It was evening, and Captain Levi stood on a rooftop watching the sunset. His hair and his cloak flapped and fluttered in a warm breeze as he stood lost in his troubled thoughts. The events of the day weighed heavily on his mind. Over and over, his memory replayed that awful moment... the tree snapping and falling, the sickening twist in his stomach...

Levi sighed as he sat down with his back against a chimney. One leg stretched out before him, and the other he bent up, his forearm coming to rest atop it.

In his lifetime, he had loved deeply and he had lost greatly. He loved Hange... he knew that now. Maybe even, he'd known it for awhile. But this love, this... ache that burned inside him... this wasn't the way he'd loved Farlan or Isabel or anyone ever before. With Hange, it was different. With Hange...

Levi closed his eyes and brought a hand to his forehead. He'd never wanted to love anyone like this... He'd seen the grieving widows countless times... heard their heart-shattering sobs, their anguished wails as their lover was brought home on a stretcher or in pieces or not at all... and he wanted no part of it.

But he wanted other things too... he wanted to be close to her. To lay down beside her and hear her heartbeat and breathe her scent. To hold her against him wrapped in darkness and in the coolness of bedsheets. To call her his... he wanted that.

...but was it worth it?

The sun sank behind the Wall, and Levi still sat there beneath a glittering night sky. He could feel them there... Isabel to his right, Farlan to his left. The pain of losing them remained so sharp, even after all these years.

It wasn't his intention to fall asleep up on that rooftop, but all the same, he drifted off, and it wasn't long before two unforgettable faces appeared in his dreams. He found himself in a large open space, all blank and black. Ahead, he saw a simple wooden table in a lighted area that appeared to be the corner of a room... a very familiar room.

"Ha! Big Bro!" A short, red-headed, pigtailed figure with wide and vivacious green eyes stood up and lifted a hand in an exuberant wave.

The tall young man next to her with the light grey-blue eyes and sandy hair smiled as he sat with his arms folded casually on the tabletop, a hot cup of tea before him.

Levi slowly walked towards them, and he felt an all too familiar pain in his chest. "Farlan... Isabel..." He said their names quietly.

"LEVI BRO!" Isabel Magnolia swept around the table and crashed into Levi in a big bear hug. Her arms flew around his neck as her knees bent up behind her.

Levi furrowed his brow as he hugged her back, holding her off the ground a bit.

Farlan was beside him now too, pulling him into a tight hug from the side. He smiled warmly, that spark in his soft, yet stormy eyes ever-present. "Look at you," he said, jostling him a bit in a brotherly way. "Big ol' Captain in the Scouting Legion." He laughed.

"We're so proud of you!!" Isabel's feet touched the floor again, and she looked up at Levi, her arms still around his neck.

The side of Levi's mouth twitched into the slightest of smiles as he exchanged looks with the both of them, but the pain never left his eyes. "I miss you," he said quietly. "Every day, I miss you both."

Isabel's smile softened but didn't disappear. She took hold of his arm and rested her head against his shoulder and collarbone.

Farlan slid both hands casually into his own pockets. "We're not completely gone," he said with a light shrug. "We know you still see us when you look at the sky." He grinned. "And I know for a fact you still make your tea the way I taught you."

"And you still hear me when birds sing." Isabel rested her chin on his shoulder, smiling at him and still holding his arm.

Levi nodded and looked at her, bringing his hand up to move it affectionately in her hair. "I just... wish we'd had more time," he said achingly.

"We'll always wish that," Farlan said gently. Keeping one hand in his pocket, he firmly took hold of Levi's hand with the other.

"But we had what we had." Isabel slipped her hand into Levi's as well. "And you've still got a lot of life left to live."

"No regrets, Levi." Farlan nodded down at his brother, meeting his gaze.

"No regrets," Isabel repeated. She lifted up onto her tiptoes and kissed his cheek.

The Captain's eyes opened then, a soft and sweet sensation still lingering on the side of his face.

But his hands were empty now.

He looked down at them, his palms turned upward, his fingers slightly curled.

No regrets...

Losing the two people he loved the most had been, and still remained, the worst pain he'd ever endured. "But..." he thought to himself as some hair fluttered over his forehead. "I'll never regret the time I had with them..."

