Blood (Levi x Reader)

** Epilogue **

Day 999:

Tomorrow marks the 1,000th day here in Marley. I never expected I would be here for so long... and yet, here it is, almost three years later. I had so much hope in the beginning, that somehow I'd make it back to you, but it seems foolish at this point to keep dreaming. That isn't to say I've given up on everything or won't keep fighting... I just had to come to terms with the reality of the situation.

All of this started because I wanted to get away from everything and everyone and escape the confines of those goddamn walls. Of course, the cruel irony of it all is that now, I'd give anything to go back... I know you'd hate me for saying this, but not a single day has gone by when I don't regret what I did; I never should have gone to Shinganshina. I should have just listened to you. Instead, I fought a battle I couldn't win.

But, what's done is done.

I know I can't change the past, so I'm choosing to conclude this chapter of my life. I think it'll give me the closure I need, knowing you'd be proud of me for no longer living a life of regret. I promise to move forward and make the most out of each day. It's the least I can do to give her a fighting chance.

I took one last look at the words I had written within the tattered old journal. It was one of many volumes where I had scrawled my internal thoughts and feelings as if to preserve the memories of life within the Walls of Paradis. The longer I found myself in Marley, the less I could remember. There were nights when I tore into the paper, frantically trying to immortalize the sound of Levi's voice, the features of his face, the unique color of his eyes, the specific shade of his hair... and even just the way it felt to be near him... everything was fading away, and I had no other way to save it.

Exhaling a sharp sigh, I snapped the pages shut, sealing my decision. Bending down to the floor, I cautiously lifted one of the wooden planks from where it had once been tightly lodged, and placed the book inside the dirt alcove, deeming it the grave to which I would retire my past.

Returning to a stand, I sipped in a deep inhale, filling my lungs with the dull, stagnant air hanging heavily around me. I would bury the pain of heartache and instead focus all of my energy on protecting the one thing for which I had left to live: The child who, by definition, was nothing less than a sheer miracle, beating the most impossible of odds to even exist... The child who would grow up knowing the morals of her father, but never his name. For if ever anyone from the outside world were to discover the child I gave birth to was the daughter of Levi Ackerman, they would surely destroy her.