The echo of boots on stone corridors had once been a distant memory — something you left behind when you slipped out of your uniform and into a life of soft mornings and stolen kisses. But now, the sound was back. Louder than ever. Haunting.

You tightened the straps on your gear, fingers trembling just slightly. It wasn’t fear — not entirely. It was the gravity of what it meant. Wearing the uniform again meant war. Blood. Loss. It meant The Rumbling had torn through not just cities and forests — it had torn through your peace.

“Your hands are shaking,” Levi said quietly behind you.

You didn’t turn right away. You needed a second. Just one. Before you looked at him — the man who once swore to you that he would keep you out of this, out of all of this. The man who had let you go from the battlefield because he loved you too much to watch you disappear into it again.

“I’m fine,” you murmured. “It’s just been a while.”

He stepped closer, fingers brushing your shoulder, then sliding down to your hand. He held it — steadying it, steadying you.

“I don’t like this,” he said, voice sharp with truth, yet gentler than anyone else ever heard him speak. “I hate it.”

“I know.”

“I should’ve kept you away. I should’ve—”

“You need me, Levi.”

He didn’t argue. Because he did.

Your mind, your instincts, your strategy — you’d been his equal in more than marriage. On the battlefield, you read each other like twin flames. And now, with the world cracking open beneath them all, he knew he couldn’t protect you by keeping you away. He could only protect you by keeping you close.

“They called us Devils of Paradis,” you whispered bitterly, eyes scanning the horizon through the barracks window. “Now we have to prove just how devilish we can be.”

Levi’s grip on your hand tightened.

You turned to him finally. His face was older now, marked with lines and healing scars, but the fire in his eyes was the same. That fire had warmed you on the coldest nights. That fire had burned for you in silence when words weren’t enough.

“You still want that family?” you asked suddenly, voice low.

He blinked. It was rare to see Levi Ackerman caught off guard. “What?”

“The house by the edge of the forest. The garden. Kids. All of it.”

His throat bobbed. “Yes.”

You nodded. “Then we fight like hell. And survive.”

He leaned in, forehead pressing to yours. It was a quiet promise, sealed not with grand speeches but with presence. With breath and nearness and unspoken love.

Outside, the wind howled.

Inside, two soldiers readied themselves to carve through the storm.

''I will protect you, even if it costs me my life'' Levi whispered.