The Red String of Fate

Epilogue - Dream Come True

The bell above the door rang as Anya looked up, and saw her family flood into the small cafe. Isabel was clutching one of her fathers hands, while Eren sat atop one of his shoulders. Furlan ran through the door first, running up to Anya and hugging her before tossing his backpack on the ground behind the counter. Kuchel was on his heels, running right up to her mother and tugging on the ends of her apron until Anya bent down to meet the little girl's gaze.

"Mommy! Mommy school is so fun!" she exclaimed with a giggle, the same sweet smile she always had plastered on her face, the same smile that Anya knew by now meant that she had done something that she shouldn't have.

Anya raised an eyebrow and looked towards Levi, who was taking Eren from his shoulder and moving him to the ground, "is that so,"

Levi sighed, "Well, it was an eventful day - someone already started a fight, isn't that right Furlan?" He frowned as he looked towards Furlan, who nodded as he was rifling through his backpack, "and this little one," he started as he ruffled the Isabel's short-cut black hair, "is apparently 'too advanced for kindergarten' "

"It's all those medical books Nat reads to her," Anya sighed, as she picked up the smaller girl into a hug, "isn't that right sweetie?"

"Auntie Nat says that I'm her little miracle," Isabel pouted, "and that I have to grow up to be a doctor like her,"

Levi sighed, "You can grow up to be whatever you want,"

"No," Nathalie started as she walked in the door holding her son's hand in hers as Zeke held the door open above them, "she's going to be a doctor, and marry Tom," She looked down at the little boy, a book held to his face with the hand that wasn't holding his mothers, his brilliant blue eyes slowly reading the page as he puffed back his long blonde locks of hair with a breath. Nathalie and Zeke sat with him at one of the larger tables, where Furlan and Kuchel soon sat with them as Isabel tried to climb onto the chair on her own.

"How many times do I have to tell you, our daughter is NOT marrying your son!" Levi huffed, and helped his daughter up into the chair, and rolled his eyes, "Anyway, they want to put Isabel in a higher grade,"

Anya stood up, and wrapped her arms around him, gently placing her head on his shoulder, "And Kuchel?"

"Kuchel is the reason Furlan started a fight" He began, "She is apparently - 'outspoken to a fault'" Levi said, mocking the teachers tone, "which means she called a kid a 'shitty brat' for interrupting the teacher,"

"Why am I not surprised, though I wonder where she got that from," Anya sighed as she rolled her eyes, "What about Eren?"

"A perfect angel as always," Levi responded, "got along well with everyone, and did his work perfectly,"

Anya smiled as she looked around the table before taking a seat in Levi's lap, as his arm slipped around her waist and he planted a soft kiss on her cheek. She looked to the five children, Furlan and Kuchel arguing over what to have for a snack, Isabel quietly reading next to Tom, who was doing the same while occasionally asking his mother questions, and Eren, who was sat with crayons in front of him drawing a picture of what one could only assume was supposed to be a flower. She laughed softly at Zeke, who was dozing off to sleep with his head in his hands, and Nathalie, who was explaining medical jargon to both her son Tom as well as little Isabel.

She looked around at the small cafe they were now the owners of. Tin's of different teas lined the walls behind the counters, all on display and perfectly evenly laid out. A glass display case full of cakes was to the right of the small counter, and to the left were glass display trays of various baked goods that Anya had spent the morning baking while Levi got their children ready for their first day of school. The tables were all perfectly arranged, white linen table cloths and vases of freshly cut flowers from the garden Levi maintained adorning each one.