Since that day, the clock did not tick for Levi. It probably will not—no, it never will. Even though he managed to keep his sanity intact for the sake of his job, there was still a wire loose within him. The one that could never be repaired for eternity.
There was, initially that one being that could repair it for him. But she was gone forever. Every single piece of her vanished beyond the evening sunset—and not even the infamous Corporal from the Special Operations Squad could retrieve her. The decision he made on that day still pains him until this very moment. A lasting scar etched to his heart.
As he sat idly on his work station, Levi's eyes landed upon the calendar hanging on the wall to his right. It silently reminded him that it was already a month since she passed away. No—since she was slaughtered by a titan. A titan that was originally one of their kind.
Levi was highly aware that his paperwork was piling up due to his constant missions outside the walls. Back then, finishing all of these were a breeze because she was there to help. Not only helping them to finish on time, but also to make his day less boring. She'll make a cup of coffee every few hours or talk about trivial things.
He thought those moments would last forever. He thought it would, and at some point he took them for granted. The man with clean-cut, jet-black hair led out a long sigh. He was about to let himself succumb to the thoughts of her, but brushed it off quickly and went back to scribbling down things on the pile of papers.
When Levi became engrossed in his work, a transparent figure descended behind his seat. She had complete body parts, but all of them were see-through. Even her short, copper-brown hair was transparent as glass. Except those that were covered by a white blouse and tight, khaki pants with dark brown straps all over the thigh area. The figure loomed over Levi and led out a chuckle. "You're working hard, Corporal! Even though I know how much you hated paper works…"
Somehow, he couldn't hear nor see her. Not even feel her presence. The figure knew that was the price to pay when she begged the angels to go back to Earth. Despite that, her desire to see her corporal for one last time was enough to overlook the consequences.
The figure skipped towards the center of the small, circular room that was built with walls out of stone. She knew this room very well. Too well, even.
Her eyes scanned the room quickly and she smiled with satisfaction. It seemed that her memories served her right—this room hasn't changed even one bit. The pungent smell of soap used for removing every nook and cranny. The sight of a spotless, unused bookshelf on her left and a cupboard full with cleaning equipment on her right. Don't forget his tidily arranged spare uniforms on top of the cupboard.
Seeing this made her wish that she was still alive and well by his side. Her eyes turned droopy on that thought, but she shook her head to let it all go. Don't dwell in the past, self!
Afterwards she immediately recalled her purpose of coming here. The figure skipped to the rear of Levi's working desk and searched for something she could use to communicate with him. The angels said that she can still touch and hold things, but not feel them.
The first thing that came into her mind was to search for a pen. That was the only possible media for her. Unfortunately, the only pen that was available in the room was the one used by Levi—but that didn't stop her from taking actions.
She leaned forward on the desk, and clutched the tip of the pen. Levi's pupils widen as all of a sudden, the pen was stopped by thin air and flew into mid-air. He staggered backwards when it finally stopped on the paper—and began forming a few words by itself. He had seen strange occurrences during his missions, but it was usually titan-related. Either the titans were abnormal or they were extremely smart. To see a flying pen writing by itself was indeed, something completely brand new for the Corporal.
Levi's curiosity was piqued as the pen danced on top of the paper. He slowly moved his seat forwards and glanced quickly at what was on the paper.
"!" Boy, did he gasp. He even gasped in utter horror. The figure, visible to no one snorted as she had never seen the Corporal display so much emotions on his face before. Once she finished writing, she dropped the pen and waited for his response.
"Good evening, Corporal! Guess who's back?"
Initially, the French man was a bit hesitant to write something in response. It was a foolish act to reply to thin air. But somehow—his instincts told him to go with it and see what happens.
"Identify yourself, ghost."
The figure playfully snatched the pen from him and hummed a cheerful tune as she wrote back.
"Petra Ral at your service, sir!"
The Corporal's heart stopped beating at that instance. He held his breath for a few seconds as his mind was processing the name written on paper. How could this be…? This is absurd.
