Levi looked up to the starry sky. Dusk had only started to settle, but he always preferred a midnight stroll to dealing with nightmares and insomnia until the light of the new day broke through.

Just like when he was in the Underground, there was no particular place he wanted to go that night. He simply enjoyed walking around the Trost district, listening to the quiet rumble of the carriages, the water from the river being gently shaken by the wind, and the occasional blast coming from the bars. It was a mundane but comforting scenery.

He leaned with his arms on one of the bridge's railing, observing the moonlight twisting on the water below. He thought about everything that had led to that exact moment; how they had found Eren's Titan there, how all his squad had been wiped out, the Uprising, Kenny, Sophie, Erwin, and the truth about the outside world. He was relieved that, to some extent, all those sacrifices had been worth it, now that there were plans to eliminate all the Titans around Wall Maria. After all, Humanity could finally get back what they had lost. The threat of an outside attack was still present, and he still had a promise to fulfill. However, at that moment and place, he was starting to see how their efforts had paid off, even if there was still a long way to go.

He took a deep breath, thinking how he would've liked to share that feeling with someone. He wished he could be able to look up to the sky and say "We did it" with Farlan, Isabel, his comrades, or Erwin by his side. He still had Hange and Sophie, but one was too busy being the new Commander, and the other had grown apart from him. He had always thought that clinging to the past was the most dangerous thing a soldier could do. He had chosen to stay away from Sophie so she could be safe and happy, but after their conversation in the chapel, he wasn't so sure that was the case anymore. He wondered whether, despite his good intentions, he was just a bad luck charm that caused death and suffering to everyone that had ever come near him.

"Glad to see I am not the only night owl around here, Captain."

Levi snapped out of his thoughts and quickly turned around, only to find Asbel Barnes standing right next to him with his signature unsettling smirk. When he wished for someone to admire the scenery with, he definitely did not mean him.

"It's an excuse to be alone," he replied. Asbel's smirk turned into a smile as he approached Levi. He leaned on the bridge just like him.

"No one should be alone on such a beautiful night." Levi did not reply and kept staring at the flowing water. He hoped that if the man felt ignored enough, he would leave. But Asbel remained by his side.

"Then why are you not with Sophie?" Levi asked. He wondered whether the question had been rude enough for Asbel to feel embarrassed. That was just what he wanted.

"Ah, she is at the Ehrmich manor. She works better there, or at least that's what she says," he replied with a slightly mocking tone. He took out a cigarette pack from one of his pockets and offered it to Levi, who rejected it with a hand movement. Levi perceived the gesture not as kindness, but as if Asbel were flaunting his wealth to him. Tobacco was scarce, and there were very few people who could afford it. He pulled out a matchbox to light up the cigarette. He then placed the roll between his lips, blowing the smoke into the night. Levi was disgusted by the smell but did not complain; he didn't want to give that satisfaction to the snob. After a while, Asbel broke the silence, "Tell me, how did you meet her?"

"What do you mean?"

"I know you used to live with her. She doesn't talk much about her time in the Underground, I reckon she hides her origins, so people don't —you know—question her."

Levi decided to keep it short, "We just helped each other out."

"Living down there must have been tough."

"And yet she seems to be having a tougher time on the surface."

"Nothing I can do about that."

Levi turned around and faced him with a defensive look.

"Isn't that part of the whole marriage thing? For better or worse?"

"Yes, and I've given her everything she wanted. I've supported all her projects, granted her all the money in the world and all the things she could ever wish for. I even tolerated her partying and men-chaser habits, but not even that was enough. You see, the thing with very intelligent people is that there is a very narrow line separating them from insanity. Surely we can agree on that, Captain."

Levi frowned. He found it odd that he was both complimenting and criticizing his wife at the same time. Not only that, but he had also addressed Levi's experience on the matter, as if he were referring to the intelligent people he knew, like Hange. Levi was aware that Hange could be eccentric—to say the least—but despite the jokes and mockery between them, he admired the odd scientist just as much as Erwin. He would not tolerate Asbel's undermining comments.

