France, 1944. As the Allies land on the shores of Normandy, an unlikely friendship strikes up between Levi Ackerman, a widowed French Jew, and Eren Jäger, a deeply-in-the-closet lieutenant in the German Wehrmacht. The two deal with love, loss, digni...
They finished off their bottles, gathered their bags, and climbed out of the archaeological dig site. Eren offered to place the bag of croissants with his shopping bag from the bookstore to limit what they needed to carry. Then they left the sanctuary of the church-turned-military-warehouse.
Levi took them back out to the Esplanade. With the shopping bag on his arm and Levi by his side, Eren truly felt like they were on a date. They strolled slowly arm-in-arm, simply enjoying the feeling of warmth radiating from one another. They said nothing, knowing they could not speak in English out in the open like this. Besides, what was there to say that a squeeze of their hands could not convey?
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(photo by Yen Baet)
Like their rainy night trip on Rosh Hashanah, Eren walked down to the Moselle and to Moyen Pont, the bridge looking toward Temple Neuf. The sun was starting to sink into the west, illuminating the sky in hues of pink and purple, and these bright colors reflected off the river.
They walked to the middle of the bridge, Eren set his bag down, and they waited until there was no traffic crossing. Then both sighed in relief. Finally, a moment where they could talk!
Eren whispered, "Do you remember the last time we were here?"
Levi stared forward across the water, and a tiny smile lifted his cheeks. "How can I forget?"
Eren wrapped his arm around Levi. Rather than complain, Levi loosened up and leaned into him. He always felt so safe when Eren was there.
Levi whispered, "I really missed you. I wish I could have written to you, even if I had to pretend to be that girl you married, at least to know you're okay and you're still alive."
"It's probably for the best," Eren whispered. "The sorts of things I wrote to Louise ... I regret now."
"Just because they were perverted?" he teased.
Eren laughed wryly and shook his head. "That was only once, and only because my men were watching me and urging me to send it. I mean later. I shouldn't have written to her when I was dealing with grief. They were ... dark things."
Levi glanced up and saw the pain in Eren's eyes. He squeezed his hand and whispered, "I know."
Eren looked down in surprise. "How do you know?"
Levi had not wanted to tell him, but he figured he should be honest. "Louise wrote to Carly, who told Yelena, who showed the letters to me. One was a letter from Louise, asking Carly to keep an eye on you because she was worried about your mental state. That's how I knew you were back in Metz. The other thing she sent ... was your last letter to her."
Eren's mouth dropped. He remembered writing that letter in the hospital. He had been so depressed, he knew he wrote some dire things, not even caring how Louise might react. Now he realized those words—losing all hope, losing the will to live—must have terrified the poor young woman.
