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Levi didn’t like celebrating his birthday.
More than anyone else, he understood just how much this date progressively brought death upon him. Each year, he could feel its claws closing up on him. He also knew that every passing birthday was one more that his deceased companions would never celebrate.
Humanity’s strongest soldier still didn’t understand what angel had granted him so many years. He had put himself in danger so much. He had flirted with death so many times, hoping sometimes that she would come and pick him, offering him the favor of an eternal rest. Probably well deserved, all things considered.
And then, Erwin had died, three years prior, leaving him sole guardian for a kid on whose shoulders Humanity had placed all its hope.
How many times had he wished he could take his burden? How often had he wanted to sit by his side to remind the kid that he was here for him, that he had nothing to fear? How many fucking times had he read the weight of it all in his hunched back? His frame had increasingly arched forward more and more as months, then years, passed. His eyes had lost their spark. He had watched in silence.
After two years, the kid kept silent.
His determination had wavered for a while, before it came back, hell blaze in an already desolate land, and even more devastating than before, when Mikasa had almost died during a mission behind Maria Wall.
Levi had remained a spectator.
What could he do? He couldn’t become a titan in Eren’s stead. He couldn’t save them all in his place. The only thing he could do was protect him, and keep death at bay.
“The primordials titan holders only live thirteen years.
That’s what we call Ymir’s Curse.”
The corporal lifted his head, watching Armin and Eren.
One had become a titan at ten, the other one at fifteen.
The truth hit him with the Colossus Titan’s strength.
Just how could it have gone past him?
No matter what he’d do, whether he’d give his life for Eren or not, the brat would never live past his twenty-third birthday. Green eyes would switch off forever, those who had known him would slowly disappear if they didn’t die before, and what Humanity would remember about Eren Jaëger, would be that he is a name who gave his life among so many others.
No one would know just how the sadness gnawing at their Savior was strong.
No one would know how alone he had felt despite his two best friends, Armin and Mikasa. Because even they would never understand, obviously, that every day was like a countdown to him.
And Levi still wouldn’t do anything.
He would wait for this day to happen, and would accompany him. Maybe would he finally say the three words he had never dared to say?
“Everything’s fine.”