Orders | Levi Ackerman

To you, 2 years from now.

Thank you all for 600k, I appreciate all of you. So, to commemorate this milestone, as well as the end of the Attack On Titan manga, I present this little one shot for you, all set after the ending of Orders.

^ - ^
—

To say time went fast was an understatement. It felt like only yesterday, her best friend; her beloved, Eren had died. Mia grieved until the sun no longer seemed to rise, her heart only ached more and more as each day had passed she couldn't spend with him.

But as fast as time went, it didn't wait for her to heal either. Mia believed that after his passing, all their problems would've been solved; The war would end, the rumbling would stop and titans and its shifters would cease - Mia was far from right.

It was that very day she met up with Armin. Though it wasn't in Shiganshina nor anywhere else she had seen. It was a land layered in sand, the sky littered with stars and colors beyond her comprehension.

Paths was its name. A land for Eldians and Eldians alone that could only be accessed through the founding titan's abilities or from a young girl named Ymir Fritz. Only they could allow people in and out of the realm.

So, when Mia rode alongside Levi and blinked for only a moment, her heart raced when she found herself no longer next to him. Instead, she was faced with her friend, Armin, and a peculiar young girl who spoke very little.

They were wrong in assuming that Eren's death would solve their problems. And the remnants of Mia's heart only shattered further when she realized what she'd done.

He didn't have to die was all she could think as Ymir spoke.

"You freed him. As he freed me." She said, but the welling of tears in Mia's eyes deafened her.

That day, seven years ago, was a day Mia would never forget even in death. Not only did she lose the man she loved, she in turn would come to lose herself.

Ymir had promised them liberty from the titan curse on one condition: Mia would take hold of all the titan shifter's abilities and she'd die with it nine years later. That and that only would allow titans to cease to be.

"Mia, I can't let you do that!" Armin yelled over and over. The vein in his neck throbbed as he clamped her hand between his. He didn't want to lose her too.

But pleading with her was useless, after all, it was her or everyone else. Her lips upturned and deepened into her cheeks but they never quite met her eyes.

Pulling her hand away, Mia looked back at Ymir, "I don't care, Armin."

Seven years have passed since then.

At first, Mia thought she'd just be waiting for her death to come and would fight in the ongoing war with her newfound abilities. But the day she told Levi of this condition Ymir forced upon her was the day she pulled away from it all.

His face held a look she'd never forget. Levi never cried, but his eyes widened and filled with frustration and loss. He'd only just gotten her back months earlier. Why was everything taken away from him? Levi wasn't sure.

Seeing that look alone though, changed Mia's perception of her future. She didn't want to spend it fighting, nor did she want to spend it waiting. Each time her eyes rested upon her former captain, her heart skipped a beat and an inexplicable smile deepened into her cheeks.