This is one of my favorite chapters, there is going to be a big change in the lives of Elizabeth and her Captain but writing that part filled me with emotion.
I thank every single reader of this story with all my heart; you don't really imagine how grateful I am to see you're keep reading.
Enjoy the reading! Kisses!
When I grow up I want to be emotional.
"How did it go?" Levi asked when Elizabeth returned to his office, after spending three hours with Erwin planning what to do.
Levi was exhausted: between his injured leg and having to watch Eren he could no longer find five minutes for himself. He almost felt like he wasn't even spending time with Elizabeth anymore.
Too little time had passed since the death of those who were family to her, but he couldn't wait any longer.
He had something to do and he had to do it.
She seemed to react well enough. Sure, she was in tremendous pain but she was also incredibly strong and she knew she could always count on him. They were each other's shoulder.
Together they worked perfectly, on the battlefield and in life.
"I advised him to speak to Armin regarding the identity of the female titan. What concerns the plan, on the other hand, is almost outlined, for details we will see depending on the place."
Elizabeth ran her hands over her face, rubbing her tired eyes as she walked over the captain to sit on his lap.
Levi liked that strange habit she had got into. Whenever they had time for them she would sit in his arms and even if it was a minimum contact he enjoyed it fully.
His hands went up, as usual, to grab her by the hips as he felt his heart beating in his chest even faster.
He felt a huge burden and he had to tell her, he just wanted to find the right moment and make sure everything was perfect.
"How are you?" then she asked, smiling sweetly at him. That smile that had gone off with anyone else, was now only visible to him and Hange, had become something he could not do without. And he would do anything to preserve it and make her always happy.
The blonde was careful not to put too much pressure on the captain's left leg, saddened by the incident against the female titan, but she couldn't do it without him noticing.
"It still hurts but not enough to keep you from sitting down." he replied, hinting at the gesture she had made, to which she replied with a small pout, as if she were a little girl whose candy had been removed.
"Has Eren recovered?"
"Almost. But he'd better hurry up because tomorrow morning Erwin will have to tell us your fantastic plan." he replied emphasizing the term 'fantastic' and making her smile slightly.
She reached out just long enough for the tips of their noses to brush, before giving him a little kiss on the lips.
"We still have to start and this thing has already tired me. But now I don't want to think about it."
Levi took advantage of the movement she made in bringing her head back to give her a kiss on the neck, making her shiver slightly.
"And what do you want to think?"
"To a certain grumpy and very sexy captain." she replied, now dominated by her own desires. She hurled herself on his lips without even giving him time to respond, kissing him ravenously while holding his face in her hands.
The Captain replied instantly, remaining breathless for the intensity of the contact but also for all the passion she was always able to put into even the most banal thing.
His heart continued to beat extremely hard in his chest. That simple concept had crept into his mind for some time now, and if he didn't care at all before and considered it stupid, now he wanted it.
"You want me dead." he commented as he noticed the first buttons of her shirt undone, leaving part of her breast visible.
When the hell had he unfastened them? They were closed when she entered the room...
"No, I want you alive. With me." she replied, still holding his face firmly in her hands and her lips close and ready for another kiss. Her two-tone eyes shone as she pronounced that sentence, smiling and happy, and it was the coup de grace for Levi.
He didn't know if he was going to screw it up, if she wanted it or not but it was worth asking. For her and her only.
"Marry me."
Elizabeth did not believe that a single word would have such devastating force, but found that it did. She stopped in the act of kissing him again only because the shock was such that she couldn't even hide it. Not that she wanted to.
This time it was her heart racing in her chest as her conviction collapsed in an instant.
He wanted to marry her; he, who had never wanted marriage, now wanted it.
"Are you serious?"
"Do I look like someone who can ask for such a thing just because he likes the way it sounds?" Levi asked, increasing his grip on her hips, full of expectation. It wasn't like him to be so nervous but he couldn't be rational with her. They looked like two completely different people when they were alone or when it was about each other.
Elizabeth shook her head with an even brighter smile than the previous one.
"I want to marry you."
The blonde rushed back against him, kissing him less passionately than before but with much more delicacy.
That kiss had become the promise they would soon make in front of a real officiant but for the moment it was enough. She was in heaven and that cheerfulness was immediately able to involve Levi too, who raised his hands from her hips to pass them on her back and hug her slightly, imprinting her against him.
