Rebirth (LeviFar Fanfic)

Chapter 4

The younger man seemed to flinch at Levi's voice, only causing him to start shaking and his slender body to tense up.

Levi stood there as stiff as a board, just staring in wide eyed amazement at what he saw.

'Is that really....Farlan...?'

He felt a mix of emotions swarming inside of him. Excitement. Tragedy. Sadness. Joy.

He felt like he was at a loss for words.

Taking a careful step forwards into the cell, Levi's eyes felt as though they were starting to tear up. He knew he never cried, but seeing his beloved that he watched die now in front of him, seemed to trigger the dusty emotions he had held in for so long. He tried to blink them away. Gradually making his way towards the shaking person in the corner, Levi kneeled behind him, his eyes still wide.

"F...Farlan..?" he said softly. He slowly reached a shaking hand towards Farlan's shoulder...

"Don't touch him!" hissed the voice of Hanji, suddenly behind him, grabbing his arm.

Levi stood up quickly, spinning around to face her.

"Well why not?!"

Hanji flashed a quick look over Levi's shoulder at Farlan, making sure he was still alright.

"Because!" she whisper-yelled. "He's.... He's...." She hesitated.

"...Because he's always scared...He's just not one to touch..."

Levi looked slowly over his shoulder at his huddled friend. Farlan? Scared?
How?

Just as Levi began to say something, he felt a sudden grip around his leg and a loud wail, it being unusually high pitched and hoarse.

"D-DON'T LET H-HER TOUCH M-ME!!"

Levi's head snapped back again to look down around his legs. There sat Farlan, now scooted up against Levi with his arms wrapping tightly around his legs. Eyes widening a little, Levi looked him over.

Farlan was shaking terribly, his forehead pressed against Levi's calf. His well-kept hair was now a little longer, the bangs he kept in a point now hanging scattered over his eyes, not to mention his hair itself being messed up in just about every place, his whole body looking plain dirty, for that matter. He also wore a pair of dark blue baggy pants, the knees ripped out of them. The shirt he wore was also baggy, holes ripped here and there within its fabric. Levi at first pondered on how baggy everything was, but then noticed Farlan's spine poking through the back of his shirt, and immediately knew he lost weight. A lot of weight, that is. The bones in his arms poked out a lot, just as much as his spine did. Levi could only imagine how bad it was beneath the clothes...

"SH-SHE H-HURTS M-ME!!" cried the shaky voice of Farlan. "K-KEEP HER A-AWAY FROM M-ME!!!"

Levi turned his head back to Hanji, his eyes narrowed.

"You've been hurting him...?"

Hanji blinked, eyes widening.

"Wha- No!! No way!" Her gaze flicked back and forth from Farlan to Levi.

"The only thing I've done..." She swallowed. "The only thing I've done, is give him shots almost every day to keep him healthy."

Levi stared at her for a while longer, then glancing back at his shaking friend.

"Well, he always was afraid of needles," he mumbled.

Levi slowly got down towards the floor, Farlan's shaking hands letting go of his legs slowly. He faced his friend, Farlan's head hanging.

"Hey," he said in a soft tone. "She won't hurt you, ok? I promise."

He reached out slowly, putting a thumb beneath Farlan's chin and lifting his head slowly. Both made eye contact for the first time in forever as Farlan looked up. His eyes were bloodshot from what looked like crying. For the longest while, it seemed as if they both were stone, just staring at each other, until Farlan's eyes started to fill with tears. He suddenly leaned forwards, hiding his face in the crook of Levi's neck and grabbing Levi's hand, almost as if seeking protection.

Levi's eyes widen as he felt Farlan's shaking body against his own. He felt a soft warmth of a blush growing onto his cheeks, then carefully putting his other arm around Farlan and hugging him gently.

"Shh.." he cooed gently, as Farlan's soft sobs reverberated off the walls. "It's alright.."

Levi closed his eyes, not wanting to let go of Farlan. He'd waited many years to hold Farlan like this. He absolutely loved it. He just wished he would've told Farlan sooner...Now, he didn't even know if he could say anything like this to Farlan, considering the he probably didn't remember Levi..

"Hanji," he said softly.

She walked over, kneeling down beside him.

"Hm?"

Levi leaned over towards her, his mouth almost against her ear.

"Does he...remember me...?" he whispered

Hanji was silent for a moment, then slowly shook her head.

"No, he doesn't," she whispered back. "Even if we did tell him, his mind is still to lost to compute everything, and it'd screw him up. We'd have to forcefully get rid of the information he learned, in order to make him develop the mind and memories he once had."

Levi blinked.

"So....when will he get his memories back..?"

Hanji gave a small shrug.

"A while. It all takes time."

He thought a moment. A while? How long was a while? Look back at Farlan in his arms, Levi began to worry. What if he could never be able to truly have Farlan? Even worse, what if he could never tell Farlan he loved him?

"Come on," said Hanji, pulling Levi out of his thoughts and standing up slowly. "We gotta give him his shot for the day. You can help me."

She then walked away from the two, towards the metal cell door.