You have no idea how hard it was for me to write this chapter. I couldn't write two lines without my eyes turning into a fountain! So I hope you enjoy it with all your heart.

"Yes, Mimi. I swear on my honor as your sister that I will be here for the musical, even if the City is under attack by aliens. I already scheduled my day off and no one is going to stop me. Satisfied? Good. I'll see you next weekend."

Putting my phone aside, I crashed on the sofa of the resting room, thanking the genius who thought it necessary to put it there. I'd been in the new military base for over seventy two hours and had probably slept less than ten. The exhaustion was so that I closed my eyes every chance I got. It made me regret having ever created that new security system, because now, I was literally the only person on earth who could proof test it correctly and make sure it was operating properly. Then I'd have to teach other freshly graduated tech nerds and convicted hackers recruited by the government to use it properly without messing it up. Burying my face in the pillow of the couch, I growled my frustration out.

"You look about as happy as a cat under the rain." Said a familiar voice.

I growled again, disappointed that I couldn't even have some privacy to grunt. "I'm never inventing a security system by myself again."

"Come on Petra, you're almost finished." Said Marco, his idiotic smile on as usual. "Five more hours of supervision and then you can go home and have a week of sleep. Here, I brought you coffee."

I sighed but sat up nonetheless and grabbed the cup my friend was offering me. Despite having slept about as much as me in the past few days, he looked as ready to go as ever. Bringing the cup to my lips, I looked a bit closer. Yep, he'd been wearing the same suit for three days. At least he didn't smell. I grimaced at the taste of the bitter liquid. "Ugh. I don't know what this is, but it's not coffee."

"The machine was out of good ones. Sorry."

"What's this one called? Sock juice?"

"Hey, it's caffeine and you need it. Even though caffeine is considered the most used drug in the entire world and has a way of screwing with your sleep patterns..."

"Please shut up." I said before drinking it all in one go. "Yark, that was painful, but thanks for the free caffeine."

"It's not free. You're buying next time." He joked, taking another sip of his. "So, how did your meeting with Ymir go last week?"

"Nothing to report. She's still Ymir. Her business is finally getting some attention."

"Knowing Miss pro-Maria, she'll send any opportunity for expansion to hell."

I had to agree there. "What about you Mr Internal Affair Detective? Any plans on changing positions?"

"Never. I basically have a free card to snoop into government business and find answers for my theories. If someone else wants the job, it'll have to be over my dead body."

"Don't jinx it, Sherlock." I said, punching him lightly in the shoulder. "We need you to pollute the world with crazy theories for at least the next seventy years."

"I'll do my best, P."

Muffled shouts outside got our attention and we both stood up to approach the window. Outside, a small group of the latest recruits of the new Special Forces were gathered. Among the regiment of a hundred and fifty newbies, we knew they were here. Not only Jean Kistein, but other faces we hadn't seen in a long time. Eren, Mikasa and Armin Smith, the adopted children of General Erwin Smith, now at the head of the new secret service. Sasha Blouse and Connie Springer, as inseparable as ever. All the ex-Lieutenants. Thomas Wagner, Samuel Linke-Jackson, Nac Tias, Hannah Diamant...

10% of the new special forces recruits were known faces. We had the chance to speak to them when we arrived. All of them seemed to have found the purpose of who they were to be discovered in the service of their City. I couldn't be more happy that they'd settled well despite their conditions. I remembered the past. I barely had time to do that these days. The nightmare of the Heaven, Lucifer and Titan Projects was gone, a distant memory. I was glad to see us grown from it. As usual, Marco seemed to read my mind.

"In the end, the King never did release the truth of the Scouts to the public."

"He had you under surveillance until you you started working for him."

"Oh, I knew that." Marco replied shrugging, brushing it off as if it was no big deal. "Pretty amateurish if you ask me."

"Aren't you sour about it?"

"The reveal? No. It's a terrible political move that gives some people a great black mailing opportunity. But the next elections for the right to the throne are in a couple of years. By then Krista will be Queen, and she'll make the right decision. I trust our Princess."

I raised an eyebrow. "It's not like you to bet anything on just faith and no facts. How can you be sure she'll be chosen?"