The captain tried to smile, succubus of that 'yes' that he could no longer get out of his head, while she continued to give him small and numerous kisses on the lips, too fast for him to be able to respond to everyone without stopping smiling.
"So we really do it?" he asked almost as confirmation when she broke off just enough to put oxygen into her lungs.
He brushed a lock of hair from her face, so beautiful and his. And now she would be for life.
"Mrs. Elizabeth Ackerman." she murmured smiling, finally knocking out the captain who heard it for the first time. And now he was getting impatient. "I like the way it sounds."
"Technically you are still Elizabeth Blossom." he answered to catch his breath or he would end up dragging her towards the first officiant right now, regardless of everything. And the desire to do so was so intense...
"Technically you are still too dressed." she replied with a mischievous grin and resumed kissing him while the clothes became completely superfluous and the chair they were still sitting on was soon replaced by the bed.
That was their new beginning.
"They're so slow." Levi murmured with a cup of tea in his hands, then sipping some. "Erwin and the others are making me wait. I'll be escorted out by Military Police Brigade at this rate. If it were to guess, he's probably dealing with constipation."
Eren looked at the Captain a little bit dazed, then shifting his gaze to his Vice as if asking for help.
"Don't pay attention to it."
"Captain you're rather talkative today."
"Don't be ridiculous, I've always been quite talkative.." the Captain answered, then observing how Elizabeth held back a small chuckle, hiding it behind her wrist.
Levi was actually in a really good mood that day and not only because he had spent the night making love with Elizabeth, insatiable as if it were the first time, but also because she had said yes.
All night he had ignored it but now the pain in his leg, due to the injury, was starting to be felt again and he touched his thigh with one hand.
"I'm sorry." Eren murmured seeing his gesture and then feeling guilty. "It's only because I made the wrong choice back then that we're in this situation."
"I've said this already, the result is a complete mystery."
Before Elizabeth could add anything, the door swung open to let Erwin in with some of the guys from the 104th Recruiting Corps.
"Apologies for the delay."
"It's fine..." Eren murmured seeing his friends enter, while the Commander's gaze immediately went to the two superiors, observing them for a moment as if there was something happening. "You guys..."
"We've found a suspect who's believed to be the female titan, we'll definitely apprehend them this time." Erwin exclaimed directly, without turning too much around. That same morning, shortly after breakfast, the Commander was locked in the office with Elizabeth to work out a plan after some information that Armin had given them through the report requested by the blonde herself. "Our plan is for the day after tomorrow during our passage to the capital where we are to answer the summons at Stohess District. It'll be our first and last chance, if we miss it the Capital will take custody of Eren and it'll likely become difficult to investigate those who plot to destroy the walls. Consequently the fall of mankind will draw even nearer. We'll wager everything on this plan."
For both him and the Vice Captain it was right that the young ones knew what they were going to meet, even though only the two of them would have to answer the call from the King.
Levi was extremely worried, he feared for his woman's safety, especially after the latest news about their relationship which, he was sure, Erwin had not yet been made aware of. If they had dared to touch Elizabeth he would also have been able to turn all the Walls over.
"Together with Elizabeth I have been able to outline a plan of potential effectiveness: as we pass through Stohess District Eren will act as bait and lure the target to this underground passage, upon bringing them to the lowest level judging by their size and power. Their movement should be fairly restricted, even if the transform. However on the off chance they transform before that. You're the only one we can count on Eren."
Eren nodded trying to show confidence but still had many doubts about the situation. And a particular doubt that had come to him on hearing the Commander's words.
"So the main target is, without a doubt, in Stohess District, correct?"
"Yes, the target is part of the Military Police Brigade."
"The Military Police Brigade?"
"Armin was the one who inferred that. According to him the female titan may be responsible for killing the two titans we'd captured and is possibly member of the 104th training corps, like you." concluded the Commander, then leaving the floor to Elizabeth who was still sitting next to Levi but with less composure. She was a little more slouched and maintained a certain closeness with the Captain that Eren had never escaped. It was the same closeness that Mikasa had towards him and it was precisely that awareness that filled the young man with doubts he didn't want to think about.
"And thinking about it a bit, with the things Armin managed to notice, all the evidence points to this one whose name I don't remember anymore."
"But wait a minute, if that's really the case ..." Eren murmured, his eyes widening as he heard the Commander's words.
"The name of the female suspected to be the female titan is Annie Leonhart."
