When I grow up I want to be married.
Year 841- June.
Elizabeth was particularly happy that day: Frank had given her the availability to work, finally, in his bar where she could earn extra money to help her brother.
Max had already begun to lose his sight from his right eye, now whitened by blindness, and soon it would also be his left, she couldn't waste any more time.
She ran, humming in her mind a tune that Marie had taught her a few days before, which by now never left her mind.
She liked to sing, she had an extremely powerful voice and doing so made her feel free.
Sometimes she would climb to where the underground and Mitras joined, peering at the life flowing out of that little crack and imagining what it would be like for her and her brother if they were born there.
She craved that air, that light, that feeling of freedom that passers-by seemed to have unaware of those two two-colors eyes that looked at them dreamily.
And sometimes she would sing right there.
Usually she did it when she was sure that no one would go there to disturb her; she had a sort of fixed appointment, day of the week and time that never changed.
What she didn't know was that there were three pairs of ears listening to her every time, two of which the owner had become something of a fan.
Arriving near the main fountain, as well as the only one, battered but functional for those who wanted to drink in some way, she hid behind the jet to avoid being seen.
She had stolen two apples from the man who sold them on the corner, a gruff, grumpy guy who always tried to cheat his customers, and she knew it was wrong but the pangs of hunger were starting to be felt.
The previous evening she had left some of her portion of soup to her brother, as the medicines Frank could provide him tired his physique, and she hadn't flinched, taking advantage of his partial blindness to slowly fill his plate as he ate, without getting noticed.
Those two apples would be her meal for the day but she wasn't complaining, she didn't even care; she wanted to keep herself strong enough to earn enough money for Max.
He was the one person she cared more about than her own life.
The merchant looked for her, but she so small and petite could easily hide.
When she thought she had sown it, the merchant decided strangely to surrender, as if frightened by the presence of someone, but not without first throwing a stick in the direction of the young woman, who was walking on the edge of the fountain to hide herself better.
But when the stick reached Elizabeth's field of vision it was too late because, to avoid it, she fell into the fountain, emitting a small cry.
The water was shallow but the impact was sudden and her soaked hair clung to her face. With one hand she pushed them aside keeping her eyes closed, while with the other she groped forward to find a hold that would help her get back on her feet without slipping a second time.
And that hold she found in one hand.
Strong, tapered fingers tightened around her hand, lifting her from her arm with extreme ease, as if she were weightless, and helped her, with a second hand on her hip, to climb over the marble edge of the fountain to prevent her from falling or accidentally injure.
That contact was completely new to Elizabeth; except for Max, no one had ever helped her and had never been raised with such kindness.
When she opened her eyes, having finally managed to push the blonde locks off her face, what she saw was a stormy sea, deep and strangely reassuring, two gray eyes looking at her to make sure she was okay.
And for a few moments she was completely lost in that gaze.
A young man with thick, pitch-black hair held her firmly in his arms, oblivious to the fact that she was getting her white shirt wet, and was not about to let go of her hand again.
He was gorgeous. Perhaps the most attractive boy she had ever seen.
He wasn't like the others. He wasn't looking at her with desire, he wasn't eating her with his eyes, but he was looking at her as if she were something small and defenseless, and although she hated being treated like a child she didn't mind.
Only when the voice of Max calling her reached her ears, Elizabeth woke up from that sort of spell and turned for a moment to see her brother walking in the opposite direction to hers.
"I..." she murmured feeling her throat strangely dry.
Her side had been released from his grip but her hand still hadn't and only then did she realize how much she liked that touch. With her free hand she felt the pocket of the large shirt she was wearing, feeling for the food she had procured earlier.
Of the two apples, which she felt clearly under the cloth, she took out one and handed it to the young man herself, putting it in the same hand that had held hers until then.
"Thank you so much. And I apologize for the wet shirt." and ran off to catch up with Max before he got too far.
Levi stood still for a few seconds to observe that little girl's back. She was smaller than him, perhaps a peer of Isabel's, but she had the look of someone who suffered intensely.
He recognized it by now. She tried not to show it, exactly with Isabel, but he didn't smile in the same way he did, in fact he didn't smile at all.
And that particular color, those two different eyes had struck him.
He hadn't said a single word to her, only worrying that she hadn't gotten sick when the merchant threw her a stick. She had dodged him but in doing so she had lost her balance and he had approached, holding out his hand to help her get up.
Nothing strange.
What was strange was her voice. That voice that had only spoken a few words was strangely familiar, but he just couldn't remember where he'd heard it before.