"My reasoning is always based on fact, P. Have you seen the popularity she's gained in the past three months for her work in the boroughs of Maria? The only one of her siblings and cousins matching her is Freida. But she lacks the confidence and she's not motivated enough to become Queen. Five years from now, Historia Reiss be all people talk about."

"True."

I didn't even know why I questioned his reasoning. Because my faith in our short friend had led me to the exact same conclusion. She would become Queen and she'd be a great ruler with all of us backing her up. Our trip in the wrongs of this world and having witnessed just how far can madness take someone, had opened our eyes to who we were and what we could do. In the end, our goal had been the same. Make this world a better place anyway we could with our individual skills. And we were doing it. The future was open to us. Marco's phone brought me back to reality. Reading the text on the screen, his goofy smile got suddenly bigger, if that was even possible.

"What?" I asked. "Good news?"

"Yeah actually. Fel and I are scheduled for another date."

I laughed. "Finally found someone who can stand your constant gibberish? Don't let her go."

He looked slightly vexed. "You make it sound like I'm unattractive."

"No, you're just not popular taste, Sherlock. Seriously, I'm happy for you. I thought you were going to be married to your work for the rest of your life. Thank God there was an Irene out there for you."

He laughed with me, before making a slightly serious face. "Since we're on the subject... What about you, ginger?"

"No Marco." I said, both answering his question and warning him that I wasn't going there.

"I was just going to ask how you've been."

"Fine." I answered. "I just keep myself occupied. And I have the Kilers and you guys."

"What I mean is, aren't you lonely?"

Instead of replying, I looked down and smiled sadly at the ground. I knew that it'd been pretty obvious to all of them how I felt at the end of the nightmare, five years ago. But I had never told anyone about that night. The night of my first and only date of my life. They had no idea how much just the memory of that night made my heart throb. It was just like him to leave such an impression on others. Well Amanda had practically guessed everything though she left me alone. My foster mom was intuitive like that. After that, as promised, he'd disappeared. Even now that I worked for the most secret part of our government, no one was able to tell me where he was. That told me he'd gone off on his own, probably very soon after the start of his mission to hunt down the strays and Annie. Five years had gone by since then. And the only reminder I had of him being alive were text messages. Sent each time from masked numbers, they were always very short and brief. I'd received them at the most random of times, aside from my birthday. It reminded me that he was still out there. And every time, I prayed that he'd show up.

"You know." Started Marco, still gazing outside. "I'm not a very instinctual guy. Unlike you and Jean who's intuition works like a radar, I only have my brain. And thank God for him, that saved his life more than once."

'Poor Jean.' I thought. 'Having Marco as a best friend must be a constant pain.'

"But I just have that feeling that you're someone meant to be happy, Petra."

I blinked a little confused, taking in his words. Then I couldn't help the little laugh that escaped my lips. "What's up with you, Sherlock? It's not like you to talk like a fortune teller."

"Hey, be nice! It's not often I share my gut feelings." He winked at me. "But that one felt important. Besides, you're only twenty-three, you have time. I just don't want you to forget yourself. He wouldn't want that either."

"You are one peculiar being, Marco Bodt."

He answered me with a goofy smile again. If only there was an adapted way to express just how great it felt to have a breath of fresh air and comfort like Marco in my life. But just as I opened my mouth to thank him, the door of the resting area suddenly flew open making us both jump. A guard stepped in, urge written on his face.

"Miss Ral! We need you in the control room, now. We have an intruder."

Marco and I rushed after the guard until we reached the security room. The people on the computers looked panicked while the others watched, frozen. The man in charge was relieved to see us enter.

"Petra, thank goodness." Said General Erwin Smith.

I quickly took place in a seat and entered the system while asking for details. "What are we up against? Cyber-threat or physical intrusion?"

"Both." Replied one of my colleagues. "Some cameras on entry East are dead, and they've already broken through four firewalls of the system. This is a major security breach!"

"If they can hack through interchangeable firewalls, then they're really good." I muttered as I typed at the speed of light on my keyboard, inserting passwords. "Josh, write new codes and reprogram the dead firewalls, I don't want this worm to be able to escape. Ed, pull up our C-A virus. Carolina, can you trace the source?"

