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

62. "I don't like you."

When his head fell forward, Levi's eyes widened. Had he dozed off? He stretched and looked around. Where was Erwin? He was no longer sitting on the bench next to him. Three small children dashed out of the door of the farmhouse next to him. Had it stopped raining? Yawning, he looked up at the sky. Indeed. Levi stroked his whiskers. When he got back, he could finally shave again. Would he manage to remove the beard hairs before Ayumi saw him? "She better not like this look." Smiling, he looked at the children who had run to the swing by the oak tree. But since the wooden board was probably too wet for them, the boys and the girl decided to play with the ball.

"Toni, Georg, Paula," one of the farmer's wives called from an open kitchen window, swinging her wooden spoon threateningly. "You should not play ball in front of the chapel. Don't break anything. Play behind our house." No sooner had the children heard the farmer's wife's words than they ran with their ball to the other side of the farmhouse. Only now did Levi notice the little chapel half hidden behind the oak tree. Mike stepped out of the stable.

"Are we leaving?," Levi asked him tiredly. On their way back they had stopped at one of the larger farms. To avoid contagion, Erwin had forbidden any contact with soldiers from the Krolva gate. At the same time, food transports were delayed. "That's why we don't go to their canteen anymore. That's their food. Not ours. We'll try to find something to eat on the way back," Erwin had explained. Fortunately, the farmer had sympathy towards the Scout Regiment and invited the four soldiers to a late breakfast. However, as the dark clouds increased and the light drizzle had turned into a persistent downpour, their stay became longer than expected.

"The weather is okay. The horses are ready to go," Mike replied. "Where's Erwin?"

Levi shrugged his shoulders. "Maybe inside. With Hanji." He pointed to the farmhouse. Over a cup of tea, Hanji had been talking about Titans since hours. Mike nodded and went in search of the missing two friends.

Levi stood up and actually wanted to go to his horse, but his gaze remained on the chapel. "Twice, maybe almost three times the size of my bedroom," he estimated. It seemed older than most buildings he knew. "Maybe as old as the walls?," he wondered as he walked across the wet grass to the chapel. The soldier put his hand out for the iron ring. But when he felt the cold, he paused. Should he actually go in? He had never been in a church before. Was he even allowed in? When he heard the squeak of the door, he took a step to the side. A grey-haired priest stepped out and smiled greetingly at Levi as he pulled a pipe out of his pocket. Noticing the indecision on the soldier's face, he said: "Anyone can go in there."

While the priest walked towards the farmhouse, Levi looked curiously into the chapel room through the door. There were only three rows. No pews, just old wooden chairs. In general, the chapel's furnishings were made of wood. No magnificent altar he had always heard of in the underworld was to be found in front of the rows of chairs. A simple wooden table stood in front. With a few candles and a few carved wooden figures. "Are these saints?" Levi didn't know anything about them. He had no idea about the church, traditions or how to behave in a church. All he knew was that people got married in a church. "Why not here?," he thought timidly.

"Levi?," he suddenly heard Erwin say. The Commander was sitting in the last row of chairs against the wall. "What are you doing here?," he asked in surprise.

"The weather is okay. We should leave," Levi replied, taking another step into the chapel. Had Erwin been praying?

The Commander nodded and stood up. Smiling, he walked past Levi. "What?," the latter asked as he closed the door behind them.

"Nothing," Erwin said shaking his head and headed for the stable. Hanji and Mike had already led their horses out. "It's just," he began quietly. "If I were the devil, I wouldn't have been able to enter there." He gestured to the chapel with a nod of his head. "Or wouldn't have been able to come out alive. Right?"