With the apple still in his hands, he turned and went home finding two too pleased glances looking at him.
"Well done, big brother." Isabel exclaimed, lifting her thumb in his direction and smiling at him.
A few meters and he could have climbed the steps leading to their house, locking himself in his room without having to put up with their comments, but he wasn't so lucky.
In fact, the two decided to start already there.
"What do you want?"
"You made an impression." Farlan commented, as the two began to follow him so as not to be left behind, after he had passed on to reach his destination.
"No."
"Yes." his friend urged, thus giving a hand to the previous exclamation of the young redhead.
"She couldn't stop looking at you."
"Stop talking bullshit." Levi murmured dry and annoyed, climbing the last remaining steps to open the door and reach his room without even stopping to wait for them.
But they weren't so far away that they couldn't hear their voices.
"If I'm not mistaken she is that girl we hear singing." Farlan observed in a calm tone, somehow attracting the attention of Levi, who obviously didn't give it to him to see.
"Yes. I love when she sings. Her name is Elizabeth, I think. " Isabel answered, closing the door behind her and then approaching the table.
'So... her name is Elizabeth.' Levi thought to himself, turning the apple over in his hands and, after looking at it for a while, biting it.
"Well, Levi sure caught her attention."
"Who knows..." Isabel began with a tone too cheerful and dreamy not to say something that would have annoyed Levi. "...maybe in a few years they will get married."
Year 850.
In the end you were right Isabel... Levi thought as, in front of the mirror, he adjusted his shirt collar.
After Historia's coronation as queen, Levi had decided to not waste any more time.
He simply asked her if she wanted to marry him the next day and she smiled and said yes before jumping into his arms and kissing him.
His heart was pounding in his chest. He would never have thought he could felt such a sensation; other times he had grown fond of people: Isabel and Farlan, Erwin, even Hange had become trusted friends, but the feeling he felt for that woman was nothing rational.
It was an emotion that did not allow him to reason, it made him feel on a roller coaster and in that moment he felt immense happiness.
Erwin closed the door behind him, smiling proudly at the young man he had taken from the underground and made a man to be proud of.
"You finally made it." Levi murmured with folded arms when Elizabeth and Hange also reached that room where only the officiant was missing.
Hange smiled in an annoying way, but the only thing the Captain's eyes could see was Elizabeth. She was beautiful.
Hange must have forced her to wear a dress, for the first time, and his imagination had definitely not done her justice, she was even more beautiful than he could imagine.
It was a simple dress, clear and pure like her, but in her eyes it was like the richest and most precious material.
And she was about to become his wife.
"Hange kept stalling and screaming excitedly." she exclaimed with a slant in her voice that made him melt. She was just as excited as she was describing Hange, and as excited as he was.
"Hey if you are together you owe it to me." the team leader stepped in, placing her hands on her hips but without stopping smiling. And the blonde still didn't know what her surprise was.
"This is true..."
"Vice Captain Elizabeth..."
"My baby."
Two distinct voices reached Elizabeth's ears from behind, someone she hadn't noticed as she walked in solely because she was too busy looking at her Levi to realize anything else. But as soon as he heard them his eyes lit up.
"I know these voices..."
When she turned she found herself in front of Frank and Marie who looked at her moved and happy, with tears for the woman who had not been able to restrain herself.
"You can't even imagine how proud we are of you. And Max would be too, believe me."
"How... you..." Elizabeth began hearing the man's words. They were really there with her and Levi knew it because he was looking at her with a too smug smile.
"Commander Erwin had us secretly and exceptionally picked up in order to live this moment, at the explicit request of your handsome Captain."
"I... thank you." was the only thing she managed to say before letting herself be embraced by the couple. How much she had missed that warmth, that affection that only they had given her as parents.
"Consider it a kind of wedding gift." Erwin murmured unable to hold back a happy smile. It was a really sweet scene and he was glad he helped bring it to life.
"So, do you want to marry this Captain or not, because I believe the officiant has arrived." Marie asked as she saw that the last person on the list for that day was also arriving.
"Do I have to worry?" Levi asked sarcastically. Elizabeth broke away from their embrace to approach him and leave him a quick kiss on the lips.
"No. I still want to marry you." she then whispered right on her lips, with her eyes closed and a sweet expression on her face.
"Then let's do it."
The day before Levi entered Erwin's office, after forcing Hange to follow him too, and once inside the room, he communicated to them that not only had he asked Elizabeth to marry him, but also that she had said yes and they would do it the next day.
