Chapter Text
"Captain Levi, sir may I enter"
The door cracked open and Levi sat at his desk sorting through paperwork and tidying his pens.
"What do you need?" Levi questioned slightly upset that someone else was now occupying space in his quarters.
"Commander Erwin and Section Commander Hange requested your presence in the main conference room"
He hummed nodding his head while turning to file away the paperwork. The ravenette figured he knew why he was being called, because of another shallow theory Erwin had. He didn't doubt Erwin at all, in fact thought highly of him. It was just that the commander had such unconventional ways of solving and consulting problems. He traversed thorough the halls silently and soon he came upon the door he had been forced to wait behind while higher-ups determined his punishments multiple times.
The door opened and Hange waved Levi in gesturing for him to sit down in one of the chairs. Though the Ackerman opted to sit on the bench in the back of the office, he was more comfortable that way.
"Levi, should I assume you don't know why you've been called here?" He nodded at Erwin signaling for him to explain. "Very well then, we want to plan another expedition-"
"No" The shorter male bluntly remarked, they had enough casualties the week prior they didn't need more anytime soon.
"If you would so kindly let me continue you might not be as opposed to this as you'd think" Hange smirked, they knew something about Erwin's plan. Levi could see a twinge of sadness shock through their eyes briefly but decided to pay no mind. "The expedition would be planned to be executed three days from now. Giving enough time for our troops to regather themselves. The risks would also be very minimal as we are only venturing at the very edge of where titans are normally found. As you very well know we suffered extreme losses due to the female titan or rather known as Annie Leonhart, some of which included your squad" Levi glanced up, he didn't understand why he would bring this up now of all times. The incident was still fresh in all of their minds including Levi's who had only just come to terms with their deaths.
"As you also well know we lost numerous corpses of the deceased due to... unforeseen circumstances. This expedition would focus on securing whatever corpses we can. As you may know, Titans much prefer live prey so the chances of recovering them would be relatively high paired with the low risk of the expedition as a whole." Erwin finished, sighing slightly then glancing at Levi and evaluating his response.
"What are the chances of recovering the corpses of my squad" Erwin expected this, while ultimately Levi would agree to go on the expedition, he still wants to be slightly selfish.
"Hm, Somewhere below sixty percent" So not great, Hange shifted awkwardly in their seat looking between the captain and their commander.
"Alright then, I will go inform the cadets" Levi stood and left the room, Erwin was smirking silently and Hange thought to themselves about how Erwin always gets Levi on his side. They know how hard it can be to convince Levi of things; through their multiple attempts at trying to get his blood sample for their "Research". They figured the two men simply had their ways.
After informing the cadets of the upcoming expedition, who by all means had taken the information just as expected ; like shit. They all questioned Levi while he didn't offer them much of an explanation other than what Erwin had told him. Maybe minus the part about him wanting to recover the bodies of Petra, Eld, Gunter, and Oluo, though they all made their assumptions.
This brought Levi to where he was now, sitting on the old castle's roof his feet dangling loosely off the edge while he stared at the waning moon. Gently the night breeze whipped his hair off his face. He shifted glancing to his sides, seemingly searching for someone. "Hello Isabel, you too Furlan. How are you two doing?"
The man chuckled softly to himself, his body expected response, to just hear his friends respond to his voice. Isabel in her signature hyper and happy voice, and Furlan telling Levi he shouldn't worry about them anymore.
"We thought our problems in the underground were hard, we were wrong, there at least we were surviving maybe not thriving but we lived. We discovered some titans are people like us, it sounds like a story you would make up, huh Isabel?"
Levi thrived in the silent nights, just alone with him and his thoughts, they always ventured far though most nights they always came back to his late friends Isabel and Furlan, Isabel having the most optimistic personality you could imagine. Furlan though having a more pessimistic outlook on life, still thought about the grand life they would have lived on the surface. The wind whispered in his ears almost trying to tell him something unintelligible. The night grew darker and Levi lays back allowing the darkness to consume his legs that still were left over the edge.
"I should probably head back to my room and finish my paperwork. I don't think I will sleep tonight. That doesn't matter though goodnight Isabel, Furlan." He tipped his head forward and headed to the trapdoor on the floor. he could have sworn he heard voices call out.
"Goodnight Levi-bro, try sleeping for once, alright"
"Sleep tight Levi, try not to die from exhaustion, okay?"
Levi must have been really tired. He headed back to his room and continued sorting the paperwork that resided on his desk.