, hoping he hadn't truly forgotten the details of your trip. "You remember that, right?"

"Of course I do," he declares proudly as he delicately pries open one of the cabinet doors. "You keep telling me as much. One full week, unless they want you for longer, in which case you'll send a message. I remember just fine."