There was not going to be a big ceremony, just them and the officiant, who was supposed to keep the secret at the explicit threat of the Captain.
He did not want to risk Elizabeth's reputation, which had already been pointed out several times for her achievements; he was not ashamed of their relationship and he would have liked everyone to know but at the moment it was better this way, they had too many problems to think about.
But he was confident that sooner or later that day would come too.
And the one he now held in his arms was no longer a subordinate, nor was his Vice, she was his wife.
The woman he'd just sworn to share his whole life with. And even beyond.
"From captain to husband. It's a nice step forward." she whispered with their foreheads pressed against each other and Levi's hands gripping her hips gently.
The four guests were a little apart talking to each other, while the two were standing in the center of the room, embraced and in love as on the first day.
"And to think that when I first saw you I would never have believed it would happen."
"You didn't even want to take me on the team."
"I'm talking about much earlier." he exclaimed smiling then at her confused look. "I was 22 and you were 16, if I'm not mistaken."
"The fountain... You remembered."
"At first, no. I just felt a familiar feeling. Only when you told me where you came from I remembered it." he answered slightly increasing his grip with his hands to get closer to her.
Their breaths merged with each other as their eyes continued to scrutinize each other, completely immersed in their idyll. Levi didn't care that it could be a honeyed thing in the eyes of the other two, he trusted them and was too happy to hold back.
Finally.
"Maybe it was destiny."
"I don't know and I don't care. I just want you to kiss me now."
And without having to repeat it again Elizabeth lifted her chin a little to join their lips and kiss him gently.
"So, Levi..." Frank murmured going to sit next to the Captain in a moment of tranquility. Elizabeth and Marie were talking with Hange and Erwin about how the blonde's life was going on, and the man took the opportunity to talk to him more calmly.
"Frank."
"If they had told me that my little Elizabeth was going to marry the young criminal Levi, I would never have believed it. Although, I must admit, what you did was noteworthy. No one had ever bothered to help others."
"You know me." he replied impressed, he did not think he knew him.
"You were quite well known there."
"Everyone does what they can to survive." Levi defended himself; he did not even know why he felt the need, Frank was not speaking accusingly to him, on the contrary he was smiling.
"Sure. But I never believed that your fate would cross with Elizabeth's. Although, in retrospect, neither of them enjoyed a good reputation."
"For cheating?"
Frank looked straight ahead and laughed heartily at the memory of all those lost games against her.
"Oh yes that too. But I'm talking about much earlier. Elizabeth was the cursed child."
"As far as I remember no one talked much about her."
"Because at first they feared her, then the voice was forgotten with the disappearance of Kenny the Ripper. Her eyes had given her the reputation of being cursed and no one wanted to take responsibility for it."
"When did you meet her?" Levi asked interested in Frank's words. Until then he had only heard Elizabeth's version, but he was also interested in his that had taken care of her.
"I was 23 when I first saw Max and Elizabeth. Marie and I were trying to have children but to no avail, then they arrived. We wanted to take them to our house but Max was extremely disheartened by anyone, he replied that he didn't want anyone's help and that he would take care of growing that little bundle. Elizabeth was so small and he was so determined. So I offered him a job and after a while Max began to trust us. They will not be our children of blood but they are of soul."
And Frank's story, in addition to making him smile, also made him understand the reason for a certain detail.
"That's why you accepted Erwin's money, for that mission."
"Selfishly speaking, I wanted to see her again. I was so happy when I convinced her to leave that place but not hearing from her again made me sad. Then Commander Erwin contacted me."
"When Elizabeth was taken by Kenny why did you wait so long to tell the guards?" Levi then asked. That part of the story was particularly important to him.
"Because the two guys had threatened us and constantly monitored us so that we didn't do it. They would have killed our baby if we talked. At first we didn't believe it but when the red-haired one brought her blonde hair to us, Marie burst into tears."
Levi felt the urge to go to those two and beat them up for all the pain they had caused Elizabeth, even indirectly in this case. That was her family and no one could touch it.
"Pieces of shit..."
"I have to thank you Levi." smiled Frank turning his brown gaze on him.
"For what?"
"For everything you do for my little girl." he explained managing to hit the grumpy Captain deep inside. "You make her happy and that's all I ask for her."
Erwin's gift was to give them free days without a precise expiry, masking their absence from all eyes as a classified and extremely reserved search, and leaving them the keys to what was an old family house.
He just hoped the two would come back because he needed them.
Erwin had no one left to live there and he had forgotten it until Levi had told him the news of their wedding.
