After I died

42

Anastasia

Winter came, then spring. We were able to announce that the territory between wall Rose and Maria was titan free again. It was almost a year after the fight in Trost by the time we made our expedition behind the walls to find the sea. My theory had been proven right, about the humans outside the wall, the ocean seperating us from them and their hatred for us. But for now this didn't matter, what mattered was the freedom to finally go beyond the walls... far beyond.   

Hanji, had been rigth with her idea that most of the titans on the island had probably been inside the wall Maria because of the human population and now that they were dead, there were barely any titans left on the island. The firsttitan we saw only showed upafter several  hours and he was barely able to move due to his tiny limbs and huge torso. The trail he left behind had already grown grass and a tree again, which convinced us of his extremely slow pace.

The good thing was, that his trail lead us directly to the point where the Marleyans across the sea had transformed him. After quite some time we reached a big land of just sand, a small desert. by it's end was a wall which Eren confirmed was the one that they'd transformed the Eldians on. and just behind the wall there it was, the sea. I'd seen it before of course, but looking at the faces of the others, I could tell they were mesmerized by it.

Within minutes, everyone was down at the beach, putting their feet into the water and trying to see if it was actually salty. "You sure you don't wanna come in too?", I asked Levi while pulling off my shoe. "No thanks, I'm good watching these idiots and making sure no-one dies.", he replied, eying the water suspiciously. "But you have fun.", he then added, lightly kissing my temple. "Sure, gotta play life gaurd." "And don't lose this.", Levi said, stroking over the ring on my finger. "I would never." "Good, cause you won't get a new one." I chuckled. "Believe me, there's about a thousand things I'd rather do than dare to lose this."

He looked at me for a bit longer before sighing and letting go of my hand. "Go on then." Iput my shoes down adn wentover to Hanji who was inspecting something in the water. "Look Ana, have you seen anything like this before?", she asked, holding something towards me. "That's a starfish. Haven't seen one in real life before but that definitely is one." "I like that thing.", Hanji replied, smiling at the little starfish in her hands.

Her, Levi and I sat in the sand of the back some time later, watching the others. "I was thinking... we need to cross the sea and start fighting back. With all the things we know about these people now, it's only a matter of time until they attack us again. If we want to survive this war, we need to learn something about our enemies.", Hanji suddenly said, she sounded more serious than just moments before. "I already talked to Levi about it, just wasn't sure if I can ask of you to go underground again and infiltrate Marley. But you are our best chance against them, especially if your memories of the encounter with Reiner come back."

"No pressure.", I replied, chuckling slightly while looking down at my hands in the sand. "I'm sorry.", Hanji said, hugging me from the side. "No need, whatever it takes to protect you guys, I'm willing to do it.", I replied. "And you're right... I am the one with the skill set for missions like these." I looked over at our team. Jean, Sasha and Connie were playing and laughing while Eren, Mikasa and Armin seemed to have a more serious conversation.

"But I don't want my own team. I want to keep working with Levi's squad and train them for warfare against humans.", I then said, and Hanji leaned forward looking past me at Levi who just nodded. "If we are really doing this inifltrating thing, it would be better to send teams that fully trust eachother, so we should keep the old formations.", he explained, recieving a small chuckle from Hanji, who then replied: "I'll agree, but only if you admits that you're just saying this so you can keep your fiancé close at all times."

Levi huffed, looking away but he didn't deny what Hanji was saying. "Anyways, now that this plan is approved by everyone, as soon as we get back, Ana, Armin and I will start making plans for this whole thing." I nodded along to Hanji's orders. "But first we enjoy this what we have here now." "If one of these brats drowns, I'll not jump in.", Levi grumbled, also watching the others messing around in the water. "I will.", I replied. "Go, then I will go back in too." Hanji got up and walked back over to the sea.

"I don't wanna leave Maggie here for so long.", I said and Levi sighed next to me. "Me neither. But we can't take her with us, that's way too dangerous for her, as well as us.", he replied. "I know. It's just... she's been alone before and I'd rather not have this happening again." "I'm sure it won't be too long. Half a year or one, max., but if we don't go and this place is eventually gonna get run over by these Marleyans or whoever. I think leaving her here for a year is better than her dying, don't you think."

I sighed, closing my eyes for a second to think. "I know you're right. But somehow I just wanna be selfish and stay by her ssde forever. That sounded weirder saying it out loud than in my head." "It's not weird, don't worry. I get what you mean.", Levi replied, stroking my knuckles with his thumb as he held my hand. "But we'll come back to her as soon as possible, promised?" "Promised."