Chapter Text
When living the life of a soldier, you are living one of close relations with death. For many of us, death is a distant concept. A reminder that all things good and bad must come to an end. For a warrior, death is nothing but a mere expression. A consequence of one's failure.
On the contrary, Levi never feared death. It wasn't a friend nor an expression. For Levi, death was a passage. A path that we were all destined to follow, the only path he treaded closely.
Within his first years of service, Levi was what you'd call a token soldier. He quickly rose in rank as his physical and mental abilities had been more advanced than most. He got to travel the world, eat many kinds of foods, have sex with many types of women, and kill many men. For many unfortunate souls, Levi had been their death. His silver eyes were the last thing they'd gaze upon before entering the afterlife.
Now that those days were over, He somewhat longed for the sentiment of death. The exhilarating rush of taking one's life. Only if they deserved it, of course. Fighting for his country had been the best thing he'd ever done, that was until the Marleyan war. With their territory being invaded he and his comrades had fought many battles, taking many more lives to protect their own. Only the strongest survived.
Now the former soldier was a general. And rather than being on the front lines, he spent his days behind a desk, doing the government's dirty work. Though he hates to admit it, he missed the rush.
Leaning back in his chair, Levi stretched his tense limbs. Cringing at the audible pop that vibrated through his spine. He had sat on his ass all day, it was starting to become numb. Looking down at his watch it read 3 pm, lunchtime.
As if on cue, his former comrade and now partner Hange Zoe made her appearance. Busting through the heavy oak wood door, she held her briefcase against her chest as she approached Levi. "Afternoon partner! What's for Lunch?"
Tilting her head to the side, she leaned against one of the couches that sat nearby Levi's desk. Stomach rumbling at the thought of food, she was more than eager to treat her friend to something to eat.
Looking up from the large stack of files he still had to process, he took a moment for himself before responding. "At this point, anything." Pushing the papers aside, he sat up from his desk and made a move to the exit, opening the door for Hange to follow beside him.
Over the past decade, He and his partner had been through hell and back. She was in fact, the only person he could trust in this hell hole of a world and he wouldn't trade her for anything or anyone.
"Sooo, I was thinking we could go for pizza? or maybe sushi? You know what, sushi sounds amazing."
"Lead the way glasses."
Walking through the long halls of the facility, the pair maneuvered through the crowd of military and doctorate personnel before making it to the main elevator. Levi worked in one of the nation's most heavily regarded documenting facilities. They were responsible for holding the country's most valuable information, including illegal documents, terrorists, and captured personnel. With his high-ranking badge and badass reputation, Levi had access to all parts of the facility. That is, except for commander Erwin Smith's office, but who the hell would want to go in there anyway.
Taking a car to the local sushi restaurant, the pair had been seated and began ordering not long after. After a long day of staring at his computer screen, he craved some sort of intellectual interaction, or else he may just go mad.
"So...have you heard the rumors?"
Sitting across from him, holding a cup of sake Hange spoke animatedly about the office drama. She of course loved to get into everyone's business, at first he'd tell her to knock it off, but after working here for so long, even the most restrictive of persons want some company entertainment.
"What are you sixteen? What are you going on about?"
Tracing the tip of her mug with her fingers, she gladly obliged.
"Well...somebody said that someone's boss said there was a large mission coming up. You know, with the battle of Marley going on I wouldn't say it's...impossible?"
Exhaling through his nose, Levi knew Hange could be dense but this was an all-time low.
"Four eyes, you need to stop making friends with those interns, you starting to lose your authoritative mindset." Taking a sip of his own Sake, he hid a smirk beneath his cup as Hange immediately began disagreeing.
"Authoritative mindset my ass! Those little fuckers know who the boss is. Just cus' my employees aren't terrified of me doesn't mean they'll just lie?"
"oh really? Are you sure about that?"
"Arrgg! you make me sick-"
Interrupting the two, a waitress placed their sushi rolls in front of them and Levi Immediately dug in, only partially listing to his Freind, who was now all worked up.
"Don't tell me you don't miss it? I know you do!"
Stopping mid-chew, Levi shot her a knowing look.
"Whuf are you talking about-" The raven asked while chewing.
"Aww come on, humor me. I mean battle, Levi. I know our days are over, and we don't have to fight anymore. But if an expedition comes up and were offered a chance? We can't miss this."
Looking up from his food, he was starting to lose his patience. Lunch didn't last forever after all.
"Do you mean we or you? because I-"
"Oh stop lying to yourself. I see how you look at our scouting photos. How you act when a young soldier recognizes you. It's a good feeling. it's fucking amazing, I know you miss it!"
shitty glasses.
"So what if I do? Ya' think Erwins gonna send his best on the front lines, I don't fucking think so-"
"Erwin this! Erwin that! Levi what about you? what about us, I miss us!"
