Levi returns that look with the same intensity -- perhaps even more, considering it's all now focused in one spot instead of two.
"So do you," he says firmly. After all, that was also part of his decision to let Erwin go back then, regardless of the agony it had caused him.
He's had some time to reflect on the whole home issue, too. They would have to rebuild, but... hadn't his role really ended years ago, anyway? The brats had it all covered, from what Gabi had told him, and she would be fine going forward too, with how strong she was proving to be every day. What else would they need from him, alone and crippled? His duty was finally complete. The lives he carried with him vindicated, set to rest. The world didn't need him anymore.
And then he ended up here, and he'd gotten someone back. There was no question in his mind that Hange deserved another life here, even if he didn't extend the same courtesy to himself at first. They had given everything they had to the cause, including their very life. Surely nobody had the right to ask anything more of them.
And now Erwin was here too, and the same applied to him.
Would it really be so terrible to be selfish this one time, let himself stay with them?
It took him way too long to decide that no, no it wouldn't, but he did in the end. They'd even made a little promise by the lakeside, him, Hange and Eren, that they'd stay right the fuck here once they found out (via Levi threatening the guild leader, of course) that it was an option. And he always did good on his promises, didn't he?
Erwin starts rising to his feet, and Levi stays still for a moment, still in the dirt, staring stubbornly at the indent in the ground where his knee used to be. Then he glances up, somewhere between resigned, frustrated and amused.
"...I'm gonna need you to help me up," he says simply, mostly as a warning so Erwin can brace himself before Levi uses that hand as leverage to pull himself up with a small grunt, though he won't shuck off any additional aid either, at least this time, if the other man wishes to offer it.
Once he's actually on his feet, Erwin may notice that he's wearing something on his left leg that doesn't look like anything they may have had at home. It seems it's not quite enough to let him get up quickly on his own though, or maybe it would just be awkward and Levi just doesn't want to make a scene of it when there's a subtler option available to him.
1/2
"So do you," he says firmly. After all, that was also part of his decision to let Erwin go back then, regardless of the agony it had caused him.
He's had some time to reflect on the whole home issue, too. They would have to rebuild, but... hadn't his role really ended years ago, anyway? The brats had it all covered, from what Gabi had told him, and she would be fine going forward too, with how strong she was proving to be every day. What else would they need from him, alone and crippled? His duty was finally complete. The lives he carried with him vindicated, set to rest. The world didn't need him anymore.
And then he ended up here, and he'd gotten someone back. There was no question in his mind that Hange deserved another life here, even if he didn't extend the same courtesy to himself at first. They had given everything they had to the cause, including their very life. Surely nobody had the right to ask anything more of them.
And now Erwin was here too, and the same applied to him.
Would it really be so terrible to be selfish this one time, let himself stay with them?
It took him way too long to decide that no, no it wouldn't, but he did in the end. They'd even made a little promise by the lakeside, him, Hange and Eren, that they'd stay right the fuck here once they found out (via Levi threatening the guild leader, of course) that it was an option. And he always did good on his promises, didn't he?
Erwin starts rising to his feet, and Levi stays still for a moment, still in the dirt, staring stubbornly at the indent in the ground where his knee used to be. Then he glances up, somewhere between resigned, frustrated and amused.
"...I'm gonna need you to help me up," he says simply, mostly as a warning so Erwin can brace himself before Levi uses that hand as leverage to pull himself up with a small grunt, though he won't shuck off any additional aid either, at least this time, if the other man wishes to offer it.
Once he's actually on his feet, Erwin may notice that he's wearing something on his left leg that doesn't look like anything they may have had at home. It seems it's not quite enough to let him get up quickly on his own though, or maybe it would just be awkward and Levi just doesn't want to make a scene of it when there's a subtler option available to him.