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The autumn breeze tousled their hair, but Levi didn't move. He would have shivered. Instead he held back, scared movement would ruin the moment.
"Do you remember them Erwin?" he asked, gently leaning on the body next to him. The blonde look has died down over the years, gone to silvery-grey, and wrinkles have deepend with age, but he still feels his heart beating in his chest, and that's always been enough.
"I remember." Erwin said, as though he was recalling something pleasant. The stump where his right arm was twitched feebly, as though he would have grabbed his hand. "They were all brave. Braver than me."
"Yeah," Levi agreed, snuggling closer. "Brave. But not braver than you."
Erwin looked into the distance at the wreckage of the Wall. Maria seemed even more desolate since the end of the Titan War, holes puncturing it in odd places, and marks from the Colossal's hands scraping down the sides. In some places, the entire wall had been breached, leaving patches of sun and sky to leak through. Though they weren't strictly necessary, most people still lived within the Three; after all, they'd been the protectors of the sole surviving shred of humanity for over a hundred years. The bench they sat on creaked as he leaned into Levi now, watching the sunset through the giant hole at the top, where they'd seen hell come crashing through.
"Sometimes I can't remember their faces," he admitted slowly. "Can you remind me?"
"Well," Erwin said, "there was Hanji. She had long brown hair she kept in a high ponytail-"
"I remember Hanji you dolt. I couldn't forget her if I tried." Levi snapped.
"Do you remember Mike?"
He squinted. "No, not really. I know who he was, just..." he trailed off.
"Mike was dirty blonde, and had hair that was cut almost diagonally. He had a little beard and mustache, and he liked to sniff people. Said he understood them better when he did. The nose on him was accurate, to say the least. He could smell the titans on the wind." Erwin paused, regretfully. "We never found him."
"What about Nanaba?"
"She looked a lot like Mike, minus the beard, and she had a more feminine shape to her of course. A very small nose, too. Not the same sniffing habit. Can you remember Rico?"
"Yeah. She was in the Garrison. Tell me about my squad again though."
"Which one?"
"The first one." Levi looked up at him.
Erwin's eyes widened, then he smirked, his eyes twinkling. "You really liked them, didn't you." He touched his index to his chin. "Well, there was Auruo, Günther, Erd, and Petra. Günther had short black hair, pulled back in a pointed hairstyle, and dark olive skin. You picked him for his reasoning skills and ability to lead. Erd was more mellow, a softer kind of guy, and he had long blonde hair he kept in a ponytail, or a bun, whichever suited him better for the task. I didn't know him well, but he was exceedingly clever." He sighed a moment, stopping.
"And Petra and Auruo?"
"Petra and Auruo were the best friends of the team, always at evens and odds at the same time. Petra had shoulder length auburn hair, light, almost reddish. She was very trusting, and she played a main role in getting Eren to cooperate with us. Auruo had an undercut like you, but lighter hair. He was tall, almost a foot taller than Petra, and he had this nasty habit of biting his own tongue," he laughed briefly, before his tone grew serious again. "He liked to imitate you I think."
"What happened to them?" Levi asked, although he already knew the answer. It couldn't have been anything different.
"They all died valiantly, fighting the Female, or Annie Leonhart."
His heart sank, the four faces disappearing from his mind again. "What about Mike?"
Erwin patted his hair patiently, repeating himself. "Mike was dirty blonde, and had hair that was cut almost diagonally. He had a little beard and mustache, and he liked to sniff people."
"And the others?"
Erwin sighed, ticking off names on his fingers. "Let's see, there was Sasha," he started, but Levi interrupted.
"Potato girl," Levi joked. "Keith wouldn't shut up about her. I remember that."
"Yeah. You remembered." he said tenderly. "And Connie, shorter than you and had a buzz cut. He helped us figure out the Ragako Village situation. And Reiner Braun alongside Berthold Fübar. Both the Colossal and the Armoured disguised between us. Reiner was highly respected by his teammates. Berthold, not so much, be he was tough as nails when it came down to it."