"...."
"....."
"Your sushis getting cold."
Exhaling in defeat, Hange gave Levi the deadliest glare she could manage before picking up her food. The pair finished their food in tense silence before Levi paid for the bill and called another car. The drive back was awkward, to say the least. With the sake running through their bloodstreams they knew it would be one hell of a night for the both of them. Deep down Levi knew she was right. But he wasn't a soldier anymore, and he needed to get used to it. Shitty glasses and her roomers will not stop that.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The next morning Levi found himself more agitated than usual. His usual morning jog and coffee didn't ease him as much as they used to. Greeting the receptionist and military guests was more exhausting than usual. And once he was finally alone in his office, he felt devoid...misplaced even.
Taking a seat on his chair, he propped his reading glasses on the bridge of his nose before reading the emails sent to his desktop. He found himself getting lost in the digital words almost as if in a trance, he treaded through the endless amounts of documents before a notification popped up on his screen. Reading aloud to himself, the words "Urgent meeting, Erwin Smiths request" He exhaled before regaining his composure.
Just great, what could Eyebrows possibly want with him?
The facility was fairly large, but Levi found himself memorizing every hallway and corridor over his time here. It took him less than five minutes to reach the top floor where the executive chiefs reside. Up here the air was different. More stale, lacking the energy of life.
Making his way down the long corridor he reached Commander Erwin Smith's office. Without knocking he let himself inside, if he emailed him he should have been expecting him.
As he closed the door behind himself, he was engulfed in the scent of pine and cinnamon, that bastard had been burning those god-awful candles again.
"Levi, glad to see you've gotten my email."
Sitting at his Large oak desk, he beamed authority as he gestured to the seat before him. Crossing the distance between the entrance and his desk, Levi took his seat.
Icey blue eyes stared him down with precision as if sizing the man up, Levi kept quiet under his scrutiny, having been used to it by now.
"I have a proposition."
Commander Erwin's voice rang loudly through the dim office, the bass of his voice echoing. Levi simply raised a thin brow at the man's words, truly curious as to why he had been called here confidentially.
"The government has put me in charge of new territory research. The island of Paradis to be exact. Its unclaimed territory has been abandoned following the Marleyan war. From my understanding, the island is currently occupied by 50-400 natives who have yet to have any contact with the outside world since then. In short, they're primitives in a modern world and they are now occupants of Marly. I've yet to decide on how to move forward, but before I make any decisions id like to know...how would you feel about leading just one more expedition?"
Levi's expression was still as the man before him explained their situation. Tensing up in his seat, he began replaying the man's words in his head like a mantra. He had a choice, and fuck Hange for being right.
"Absolutely not sir."
Sitting straight, Erwin's shoulders tensed at his words.
"I can understand where your hesitation might come through but-"
"There's no hesitation. I will not do it. I already told you, Erwin, after-"
"I know Levi, I know. It was only a mere proposition. And although you seem sure, the offer is still available."
Sighing, Levi was already over this conversation, he just wanted to get back to his office and shut the world out.
"I'd like to add that this expedition is mainly for research. I'd be sending a commander with troops to the island on the third sundown of April, Your objective would be to identify the climate and economical structures of the island, take a population count of the island's inhabitants, and take soil\water samples. Any further research would be decided after the first expedition, and of course, participation afterward would be optional."
"Erwin.." Levi said warningly, Eyebrows knows what he's doing and he'll be dammed if he gets brought into this shit again.
"I'd also like to add that with your participation, you'd also be assigned to the Paradis research team, and would be temporarily in charge of any research going in and out about the island."
The blonde bastard ended his rant with a smile. It was his 'seal the deal' expression. Rolling his eyes, Levi shifted in his seat before running a hand through his hair. The more the blonde man spoke, the more tempting the offer sounded.
"And if you take over this expedition, you will be appointed a co-partner to help you run the department."
"God fucking damnit, okay ill take it."
Erwin's smile grew as Levi gave in, slumping down his seat in defeat. And as if on cue, Hange burst through the office doors making a show for both men as she pranced over to the pair in excitement.
"I told you he'd say yes!" She beamed while holding out a lengthy arm to Erwin.
With a low chuckle, he reached into his desk and pulled out 20 bucks before handing it to the brunette.
"You've got to be fucking kidding me."
"Don't hate the playa Levi have the game!" The woman yells while holding her crips 20 in Levi's face.
"You guys are children" The raven spat in irritation. Deep inside, he was happy to see his two comrades interacting like the good old times. Maybe this wouldn't be too bad.
"Well that settles it then, I'll be doing recruits starting tomorrow morning. Your only job is to prepare. I expect great things from you too, you're dismissed."
With a salute, both Levi and Hange exited the commander's office with anxious excitement. Ready to plan their final expedition.