"Negative." Replied the woman, eyes locked on her screen. "It would take hours, and seeing how fast it broke through our first shields, we don't have time."

"Ed, activate the counter-attack." I ordered. "I'm destroying this thing now. Carolina, prepare for immediate data transfer in case this fails."

The screens turned red and I held my breath. I'd spend years designing the security tech, programs and procedures for this base, but this was the first, real test. Nothing could fail now. The C-A viruses attacked the intruding worms and immediately destroyed them preventing anymore damage to the virtual shields. It worked like a charm, and I released as breath of relief. My colleagues cheered, but we weren't done yet.

"Stay on guard." I warned the room. "Josh, monitor the cyber threat and the shields' reconstruction. We don't want any surprises."

"Yes, ma'am!"

"Command-... I mean General! We need soldiers on the ground, we can't just rely on tech for this, especially if they have such good hackers."

The man who used to be the Scout's Commander nodded and grabbed his radio. "Colonel Kirstein, do you copy? I need Unit S dispatched in East Area. This is not a drill."

Unit S was the Special Forces Unit that was composed of all the ex-Scouts and a couple more including Jean. It was a way to keep an eye on them. They were also the strongest regiment in the SF. Getting up from my chair, I grabbed a tactile tablet and backed up a bit to have all the screens in sight. Of course when I tried pulling up the cameras of Entry East, all I got was blurry images. After discreetly cursing, I reminded myself to breath.

"Alright you little rats," I muttered, changing the mode on my screen. "You may have blinded us, but you sure as hell aren't getting passed my motion sensors."

Luckily, it seemed those were not damaged and the computer instantly pulled up a map of the East Area... but only a single red dot was moving across it.

"What the... One intruder?!" Exclaimed Ed. "This is a joke right?"

He was right, this was ridiculous. Who storms a highly secured base on their own? But judging from what the screens showed me, it sure didn't look like an amateur mistake.

"Never mind the reason. Whoever this is, they're moving fast." I said. "They'll reach the first block in less than thirty seconds. Activating the first barrier!"

I typed in the necessary code to activate the trap, but to my shock nothing happened. I tried again and again, in vain. What was happening? I'd spent the last three days making sure the system was fully operational. Was the intruder that gifted with tech that they'd know how to hack in to a brand new system that existed only here? That or someone was helping them from the inside, but that was impossible.

"It's not going to work." Said Marco, coming to the same conclusion as me. "They've got a hold on the whole system. The SF need to deal with them, tech is useless even dangerous for us at this point."

Indeed, they could turn our own system against us. And that was the problem with relying too much on high tech. Luckily for us, Erwin and Marco were both quick thinkers. The General called the Colonel again, telling him that they were our last line of defense. Meanwhile, I kept my eyes on the sensors. The only thing I could do was watch the intruder move in. Helpless, I punched the table in frustration. What had happened to my system? Where had I gone wrong when I designed it? A hand on my shoulder made me jump.

"Calm down Petra, freaking out won't help anyone." Said Marco. "Don't worry, I'm sure Unit S is going to have this covered. I'm mean it's one guy versus monsters, what chance does he stand?"

None, of course. He was right but still watching the red dot progress into this base of which I had designed the security was unnerving and very, very unsettling. The sensors then picked up the movements of Unit S. They were going to encounter soon. Meanwhile, I tried to figure out what was wrong but found nothing that should prevent me from activating our defenses. When I pulled up the motion tracker map, a single red dot was still progressing into the base grounds while all the others had disappeared.

"They're not moving." I said, my eyes widening in horror. "Unit S is down!"

"Colonel!" Called out Erwin through his radio. "Colonel Kirstein do you copy?... Any Unit, do you copy?" Nothing. "Curses! Listen everyone, we..."

He was suddenly interrupted when the room suddenly went black. Crap, this couldn't be good. No electricity meant no communications and no defenses.

"Stay calm." Ordered Erwin. "The backup generator should kick in soon."

Indeed a few seconds later, the lights were back on. But the red dot on my motion tracking map had disappeared. After checking that they were still operational, I concluded one thing.

