An Ackerman's secret

31

One year later

The snow had finally cleared up and we were seeing our first glance at some sun, just in time for the expedition.

My two braids whipped in the wind behind me and I was thankful that I cut my hair so it wasn't in my way. It was still quite long, but not down to my waist like it was before.

Levi loved it, he made that obvious.

I looked over at him while we rode across the plains to see him smiling back at me. That smile that I loved so much.

A year had gone and I spent most of it coming to terms with being in love again. It was hard, but I was willing to do it for him. I still was clueless on whether he felt the same or not, but we had been together for a while now.

Everyone associated us with each other, you rarely heard his name without mine alongside it.

And I love that, maybe nearly as much as he does.

I focused my eyes back on the direction we were heading. It was our first time going beyond Wall Maria in six years.

We have survived so much, and we have so much more to survive, that's for sure. This is just a new chapter.

Grass hills soon turned into blankets of sand and that was our sign that we were getting close. After all these years, we finally were making progress.

A wall appeared on our left which we didn't recognise, apart from Eren.

"I'm sure of it. This is the place where Eldians were made into titans."

His hair had grown out a bit and he looked more mature, he certainly acted it too. His bratty side had slowly faded.

"And.. beyond that.."

Rocks emerged and the sun was even brighter now with a strong smell of salt hitting us.

We slowed down to a walk and made our way up the small cliff of grass where we came to a complete stop, taking in everything before us.

It was stunning.

Just like Armin said, there was a big pool of water, bigger than any lake we have seen. It seemed to be never-ending.

I couldn't speak. I could hardly believe what my own eyes were seeing.

The sun reflected off the water, brightening up the blue and causing it to glisten. The sky met the water at the horizon and we expected to see land on the other side, but there wasn't any.

The wind was stronger by the shore, blowing against all of us which helped me realise this is actually real and not in my imagination.

No one spoke, we all had the same reactions. It was something special.

-

We walked down to the shore and removed our boots, rolling up our trousers to stop them from getting wet.

Everyone stepped into the shallow part of the water, experiencing it for the first time.

As I was about to join them, I noticed Levi wasn't budging from his spot. He wasn't planning on doing the same.

I walked over to him with a smile, "Don't tell me you're going to sit here and watch."

"I am."

I squinted at him before reaching down to take my boots off. There was no way I was going to let him back out of this.

Once I was done, I straightened up again to look at him. "You're going to let me go in there on my own?"

He crossed his arms and nodded, refusing.