Levihan One-Shots

You'll Be Okay, Four-Eyes (Part 1)

Summary: Hange's worsening grief doesn't go unnoticed by Levi. After the hell they went through in Shiganshina, how could it be ignored? In the wake of such loss, Levi takes it upon himself to help her through at least one awful night.

It wasn't like Levi to worry, but he found his thoughts continually shifting back to Hange that evening. She hardly spoke at all the last few days and had developed a new habit of withdrawing alone into her lab every chance she got. He was use to Hange's vast range of hysterics and this sort of thing wouldn't normally be a concern of his anyway. But this time felt especially off. He couldn't help but think that the cost of reclaiming Wall Maria was taking its toll now that the shock had worn off.

With mounting concern, he also noticed the lack of her presence at dinner as well, realizing he hadn't seen her even once that day. Perhaps that was why he wandered to her lab without thinking.

Levi stared at the solid oak door. After a long moment of inward debate, he decided it would be best to let Moblit take care of it. He stopped the second he turned to leave, a plummeting sensation in his chest. It was such a natural thing for him to think, always silently relying on him to take care of Hange instead of himself — but Moblit was gone. Everyone was. Hange was utterly alone in her grief, and that in itself was the problem.

Levi opened the door. The frail beam of light from the hallway behind cut a thin wedge through the maw of pitch black. Deafening silence beckoned, yet it didn't feel empty. His entire body tensed.

"Hange, you in here?"

He squinted through the gloom, stepping in cautiously as he scanned his surroundings. Scattered papers crunched beneath his boots as the occasional book threatened to trip him. Goddamn pigsty. He felt around a table for a light, but the surface was uncharacteristically barren. Blindly scraping his hand across the grainy wood, his hand made contact with a cold metal base — a small lamp. He clicked it on and weary yellow light pooled the reading nook.

A low sound came from a corner just beyond the lamp's pall, something similar to a wounded animal.

"Levi?"

Blood. Hange's hands, her face — all slathered in the gleam of bright crimson. She was hunched in a ball, clutching over her missing eye while the other was wide with acute desperation.

"Hey! What the hell happened?"

He flew to her side, trying to get a better look at her face, but her bloody hands remained firmly clamped over her injured eye.

"Let me see it, Hange. It's reopened — "

She jerked away from his touch. "N-no!"

This had to be an attack. Levi frantically glanced the room as he held Hange upright, but not a soul was there with them.

"Who did this to you?"

Silence broken only by pitiful whimpers followed. Kill them. He would kill whoever was responsible.

"Four-eyes," he snapped, "tell me who the hell did this— "

"I did, Levi!" she cried, tears spilling over. "I pressed it too hard, n-now it won't stop..."

Her free hand shook as it clutched the front of his shirt.

"The bandage started itching...I'm so sorry..."

Levi unclenched his jaw with a quiet sigh. All of it was starting to make him feel sick. He knew Hange was emotional, but this was far from the eccentric scientist he knew. This was grief beyond words, pain beyond bearing. It would swallow her whole if nothing was done.

"Hey now, stop apologizing. I'll fix your bandages for you, but I need better light — hey!"

Hange had tried to get back on her feet with one push, but swayed dangerously from blood loss. Levi jumped up to keep her standing.