"They're inside."

"Stay where you are." Ordered Erwin. "Our priority is to protect our data."

Putting down my useless tablet, I pulled out my gun. It looked like getting my weapon permit was going to come in more handy then I thought. "I'm going downstairs to tell the others to come up here."

"I'm coming with you." Said Marco.

"Be careful you two." Said the General. "We don't know what we're up against. Don't do anything reck..."

A second blackout interrupted him, and we all remained frozen. A bad feeling crept up my spine and I felt goosebumps appear all over my body. Then, before our eyes had time to get used to the dark, a series of successive screams and shots in the dark echoed around me. When I finally adjusted, I saw that most of the people present were on the ground. Raising my gun, I looked around, identifying one by one the people still standing.

"Be careful!" Said Marco. "All the guards are down. AH!"

"Marco! Are you alright?"

No answer, but the lights turned back on suddenly. Carolina suddenly looked behind me and shouted. "Watch out!"

I whipped around to see an ominous figure standing very close to me. Someone dressed in black from head to toe. I moved to raise my gun but one quick punch to my wrist sent it flying away. Instantly switching to combat mode, I sent my foot in their guts pushing them back. Thank Jean and Krista for insisting on my taking defense courses. Not giving them time to recuperate, I attacked with a series of punches that they perfectly blocked, keeping me from landing a single one. Then grabbing my wrist, they moved behind me to put me in a lock.

"No you don't!"

Stepping back quickly, I slammed my back against him (I could tell now) and threw my elbow in his ribs. He grunted and released me. Grabbing the advantage, I threw my foot towards his face but he dodged me with ease. Frustrated, I threw another punch with my whole weight behind it, which turned out to be my fatal mistake. Grabbing both my wrist and upper arm, the intruder rolled in towards me and threw me over his shoulder. The tremor when my back hit the ground shook my body and painfully expelled the air out of my lungs. My temporary asphyxia gave him the opportunity to freely press my arms to the ground, one with his hand, the other with his foot. I tried to push myself free but...

"Not bad, but not good enough."

I froze when I heard this sentence. The voice was modified but that way of speaking was impossible to not identify. As I was too stunned the reply, the intruder took off the goggles and ski mask he was wearing, allowing us to meet eye to eye.

"You've made some pretty good progress."

"Alright Levi, I think you can get off her now." Said Erwin, who apparently was back from the dead.

The angel got off of me and offered me a hand that I took. "How... when... why..."

"Training exercise." Replied Marco. "Not for you promise! For the SF, specially Unit S."

Still under the shock, like all my colleagues present, I pointed to the guards. "They're knocked out?"

Levi rolled his eyes. "No I killed them, of course they're knocked out."

"Don't be a smartass with me!" I snapped back. "How did you get passed my system? Do you have any idea how sophisticated it is?"

"That wasn't me."

Marco clenched his teeth and rubbed the back of his head nervously. "My bad. Again. We needed a way for the threat to be real for the whole base, so, I tweaked the system from the inside."

"You messed with my system? You absolute bastard!" I shouted at my friend. "You scared the hell out of me!"

"That was the point." Said Levi.

Seriously, back after five years and this attitude? What was wrong with all of them? I sighed and let myself fall in my chair, covering my eyes trying to get my blood pressure down. Meanwhile, the boys moved on with their conversation.

"So, your thoughts?" Asked Erwin.

"You call this a Special Force?" Growled Levi. "Angel or not, they have the worst set up and coordination I've ever seen. I was literally six kilometers in base ground before anyone showed up. What kind of shitty dispersion do you have here? What have you been teaching them?"

Just like back then, when the Captain would lash out at him, the General just chuckled and replied calmly. "Seems like I've got more work cut out for me. But I'm not the training instructor."

"Well you sure as hell need to get your shit together if you want this whole thing to be secured properly. Do I have to remind you what's going to be contained here? Pull your head out of your ass Erwin!"

