Beautiful Lie - [Levi x Reader] - Short

He is Humanity's Greatest Soldier.

You were a cadet fresh from the training grounds.

Without heed to rank or status, death loomed like a shadow

over the two of you.


But still, you followed him,

placed your life on a wire for him,

and loved him with all your heart, all the while knowing...


...that he would not love you back.


For to love another means to risk an agony too great

for even the strongest of soldiers to bear.


And yet...


...as the blood seeped from your veins,

pooling into the earth...


...as the world grew colder and darker...


...as the warmth of life began to leave your body...


You were held in his arms,

cradled like a lover,


by a man who would not return your love...

...but was still willing to pretend...


so that at least, in the last few breaths of your life,

you could go peacefully with hope and comfort.


You would leave this world, knowing

that though you could never be more

than a comrade to him...


You were still precious.


You would still be mourned, and remembered.

He would not allow your death would to go to waste.


And though your love would remain unrequited after death...

...it would not go unacknowledged.


Just for that, he was willing to pretend,

for as long as what little time you had left...


...that he could be allowed to love you back.


It's strange...

You know full well that your feelings for him,

no matter how strong, nor how deep,

will never be returned.

But from the way his arms soothingly embrace you,

and the way his eyes stay with yours,


You feel as though you might be able

to believe

the lie that he is spinning for you...


...to believe...

...that you are loved

...by the man who couldn't love you back.


And so, he sees you off with unspoken sorrow

while you smile warmly against your pain...

...against your tears...

feeling as though you're staring into the sun...

...knowing that you had always dreamed of this.


Then, he whispers the

last words of release...

...while the world fades around you.


...


"...Maybe in the next life."


...


...bloodstained fingertips gently kiss your eyelids to sleep.