[There is no guilt over saving his life, it would be repeated a thousand times over if necessary, but there is sympathy attached to a very visible reminder of when everything went irreversibly wrong.]
[As the last of the bandages are removed Hange drops them on to a counter-top to dispose of later, observing as Levi flexes a hand before his face. They don't expect the damaged eye to work either, if there had been improvement then surely Levi would have mentioned it after one of those times when the dressings were reapplied, but Hange also understands more than anybody else the need to just try, to open it and look around, to enjoy a moment of foolish hope where you tell yourself that maybe, by some miracle, your eyesight will return to normal.]
[It won't, they both know it, but it's still worth it to try.]
My left, your right, we do make a matching set. Maybe we need to make standard issue eyepatches and include them as part of the scout's uniform.
[Another half-hearted joke, but after a moment of consideration Hange reaches up to remove their glasses, and then the eyepatch strapped around their head. After years of healing any damage to the eyelids or skin around the afflicted eye is rather minimal in comparison, though Hange chooses to keep it closed as they hold out the eyepatch.]
I prefer to keep it covered because it looks cool!
[Yep, totally the most valid reason! But also:]
...Although I can no longer see out of it, it isn't as if all the nerves stopped working. Sometimes bright light can bother it and give me a headache, so I usually keep it on. Plus like I said, I think it gives off some rather mysterious vibes! But maybe it won't be a problem for you.
no subject
[As the last of the bandages are removed Hange drops them on to a counter-top to dispose of later, observing as Levi flexes a hand before his face. They don't expect the damaged eye to work either, if there had been improvement then surely Levi would have mentioned it after one of those times when the dressings were reapplied, but Hange also understands more than anybody else the need to just try, to open it and look around, to enjoy a moment of foolish hope where you tell yourself that maybe, by some miracle, your eyesight will return to normal.]
[It won't, they both know it, but it's still worth it to try.]
My left, your right, we do make a matching set. Maybe we need to make standard issue eyepatches and include them as part of the scout's uniform.
[Another half-hearted joke, but after a moment of consideration Hange reaches up to remove their glasses, and then the eyepatch strapped around their head. After years of healing any damage to the eyelids or skin around the afflicted eye is rather minimal in comparison, though Hange chooses to keep it closed as they hold out the eyepatch.]
I prefer to keep it covered because it looks cool!
[Yep, totally the most valid reason! But also:]
...Although I can no longer see out of it, it isn't as if all the nerves stopped working. Sometimes bright light can bother it and give me a headache, so I usually keep it on. Plus like I said, I think it gives off some rather mysterious vibes! But maybe it won't be a problem for you.