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Levi sets a bouquet of edelweiss at Erwin’s grave and takes out his guitar.
A rickety old thing, he’s kept it around since his days in the Underground, but sadly, it’s remained untouched since Isabel and Farlan passed. He used to render it as something too painful to touch, but it always remained in the corner of his office, simply waiting for the right time to once again be picked up by Levi’s calloused, tired hands. Erwin never failed to mention the guitar in passing when he was in Levi’s office discussing trivial matters after their post-expedition dinners, but Levi would dismiss Erwin’s requests to hear him play. Levi surmised that now, after failing to fulfill his promise to Erwin, this was a small gesture he owed to him after all this time. Maybe, just, maybe, this could relieve a tiny fraction of the burden left weighing on Levi’s shoulders after his death. It was the least he could do for him.
With a deep sigh, Levi picked up his guitar, extensively cleaned off years’ worth of dust, placed it in the worn, withering leather case Kenny gave him after hearing Levi play for the first time, slung it over his shoulder, and headed to town.
What a gorgeous day to pay him a visit, Levi thought. As he approached the gate of that peaceful grassy knoll Erwin now calls home, Levi clutched a bouquet of edelweiss flowers close to his chest. Edelweiss, the national flower within the walls and the symbol of love in the purest and natural form, felt appropriate for today’s visit to the fallen military commander. They were his favorite, after all. As Levi approached his grave, his eyes couldn’t help but linger on the names of other fallen comrades lined up along the somber, meadowy path. Moblit Berner, Marlo Freudenberg, tens of hundreds of recruits forever remaining under 20 years old... every one of them incredible soldiers and individuals in their own right, and people who put their lives on the line for humanity’s sake, and Levi’s. Levi tore himself away from those names, the memories of their losses still too fresh in his mind. All sacrifices from that day, the day he set Erwin free, and Levi felt as though he failed to properly avenge all of them. The guilt was beginning to chip away at him, little by little, but he refused to let anyone catch on to that. That was a thought for another day, Levi concluded, as he began to climb the hill which Erwin reigns upon.
Even after two years, Levi had never grown accustomed to seeing Erwin’s name flawlessly etched on a marble gravestone, and below it his final day simply taunting Levi every time he laid eyes on it.
“You’re very cruel, Erwin,” Levi said after laying down the bouquet of edelweiss, which subtly covered up the date Erwin passed.
“Living without regrets definitely isn’t as easy as you make it sound, you one-armed bastard.”
Among the bloodshed, loss, and sacrifices of that day, no departed soul stood out more in Levi’s mind than Erwin’s. Something changed in Levi following that day; it took both Hange and Armin to make sure Levi was eating properly and occasionally checking to make sure he wouldn’t do something irreversible or rash, just in case, in the months following. Levi valued Erwin’s life over his own, and while he never doubted that he made the right decision in freeing Erwin from this hellish reality, he... well, he missed him so dearly. Indescribable remorse wracked Levi’s consciousness, and he’d only let slivers of it through to even himself. Erwin was a beacon of hope in Levi’s eyes, and, someone he cared for immensely. Just maybe, Levi could reach him with a song, something he always wanted to hear, just, perhaps in some wild world, a smile could fall upon his face this one last time...
Taking a deep breath, Levi took out his guitar and looked around at the idyllic, gentle meadow surrounding the two of them. The breeze softly grazed his fingers as he began to strum, and for the first time in decades, his strum was accompanied by a melodic voice hushed since Levi left the Underground.
Edelweiss, Edelweiss
Every morning you greet me
Small and white, clean and bright
You look happy to meet me
Blossom of snow, may you bloom and grow
Bloom and grow forever
Edelweiss, edelweiss
Bless my homeland forever
Even though it was the national anthem, Levi only knew it as Erwin’s favorite tune. Far from a declaration of devotion to one’s country, but a small, personalized love letter from Levi to Erwin, delayed by years of denial and regret Levi had been holding in his slowly amending heart. The breeze began to pick up, and the bouquet of edelweiss was slightly moved aside on Erwin’s grave, and Levi could once again see Erwin’s death date etched into the tomb. An ethereal ringing sensation in Levi’s ears enveloped him as Erwin’s last words to him resurfaced:
“Levi, thank you.”
A small smile quietly landed on Levi’s face, complemented by a scoff, as he knew the song reached him. What wonderful, delicate words blessed Levi’s ears every time he fondly remembered the man he could proudly call the love of his life.