Perennial Rose | {Levi x OC} | Shingeki no Kyojin |

Chapter 21: A Wife's Visit

Within Wall Rose, Survey Corps Headquarters
{Levi's POV}

The skies are no longer painted with a welcoming blue, but are filled with the remorseful obscure grays and charcoals of thundering clouds.

However, the skies are not the only ones that have lost their color.

Standing in front of the bloody chaos of injured men and dead bodies is a person whose calming aura has absorbed the darkness of the atmosphere at headquarters. Her wild, dark hair is no longer maintained in that perfect braid, but sways eerily in the incoming wind. She clenches her hands into tight fists, making them a pale, sickening white.

It is more than obvious that she has unfortunately delved into the dark side of the Survey Corps. Even though I cannot see her face, the view of her trembling back is proof enough.

Each and every one of us has experienced the sadness, guilt, and remorse of being alive and fit in front of the dead and injured. I assure myself that what the kid is experiencing is no aberration.

However... as if a lamp had been suddenly lighted in the deep obscurity, her clenched fists relax, her trembling is put to an abrupt end, and she steps forward towards the bloodied area. That step is no different than her typical mouse-like steps, but the way she did so with such confidence somehow strook the inside of my body.

This is the strength of a true soldier. One that allows them to proceed forward even in such chaos.

Her long hair continues to sway from shoulder to shoulder as she advances towards the others. An image of her with hair tangled in a single braid flashes into sight, then disappears along with the wind.

She's no longer the kid I used to know. The kid who would have fallen to her knees, crying over this bloodshed.

War has shaped her into a woman. A strong-willed woman I have not met before.

/~・~/

"Captain..."

Renata looks down upon a bloody stretcher containing an unconscious man. She asks subtly, "Why do they all look somewhat...happy?"

We are surrounded by a mixture of injured and dead soldiers lying helplessly on worn-out stretchers. The ones who are alive moan and scream in agony while our insufficient medical staff frantically rush to their side. No soldier has the guts to come into this torture except this woman who seems to have been summoned by their cries. Sometimes she just gives me headaches...

However, the headache I have now is not because of her. Misfortune visited on the night before our expedition and I had caught a common cold. Straining my body while using the 3-D maneuver gear intensified the symptoms and I feel absolutely terrible. I just want to peacefully rest as I work in my office, but Erwin had to send me to get Renata.

I look beyond her shoulder. The injured man has been touched with age, for the creases lining his mouth are becoming subtly prominent. Yet he still has a youthful head of hair; the ends of his bushy locks are raised like thick spikes, defying all gravity. His eyelashes are remarkably curled over his closed eyes, making him appear a bit feminine.

Renata's right. As I take a closer look at his face, his fixed expression shows no sign of suffering or pain. Taking into account that he has tragically lost his left leg and received a minor head injury, his face is unusually calm.

Our medical personnel had tended to his severe injury on our way back to Trost. Unfortunately, this poor soldier hasn't been doing so well in keeping his remaining life intact. The same goes for many of the other injured men and women in this open "hospital." This shouldn't even be regarded as a hospital. It's just a field of dead and injured soldiers lying on stretchers surrounded by medics running about.