Violence

Chapter 141

Levi POV

"What happened?"

Crossing my arms, I lean back on the counter as Hange stands beside me. Y/N sat up in an infirmary bed, two blankets on her lap. Her hair was down and wild, stray strands hanging in random places.

The sun cast a warm glow over her hollow cheeks as she looked out the window.

I swallow, blinking a few times. I couldn't stand to see her like this. Forced to watch the woman I had been madly in love with since I was a boy wither away before my eyes.

"I don't know."

Hange watches me for a moment, seeing the pain drain from my face only to be replaced by rage. I was angry, so fucking angry with her. How could she? She knew we were limited for time, she knew...

So why keep herself from me? Why pull away now? Why keep secrets now? Weren't we working together at this?

"She won't tell me. She disappeared in the night, I found her the next morning in the bitch's chambers."

I pull my eyes off of Y/N only long enough to meet Hange's.

"She was in there for so long. And when she came out, she was different."

I look away from Hange and back to my wife.

"She didn't want anything to do with me."

Why did it hurt more to speak it, than it did to think it?

"Did you ask her?"

My eyes narrow, expression dropping as I side-eye Hange.

"Of course I did."

Rolling my eyes, I exhale. My hands tighten into fists and then release.

"The moment she left her room, I chased after her, stopped her in the hallway, and demanded answers. Hell, I mean can you blame me?"

I scoff, continuing.

"I woke up to an empty bed, to my severely ill wife gone."

I look over to Hange as I continue to speak.

"She tore herself from me. Refusing to meet my eyes for the entire duration of the boat ride home."

I swallow the lump in my throat. I hated this, the fucking distance.

She was pushing me away and I couldn't fucking stand it. I wouldn't allow it.

"Why don't you just pull her memories of the conversation if she won't tell you?"

I sigh, watching Y/N run her hands up and down the blanket as she watched the cadets run drills.

She missed it. I could tell.

"I did."

Dropping my eyes as I look down and off to the side. I wasn't proud of it. And in doing so, I only managed to drive a bigger wedge between the two of us. The second she felt me, she slammed a wall down, kicking me out.

The look in her eyes as she stared back at me isn't one I ever want to see again.

"She kicked me out before I could manage to locate anything useful. She had spent all that time in the Azumabito's room fortifying her walls. She was anticipating my intrusion. I was booted out faster than I would have liked. And with her so delicate right now, I won't risk harming her mentally by prying too hard."

Hange scoffs beside me, not understanding just how bad it was.

I invaded her privacy, went against her wishes, and went into her head when she refused to give me answers. I would not sit here and entertain the thought of being a good man. I wasn't, not when it came to her, to my family.