𝐆𝐫𝐞𝐲 | 𝐋𝐞𝐯𝐢 𝐀𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐱 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫

✥𝚃𝙷𝚄𝙽𝙳𝙴𝚁𝙾𝚄𝚂✥

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Four Years Later

It was weird seeing her hair so short.
Violet had seen Levi cut his own hair before, as the man never trusted anyone else than himself to go near his face when it came to scissors and tools that had an edge and sharpness to it. Truly, she didn't know what made her want to chop it off this short, but when her mind had already made up what she wanted, she had gone straight to Levi so that he could cut it as short as she described.
She hadn't known what to expect when she finally saw herself in the mirror. But gods damn--- she looked hot as hell. She ran a hand through her hair as her face got closer to the mirror, moving the hair side to side, styling it the way she thought best.
Levi had chopped it in a haircut which many would call 'a haircut for a boy', due to its short length that went a bit above her nape. A wolf cut of sorts, but shorter. Something like what Mikasa currently rocked, but different, yet very similar. And Violet loved it, the best decision she had done in a long while.
She looked so insanely good that she wondered, why the hell hadn't she done this before?
There was something about it that just enhanced her features even further, making her look even better than before. She looked rough, in a good way, yet her face offered that gentleness that created the perfect balance.
A smile adorned her face as she leaned back, satisfied with how it turned out. And as she looked up at Levi, her love, the smile got even wider. "So." She grinned. "How does it look?"
Levi ran a hand through her hair, his eyes shining with all the glee he felt that he only let his mouth express so little. "You look good, brat." He said. "I like it. Think it suits you more."
She hummed. "You think? I like it, too. You did do a good job, huh?"
"Tch. I always do brat. I don't think we would be having this pleasant conversation if you'd hated the cut so much. We would be brawling at the floor as we speak."
Violet couldn't help the snort that escape her lips, shaking her head and rolling her eyes at his words. "Yeah, yeah, old man, as if you could spare with me at your age."
"You're a smart-ass, you know?" He narrowed his eyes, playfully. "I could leave you on the floor if I wanted."
"And so could I, but I don't beat elders." She smirked.
She laughed some more as she saw Levi roll his eyes, basking in the moment between them two. These moments like this, where they were both relaxed and pretended to not be aware of the atrocities happening right outside these walls, were so rare, came around so little, that when they did, she couldn't help the instinct to be in the moment, to not take it for granted. Because so many times before had she taken this for granted, had taken people and the moments they came with for granted, that she could not afford it. Not anymore.
"Oi, Violet. Let me help you put on your gear."
"Sure."

The new suit they were wearing was so awfully familiar to the assassin gear she used to wear before. From its skin-tight fit, hugging her in every right place and making her muscles shine through, to the black colour usually preferred for the stealth missions she would go on--- it was all so similar to that long time ago. But it was not like she was complaining, because, in fact, she actually loved the damn suit more than she would love to admit. There was something about the assassin suit that had made her feel invincible, so damn powerful, that having something similar to it---she was not complaining.
Her leg stepped over the harness as Levi lifted them up to her thighs, securing them into the buckle and tightening them as much as he needed. He worked on each clasp as she looked down at him, the thought of the mission coming to her as it dawned on her what this gear, the suit, meant.
But Levi beat her to her own thoughts when he spoke first. "This plan of Jaeger's better work."
She shrugged. "It just might. Who knows, maybe he is on to something."
"Yeah...but this plan. There's so much I don't agree with."
"Why?" Violet frowned.
"Because." He said, starting to work on the other leg. "The ones we have a problem with is those in power in Marley. Not the citizens. The citizens were not the ones that sent all that shit over to us."
It was not like he was wrong, because he wasn't, but still. Something made her speak out. "Yeah, but sometimes we meet fire with fire. They killed many of ours, we repay the damage done. It's the price you pay in war."
His hands stopped working for a minute as her words came out, as if stunned by what she said, confused, even; but then he resumed, working again on her gear. "But this is not war."
"But it might be if we let them get what they want." She said. "And Eren might be right, this might work."
He finally looked up at her, his grey ones meeting with her E/C. "Are you sure you're feeling alright?" He frowned. "You have been so...down this past couple of days. For some time, even."
She gave him a warm smile, a small one, as she pulled him to his feet. "Yes I am, Levi. Don't worry about me. I'm sure it's just the stress that this whole thing has on me."
He hummed, not convinced. "Right. I get it. But what you said before...Grey, we don't kill people just to kill. You out of everyone knows that, right?"
Fuck. She sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "I'm sorry, Levi. I know. I don't know why I said that." She made her eyes meet his again and just stared in silence for a minute, gathering her thoughts well. Why had she said that? Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. "Let's not make this our first fight since we've gotten married, please."
He smiled warmly at that and grabbed her hand with the rings on her finger. The rings he had searched hell and back for, and had them made especially for her. His wife. "Right. But you better not lose that ring, or else we are really going to fight."
She laughed at him and wrapped her arms around his neck, hugging him tightly to her.
She loved being married to him. Their ceremony had been a small one, with no one present but just the two remaining cadets in her squad to bear witness of their union. They had wanted to keep it small, for no one to know their moment but just them two. Hence why they hadn't invited Hanji, who also didn't know they were dating for years now. And now married.
They hadn't told anyone about their relationship. Not because they were ashamed of it or anything for that matter, but it was more of the fact that they wanted to keep it between them two. It made it that much special that way.
And their wedding had been special. The happiest moments in their lives. It held the promise of a future together, of something bright waiting for them once this was all over.
Violet liked that. That promise of light after darkness.
That's why they had married. Because of their unconditional love, the promise of a future together, and because time was never promised to anyone. No one at all. And neither Violet nor Levi wanted to live a life of regret when it came to either of them, the person who held their heart at the palm of their hand. Neither of them wanted to waste any time together, did not want to live with the 'what-if's'.
And ever since then, they were now husband and wife. In every means that mattered. And it had been the greatest thing in her life--- the wedding. The happiest moment, plus what followed.
"Dangerous words right there, Mr Ackerman." She smirked, her face close to his.
"And you constantly play a dangerous game, Mrs Ackerman." He squeezed her hand as her forehead rested against his, and he smiled, such a warm, loving smile, that had her legs feeling like putty.
So she smiled back and squeezed his hand, too. And they stayed like that for a while, looking deep into their eyes, until they were forced apart to leave to Marley. 