The conversation was distant even as I looked at them, shaking my head in disbelief. His return had been about as subtle as a slap in the face. And yet... the dynamic between him, Erwin and even Marco was so natural. Like he'd never been gone. But that wasn't true. I felt it in my chest. The weight of those five long years. Why was it catching up to me now? Sadness was chocking my throat, anger gripped my insides, happiness wanted to push tears out of my eyes and my heart throbbed. Thank God they were giving me a break to sort out my head, otherwise I don't know what I would do. That was a tough blow.

"Do I take your blown out of proportion irritation as a yes for the job?" Asked Erwin, that sneaky smile on his face.

"Tch. You haven't changed one bit you manipulative son of a bitch." Growled the angel in response.

"Come on Levi, you're allowed to say no. It's your choice."

"You say that even though you have a bait, you sly bastard."

"But he has a point, Captain." said Marco. "No one in the world is better suited to do this than you. I mean you literally took down the entire SF by yourself."

"Don't lick my boots, Sherlock. Flattery's a waste on me." Discarding his mask and goggles in a trash bin, he turned to them again. "Clean up the mess and give me a call when they're all awake and filled in. I'm taking my leave now."

"That was the agreement." Confirmed the General. "I suppose we'll see you in about a month with your final answer."

Instead of replying, the angel made a face before walking towards me. I looked up when he was close. "Do you have car?"

"Y-yeah."

He presented his hand and I automatically handed him my keys. Before I could ask, he grabbed my hand and pulled me out of my chair and out of the room. I looked at Marco and Erwin and mouthed a 'what's going on' as I was being dragged away. Both only smiled and Marco waved.

"Have a nice vacation!"

I was too confused by what was going on that I let him lead me to the elevators. Once there we headed down to the parking garage, without him saying anything. And I didn't feel like I could say anything without bursting out yet. I wasn't done sorting things in my head. Finally we were in the parking lot. Beeping open my car from afar, he walked to it and I followed.

"Where are we going?"

"Away from work." He answered bluntly, opening the driver's door.

"But I'm not done..."

"Questions later. Just get in the car."

"Okay, enough!" I shouted, unable to contain the irritation. "Slow down will you? I'm not done with work, you just showed up out of nowhere, and I have no clear explanation. What the hell Levi?"

He froze and looked at me for a moment, his steel grey eyes as intense as ever. After a few moments of quiet he sighed and passed his hand through his hair. "That was a drill. Erwin asked me to test out the new Special Force. You saw the result. There's nothing wrong with your system, Sherlock can easily put it back together. The only reason you were here for so long was because I didn't know when exactly I'd be back. Now can we please leave?"

"No! Why are you kidnapping me?"

"Because I want time alone with you. Unless you'd like our talk to be open to the public."

I opened my mouth to reply but froze when I processed his words and shut it. He smirked at me and I shook my head before getting in the car. "You're a jerk."

"Nothing new here." He said, starting the engine.

With that, we drove out of the base and headed back towards the City. I watched out the window, looking at the stars in the pitch black sky. We were the only car on the road at this hour, which wasn't bad. Traffic would only have made me more nervous.

"So," he questioned, getting my attention after long minutes of silence. "Got a boyfriend?"

That's what he was going with? "That's not even funny."

"You should know by now, I don't do funny." He replied very seriously, and with growing irritation in his voice. "Answer the question."

"No, I don't!" I snapped.

If it hadn't been so late and if I hadn't been so tired, I would've sworn that I saw his shoulders relax and the stiffness of his grip on the wheel loosen. But the frustration in my system had now reached unbearable levels and I took a deep breath to prevent any tears from falling. I prayed so that my voice wouldn't crack. I was keeping myself from shouting to avoid just that.

"Do you remember the last thing you told me before you left?" Keeping his eyes on the road he nodded. "I don't know exactly how stupid this is going to sound to you, but ever since then, I've considered myself engaged to you."

This time, I definitely saw his hand twitch on the wheel. But I ignored that and continued. "I didn't flirt, I didn't go out with any guy that asked me, and God knows, more than one has tried. When I was crying my eyes out missing you, I didn't go drink myself dumb to forget or to find comfort in a stranger's arms. I called Krista and we spent hours in an ice cream parlor. I worked as hard as I could, Erwin recruited me the instant I graduated. I've done nothing but work since. And I waited because I said I would."

