Summary: Set two months after the death of his squad, Levi begins to accept everything, including Petra's. Unfortunately, that is the period of time when Petra's ghost comes to visit. Will Levi be able to see her once again? And will she be able to say her goodbye properly? With a help of a certain person, they might. (Levi/Petra ship [BEST OTP EVER!] and an existence of an OC)
A/N: Forgive me for leaving for quite a while. Put the blame on lots of things: Raya celebration, a Japanese variety show, AKBingo! that I'm addicted to recently, and school re-opening. So yeah... that's basically it. Now that I'll be having my end-of-year exam on September, I'll try my best to squeeze my updating time between my tight schedule. Wish me luck!
Disclaimer: Shingeki no Kyojin doesn't belong to me. The story and characters belong to Isayama Hajime-sensei. If they were mine, Rivetra would be the top OTP and lots of characters wouldn't have died.
"Hi, papa," Petra says sounding as calm as possible, but her heart is beating erratically due to high nervousness.
Victor's eyes widen with the sight of his daughter; so beautiful, so real, so alive. "Petra?"
Meanwhile, Nura sits still on the couch, holding her laughter with her hand due to her different way to call her father which is usually 'dad'. "Did she say, 'Papa'? Pfft! Never saw that coming."
"I- is that really you?" He asks, standing up from his chair shakily out of happiness.
She approaches her slowly, arms reaching towards her only remaining family member. "You can see me?" Her voice cannot veil the happiness and thrill in her. Eventually both father and daughter find themselves in each others' arms, shrouded by the warmth and love of their bond.
Feeling like an outsider and a little uncomfortable, Nura silently rises and tip-toes to the door and leaves the two alone.
"How are you doing, papa?"
"I'm doing fine but I missed my daughter so much," he admits.
"I missed you too," she sobs. "I'm sorry for leaving so soon."
"You don't have to apologize, sweetheart. I've expected the day to come so I've prepared myself in case whatever happens to you."
She asks, "Don't you feel lonely now that I'm gone?"
Victor sighs. "I will not lie that I do feel lonely at times. But Nura-chan comes to visit me from time to time if she could manage. And some of our neighbours do come to check on me occasionally."
She nods and then hesitantly asks while her head faces the floor, "Are you angry at me for what happened to us?"
Surprised at her question, his eyes widen but then he puts his hands on her shoulders, prompting her to look up. "Why should I be angry at you? You did your best to serve for humanity and fought as hard as you could. You were a strong soldier, Petra. The best fighter in my eyes. And for that, I am very proud to have you as my daughter."
Happily, she smiles without a word and a tear rolls down her eyes, which her father quickly wipes away.
"Do you remember when you asked me the meaning of your eyes?"
"I do."
"It was your mother who gave you that name, and I was planning to give another name."
Holding on his hand affectionately, she urges him. "What is it? Tell me, papa."
He purses his lips to hold himself from laughing. "Don't get angry at me, but I wanted to name you 'Flora' or 'Daisy'."
She gasps, "Oh my god! That is very girly, papa! I'm glad Mom came up with 'Petra'. It sounds much more nicer."
"I know. I'm glad we decided to choose that too. Do you want to know why we picked that name in the end?"
She nods silently while pulling the both of them on the couch.
"Your mother and I knew that she wouldn't be there once you were born because she was very sick. So she wanted you to be strong, even without her care or guidance. That's why she gave you the name 'Petra' in hopes you will grow up like a stone; strong-willed, tough and independent. I'm glad I managed to raise you the way she wished." He strokes her hair, feeling proud of how his baby girl has grown into a beautiful and mature woman she is now. "I'm sure your mother would be very proud of how much you've grown.
"That's because you were the one who raised me."
Then the two embrace again and talk about Petra's childhood. Not long after that, Nura comes back, sneaking a peek through a small gap between the door and its frame. "Um... knock, knock. Am I interrupting?"
Petra turns around, rubbing her cheeks off the nostalgic tears. "No, Nura-chan. What's wrong?"
She scratches her head nervously. "I hate to break the mood but I think it's time for us to buy the stuff Levi-sama orders."
"Oh no!" Petra gasps, remembering their original plan. "I completely forgot about it!"
"What is it that he orders? Don't tell me you're going to buy something for him too, Petra? Maybe like a handkerchief or perhaps an underw-?" Victor teasingly grins at his daughter, being well aware of her feelings for the corporal.
She blushes hard and yells, "It's not something like that, papa! Levi-Heichou and I don't have that kind of relationship!"
After subsidising her laugh, Nura asks, "Oji-san, would you like to join us? You know, that way you can spend more time with your daughter."
He stands up energetically, despite of his old age. "Of course! I wouldn't miss the day when I go shopping with my daughter to buy a present for her beloved corporal."
"Geez, papa," Petra sighs, putting a hand against her forehead in defeat.
