It took ten years but the Survey Corps finally did it. The Titans were eradicated from the world. We understood where they came from. Humanity has won it's hundred year battle with the monsters and moved outside the Walls. I watched my daughter run across the front yard from our porch. A small smile pulled at the corners of my lips. It was a calm, peaceful day. The blue sky was dotted with fluffy white clouds. The grass as green as ever and other houses in the distance. My wife came out of the house with tea and sat next to me.
"She really likes to run around." Petra said handing me my cup of tea.
"That she does." I responded taking a sip of the tea. She rested her hand lightly on mine.
"I'm surprised."
"About what?"
"You always seemed so uptight in the Walls, demanding respect. Out here, now that the Titans have gone, you're all relaxed and you've actually smiled."
"Well there's nothing to be too terribly sad about right now."
"True." I noticed a little lump in her stomach.
"Another?" I raised both eyebrows.
"Another." She confirmed.
"Is it a boy or a girl?"
"I don't know. I hope a boy but another girl would be fine." Our daughter ran over to us, her amber eyes gleaming.
"Mama! Papa!" She cried happily as she hugged her mother's leg. "I found a flower!" In her tiny hand she held a daisy. I smiled down at her and ruffled her hair.
"Good for you, Amber," I said. "Good for you." My wife was twisting her wedding ring with only a half smile. "Something wrong."
"No."
"Are you lying?"
"No."
"I can tell when you're lying to me."
"But I am not. Open your eyes."
"They are open."
"No, like this," She put her hands on either side of my head, pulled me close and kissed me. We closed our eyes. I then opened them. I was sitting in my office with my hard wooden desk in front of me. Rain poured down from outside. I looked around for Petra. Then the crushing realization hit. It was all a figment of my imagination. I kissed a dead woman's ghost. I felt the tears brim in my eyes.
"So... Paradise is just in my head...?" I said to myself. A maniacal laugh escapes my lips. I didn't answer myself but just allowed myself to hear the rain pounding on the roof. "Damn it!" I slammed a fist onto the table. A tear slid down my face. "Petra's dead. Aurou is dead. Gunter and Eldo. Dead." I whispered. I broke down and sobbed into my arms. "Why...?" I tried to gather myself together. "Why do I have to suffer like this?" A ghost... In my head... Maybe I was starting to lose it. Maybe everything was getting to my head. Petra's father popped into my mind. I pushed it away. He had told me how she wrote in a letter how, as he put it, was starry eyed about me. All I felt I could do now, or so I felt, was stare out the window and try and compose myself together. There was a knock on the door and Hanji's voice sounded from the other side.
"Levi?"
"Go away."
"Are you-?"
"Go away. I wish to be left alone." I heard her feet shuffle outside and I heard something slide down the door.
"Being like this isn't going to help you in any way."
"Shit for Glasses, go away." I could picture Hanji pursing her lips.
"I know somethings wrong."
"I'll sort this out myself!" I shouted. And silence met my shout.
"You know... I know-" She started after a minutes silence.
"No! No you don't!" I strode over to the door and opened it. Hanji fell back but quickly got up. She stood over me. I felt myself break down. I raised a weak fist and made a punching gesture, it only hit her stomach lightly. A strangled sob escaped my mouth and she patted my shoulder. My knees failed me and she gripped me to keep me up.
"It's okay, I've got you." She told me quietly as I cried into her shoulder.