Elizabeth continued to observe Eren, he was shocked; he didn't want to accept that one of his friend could having betrayed him, he placed a lot of trust in people and that was precisely the biggest problem, because in this way he rejected everything around him.
She, on the other hand, who had always been surrounded by fake people, had taken much longer to trust someone. And those people had been taken away from her...
Armin spoke up, trying to help the Commander and somehow alleviate Eren's doubts, hoping he understood their position.
"The female titan knew what Eren looked like from the start. Furthermore she reacted upon hearing Eren's nickname 'the reckless idiot', when only our generation should know about it. And above all else Annie was likely responsible for the murders of Shawney and Bean, the test subjects... and Vice Captain Elizabeth fully supports me."
"I can understand her, she have an analytical ability that is frightening, but how can you be so sure?"
"Advanced techniques were required to pull off those murders, so she must've used her 3DMG, which she's proficient with."
"But that's what the equipment inspection was for. Annie came out clean."
"You're pretty naive, you know?" Elizabeth broke into that exchange of words between Eren and Armin, radically changing expression.
His attitude was starting to make her nervous. He would have discovered an uncomfortable truth, yes, but she had a grief on her shoulders for that person and she still hadn't accepted it.
She couldn't do it.
"That's because the device Annie had was Marco's. It's the reason she got past the inspection." Armin resumed, feeling a little sorry for the cold tone used by the Vice Captain towards Eren, who still kept shaking his head as if to deny what he was saying.
"Huh? What are you saying? How is Marco involved in this?"
"I don't know."
"Couldn't you have just been seeing things?"
"No, that was definitely something I..."
Levi clearly felt Elizabeth stiffen, he could feel her pain under his skin. It hadn't even passed to him but they agreed that they had too many things to do and that they had to live for them too. Sure, but he couldn't take away her pain overnight and the brat's attitude was starting to get on his nerves too. So he decided to intrude, this time, before the blonde did it.
"Ehi kid, we've already heard that. Isn't there anything else?"
"Not that I know of." Armin answered, slightly lowering his head.
"I believe that Annie's face resembles the female titan." Mikasa said instead, hoping to be helpful in some way. If Armin was so convinced it was Annie then she would help him.
"What are you saying? Reasoning like that is..."
Eren continued to deny, angry and upset, while Levi tried to make the young people think from every point of view to calm Elizabeth. If she supported the boy's thesis then he would have trusted him too, but those guys didn't see things from the same point of view as him.
"So basically you have no evidence but you'll do it?"
"No evidence? What's with that? Why are you doing it then? What you'll do if it's not her?"
"If it's not Annie she'll simply be cleared of suspicion."
This time it was Mikasa who answered Eren, with a particular tranquility that did not escape the young man.
"Should that be the case, I'll feel sorry for Annie however... if we do nothing because of that, you'll just end up becoming Central's sacrifice." Armin added, hoping to be able to calm him down and reason. They were faced with a blind spot and needed to investigate somehow; that was the only lead they had.
"Suspect someone like Annie is ridiculous."
"Eren, has anything come to mind after hearing this?" Mikasa asked, narrowing her eyes imperceptibly. A gesture that, however, Elizabeth did not escape.
It was evident how much she cared about him.
Eren seemed to remember something suddenly, thanks to Mikasa's words, while Elizabeth snorted impatiently.
That guy was helpful but incredibly stubborn and uncooperative. He saw things only from one side.
"When you fought hand-to-hand with the female titan did she use any techniques that are unique to Annie?"
"Something tells me yes ... and that something is his face." Elizabeth answered Mikasa, moving slightly so that her back was a little straighter, before then clicking her tongue on the roof of the mouth. Erwin looked at her for a few moments noticing all the emotions in her gaze; she was good at hiding them but he was seeing her give way.
"You realize now, do you?" Mikasa asked again, putting more pressure to push on that topic. "The female titan is Annie. In that case shouldn't you be fighting? Or is some particular emotion hindering you?"
Mikasa's suspicious tone and accusing look put the young man in awe, who at that moment didn't know what to think.
"Huh?" he murmured, trying to stay calm to avoid a sudden and unwanted transformation. "Annie is our friend."
But that choice of words was completely wrong because they only served to make Elizabeth lose patience completely and she didn't want to listen to him anymore.
Instead of denying, he had to put aside his doubts and think about surviving.
