Chagara - Chaos in the Darkness (Levi x OC Fanfic / AttackOnTitan)

53. "Is reinforcement coming?"

It was a chilly morning. Henry Dober had taken the precaution of wrapping his scarf around his neck. It had been one of his beloved wife's last handicrafts. As a group of elderly men passed him, the bookshop owner raised his hat in salute. They looked miserable. The spark of life in them seemed as good as extinguished. Henry Dober had not had a quiet morning walk since the arrival of the refugees. In the past, he had had the streets almost to himself. Only the merchants had already been out and about. Now he saw people on their way to their shift at the farms, people who had left their overcrowded refugee shelter in search of peace, people waiting in line to get food, and soldiers handing out food and keeping the peace ... Right? "Mmh." Henry Dober was worried about the peace. Because those who were responsible for maintaining it, seemed to be trampling it underfoot by now. More and more often he heard of incidents in which the soldiers of the Military Police had acted brutally without warning.

As he turned the corner, however, his worry lines disappeared. Levi Heichou was standing in front of a shop. The elderly gentleman smirked when he saw Levi's eyes. "Like a child at Christmas," he thought and cleared his throat, to which the soldier responded.

"Good morning, Mr Dober," he greeted the bookshop owner.

"Good morning, Levi. Do you have time for a cup of tea?", asked Henry Dober.

But the soldier shook his head. "Some other time I'd love to, but I have to get back to training."

"Too bad. But say hello to Ayumi, will you? I hope you two come by again sometime," Henry Dober replied, lifting his hat in farewell.

Levi nodded and took one last look through the shop window. When he turned around, he almost bumped into two teenagers. But the soldier said nothing. The boys' dirty clothes told him that they had to be refugees. Each held a small loaf of bread in the hand. It had to be enough for the day. "Or even for longer."

"I'm sorry," the dark-haired boy stammered, hugging his bread tighter against his chest.

Levi shook his head. "It's okay," he replied tersely. He had not missed the brief but interested glance of the blond giant. With an emotionless expression, he had set his eyes on Levi's emblem. "I wonder if he just wanted to make sure I was not from the Military Police?," pondered Levi, glancing after the two. Given his height and muscular build, Erwin would certainly have approached the blond youth about joining the military and, after training, the Scout Regiment. "Are these two still growing?" For a second, Levi felt envy. But no sooner had the muscular blond and the lanky dark-haired boy disappeared around the corner than the worries returned. "Has Erwin woken up by now?," thought Levi as he continued his way.

Left alone, Henry Dober studied the shop curiously. "He had this glow in his eyes. Like I have when I have new books in front of me," the older gentleman thought as he looked at the different kinds of tea that were on the shelf behind the counter. "Why was his last look in the shop so sad? Did the shop run out of one type of tea? His favourite kind?" But Henry Dober could not find any missing tea variety. "Or ..." Henry Dober's face brightened, "would he also like to have his own tea shop?" Amused, he searched for the coins in his jacket pocket. "Yes," he nodded. "That must be the reason. Then the book Ayumi bought from me was certainly for him. That makes sense," he muttered to himself. He went to buy a newspaper before opening his shop. "Oh!" Suddenly Henry Dober stopped. "Is that even possible for him?" The bookstore owner frowned. Apparently he had found a new challenge: The clarification of this question.

***

"Here," Berthold held out a broken piece of his bread to Annie. The girl sat on her blanket leaning against the wall and examined the piece of bread in her hand. It was bigger than Berthold's. As Reiner sat down with his two friends, he noticed the cold draught.