Daisy | Levi Ackerman

Epilogue

A/N: I'm so happy that we reached over 1k reads before we got here. There's a lot of other stories out there but you chose this one, and I'm so glad you did. I hope you are too. If you want to continue this story, the sequel, 'Daisy, In Bloom' is published as well. Thank you! ♡

[Naomi]

I took a deep breath as I kneeled there on the short green grass, just right in front of Petra's stone, taking in the gentle, pollen-filled breeze of budding spring. The four of them were all buried in one patch at the Memorial, where a marble stone stood at the head of all their grave plaques. It said;

'The Courageous Special Operations Squad Batch 845 - 850
Perished in the 57th Expedition after successfully luring the target into the military trap.

They will forever be remembered as great contributors to our triumph as humanity.'

Sighing, I looked down onto Petra's marble plaque, remembering her caring face and the sisterly tone she always used to speak to me. And how she selflessly looked after all of us.

"You two had a different bond, huh?" Levi started, sitting next to me on the grass with one foot up to support his elbow.

"Yeah." I replied softly, brushing the bits of carried away soil from her grave. "She made me develop this instinct of mine to look after others, you know? 'Cause I liked the way she made us feel like we were being taken care of."

Levi looked at me pensively as I continued my narration of Petra's benevolence among us. "She inspired me to cook and clean for the household, make sure everyone's holding up well... Tend to somebody when they're sick or wounded. Those things never really came natural to me before, until I met her."

When I turned to my husband, he had this look in his eyes that told me how much he wished his squad was still here with us, too. So I gave his hand a little comforting squeeze before I took the flowers I picked from my garden earlier to place it on our fallen comrades' gravestones.

As I returned to my seat, I took Levi's hand in mine and laid my head to rest on his shoulder. "I'm glad we have a memorial for our friends."

"I'm sorry, Naomi." Levi whispered out of the blue, confusing me. I sat up slowly to look into his slightly distraught expression, looking for an answer to my inquiry of his apology.

"What are you apologizing for?" I asked softly, looking at him.

"It wouldn't have felt the same right now if their bodies weren't here." He answered. "I'm sorry that I was a coward that day. I left it in your hands to keep their remains returning home with us. I wasn't the Captain I was supposed to be."

Hearing this sincere apology slip out from his lips pierced my heart deeply, causing me to shake my head in both denial and assurance. "Levi, no.. No. You have nothing to apologize for."

Levi looked at me emptily as I held both of his cold with regret hands. I looked into his eyes with a glimmer of comfort, making sure he knew it was not a cowardly thing for him to have done. "If you were still brave and strong as you are in that moment in time, then you wouldn't have realized I was there to back you up whenever you lose spirit."

His voice was solemn. "Thank god I have you, then."

I smiled, and let the comfortable silence linger on as I gathered my thoughts. Then I gazed up at him again, seeing that the sadness in his eyes had not ceased. "You were overcome by grief on that day. So was I. My only motivation to fight you from letting the bodies go was the promise I made to Petra the night before that. I couldn't break my word."