He looked upward again, realizing in that moment that what little time he may ever have with Hange would be worth never having it at all. He knew in that moment that never telling her how he felt would be a decision he'd regret.

And "No Regrets."

That was his motto.

Pressing his hand into his knee, he stood up and tilted his face toward the sky one more time. A shooting star graced across the heavens, and he felt a flutter in his stomach. Lightly, he exhaled in something likened to a chuckle as just the beginnings of a smile tugged at the corners of his mouth.

"Alright then..." he muttered. And then he added with a whisper, "I believe in you."

He made his way to his room and shut the door. His mind was a million miles away as muscle memory effortlessly removed the ODM gear. He then turned with the complicated piece of equipment made of leather and brass buckles, and he hung it on a wall hook.

It was only after a hot bath and a cup of tea that Levi made his way down the hallway to Hange's room, dressed in civilian clothes now. It wasn't too late, but he knew she'd be up. He knew her well.

Hange opened the door to his knock, looking surprised when she saw him standing there. A doctor had taken a look at her injury, and a simple square bandage was taped in place over it.

"Oh! Levi. Is something the matter?"

"No," he replied dryly. "I just wanted to make sure you hadn't keeled over or something." He sighed a bit awkwardly and gestured forward with a nod of his head. "...may I come in?"

"Uh... sure." Hange opened the door wider and stepped aside to let him in.
She started to say something bright and casual as she was shutting the door, but Levi's words cut her off.

"Alright, listen to me, Four Eyes, because what I have to say needs to be said... even if I'm not quite sure how to say it."

Hange blinked her eyes. She nodded. "...okay." She crossed her arms, ready to listen.

Levi's eyes looked directly into hers as he stood there with his arms at his sides. Silence hung between them, disturbed only by the soft flicker of oil lamps.

Hange's eyebrows rose, and she shifted her weight to her other leg. "What's the matter there, Levi?" she asked gently. "You're not constipated, are you?"

"No, but I appreciate the concern." Levi's response was easy and quick.

Hange smiled.

Levi brushed his fingers against the side of his nose, then brought his hands to his hips. "How's the injury?"

"Fine," Hange answered. "I've got a bit of a headache," she added. "But that's to be expected, I suppose."

Levi nodded. Then he swallowed.

Hange uncrossed her arms and instead took hold of her elbows. "Levi, what is it?"

A million words swirled around in his mind... a million ways to start this conversation. A million rabbit trails of awkward sentences all tripping over one another... But he said nothing, his mouth open only slightly, as if stuck on the beginnings of whatever it was he wanted to say... only he didn't know how to say it.

Looking up into her big brown eyes, her face framed by messy hair, Levi could only make sense of one thing, one truth. Anything else he could say would only dance around three little words, and so he saved himself the trouble and just said them.

"...I love you," he said so simply, helplessly, as though any other words would fail him.

Hange's lips parted, her eyes widening.

"I've lost a lot of people, Hange," Levi went on, finding it easier to speak now that she knew why he was here. "You know that, and you have too. And awhile back, I resolved that I-" He looked away, and his voice lowered. "...that I would never... be with anyone." His tone was the same as it ever was, despite the words tasting so foreign on his tongue. He looked at Hange again. "I made the vow to myself at a time when I didn't know what the hell it was to... want to be with someone. I never have before." His brow was lowered, and it was taking everything he had not to make some sharp remark and turn and leave for the sake of his utter discomfort.

Hange listened to him, her eyes never leaving his face. "And..." Her voice was a whisper, almost a squeak. "...are you saying you... want that now?"

Levi stepped forward then, making Hange's stomach flip. He looked up at her, his eyes moving back and forth a little with the intensity of his gaze. He felt the words before he even voiced them, like a bubbling up in his abdomen and his chest and his throat, and then he was saying them again, clearly this time and without an ounce of doubt.

"I love you. Damn it, Hange, I do. I-"

The tears glinting in her eyes gave her away, the soft expression, the smile that formed around the breath of an exhale, and Levi knew she felt the same way. Without another word or thought, he was suddenly kissing her, his hand resting firmly at the base of her neck as her own came to his sides. His instincts were raw and unpracticed, but nothing in his life had ever felt so right as this. The uncertainly he felt only moments ago vanished completely, and he knew without question...

He'd never regret this.