War creates two categories of persons: those who outlive it and those who don't. Both carry wounds.

Norma Jean Baker of Troy,  Anne Carson

I. ELKE.

I know, I know. All that blood you spilled will
feed the soil. You have to believe that one day,
something will grow from this.

ELKE HAASE   /   The Hare

I won't touch anything, not the flowers, not the blackberries brimming in the thickets; I won't drink from the pond; I won't name the birds or the trees; I won't whisper my own name. One morning the fox came down the hill, glittering and confident, and didn't see me—and I thought: so this is the world. I'm not in it. It is beautiful.  ───  October, Mary Oliver

&

LEOPOLD HAASE   /   The Fox

He wants to be tender and merciful. That sounds overly valorous. Sounds like penance. And his hands? His hands keep turning into birds and flying away from him. Him being you. Yes. Do you love yourself? I don't have to answer that. It should matter.  ───  Unfinished Duet, Richard Siken

&

LEVI ACKERMAN   /   The Wolf

And my mind was empty—or it was as though my mind had become one enormous, anaesthetized wound. I thought only, One day I'll weep for this. One of these days I'll start to cry.  ───  Giovanni's Room, James Baldwin

II. ELKE, Names I Remember:

Scouts: Liesel ♰, Erwin, Hange, Keith.
Shiganshina: Eren, Armin, Mikasa.
Mission: Reiner Braun, Bertholdt Hoover,
Annie Leonhart, Marcel Galliard.
Mission: Zeke, Lutz, Ahler, Doctor.
(Home: Poldi.)
Mission: Ackerman: Mikasa, Levi — (More?)
Mission: Reiss, Fritz, Fidan.
(Mission: Poldi?)
Mission: Levi, Levi, Levi.

✶

III.

AUTHOR'S NOTE.     ✶     WELCOME... first and foremost, to all my wonderful non-aot moots reading this to support my work: i love you so much, PLEASE LEAVE! ... punctuated for dramatic effect, but genuinely, this show is so incredible to watch without any knowledge, and this fic will have huge spoilers right from the prologue that WILL ruin it for you. don't do yourself the disservice of missing that experience by starting with this pls... everybody get more aotpilled now. love levi ackerman for me. come back soon <3

       ✶       i am overwhelmingly accustomed to writing for a character and timeline where canon is a line in the sand i kick around for fun. in this case, i love canon and i don't want to kick it around! i also don't like to follow plots beat for beat, so creative liberties will be taken to an extent, in particular with my original characters and the storyline woven between them. i HOPE to build on the lore and preexisting characters rather than trample all over them, and that credit goes to hajime isayama as well as kodansha, wit studio and MAPPA. i do not own attack on titan or any elements of its story and am beyond giddy to write in a world i respect as much as this one. a secondary sidenote: elke is pronounced elk-uh :)

       ✶       as for my boundaries: please do not review my work, input my work into ai bots or generators of any kind, or translate my work without permission. do not bind my work for profit. do not steal my writing or my original characters and plots under the guise of "inspiration." i take plagiarism incredibly seriously. have integrity. if you have any questions or concerns, you can reach me on discord first, but i also have instagram and tiktok under the same handle i use here, as well as the strawpage in my bio if you would prefer to reach out anonymously with a gimmick (which i will answer on instagram).

       ✶       this fic includes themes of death, war, genocide, in-world xenophobia and racism, human experimentation, suicidal ideation, and PTSD. i don't intend to nor do i think myself capable of making these themes any more graphically significant or gratuitous than they're presented in canon. tags may be added over time but i'll be sure to put a warning if they are! lastly, sexual tension is a must but smut is a mystery. do not ask me if it'll happen because i Do Not Know. we cross that bridge when we get to it. in the meantime, this fic is rated mature and i would ask that you respect that boundary and keep this space 18+, thank you :)

       ✶       if you made it this far through my prefaces, please don't be a ghost reader or i'll cry. fic is a labour of love, i love this fic, i'm excited for it in a way i haven't been in a long long time, and any comments you have would make me so incredibly happy. i appreciate everyone for being so welcoming in this fandom and i'm sure there are many more fics to come <3

IV.

a dedication first to the two people who harassed me into watching this torture show: doha + alice, i love u both very much and u ruined my life. second, thena wife of jean kirstein, don't break my toes. third to my beloved trn because i dedicate everything to them, and finally to my amazing moots who waited so patiently: tatiana james (watch the show first or ELSE) ali len leia and eden the fellow levi lover... thanks for being here :')

Love, Ezra.

Sainteda   ©   2025