And so the three of them roam around the street of shops and buy things like cleaning rags, a broom and food. Nura is thankful that she asked Victor to accompany her because there is no way she can carry all of these stuff by herself. Meanwhile, Petra feels guilty she cannot lend a hand, but she does help a lot by floating around the crowded street to find what they were looking for. They take this time to play around such as throwing darts, spinning tops and card games. They even try putting on new clothes, something that Nura hates as she hates wasting time to buy clothes, but for Petra she does it anyway.
After two hours of shopping and playing, it starts to get dark and Victor buys a sandwich as a snack while they make their way to the castle. In each step, Victor's heart gets heavier and heavier, after knowing he has to say goodbye to his daughter forever. Eventually he stops in front of the entrance to the castle grounds. He passes the heavy load he has to the guard, leaving Nura, Petra and himself alone.
"Well I guess this is it," he says sadly.
"I'm sorry I can't stay with you, papa," Petra apologizes, clutching her father's hands tightly, hoping he could understand the reason.
He shakes his head. "It's alright, Petra. I understand. I think it is time for me to accept the reality that you have to go anyway."
She can't convey anymore word so she rushes to embrace and feel her father's loving warmth against her chest. She remembers how he used to protect her from the scary nights during her childhood when there was a thunderstorm and he'd accompany her and sings a lullaby to help her fall back to sleep. She hopes she would never forget the memory and warmth.
"I love you, papa," she mumbles.
"I love you too, sweetheart," he replies, kissing her hair tenderly. His nose is red from trying to hold himself from shedding tears. "Now, go on."
"Petra-san?" Nura asks, beckoning her whether they would enter the castle together or not.
"I'm coming," she says but her eyes are glued at Victor who is now waving at her and she copies the gesture with a smile.
Victor stays there until Petra is gone from his sight as she walks through the wall. "Goodbye, Petra."
That night, while making dinner, Petra does most of the cooking while Nura helps a bit since she doesn't like to cook and barely knows how, Eren enters the kitchen to call for Nura.
"What is it?" She asks, wiping her hands on the apron she wears.
"I've got some news about Levi-Heichou," he whispers so that Petra can't hear him.
She takes a peek to make sure she's not listening then pulls him further. "So what happened?"
"Well, it goes like this..."
Eren is cleaning the first floor's study room as thoroughly as he can. He even wipes the very small gaps between each shelves to make sure the corporal doesn't complain about the dusts in them. He doesn't realize when Levi enters the room to check how he's doing.
"Not bad," he comments while running a finger along the surface of rack and finding no dust on it. "But don't forget to clean the top as well."
Eren can only nod and silently sighs through the handkerchief on his face. After a while, the room is filled with silence but the sound of sweeping.
"Levi-Heichou."
"What is it?" He answers but his eyes are still looking around to point out any missed spots.
"What do you think about Petra-san?" Eren's hands are shaking hard when he let the words out, immediately regretting to ask it so casually.
"What the hell are you spewing?" Levi retorts, frowning at the nervous fifteen-year old boy.
"I- I was just wondering what kind of relationship you and Petra-san had before I joined the squad." That didn't sound bad, wasn't it? He asks himself.
Levi reconsiders the question. "Hmm... it's not like we had any special connection with each other, but I did regard her as a wonderful woman."
Bingo! "In what way, sir?"
"As you know, she could clean three times better than the rest of you, she was a brilliant cook and she brewed the fucking best coffee I could ever taste. She was unexpectedly a kind and gentle person but when you're in her bad side, you might get sliced in an instant since she was a very excellent fighter."
He keeps on listening to Levi's pleasant comments about Petra and he realizes that his facial expression has gone very soft and he can almost swear that he sees his eyes are gleaming with contentment.
Levi stops talking and abruptly makes a suspicious stare at him. "Are there any other reasons why the hell you asked me this?" In his mind, he wonders to himself. He's the type of guy who doesn't speak out his feelings, especially how he feels about Petra. But for some reason he couldn't help himself to talk about her.
"No, sir. Of course not," Eren says, satisfied with what he has heard.
The room once again returns to its silence, but an awkward atmosphere rises. Eren takes a glance behind him and notices Levi squatting in front of a shelf, holding a book in his hands.
"Levi-Heichou?" He calls.
He doesn't reply his subordinate immediately, which causes Eren to be more sceptical.
"Your job is done, Eren. You can leave now."
"But, you told me to-"
He turns around and glares at him over his shoulder. "Just do what I say and get the hell out of here."
Frightened, Eren quickly collects all of his cleaning tools and leaves the room. After making sure that the door is completely shut, Levi leans back against the shelf full of books and sits down on the floor without reminding himself that it hasn't been swept yet. His eyes still not leaving the dusty, old book.
It's Petra's diary.
A/N: Truthfully, writing the reunion scene gave me goosebumps because I am truthfully a 'Tsundere' to my family so I very rarely display any affection towards them, or even hug them, so I tried my best to make it as emotional as possible. Anyhow, I don't think I'll be updating for a few days so do me a favour and read my Rivetra one-shots 'Change' and 'Ups and downs'. Reviews make me smile!
P.S: Just to let you know, Eren doesn't know Levi-sama's holding Petra-san's diary. He only tells Nura what he asked Levi-sama. And next chapter will be full of Levi-sama, yay!