He was breathing deeply though his face was as unreadable as ever. I was calmer now but I wasn't finished. "I don't know why people today think keeping promises is impossible. Sure it's hard. But if the price is worth it... So you can leave for another ten years, I'll still keep that promise. That's how worthy you are to me."

Again, a long moment of silence went by. I wiped my sleeve on my eyes just in case. Suddenly, he chuckled. My eyes widened and I stared at him in shock. He was smiling and chuckling.

"Idiot."

Stomping his foot on the breaks, the car came to an abrupt stop. Thank Heaven my belt prevented me from going through the windshield but I couldn't keep a gasp of horror from escaping my mouth.

"What is wrong with y..."

I didn't get the chance to finish before I was silenced by his lips. One of his arms snaked around my waste and a hand gripped my hair. So deep, so intense, like he was trying to suck out my life energy itself. It soon melted my stressful thoughts and drowned me in glee. I finally felt exactly how much I'd missed him again. The blood rushed to my face and the adrenaline heated up my body. I wanted him to hold me forever. When he finally pulled away, he held my face in his hands as I panted to regain my breath. His eyes, his beautiful eyes pierced through me like divine light.

"Your loss, Petra. I'm never letting you go."

"Like... I said." I replied, still regaining my breath and smiling at him. "I'm the one... who's being kissed... by an angel."

I wanted to kiss him again, and I know that he wanted it too. Our faced were like magnets and it took effort to keep them apart. But he placed a quick, sweet kiss on my lips before pulling away and sitting back correctly.

"I'm gonna loose it if I do that again."

That comment made my face turn redder than it already was and look away. He took that opportunity to start driving again. When I risked a glance at him, I was surprised to find him not frowning. It was strange but also satisfying to see his face relaxed for once.

"You were pretty pissed at me." He finally let out.

"That question was offensive and you know it!" I retorted. "It was like accusing me of cheating."

"Sorry."

I didn't want to linger on that conversation. "I guess you got all of them. The strays and Annie."

"The strays are taken care of. Annie's the problem. When I found her, she clocked herself in that crystal armor of hers. We haven't been able to break through yet so we needed some place to put her while working on that."

"That's why Erwin asked me to design the base's containment room to hold a titan. I guess the SF are the best qualified to keep an eye on her. And you'll be there, right? That's the job he offered you."

"Actually he wants me to train Unit S and to become a member again. I'm still not decided on the latter."

"I understand."

After what he'd been through, he might have enough of being sent on life threatening operations. That's when I remembered something else.

"Hold on. You said he had a bait?"

The frowning returned. "Let's just say he didn't only hire you for your skills, though they are unquestionable. I'm pretty sure Sherlock had something to do with it too."

I was the bait? Was that suppose to be flattering or should I feel angry at the ex Scout Commander. An image of him and Marco and their idiotic smiles popped into my head. I decided that I was sour about it and would give them a piece of my mind later. "And what about the vacation?"

"I've spent the last five years tracking down strains and that titan. It was my condition for that stupid exercise. And from what you told me, you could also use a break, Ms Workaholic."

"Fair." I said, letting out a well timed yawn. "So what's the plan now that you've kidnapped me?"

"Depends. Where do you want to go?"

Getting into his game, I stayed silent a moment lost in thought. It'd been forever since I'd taken a real vacation. Last time was three years ago with the Kilers. Tim had taken us to Austria. But I'd always imagine that if I could escape, it would be somewhere with fresh air, nature... "Well after being stuck in the City for so long, I'd like to go hiking in the mountains. The Alps maybe?"

Just at that moment, we came to a roundabout. But instead of turning on the road going back to the City, he took the opposite one.

"Hey, wrong turn." I warned, but he didn't do anything to slow down or turn around. On the contrary he sped up.

"Where are you going?" I asked, confused.

"Austria."

I raised an eyebrow. "Austria?!"

"Then Germany, Switzerland and France."

"Wait, you were serious about kidnapping me?" I said, as reality caught up to me. "But...but I don't have anything with me. I don't have any warm clothes, pajamas, tooth brush... Do you know how cold it is in the Alps? Heck, I don't even have my phone charger! Are we just taking off like that without telling anyone? How are you planning to..."

