I followed Levi to headquarters, surprised he had brought us here. What could he possibly have to show me?

We entered the formidable stone building and walked down the main corridor, until Levi came to a stop in front of the door to the office that he used to share with Mike. Now, the space was all his.

He unlocked the door and stepped inside, glancing back at me when I hesitated for a moment in the doorway. "Tch. Are you coming or not, (L/N)? I'm not keeping a titan in here."

I followed him into the dark office and he shut the door behind me. I remained against the wall next to the door as he walked over to the large desk in the corner of the room and leaned down to open the bottom drawer. He pulled out a small, worn, wooden chest and sat it carefully down on the desk before him. He looked up at me and raised an eyebrow as he said in a slightly annoyed tone, "Oi, (L/N). Get over here."

My curiosity won over and I pushed up off the wall, padding across the room to stand on the opposite side of the desk from him, on the other side of the box he had carefully placed in the center of the surface. He flipped back the lid of the chest and I leaned over the desk, trying to get a closer look at what was nestled inside the worn wooden container.

I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I glanced up at Levi, who stood watching me with dark, unreadable eyes, and then asked in disbelief, "Is that....."

He reached a hand into the box and pulled out the item that was laid delicately on top, holding it cautiously in the palm of his hand as he held it up for me to see. "So you recognize it then." There was a very faint inflection of surprise in his tone, as if he had expected me not to understand what he was showing me.

I shook my head, still in awe of what I was seeing. "I could never forget it." I reached out a hand, hesitating for a moment, not sure if he'd let me take it. He pushed his hand closer to mine, as if to say it was alright, and I reached out again, my fingers curling around the delicate object balanced on his palm. His cool skin brushed briefly against my hand as he pulled back from me, still studying me with a steady, inscrutable gaze.

"It's the last teacup." I held the chipped, thin teacup up to my face. The scrawled paintings of vines and flowers that had adorned its porcelain surface had faded over the years, but every chip and scratch that I remembered so well were all still present, just as if it had been yesterday when I had last seen it. "Why do you have this still?" I flicked my eyes up to meet his over the top of the cup, the surprise still evident on my face and in the tone of my question.

"Tch." He dropped his gaze from mine and motioned to the box, still laid open in front of us. "That's not all that's here."

I set the teacup down softly on the desktop, giving it one last long glance, before I leaned over to look at what else was held in the box. I let out a gasp and pulled out the next item. I held the small, square chunk of shriveled leather in the palm of my hand. "Holy Hell. You kept this?"

I remembered finding the shoe in the trash, so proud that I had cut it up myself and made us "soup" with it for dinner. And then I had dropped my cup and spilled my serving, so Levi had given me his. He must have picked up the scrap of leather from the spilled soup later and had kept it all these years.

I set the piece of leather down beside the teacup and peered back into the box. I couldn't help but laugh as I pulled out the small dagger that lay in the bottom of the wooden box. I glanced up at Levi and held up the dagger, a smile flickering across my lips as I said in amusement, "The dagger we used for thieving. I can't believe we thought we were so damn hardcore with this tiny thing. And look at what we have access to now."

He reached out, his fingers brushing across mine as he took the dagger from me. He flipped it in his fingers for a moment, studying it, and then said flatly, "Well, it did the job back then. We didn't go as hungry as we would have without it."

I glanced back down at the box. I had thought the dagger was the final object nestled within, but I caught sight of a flash of paper stuck to the very bottom of the box, and reaching in, pulled it out to reveal a worn, dim photograph. Across the back, written in scrawled, faded writing, was a simple phrase, "Promise Kept." I furrowed my brow at the words, wondering what they could mean, and then flipped the photograph over to look at the picture on the front.

I felt as if the breath had left my body as I looked at the photograph in front of me.

In the picture, Levi and I stood in front of the scouting barracks, our arms around each other's shoulders, large, goofy grins stretched across our faces. We both wore crisp uniforms that bore the survey corps logo across the jackets, and the harnesses strapped around our waists for our 3DM gear were shiny and new.

I remembered the day the photograph was taken as if it had been yesterday. It was the day after Levi had gotten me out of the Underground, and I had joined the scouting legion. We were all smiles and laughter at that point. We hadn't realized how much would change now that we were both on the surface.

