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Levi hated sleep.
For all his life, he could hardly sleep more than a couple of hours at a time. As he's gotten older, though, he's grown less and less wary of sleep.
In his dreams, he could still walk without pain in his leg. His limp was gone. He could see out of both eyes. The scars on his face were absent.
A picture of his youth.
Before, well, everything.
Historia was there, too.
She always smiled, so happy to see him, as if she hadn’t seen him in weeks. Her blue eyes lit up with fondness, and she would grab his hands, tracing her thumbs over his scarred knuckles, and then she would kiss him.
Warmth filled his chest with every kiss.
Tears sprung to his eyes when she pulled away.
Her brow furrowed and concern painted her lovely features. “What’s wrong?” She lifted a hand to his face, wiping away a stray tear, and then she cupped his cheek. She cradled him like he was fragile. “Why are you crying?”
He forced a smile. “It’s nothing. Just feeling, for once.”
Of course, she saw right through him.
“Well, at least we know that you can feel,” she teased. She got on her toes and kissed him again sweetly. “Come have tea with me.”
Levi let her pull him along by the hand.
He savored the taste of the tea they shared, but he relished when he got to taste it on her tongue. Her body heat against his was addictive, and he never wanted to let go.
He couldn’t let her go.
Every time, he clung to her, buried his face in the crook of her neck. He could inhale her scent, nip at her throat with his teeth, cares her soft skin with his callused hands. She responded just the same—arched into his touch, met him at every kiss, moaned as he touched her. He never parted from her, unable to fathom the idea of doing so.
“You should stay,” Historia said against his cheek; her voice was breathless, enticing him to take up her offer.
Levi swallowed the emotion thick in his throat. “I can’t. You know that.”
She hummed in acknowledgement. He felt her breath as she chuckled hollowly on his skin. “Doesn’t hurt to ask.”
There were fresh tears when he hugged her closer. He held her tightly, his arms wrapped around her, encircling her small waist, and he tried to commit every piece of this to memory for the umpteenth time.
“Shh,” Historia soothed him. “Don’t cry. I’ll still be here.”
This did not calm him.
Instead, a sob racked his body.
“Levi,” she whispered into his ear. “It’s okay.”
Except that it wasn’t.
It never would be.
He woke up.
His cheeks were streaked with tears.
There was a pressure on his chest, like someone was reaching in and holding his heart in a vice.
He shut his eyes, but he couldn’t sleep again.
He was alone.