"Petra."

"Yes?"

"Be quiet."

I tried to argue but nothing came to mind. So letting out a heavy sighed, I sunk in my seat and shook my head. "We're really doing this, aren't we?" I took out my phone and dialed a number.

"How's my big girl doing?"

"Hi Amanda. I'm sorry but I won't be able to come this weekend."

"If your excuse is too much work again, I'm not accepting that." She warned, and I could imagine her brandishing her wooden spoon in my face.

"I've been kidnapped."

She was quiet on the end of the line for a few seconds. "What?"

"By the love of my life who's been MIA for five years. He's taking me to the Alps."

"How subtle." Said the driver.

"I don't want to hear that from the guy who attacked and kidnapped me in the same evening." Again, silence. "Mom, are you still here?"

"Let me get this straight. You got kidnapped by Levi Ackerman and he's taking you to the mountains?"

I rested my case on what I said about her crazy intuition. "In short yes."

"I see... and how long is he planning to kidnap you?"

"A month."

"Well, you better thank Heaven that Tim wasn't the one who answered the phone. I'm sure you can hear me as well, Levi. If anything happens to my Petra, I will hunt you down and serve up your insides to the crows. I hope we are clear on that."

"Crystal." Replied the angel.

"Petra, when you come back I want a formal introduction with Tim. Don't think you're dodging that." She was dead serious. "You know, you don't have to rush things, right?"

"I'm seriously thinking it through." I promised, though I had already made my decision. "Thanks Amanda. Tell Alec I'm sorry."

"Be safe. And mostly, take your time. I love you."

"I love you too, mom. Bye."

I put my phone away and looked at the road ahead. Finally, it looked like our trails had finally fused and that they were going to stay like this a long time. We were silent, but for once it wasn't uncomfortable or awkward. It was just us. Seeing how he was using only one hand to drive, I grabbed the other and observed it. Something surprised me.

"Your nails..." I let out.

"What?"

"They're lighter than before. Like... like they're fading."

"You're imagining things." He said, intertwining our fingers together.

I let out a laugh thinking about Amanda. "Tim will never forgive me. Aside from me calling my mom, we kind of look like runaway teenagers."

"Except there's not going to be any dine and dash or shop lifting involved."

"There isn't?" I teased. "How are you planning to feed us?"

"My salary may not be as big as yours but it's still enough." He retorted.

"I can pay for my share."

"You said it yourself. I kidnapped you, I'm paying."

So, that was us? Bickering like we'd never been apart? Many questions were still asking for answers but... I knew one thing. That I loved him and he loved me.

A month later, we returned our bodies rested and our minds at peace. In the end, instead of a European tour, we'd ended up staying in an small Monastery in the French Alps. There, we'd spend our time helping out the monks, horse back riding, hiking, resting and mostly rediscovering what we were to each other. We never did more than hold hands. Both of us were slowly understanding our bond beyond touch. And now, we were on our way home. The calm of the mountains was relaxing but now, we were needed back. The City hadn't changed one bit as we drove through it, though Maria seemed brighter. Krista was really making her work count. Finally, we parked the car in front of the house of my family. The four of them were waiting.

"Are you nervous?" I asked him.

"Can't be much harder than fighting blood thirsty monsters." He replied.

I laughed and grabbed his hand. "Don't worry, I'll protect you."

"Hm."

Together, we made our way up the steps leading to the front door. The diamond on my left ring finger, curtesy of my fiancé, glittered, reflecting the sunlight. There was one thing we always disagreed on though. For Levi, our meeting had been a mistake turned luck. I'd just been at the wrong place at the wrong time. While for me, that fateful encounter can only have been written by Heaven itself. Either way, our life was our own now.

The end

This is it guys, the end of a beautiful writing adventure. Thank you all so much for the support wether you started reading two years and a half ago or yesterday. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to PM me, and I hope to see you all very soon in another story! Kudos!

If I may ask a final request of you; I would love it if you could leave your final impression in the reviews! Love you all!

- Jil