"You confuse insanity with passion."

"Same thing, really. The dose makes the poison, right?"

"Maybe your life has been too comfortable for you to understand the difference," said Levi with a spiteful tone.

Asbel smirked at the offense and puffed from his cigarette. He lifted his head and let go of the smoke trapped in his mouth, slowly blowing it into the chill night wind. No menacing look or disrespectful comment from Levi seemed to disturb the calm presence of the man.

"I believe you and I are quite similar, Captain. Regular folks often despise us. They claim that we are just a group of entitled people wasting the money gathered from their taxes. But then they beg you to protect them, or they beg me to employ them. They hate but also worship us. We give them what they want, and they leech on our accomplishments in return."

His lack of empathy angered Levi, but he remained composed, "I couldn't care less for what people think of me."

"But you enjoy the power it gives you, don't you? You didn't get to be Humanity's Strongest Soldier by being a benevolent, warm-hearted military, correct? I believe you had to kill more than Titans for that. You had to watch your comrades die and make difficult choices too." He paused to smoke the cigarette again. "Losing loved ones is painful, after all. There are very few things that can make up for that."

Levi straightened his back, defensive. That was the second time he had ever had a conversation with Asbel, yet he had the nerve to talk about Levi as if he knew him. He had brought up his comrades, but what alarmed him the most was Asbel's reference to his choices and loss of loved ones. He couldn't have known about Erwin; Hange had ensured that word did not get out so soon after the mission to avoid divisions over Levi's choice. There was no way an upperclassman like him could know about it. If Asbel was trying to provoke him in some twisted way, he was definitely on the right track.

"Everything I do is for the sake of Humanity's freedom, not to get more wealthy at the cost of others." Despite Levi's seriousness, Asbel let out a small laugh.

"Huh, you sound just like someone I know. Before she decided that she liked silver spoons and booze a bit too much, that is." Asbel paused, observing the embers falling off his cigarette. "Unlike you, some people are just not fit for power. They are too greedy, too unstable. Had I known what she'd become, I wouldn't have helped her get where she is now."

Levi stared at him, calculating how to break that disturbing and peaceful aura surrounding him, "Maybe she would've been happier if you hadn't."

This time there was no smirk on the businessman's face. He was still facing the horizon, ignoring Levi's pressuring gaze. Asbel incorporated himself and tapped the cigarette on the railing. He finally turned around, and while ominously staring at Levi, he dropped the tobacco roll and stepped on it to extinguish it.

"Maybe. The things we do for love, right?" he said. Asbel put a hand on his shoulder. Levi's immediate instinct was to grab him by the wrist and throw him to the river, but he figured that would be doing exactly what Asbel expected him to. "See you around, Captain," he concluded, slowly removing the pressure on Levi's shoulder and walking past him.

Even after Asbel had left, Levi remained at the quiet spot observing the scenery. He reflected on both the unsettling conversation with the businessman and Kenny's monologue. Besides his duty to the Corps, what else moved him forward? That was a question he had not posed to himself until he had found Kenny, and Asbel's talk about power and sacrifice had reignited it.

He recalled Sophie's words at the chapel; You have always been powerful, Levi. There is strength within you. After being belittled for so long, I wanted that power too.

Both Asbel and Sophie had insisted on his power, and he could even distinguish envy among their admiration. But he wasn't proud of it. His rank was built on thousands of corpses and dreams of a free world beyond the Walls. Just like Asbel had said, humanity's freedom seemed too much of an altruistic goal for everything he had lost in the process. If he was not a soldier, then who was he? Was he only Erwin's dutiful Captain, following his orders even beyond the Commander's death? If he had been given the chance, would he have also become a wealthy and self-centered jackass like Asbel or Kenny? Were Sophie's misery and derailing a byproduct of his seemingly selfless actions, just like all the deaths under his command? Was she the crazy, narcissist woman that Asbel made her out to be?

Despite all the rumbling thoughts, there was one thing he knew for sure; his encounter with Asbel had not been accidental.