You couldn’t sleep, no matter how cushioned you made your pillows to be or how many times you bundled yourself in your blankets.

Your room in the dusk barracks was empty, much lonelier than usual. The sound of the meek crickets did anything but soothe you, it was agitating.

It didn’t help that the walls here were so paper thin either, you can hear the disturbing snoring and footsteps coming from your exhausted comrades.

Nights like these, when you’re restless and staring at the ceiling, you would discreetly visit your dad, Erwin’s office at night. He may scold you for staying up at this hour, but he couldn’t deny his own some company, only so much paperwork can drive one insane.

So when he also had these restless nights filled with work and worries, he took a break to lead you back to his quarters. You see it as your nest, your sanctuary.

No matter how old you got, he tucked you in, laid beside you, and let you snuggle into his warm embrace, staying there until you had fallen into a peaceful slumber. You easily fell asleep. Your bothers that day evaporated.

You weren’t able to tell your dad how much of a good man he was.

When his most trusted comrade, Levi, came back to you with a solemn expression after the mission to reclaim Wall Maria, which held his dreams and hopes for humanity that he’d hope you would see: a world outside those walls, you could only cry. Cry that he sacrificed his hopes and dreams to become a step forward for humanity, that in his last moments, he was thinking of how he wouldn’t see you grow up in a Titan-free world, and that the man who would carry your dreams as his own will no longer be by your side.

The room was ghastly, filled with your quiet sobs. You hated the dark, how you would get consumed in paranoia, but you never told your dad that. You wanted to grow up as the young adult you hoped he envisioned, yet you’d hope to see him opening a door for you again…

What you didn’t notice whose heart was crumbling outside your room.