I dropped the hand that held the photograph to the table, the picture still held tightly between my fingers, and met Levi's gaze. He was watching me intently, his eyes expressionless as usual, but I could tell by the way he pressed his lips together that he was waiting expectantly for what I would say next.

"How...." I glanced back down at the photograph still held in my hand and then to the other objects that lay on the desktop. "I mean....why did you keep all of this? For all these years?" I felt sadness settle into the pit of my stomach as my eyes met his again and I said quietly, "Why keep all of this? I thought you hated everything that had to do with the way we grew up and the Underground."
He furrowed his brow at my words, and I swore I saw a slight flash of confusion flash across his face as he said matter of factly, "Not you." He must have seen my confusion at that point, because he clarified, glancing over at the photograph still held in my fingers. "You're from my Underground past. And I don't hate you."

I let out a humorless laugh. "Could have fooled me." He raised an eyebrow at me, as if he couldn't understand why I was laughing, and so I said in a slightly strained voice, "Don't joke around right now, Ackerman." I held up the picture for him to see. "Why do you have all of this still?"

He put his hands down on the desk, palms down, and studied the objects in front of him in silence for a moment before he said, "I kept all of this after I left so that I would be reminded, every day, of my promise to you. That I'd never leave you behind again and I'd get you out of that hellhole someday."

I was surprised at the frank honesty behind his words. He was telling the truth. I set the photograph back in the box, careful not to curl the edges, and then said quietly, "But you did that. You got me out years ago. So why didn't you just get rid of everything after that?"

He looked up at me, his dark hair falling over his eyes and making them look even more black in color if that was possible, before he said, his normally monotone voice holding an edge of anger, "I kept everything to remind myself of where my anger should really be placed. It's not the titans, it's not those idiotic brats I have to work beside every day, it's not you or Erwin or Hange, it's that hellhole of a place we grew up in. That's where I focus my anger when I really need to get something done." He picked up the dagger from the table and ran his fingers along the dull edge a few times before dropping it back into the box. "When I need something to bring me back, to remind what I'm really angry about, I come here. And I look through this damn box. And I focus my anger on the place and people that damaged me the most."

I watched him silently as he placed the teacup carefully back on top of everything else and then shut the lid to the chest with a snap. He picked up the chest and slid it back into the bottom drawer of the desk, before closing the drawer without a sound. He straightened and raised an eyebrow at me, noticing I was still watching his movements from across the desk. "Oi, (L/N)."

I snapped my eyes up to his and for just a brief moment, gazing into his dark eyes, I was reminded that beneath the hard, sarcastic exterior of the Levi that existed now, there was still that same, hopeful, broken boy I had known so very long ago.

His hand still rested on the desktop in front of him, from when he had put away the chest, and without really thinking, I reached across the tabletop and laid my hand over his. His skin was cool to the touch, and his knuckles were rough from calluses caused by the constant usage of the 3DM lines. I squeezed his fingers gently with mine and then said sincerely, "Thank you for showing me that, Levi."

His name tingled slightly as it fell softly from my lips. I hadn't used it in so long, I'd almost forgot what it tasted like to say. But I meant it. In that moment, I felt like we were just two unlucky, unloved kids again, who only had each other in this big, dark, dangerous world. Like we were back to how we used to be. And it felt good.

His eyes widened slightly at my use of his first name and he parted his lips slightly, as if he wanted to say something in return. Instead, he hesitated for a moment, and then his eyes became expressionless again as he said briskly, "Just consider this a lesson, (L/N), on how to effectively direct your anger. When we work together, I don't want you running off to throw rocks whenever something happens that you don't approve of."

He removed his hand from underneath mine and pushed past me, headed toward the door. Without another word, he left the room, slamming the door shut again behind him.

I listened to his sharp footsteps fade down the hallway and then let out a frustrated sigh, turning to lean back against the desk as I ran a hand through my hair. I leaned back on my hands and let my head fall back, staring up at the ceiling for a moment, trying to collect my racing thoughts.

After a few moments of silence, I pushed myself up off the desk with another exasperated sigh and headed toward the door, irritatedly muttering under my breath, "Damn, he's such an ass. I need a drink."

I walked out into the hallway and shut the door carefully behind me, leaving the dark room, large desk, and small, hidden box of unearthed memories behind.