✥

"Alright, you know what to do," Violet said. "Protect Eren by all means possible. Do what you must, protect those you must." The cadets around her nodded, brave faces looking right back at her. She nodded back, a single nod. "Don't die on me, cadets."
She watched as the cadets split up and some hooked their gears to a wall, flying to another roof, while she and the remaining crouched and waited for Eren, hiding till their time was do. Just like Eren had requested.
He had done more damage than she had expected. Looking around, buildings that once stood tall with pride were shattered into pieces in the ground below, proof of what had gone on here. What Eren had done. And the bodies littering the street, some trapped and crying out in those buildings that were meant to shelter them, to protect them and offer a home, was an even stronger reminder and proof of what had happened just a few moments ago.
Eren had done more than what he had told them he would do. But for some reason, for some cruel, cruel reason, she did not feel a thing. Did not feel the pang of pain, of guilt, she had expected to feel. To feel shame over actions that were not committed by herself, but held the same weight as it was committed by someone she had trained, someone she worked with.
Only a part of her that was somehow conscious of the death and the weight it carried felt what had happened. But it was so little, that feeling, that part of her that was aware, that it did not hit her the way it might had once.
So she looked away and instead kept an eye on Eren, watching steadily, when Mikasa came in, flying at her usual fast speed, and just as fast, she jumped off the roof, thunderhead ready in hand. Mikasa fired her own right, exactly at the nape of the white titan, and she brought him down. And then Violet followed, shooting some of her own just where Mikasa had aimed hers.
She landed on another roof as it went off, hiding again and awaited for more danger--- for something more that would require her to jump in again. Because this, whatever anyone wanted to call this, was far from over.
Especially by the way the white titan got up, when it should be down. The thunderheads should've brought it down. But there it was, getting up. Fuck. 

Cadets landed on the roof with her, looking at the titan with wide eyes. Fuck.
"Oi, get down. Lay low." She growled, and they obeyed. They laid flat on their bellies, hands never leaving their weapons, and they stayed with her, accessing the situation.
Violet was about to jump in, to help, when the titan she assumed was the Jaw Titan, due to its jaw appearing to be made out of the same material that came out of her hands at her will and it being its most noticeable feature, attacked Eren.
Just like her, the cadets got up, ready to help, when she held out her hand, blocking them from going out. "Wait." She hissed and they stopped, looking at her confused. "You know who's job this is. Lay down, now. Our turn comes next."
They didn't question her words, and they lay low again, just as Levi came and attacked the Jaw Titan as if it was just another day. She saw the cadets watch in awe and she couldn't help the pride that swelled at her chest.
Violet crawled to the edge of the roof, backwards, as a few followed while the others crawled to the left, ready to hook their gear to a wall. It seemed that they moved in time as the hand of the Jaw Titan grasped the roof, right where they once were. And Violet wasted no time and got up, another thunderhead in hand, and she sent it flying to its hand. She hooked her gear to a wall and flew away with the other cadets as the explosion went off and the titan fell, landing with a thud that shook the earth.
The other cadets did not waste their time, too, and flew over to the titan on the floor, all of them armed to the teeth. And Violet and the cadets followed, a grin adorning her face as she got her weapons ready and her eyes burned with silver flame.

Finally. Finally they were paying for all that they stole.

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welcome to season four, part one.