He then clucked his tongue, looking vexed. "Oy, you fiend! Show yourself! You can't be Petra. She's dead exactly one month ago. Well, do amuse me though. Prove that you are really Petra Ral."
"That's easy!" Petra giggled, and her fingers were swiftly scribbling already.
"Corporal, you drink your coffee black, with 2 sticks of cinnamon every morning. You dislike waking up to the sound of roosters. That's why around 3 years ago, you asked me to get rid of the roosters near our base since nobody wanted to do it. Oh, and I know you always use lavender-scented soap to clean our base and even yourself. Right?"
There was a slight urge within Levi to argue with this invisible being, but he held them back. The truth was evident in every sentence. Still, it was quite peculiar for him to converse with his supposedly dead subordinate. No matter how much he secretly longed for her presence, an encounter like this was unfathomable.
Levi reluctantly nodded, and Petra cheered for herself on the side. If a third party were to see them right now, it would look weird because Levi was looking straight the whole time, while Petra was beside him all along.
"Ok, let's say I believe that you're Petra. My squad's Petra, who's now an invisible ghost. Tell me, how did you get here?"
"I negotiated with the angels to let me go back down to Earth, because I want to see y—"
Right before she was about to write the word 'you', she frantically crossed it out because the Corporal does not know she had feelings for him. She never got the chance to confess, after all. Levi lifted an eyebrow on that crossed out word, but Petra ignored it and resumed on writing.
"—everyone. I want to see everyone once again. Jaeger, Commander Erwin, and also Arlert… How are they doing?"
Slightly irked by her unwanted response, the Corporal decided to let his emotions flow on paper.
"I don't know. Go figure that out by yourself. You have all the time to do so, don't you?"
"Eeeh, don't get mad at me, Corporal. And no, I don't. The angels only let me stay here for 7 days. Just 1 week and I'm gone for good."
The Corporal winced upon seeing those words. He assumed that she's going to linger around for a couple more years. It didn't matter if she was invisible to him. Heck, it didn't matter what form she took. As long as Petra's here, it was more than enough.
"Only one week?"
"Yep, too bad I did not get any extra time. So Corporal, I'll be under your supervision again for a short while. Please take care of me, sir!"
She stood upright, balled her fist and raised it to her left chest. The salute was familiar to her—as almost half of her life was spent as a soldier. A remarkable soldier, even.
"Petra, did you salute me?" Levi asked in a flat tone, and turned his back against Petra. She ripped off the corner of a paper and drew a tick on it, before waving it in front of his squinted eyes.
Unexpectedly, he led out a dry chuckle. "Heh, that's good. If the angels are more forgiving, I'd like to see that salute once more. Anyways, I have a proposal to make for you."
"P-P-P-PROPOSAL?!" Petra exclaimed, jerking backwards in shock. "What is that supposed to mean, Corporal? Oh wait… He can't hear me. Right." She said, justifying herself. She picked up another piece of paper, hands trembling as she wrote down her words earlier. The paper gracefully landed on the Corporal's lap. His eyes scanned the contents like an eagle, yet his face remained expressionless.
"I didn't imply it as a wedding proposal, you idiot." Levi's fingers wrote back right below her squiggly, cartoonish handwriting. Compared to hers, his was angular and elaborate. The perfect fit for the tight and reserved Corporal.
"I was about to say that I'll take you to see the others. But in return, you have to stay with me all the time. And don't let other people know about your current state. Deal?"
Petra frowned and questioned the Corporal's intentions. It was beneficial for her and it complemented her original purpose of coming here, but she saw no reasons from him to do so. Little did she knew what was about to come—and what feelings were locked secretly within Corporal Levi. Of course, in the end she decided to abide by the Corporal's terms and gave her response.
"Alright sir, I shall obey your orders!"
Author's Comments
First of all, I thank you guys once again for reading my previous fanfics! All the reviews and faves make me really hyped!
This was… more of a one-shot thing I did in the middle of doing a big project orz =w='' I was inspired by Anohana and somehow by a few romance animes so I decided to write this down! I'm not sure if I'll make a lot of chapters but we'll see 8D
'Till then, adieu /o/