This is My Last War (Attack on Titan // LeviHan) - Part 3

Mr. Ackerman, I Presume

Nine months ago, Survey Corps Headquarters, Trost, Paradis Island

Zoë found Levi on the rooftop. It wasn't the first place she went looking for him, she had expected him in the stables with his horse, but it was the second place. He looked over his shoulder when he heard her booted footsteps, then went back to watching the last rays of the sun setting behind Wall Rose. He was wearing his full uniform, including harness and cape, his freshly cut hair blowing gently in the wind.

A case of sentimental overdressing, it touched her heart.

Levi came up here frequently, she knew that. To be alone. These days, it was far too easy to be alone: There were so few of them left alive, Trost headquarters felt like an oversized mausoleum full of ghosts and broken dreams.

It made leaving a little easier.

"I brought snacks," Zoë swung herself up to sit next to him. Their feet dangled off the balustrade into the void, the city's houses dwarfed below them, the inhabitants of Trost bustling about like insects scrambling to make the most out of the waning daylight.

Levi looked at the bag in her hand with mild disdain. "Let me guess. Nuts?"

"Wrong!" Zoë beamed, opening the paper packet for him to see the contents. Ever since the Azumabitos had started to come to their island, their diets had diversified in spectacular ways. The things that existed in the world! Zoë could not wait to see, touch and taste them all.

"It's nuts," Levi insisted.

"No, they're...," Zoë frowned at her treasure. Well. Technically, he was right: They were nuts. But not the kind of nuts they were familiar with. Completely different kinds of nuts. Much more exciting nuts! How could he dismiss them so easily? "...they're so much better," she ended her sentence, holding the bag in his face.

"I don't feel like eating nuts," Levi grumbled, pushing her hand away.

"I also brought wine," undeterred, she leaned back a little to reach the green bottle she'd deposited there. "It's exquisite."

"I wouldn't know the difference," Levi said. "Good wine, bad wine, it all tastes the same to me. I hate it."

"Suit yourself, grump," uncorking it swiftly with her teeth, she took a deep swig right out of the bottle. A sure way to vex him.

But not today.

Today, Levi was in a mood. She had noticed the dark cloud above his head when he had come to the kitchen to make himself a cup of tea in the afternoon. Most people would claim that he was always in a mood, but she was familiar enough with him to ascertain that there were moods and there were moods.

It was best to leave him alone when he was in a mood, but this evening, Zoë couldn't. Because she knew what had brought it on. And they needed to talk about it. There was no particular rush though, their bags were packed and already on the way to the port, there was nothing else to do before their departure than to sit on the roof of their headquarters and be sentimental about leaving their known world behind.

Forcing her body to relax, she continued to nibble exquisite nuts and drink exquisite wine. The air was pleasantly warm after a beautiful, sunny day, the opulent fragrance of blooming trees tickling her nose teasingly. Spring was her favorite season on Paradis. Would she feel the same about the seasons in Liberio?

This early in the year, dusk fell quickly once the sun disappeared behind the Wall. Sitting on the castellated roof with Levi's warm presence next to her brought on memories of that other time they'd sat here like this. Nine years later they were friends, comrades, brother-in-arms, thick as thieves - just like an old couple. Zoë chuckled at the thought of Levi with gray hair and wrinkles, but it was hard not to feel a tinge of sadness.