Erd often talks to Petra about Eleanor, his bright, sweet, beautiful fiancée. Petra knows she'd love her if she got the chance to meet her. She probably has no idea how much Petra knows about her, or how much Erd talks about her.
Erd talks about Eleanor all the time. They could be in the dining room at night, with candles lit and little smiles –everyone made it through the day-, and Erd would sit next to Petra, tell her Eleanor sent him a letter he had read a thousand times, how her handwriting is so delicate that, sometimes, he feels like she's stroking his cheek as her voice fills his ears.
Petra listens, a hand supporting her cheek, elbow on the table, with dreamy eyes and content little sighs.
Sometimes, Petra leaves her room in the middle of the night and goes to Erd's. She almost always finds him awake and she just goes to his bed, sits cross-legged on the other end of it and clutches one of his pillows, asking him to talk about Eleanor some more. So he tells her about wildflowers. Eleanor loves wildflowers, and Erd picks some for her.
When he can, he sends them to her with a letter and he hopes they don't wilt before she gets them.
One day, he went to their house in the middle of the night with those flowers in his hands. He found her sleeping, one of his letters against her cheek. He stroked her hair, kissed her forehead and -Erd insists on that- he heard her whisper his name and he fell in love all over again, contemplating the idea of leaving the Military behind and going back to her.
Petra tears up and she hugs his pillow tighter. So Erd proffers his arms and Petra instantly responds, throwing herself at him. "She's lucky," she says, "she's loved and she's lucky she has you. Don't die, never die. I want to be an aunt someday," and carefree laughs leave their lips and hearts as their hug tightens. They shut their eyes and Petra wishes, during those moments, she could feel what Eleanor feels when Erd hugs her. Petra wishes, even though she's a Soldier with bruised skin, scars and short hair; she wishes someone would give her wildflowers.
She goes back to her room a few hours later, and she thinks about Eleanor, alone in her bed, and if Petra could, she would have exchanged places with her so she could be in Erd's arms for some time.
When Levi brings her a flower a week later, she doesn't know how to react.
It's a small, bright, pink little thing and it seems so delicate that Petra's scared she might crush it between her hardened fingers. But Levi's standing in front of her, absentmindedly handing it to her, and she guesses that because of her silence, he feels the urge to pretend that he had to go out to buy something and had found the flower in a place where he wouldn't have suspected to find any, he thought it didn't belong in there so he picked it up to plant it somewhere else, but he forgot he had it and when he got back, he found her cleaning the window and he thought she might as well have it.
She takes it with endless care and he arches his brows in surprise and looks at her face, how her eyes get bigger and how light moves into them, how her lips slightly part and how she "hugs" the flower with both of her hands as if it is the most precious thing in the world.
She puts the flower in the dining room, saying she'd be selfish if she kept it all for herself when everybody could just see it and have a brighter day. Little Flower would also meet a lot of people, and that's all good for both sides. She tries to keep the little thing alive but it dies anyway within a few days and something about it leaves her unexpectedly empty.
Levi sees the little ray of light moving into her eyes disappear and her smile weaken.
Levi brings her another flower the next day, and presses his lips against her forehead. He knows she has closed her eyes, and he hopes that the moment she will open them, there will be that little ray of light moving into them again.