"Well, your 'friend' killed my family mercilessly while I wasn't even there and Levi was too busy babysitting everyone."
"Elizabeth." Levi murmured trying to stop her, but she didn't want to listen to anyone.
"Fuck it. I don't accept this." concluded the blonde before leaving, letting the door slam behind her with a loud thud.
"Go to her Levi." Erwin murmured, looking at the Captain and pointing to the door with his head.
"What's up?"
Levi joined Elizabeth at the end of the corridor, completely ignoring the wound in his leg he didn't even feel when he was with her.
It was still too early, he knew perfectly well, and she was still suffering terribly for the deaths of her companions. The next evening, as soon as their bodies were buried as military remains, she took care to go to their graves and leave some flowers, apologizing for not being there.
That scene managed to break the Captain's heart, that the only thing he could do was take her in his arms and hold her close.
He hated to see her suffer. But he had managed to give her happiness again and now he was the impatient one.
Had it not been the reference to Stohess in the middle Elizabeth would have already become his wife even if he had only asked it the night before.
"I don't know." she replied running her hands through her hair and taking a deep breath. She was upset and tried not to cry, she couldn't even explain why she reacted that way but maybe, useless to deny it, for once she just wanted to honor the death of her companions in peace, without the matter of the titans in between.
"You can't lose control like this Liz."
Yet there was no accusation in the Captain's voice and that was enough to calm her down.
"I'm aware of it but... I don't even know what to say." she murmured, her voice slowly dwindling to a whisper.
Levi rested his forehead against her and let their breaths meld as he took her face in his hands.
"Don't say anything." he whispered lowering his face just enough to kiss her.
It was a different kiss from all those exchanged during the night, it was sweeter and sadder at the same time. But it was enough for her to regain control.
Eren stopped in front of them, blushing slightly and turning to the side, feeling awkward.
"Excuse me, I didn't want to interrupt."
Elizabeth pulled away from the captain just enough to look at the young man, still remaining in his arms.
"I shouldn't have blamed you, I'm sorry."
"No, I can understand that you are upset. In fact, you are terribly strong to carry all this weight and carry on. I feel guilty about their death and most of all I feared your reaction. I was really inopportune." Eren added sincerely sorry. And that guilty look was enough for the blonde to forget the previous reaction. She wasn't angry with him, he wasn't the one who killed them and that's what Levi wanted him to notice shortly before.
He had succeeded.
"Don't worry. It's alright little titan."
That morning Elizabeth had gotten out of bed before the Captain, giving him some well-deserved rest and going to get dressed, not before giving him a few good morning kisses.
Levi's mood remained calm all the time she spent with him, still naked as she got ready to dress, completely ignoring what they were going to do in a few hours.
That was the very day of the summons in Stohess and after hours talking about it they had decided it was no use anymore and had preferred to go to sleep with more pleasant activities.
After another half hour on the mattress, still full of the smell of them, he decided to get up to start that day.
Levi was about to leave the room without his uniform on. He couldn't fight and was completely useless.
Just when he was about to give up the idea of wearing a jacket so as not to be late his eye fell on the one that Elizabeth kept as the greatest treasure she had.
Max's dark jacket peeked out slightly from the closet as if calling him. He put it on, resting it on his shoulders, arranged the fabric of his tie better under his collar and closed the door behind him to prevent anyone from entering during his absence.
If before he was calm now his mood was getting worse.
She and Erwin were probably discussing the final details, making sure everyone remembered the plan before getting into their carriage.
The last one left was the one that was to house him, Elizabeth and the Commander.
Erwin stopped to talk to Eren, walking away a little to reach their carriage and thus leaving the blonde alone, who lifted the corner of her mouth to see what he was wearing.
That jacket was a little loose on him but seeing it on him made her heart beat.
The man who would soon become her husband wore her brother's jacket, the two people she loved most in his life were somehow united.
Only when they were safe from prying ears, inside the carriage, she reached out in her seat to give the Captain a quick kiss.
"I know that jacket."
"Do you?" he answered holding the game for her and leaning his back against his seat, right next to her.
"You can't fight so you decided to be fancy as fuck instead?" she asked slightly provocatively, arranging her legs so that Erwin could get into the carriage later.
"Who says I can't fight?"
"Such a tease. Why don't you show me tonight?" she continued, stretching just enough to bring her face close to his again, but without bringing their lips together this time.
"Be a good girl and I'll do whatever you want to you. Again."