Send me “I miss you” to know what my muse will say after 1 year, 5 years, then to 10 years after your muse’s death.
Year OneHe swipes a finger across the top of his desk and cringes at the noticeable streak contrasted with a polished wood surface and a significant layer of dust that’s settled during his absence. Although he’s been graced with an allotted amount of free time in the day to rest, there is a sigh that passes parted lips as Levi resolves himself to clean his workspace. He draws his curtains apart and unlatches the hook to his window— opens them to the widest angle capable and breathes the oxygen from outside.
Only when his rag turns a concerning shade of gray from wiping off his bookshelf does Levi realize exactly how easily he loses track of time when constantly kept occupied. He grumbles, incoherent swears softly occupying the air before moving to wipe down his filing cabinet and it hits him that he hasn’t touched the documentation it holds for quite some time. It pains the captain to organize these specific files in particular— aside from the tedious effort to alphabetize everything, he also need categorize into two separate piles.
After he sweeps the floors and vents the office to rid of every stale trace in the air, Levi squats before the aforementioned filing cabinet and places folders to either of his sides—those under his command still living to the left, and the others in perpetual rest on his right.
Levi finds himself holding a paper clipped with the photo of a familiar face, and his eyes linger a little longer as gears of reminiscence churn within his head. Here, he holds what remains of Petra as a memory— bright irises in a photo fixated on success along with a series of statistics to prove what loyalty she had to the legion. He skims over the papers attached to her record before finding a stamp all too familiar to his eyes. In red ink, the stamp marks her date of death while on duty to capture the female titan.
"…Look at that, Petra. It’s been a year since I’ve had your tea. “Been a year since you and the others left me,” Levi states, and decides to place the photo into his coat pocket before shuffling through more records and grabbing the photos of everyone else in his squad. The man decides he has a few letters to send out to their kin, and it dawns on him that today isn’t so much a day off at all.
Year FiveHe shrugs out of his coat and folds it over the edge of his couch before settling in his chair at his desk.
Head hanging slack to stare at the ceiling, Levi unwinds from the stress he’s gathered from visit after visit to homes of families in the day. It’s minutes until he makes the effort to look at the photos of his squad he’s glued together and had framed. “…Pretty sure you’re already keeping good track of your families; they all seem to be doing well when I stopped by their places today.”
Calloused digits reach forth to pick up the frame and his eyes are so exhausted, he struggles to focus his vision on the face he tries to find.
"Your pops is real proud of you, you know?" Levi is staring back at Petra’s determined visage and almost sees her photo self shift to smile in chagrin. "Says he has no regrets in having a daughter like you who’s so willing to fight against things he would freeze in the presence of. Now I understand from whom you’ve inherited your humility."
He places the frame back to its original spot on his desk and decides to take a much needed nap while things are still mercifully quiet around base.
Year TenIt is with a heavy heart that Levi picks up the frame on his desk, carefully flips it over and unhinges the back cover. Cautiously, the man takes out the scrap parchment he had used to paste the photos of his deceased operations squad and gently removes Petra’s image from the gathering. Corners and edges still well and preserved, he releases a sigh before inserting the photo in a new frame. The cover glass is polished by his own hand.
"I’m sure you don’t really need a sense of time where you’re at right now, but down here, it’s been exactly a decade since you’ve moved on from us. “You must know that your father is ill, right? Seems like his age is catching up to him considerably and this weather isn’t helping his condition much.”
Levi slides a written letter directed towards the Ral family just behind the picture frame.
"Sorry I’m separating you from the boys, Petra. I hope you don’t mind too much, but your family needs their daughter by their side."Do your best.
"Make us proud like always."
