Chasing Ghosts [Attack on Titan](Wattys 2014 Winner)

Chapter sixty-one- New life

Chapter sixty-one

Year 845 March 1st

Levi got the message that his father had passed today, of course he had no interest in this. He didn't really care. We'd been together for three months now. Hm… It feels like only yesterday that I met him. Erwin and I haven't spoken since the day his father showed up. I was packing up my room. Boxes littered around the little place. I smiled at it, I really loved this place. I would miss it, but my life was ahead of me and I wasn't going to let it slip through my fingers. I removed the journals from my desk they where the last thing I picked up. I sighed quietly, wrapping my arms around the surfaces and putting them into the boxes. We weren’t leaving the military, just not living in the headquarters anymore. I picked up the last box and went down the steps towards the carriage that was waiting. I smiled at Levi who was putting the boxes into the back of the vehicle. “Hi…” I said to him as he kissed my cheek. “C'mon. Lets get going.” We had our horses at the front of the carriage. “Lets say bye to the others.” He nodded as the four. Petra, Oluo, Erd and Gunter waited for us at the entrance they saluted us. Their hands over their hearts while they all smiled. “Good luck, we'll be coming to visit!” Said Petra. I hugged each of them and looked up into the window of my room one final time then entered the carriage and we where off. I sat at the front of the vehicle next to Levi who was driving it towards Trost.

I looked out over the vast hills and rolling green forests as we passed them. I sighed quietly. “I'm surprised Erwin didn't say goodbye to you…” Levi said from my side. I looked over at him. “I don’t know… he changed Levi. Just like we're about to.” I chuckled poking his cheek while he smiled at me. “Sh, I'm driving.” I laughed quietly and leaned back against the seat of the carriage. I looked upward into the spring sky. The snow was in slushy patches on the ground, the relevance of the cold winter that slowly faded away. Almost like Erwin to me… I needed to stop thinking about it. The ride would be hours long and I needed to find something to fascinate myself with. I eventually slipped off to sleep at the soft beating of horses hooves. I opened my eyes some time later as we entered Trost. Levi looked tired and the sun was sinking down into the horizon. I shot  up and stretched. “Lucky.” He grumbled. “I don’t get to sleep.” I smiled “Don’t be that way.”

We turned left on the inside of the wall Trost, lining the walls where the much more affluent houses. Bigger, nicer with more land than the ones closer to the center. We pulled up along a beautiful white house with magnificent brown-red shingles. Windows on every section. A coble stone road went up to the door that had a beautiful little cover with golden lining on every part of the building. I jumped down from the carriage and went to the house. Levi looked slightly forlorn, his eyes flickered to me and back to the house. “C'mon, I'll show you around.” I nodded following him threw the door. The key was under the mat. He unlocked the door and we walked into a hallway with two rooms on either side. The house was very open. A set of swirling stairs was ahead of me it reached up to the second floor and beyond. The rooms had furniture in them most of it was old looking things but a lot of them where quite nice. We went through the room to the left a kitchen was behind it with white marble and a view into the backyard and the wall beyond.

 I listened to the sounds of birds outside for a while, beside the counter was a door that went outside into the back that was fenced off. I followed Levi back towards the stairs and we  went up the steps. There where several rooms up here, most of them where storage. The room in the middle of the massive wooden hallway was the one we picked to stay in, it was beautiful with a massive white bed that had mosquito netting over the outside of it and a large window that took up most of the wall to the right of the bed. Levi smiled but he was oddly quiet, I guess it was understandable being in his old family home… there must have been so many evil memories here. I followed him up the last flight of steps into a little triangular shaped attic with a soft white carpet there was a circular window at the end of the room.

It was a nursery, judging by the Childs crib near the window and the seemingly endless amount of toys on the ground. “This was my room…” He whispered “Well…. My first room anyway.” He said quietly. I looked up at him as he stared off into the distance. “Don’t worry, when our child is sleeping in here those memories will be replaced with happy ones.” I said without realizing it. He smiled and kissed me on the lips his still tasted like cinnamon just like the first time we kissed. “You always know what to say.” I smiled as we finished up the tour and went to collect our things. “I love it… this house is beautiful.” I said.

 He gave me a half-smile. “Yeah, I guess it is.” We brought our boxes in and  began to unpack what few things we had. Levi insisted I put mother’s journals up on the mantle above the fireplace. After we finished up we decided to go up on the walls to catch the sunset. I strapped on my Gear and went to the base of the massive stone barrier. “Race you!” Levi yelled as he jumped up past me soaring upward without a problem. “Hay!” I yelled jumping up after him with ease he reached It before me. I crawled to the edge of the massive stone wall and sat down with my legs over the edge. He followed. “I win.” He grinned.

I rolled my eyes and laughed softly. Levi sat down next to me and we both gazed out into the sunset on the distant mountains. I could hear the titans down below us, but I tried to ignore them the best I could. Levi was playing with something in his hands, I couldn't look at it because every time I tried he would close his fingers around it. “Alya…” He said. Taking my hand as he stood up while the sun-shine illumined us both in gold and red. “I know I kinda asked you this already, but I deiced this was a better setting.” He knelt down and pulled out a little blue box opening it and on the inside was a beautiful little silver ring that glittered in the sunshine. “Would you do me the honor of… being Ms.Ackerman?” He asked me as I felt a wave of emotion wash over me. Tears appeared in the corners of my eyes and I almost burst out in tears. “Of course Levi!” I threw myself at him. Knocking us both back to the ground. He laughed as he slipped the ring onto my finger. “I love you.” He whispered as I lay on his chest. “I love you too, my crazy Levi.” I said.