"Traitors." He scowled into his cloak.
"Then Krista and Ymir, the unlikely couple. The others made fun of Ymir, apparently nicknaming her "Freckled Satan," but she only ever did things to protect Krista Lenz. A work of her own really. And Jean, your personal favourite from his distinguished determination. You remember him, right?"
"No," Levi sighed.
"Undercut like Auruo, but brown hair. Constantly bickering with Eren, until they finally got along after he'd been kidnapped." Erwin didn't speak, but Levi waited for the last three names he knew already.
The silence was impenetrable, and he reached over onto Erwin's left side to squeeze his hand. "It's alright. You don't have to talk about them if you don't want."
"No," Erwin said. "You asked, didn't you?" The retaliation in his voice was bitter, though Levi understood it wasn't for him. "Finally, Armin Arlert, Mikasa Ackerman, and Eren Jaeger." His voice quavered. "Armin Arlert was the most intelligent man I've ever had the pleasure to have serve under me, the man who devised the plan for the titan's eventual downfall. He was about the same height as you, with shoulder length blonde hair, and a resolve like none other. Loyal to his friends, and dependable, though not the strongest fighter. Mikasa Ackerman however was the second strongest in the whole legion, proving to be worth a hundred or more men. She was Oriental, the last of her kind most likely, and had jet hair a bit like yours used to be." He held up a few strands, then breathed deeply.
"And?"
"And Eren Jaeger, brown cropped hair, bright green eyes. The Rogue Titan Shifter. The one who gave us all hope. Fuelled by purposes unknown to anyone but himself, fought like an animal to the day he died."
Levi didn't speak.
"All of these cadets, and many, many more" he said, not bothered by the tears at the corners of his eyes, "were killed by my stupidity in the final battle when I ordered not to retreat."
"Shh." Levi wiped them away with his thumb. "We all gave too much for this. At least we've given humanity the freedom it once had before."
"Yeah"
Levi felt like he was growing young again, he forgot what he was living right now, and fell into a hazy daydream as he clung to Erwin desperately. It was too much, the guilt and the recollection of everyone he'd known came crashing down on him like a tidal wave.
And suddenly he was back, youthful, the 3DMG strapped on to his sides as he yelled for his squad to pull into position. Not the first four, but the next. They'd become wickedly efficient over the years, Sasha and Connie working as a team to distract any titans, while Jean, Ymir, Krista, and Armin cut out the tendons. Mikasa took the kill for most of them, but it had happened that Eren had swooped in to steal it too sometimes. Normally the brat was a titan himself, running amock and tearing them limb from limb by his bare hands.
Even with a squad so trusted and close though..
He shut his eyes tightly, the memories receding. Levi worked alone. He always had. He liked to pretend Erwin was nothing more than he let him be, though he knew that was a lie.
It was only thirty years after they'd won, but they'd come so far. Eren would be happy to know the titans are all dead, he speculated. Losing his old squad had been something, but the new one had been all kinds of painful. Young. They were always so young, and Levi found himself questioning the military's choice of allowing 12 year-olds to enlist once again.
"Hey Erwin, maybe we should go see the world." Levi pressed his face into his shoulder. "It's what they would have wanted."
"Yeah. Maybe someday." He didn't have to see Erwin's face to know the same pictures of Mike and Nanaba and Hanji and all the others floated across his field of vision too. "I think we can try that. Only with you though. Maybe."
"Do you ever miss them?"
"They did what they could. I'm certain they'd be happy to see humanity as it is today." Erwin lifted his face to peck him on the cheek. He could feel his own wrinkles beginning to show, and felt happy someone like him had stayed around for so long.
"Hey, Erwin?"
"Yes?"
"I miss you. Brat."
"I miss you too," he said, his voice barely a whisper as it faded completely from Levi's imagination.
Hugging his cloak tighter around his shoulders, he forced his weathered body to stand, hands forming a salute at the empty miles in front of him. He wished he could see them all again, even if it meant going back to the old life.
Sometimes, being "humanity's strongest" was a bad thing.