Sure, the house was dusty and abandoned for years but it was the perfect place to spend time together out of sight.
The Commander had taken care to leave him all the necessary information written on a sheet of paper, it was quite hidden and difficult to reach without precise indications but the two had an excellent sense of direction.
Hand in hand, the two immediately found that old mansion, just behind some rather dense trees.
"It's really pretty." Elizabeth murmured, watching it long enough for Levi to take the key from his pocket.
"I didn't think Erwin would come up with this when I told him we had to get married."
"As if you mind..." she replied with a mischievous smile on her face.
Levi stopped as he inserted the key into the lock, turning to her and leaning his shoulder against the wooden door.
"I never said I'm sorry. It's just that it's going to be pretty dirty and dusty and I'm afraid you'll have to postpone that mischievous look until it's all clean."
"Right." she answered laughing and taking two steps to get close to him, who immediately grabbed her with his free arm. "May humanity's strongest soldier ever make love to his wife in the middle of the dirt."
"Beyond my hatred of dirt, I care too much for you to keep you in the dirt." he answered leaning a little to kiss her as he turned the key and opened the door behind him.
He pulled her in again in the middle of their kiss and only broke away when the door was closed again but with them inside.
And, with the intention of cleaning, the two detached themselves to observe the house that would host them for the next few days.
Elizabeth was very impressed that the house, as soon as they arrived and saw it, was not at all dirty as she expected. And here was Hange's hand, which would also explain her absence throughout the previous day, until the evening.
Without hesitating further, Levi picked up Elizabeth, grabbing her on the shoulder and carrying her upstairs where the sleeping rooms were supposed to be.
He didn't take much care to look at anything, but lingered on the one whose door had been left open with a note on it.
That note didn't make the Captain's list of thoughts at all at the time.
Elizabeth's happy laugh was the only thing that interested him.
He threw her on the bed without too much delicacy and reached over her, going down to kiss her passionately and pulling off his shirt at the same time. Lips to lips, he pushed her down until her head touched the pillow and stopped her there, watching her for a few moments as he lifted to remove the first useless piece of fabric.
That was his wife. Beautiful and smiling, but officially his wife and in his eyes she was even more beautiful, if possible.
With his hands he went down to her knees, slowly lifting the fabric to uncover her legs and crawling underneath to caress her skin.
Elizabeth shivered, opening her mouth for breath that seemed to miss as the awareness of what was about to happen became real. She had never needed a signature to make her oath official, she would have remained by his side even without it, but now that it had happened she realized how much she wanted it and how happy that title made her. That was her husband.
Levi's lips came closer to her red, hot face again but they didn't stop on her lips, they moved away to approach her cheek and deposit a trail of kisses up to her ear and then down her throat, stopping on her neck.
Levi's hands meanwhile continued their slow ascent until they reached her hips and, perhaps tired of all that fabric, they increased speed to remove the dress from her head, leaving only her intimacy covered. The last obstacle that separated him from his personal corner of paradise.
His lips moved on to torture her nipples, kissing and licking her skin very slowly, while she gripped his hair in her hands in search of a hold.
"Levi." she moaned arching towards him and spreading her legs a little as if by doing so he decided to hurry up. But he wasn't going to get it that fast and she knew it.
He was taking his time to finally enjoy the tranquility he craved with her and no one would take it away from him.
Many times he liked to be called 'captain' in bed, it turned him on a lot and made him feel powerful, as if that title took on meaning, but he liked it even more that she didn't do it at that moment. As usual, she understood him without even speaking.
"God, you are beautiful." he murmured, rising to look at her once more, drowning in all the emotions he felt for her.
With equal slowness he stripped of all the fabric that had remained on them both, finally letting their skins touch and warm each other.
Elizabeth was hot but she had goosebumps from all the light touches he was leaving her.
This was exactly where he felt at home. At that moment they both wanted to let go of everything and spend the rest of their lives there, oblivious to the world around them and without having to fight anymore.
He kissed her once more, gaining access for their tongues to collide with each other and dance with each other, eager to test themselves more and more.
And when he finally penetrated her he did so by looking into her eyes, admiring those irises of two different colors that, without even knowing it, had bewitched him from the first moment he saw them.
Their intertwined fingers tightened more as that contact deepened, while Levi's free hand rose to caress her face gently.
He began to push, taking every moment, every moan that came out of their mouths, without even having to care about being heard, free to be as loud as they wanted and to tell each other whatever they wanted.
When they reached orgasm, together, close to each other as if they were one, Levi told her one last thing, the most important of all.
"I love you."