#unless you count erwin's final order as that memento

[avariantflaire]

Levi wasn't ready to lose her.

In this period of grief, we see him stoop down by the smallest body in the line-up to recover their Scouts patch. It is the first and only time we ever see him do this in the series.

For someone whose philosophy is to make a choice with no regrets, regardless of the outcome; for someone who takes much time and care to reflect over his fallen comrades; we never see a scene like this again for the rest of SNK. He experiences this "Crushing Blow" (title of S1 E21, where his squad is slaughtered), and in "The Defeated" (S1 E22), stops to gaze - what was that, in his gaze? - at Petra's broken body by the tree.

Then he takes Petra's, and only Petra's, patch.

For every battle before and each battle henceforth, he comes prepared to lose everything. But in this one expedition, for this one soldier, he didn't. So he takes her patch.

"It's proof that they existed, at least for me." (Levi, in The Defeated)

He needed proof that she existed, because he wasn't ready to lose her.

#rivetra #levi x petra #levipet #aot #snk #yes a meme where levi's got a closet packed to the brim with scouts' patches flashed briefly in my mind #but unless he can afford to have such a collection #unless he can /reasonably/ take every soldiers' patch #he would most certainly only choose to take the proof of existence of those closest to him #or at the very least #those important to him #and it's petra #analysis.vtf #what now strikes me though is that he never takes a memento from erwin #unless you count erwin's final order as that memento #or even armin himself #but that is a whole other post! #attack on titan #shingeki no kyojin