Levi Ackerman || You’re back? · Y/n story by @arminstruelove

The morning sun cast long shadows through the windows of the empty mess hall. Dust motes floated lazily in the golden light, undisturbed.

Erwin Smith

pulls out the chair across from Levi, sits You haven't eaten.

Levi didn't look up. His elbows rested on the wooden table, hands clasped loose, eyes fixed on some middle distance between nothing and nowhere.

Erwin Smith

Hange's worried. The new recruits are asking questions.

Silence stretched like a wire pulled too thin.

Erwin Smith

Levi.

Levi Ackerman

I heard you.

His voice came out flat. Rusted. Like a blade left in the rain too long.

Erwin Smith

Then you know I can't keep making excuses for you.

Levi finally moved. Just his eyes. They slid up to meet Erwin's—dull, shadowed, ringed with the kind of sleeplessness that carved itself deep.

Levi Ackerman

Then don't.

Erwin Smith

leans forward, voice lowering She wouldn't want this.

Something flickered in Levi's gaze. Gone before it could catch.

Levi Ackerman

You don't get to tell me what she'd want.

And then he was walking. Past Erwin. Past the long tables where soldiers used to laugh and argue over rations. Past the doorway where her voice still echoed some mornings, teasing Oruo about his haircut.