The heavy atmosphere that permeated the dimly lit room was palpable upon entry. Heeding barely a grunt of acknowledgment from behind the door, Commander Hange Zoe cautiously departed from the hallway speckled with soldiers for the cold confines of the chamber inhabited by a single solemn shadow.

"I was able to scrounge up some more tea for you; I figured you'd run out by now," Hange announced genially, in a failed attempt to even somewhat dissipate the dismal cloud of sorrow that saturated the air.

Lifting the teapot from the wooden table, Hange was surprised to discover an unexpected weight to the vessel. The liquid sloshed against the inside wall, the exterior cool to the touch. Glancing over at the teacup that dangled precariously beneath a set of bruised and battered fingertips, Hange pursed her lips in worriment, doing her best to keep the one-sided conversation light.

There was no shortage of death in the world of the Survey Corps, where losing a comrade had become all too familiar. Oftentimes, they didn't have the luxury to mourn or grieve right away; tears could only be shed when it was safe to do so. However, prolonging such a fundamental human need for emotional release would merely result in the inevitable overflow of misery. Damming up the soul had its limits. Should the floodgates be deferred from opening for too long, a rebellion was sure to follow.

It was different with Levi; the level of trauma that man had experienced was hauntingly exponential compared to everyone else. Hange had grown accustomed to Levi's seemingly dismissive behavior toward pain and death; he would immediately acknowledge the loss of life in his own silence, allowing himself to internally process and accept the past as the irreversible truth, and move on. It was the only way he knew how to live. Why waste time on things he couldn't change?

Being able to finally secure the walls of Shiganshina was hailed as a massive, miraculous victory by those who learned of the news by ear or in print. Their eyes had been spared from the massacre and sacrifice warranted to certify such ensuing cheers and celebration. Blissful ignorance would continue being the sheltered result of such a heavy dichotomy. Knowing the truth behind how the battle was won was a heavy burden to shoulder, and confiding in ghosts would only drive them to the brink of insanity.

As Hange reached for the china that hovered within Levi's grasp, she blamed his obvious lack of consumption on her inability to brew a decent pot of tea. Her perpetual nervous chatter accompanied her shaky hands as she aimed to prevent even a moment of silence. Nonetheless, the unexpected grip of Levi's hand around her wrist caused her words to fumble, subsequently followed by the sound of shattered china.

"Aaagh! Ohhhh no! Look what I've done!! I'll clean this up! I'm so sorry, Levi! I shouldn't have bothered -"

"Hange."

Still frantically gathering the scattered shards from the floor, listlessly begging for forgiveness and criticizing her own actions, Levi calmly removed himself from where he had been seated and bent down to Hange's level. Again, he muttered her name, but she continued to verbally chastise herself, as if in a trance.

"HANGE!"

The sudden severity of her name leaving Levi's mouth finally disrupted her babbling self-depreciation and halted her flurry of movement. She gasped at Levi's appearance before her and froze. His eyes scanned hers carefully as he silently withdrew the tea-stained contents from her palm. Without saying anything further, he pushed himself to a stand, placed the broken tea cup on the table, and pulled Hange back to her feet. The man that stood before her was now her closest friend, and he knew the same was true of her. They had both witnessed the horrific slaughter of their comrades, followed by the devastation of losing their most trusted Commander. Even though Levi had held the power to ultimately save Erwin from death, he had made the impossible decision to let him go. The silent burden of failing to fulfill his final promise to Erwin weighed heavily on Levi's mind, but he knew Hange was suffering as well. The only reason she stood before him, a survivor of the Colossal Titan's atomic appearance, was due to the unwavering loyalty and ultimate self-sacrifice of Moblit Berner, Vice Captain of Hange's squad, and her longtime friend.

With everything that had happened in Shiganshina, including the knowledge they had obtained from Eren's basement, Hange was still determined to find a way to comfort Levi, to ease his apprehension, to distract him from the fears that plagued his mind. Returning from battle only to discover that I had all but vanished caused a wave of confusion and silent panic to spread across what was left of the Survey Corps. The desperate search that followed Anka's distraught confession upon hearing the news that I had failed my rendezvous only equated to further concern.

No one dared suggest what crossed their mind when Anka's gear was partially located along the edge of the woods that encircled the bloody battlefield's mass grave. Furthermore, no one volunteered for the death sentence of reporting such findings to Captain Levi. Thus, when Hange accidentally intercepted the whispers she had so desperately wanted to deny, she knew the report could only come from her.

Levi continued to stare at Hange in silence, knowing the reason for her intrusion wasn't really related to tea. He watched as she wrestled internally with the phrasing of her words as if anything she could say would soften the initial blow. Ironically, that was all she needed to do for Levi to understand. Before she could utter a single remark, Levi slumped back into his chair and nodded.

"I knew she wanted to fight. She promised she would stay if she could just fight alongside us one last time... but I didn't listen. I did everything possible to make her change her mind, but I failed to realize that she was never going to stay put."

"Levi... you were only trying to protect her and -"

"-I damned them the moment I left them behind."

"Levi-"

"First, it was Isabel and Farlan. Now it's (Y/N) and my own damn kid."

Hange took a step toward Levi and offered him a comforting embrace that wouldn't require one in return. He remained hunched over, staring at the floor as he spoke, allowing the crown of his head to rest against her core. Hange, in turn, leaned over and gingerly rested her folded arms against the base of his skull, drawing him in as she buried her face. She realized there had never been any need for her to speak; Levi had known the truth since their return from battle but had waited in silent agony for someone to tell him he was wrong.

And since the ever-joyful Hange couldn't even find a way to speak my name to him that day, Levi gave in and mournfully accepted the truth that I was gone.